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“We’re talking about teenagers here.”
“Right, so secondary nocturnal enuresis does have psychological underpinnings. It is the result of a child — or a teenager, or an adult, for that matter — feeling a high degree of stress, anxiety, or emotional trauma.”
“Like living in a youth hall that was run like a jail?”
“Absolutely. You said Novak was a bully. School bullying is a significant cause of secondary nocturnal enuresis. A child has deep anxiety about having to go to school and possibly being victimized by a bully. It leads to a cycle that affects the brain-bladder connection. Fear leads to disrupted sleep, which leads to fatigue. Fatigue eventually leads to a deep sleep during which the brain doesn’t register sensory signals from the bladder, and the child wets the bed. Some of the kids Novak bullied might very well have wet their beds in fear of him.”
“He was more than a bully. He was a killer.”
“I’ve read the stories about the MacLaren lawsuits and the settlement. Any indication that Novak was a sexual predator as well?”
“Some. There was an attempted rape and murder of a girl when he was there. I haven’t tied him to it, but it fits.”
“The girls weren’t separated from the boys?”
“They were except at meals and some parties. Getting to the girls’ side could be done, but if you got caught, they’d move you to another youth hall. Unless you got a pass from management.”
“Did Novak have that?”
“I’m beginning to think so. I think the guy who ran the place was grooming him for the life he’s been living since getting out of MacLaren.”
“That’s horrible. He had free rein in there.”
“To do whatever he wanted to whoever he wanted — unless someone pushed back. Like Chops did.”
“How long was he in that place?”
“I don’t know. I got there when I was eleven and I think he was already there.”
“So we can’t know for sure whether he was called the king of the bedwetters because of the other children’s fear of him or because he was a bedwetter himself.”
Bosch nodded.
“Either way, his saying that to you is telling,” Hinojos said.
“How so?” Bosch asked.
“It shows a self-awareness that you wouldn’t normally expect in a criminal like Novak.”
Bosch nodded again.
“Well, thanks for the psych eval, Doc,” he said. “It’s good to get a handle on this guy.”
“If I helped, I’m glad,” Hinojos said.
Bosch looked past her to the window. He could see dawn light leaking in around the drawn shade.
“I’m going to take a shower,” he said. “You should try to go back to sleep.”
She looked at him without responding.
“What?” Bosch asked.
“I’m wondering what your experiences were at that place,” she said. “With predators.”
“You mean, was I a victim?”
“Were you?”
