Page 84 of Goodbye Girl

Jack did a double take. The defense had agreed that Jack alone would cross-examine Dr. Leed. It hadn’t taken long for Shaky and his lawyer to breach the joint defense agreement.

Ellis stepped forward and placed her notebook on the lectern.

“Dr. Leed, I’d like to turn now to the subject of autoerotic asphyxiation.”

The judge shot Jack a look that said,Youcan’t be serious—as if it were somehow Jack’s fault for having started down this road.

“A word of caution, counsel,” the judge said. “I allowed Mr. Swyteck some leeway here, but let’s not get too far off-track.”

Off-track it was. Jack had considered the autoerotic asphyxiation line of questioning before trial and rejected it. To his dismay, Shaky’s lawyer was pursuing it anyway. Objecting to your own co-counsel’s questions in front of the jury was never a bright idea. There was nothing Jack could do.

“Understood, Judge,” said Ellis. “Dr. Leed, is that term familiar to you?”

“Yes. Essentially, erotic asphyxiation is the practice of stranglingyourself, or allowing someone else to strangle you, while masturbating or having sex. The idea is that by restricting the flow of blood through the veins in his neck, blood congests in the brain. Oxygen levels drop, and carbon dioxide levels increase, producing light-headedness that, for some, intensifies erotic pleasure.”

“It sounds dangerous.”

“It is. People die from it. Most famously, David Carradine, the actor who starred in the old TV showKung Fu.”

Jack had researched it, so he was familiar with the Carradine case. He hoped his co-counsel was, too.

“The medical examiner ruled Mr. Carradine’s death accidental, am I right?” asked Ellis.

“That’s correct.”

“In the case of Mr. McCormick, you ruled out suicide. But as Mr. Carradine’s case demonstrates, self-strangulation does not necessarily mean homicide, does it? It could be accidental.”

“Objection,” said Owens, rising. “This case is about the death of Mr. McCormick, not Mr. Carradine.”

“Sustained.”

Jack hoped the judge’s ruling would discourage his co-counsel from taking his abandoned line of questioning any further. His hope was in vain.

“Dr. Leed, in the case of Mr. McCormick, you didn’t even consider the possibility of accidental death in the form of self-strangulation, did you? When you ruled out suicide by hanging, you went straight to homicide.”

“Objection,” said Owens.

“Overruled,” the judge said. “The witness shall answer.”

Dr. Leed complied. “As I told Mr. Swyteck, suicide by ligature strangulation is extremely rare. Cases of accidental ligature strangulation are just as rare.”

“Rare but not impossible,” said Ellis.

Dr. Leed paused. “Not impossible, but I stand by my report.”

Jack understood that his co-counsel was trying to inject one more element of reasonable doubt—accidental death—into the prosecution’scase. But he was well aware of the dangers of the Carradine comparison, and he prayed she wouldn’t push it any further.

“We’ll leave it at that,” she said to Jack’s relief. “I have no further questions.”

The judge looked to the prosecutor. “Redirect examination, Mr. Owens?”

“Briefly, Judge.”

Ellis returned to her seat, obviously thinking she’d scored. Jack tried not to show how worried he was.

The prosecutor took his place before the witness. “Dr. Leed, I have just one question: If Mr. McCormick’s death was from self-inflicted injuries—whether accident or suicide—why would someone go to all the trouble of chaining his body to a concrete piling in Biscayne Bay and make it look like the bizarre work of a deranged serial killer?”

It was the gaping hole in the erotic asphyxiation theory, and it wasthereason Jack had steered clear of it. But Shaky’s lawyer had served up the lob, and the prosecutor had smashed it into the forecourt at the jury’s feet. Jack had to do something to minimize the impact.

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