Spiral

adjacent entertainment center. Most of the other decorations were exotic, including some beaded, pendant talismans, I assumed from the Philippines.
    I turned around. ”Can we check the bedroom?”
    Nole nodded, gesturing to the left.
    Just past the trophy shelf, a doorway stood open. The furnishings were very feminine. Bed made, plush comforter on top. Again, nothing out of the ordinary.
    ”Bathroom?”
    ”Master bath is that way,” said Nole.
    I walked into the alcove for sink and mirror, separate shower beyond. Big enough for two people, with frosted glass doors so you couldn’t see into it.
    I moved over to the handle, hearing Floyd and Nole coming up behind me. I slid open the door.
    Nothing.
    I leaned in to touch tile and soap, then checked the towel on a brass hatrack. All dry as a bone.
    I looked at Nole. ”You said master bath?”
    ”Excuse me?”
    ‘You said ‘master bath’ before. Does that mean there’s another?”
    ”Oh. Yes, back this way.”
    She led us to what I’d taken for a closet, but the door opened onto a separate suite with bath to the right and bedroom to the left. The bed was stripped, the bathroom feeling sterile.
    I asked, ”Ms. Dujong doesn’t use this part?”
    Floyd said, ”These two-bedroom units were designed so that owners could rent out a section during our high season.”
    ”Does she do that?”
    ”Not for a while,” said Nole. ”At least, I think I’d have noticed.”
    The feeling in the air backed her up.
    Don Floyd stared at me. ”So, John, what do you think?” I moved past them and into the living room. ”Ms. Nole-”
    ”Oh, Shirley, please.”
    ”Shirley, where are these plants you water?”
    ”Out there, on the porch.”
    I crossed the living room to draperies on a pull cord. I drew them open. Beyond the sliding glass door, a six-by-twelve, screened porch contained eight or ten large plants in colorful pots.
    Unfortunately, the pots were a lot more colorful than the plants.
    ”Oh, no,” said Nole. ”They’re dying.”
    Several looked okay, but most were drooping or worse. As Nole went toward the kitchen, I said, ”Shirley, how long would it take for these to get like this?”
    Over the sound of running water, she said, ”The southern exposure really bakes plants, though it also helps them grow faster. Malinda’s always had me come in every morning.” I’d seen Dujong late on the afternoon before, at Spi Held’s house. ”Could they get this way within twenty-four hours?”
    ”Maybe, but I don’t know for sure.”
    Floyd said quiedy, ”I don’t like what I’m feeling, John.”
    I nodded.
    Nole came out with a plastic can, sticking its snout under leaves and sprouts. ”But I can tell you that Malinda would never have left these long enough for them to get so parched without asking me to tend them.”
    ”Anybody else she might have contacted?”
    ”Mi Soo, but like I said, she hadn’t heard from Malinda either.”
    I could see an answering machine on a lower shelf of the entertainment center. ”Maybe we could listen to Ms. Dujong’s tape messages.”
    Floyd and Nole exchanged troubled glances. She said, ”Her telephone calls, you mean?”
    ”Yes.”
    Floyd shook his head. ”That’d feel mighty like intruding on Malinda’s privacy.”
    Shirley Nole nodded, and I guessed I couldn’t blame either of them.
    Don Floyd said, ”What else do you think we should do, John?”
    Only one more thing. ”What kind of car does Ms. Dujong drive?”

    The three of us walked separately over the entire parking area, but nobody could find Dujong’s yellow Toyota Celica. When we met back at her building, I told Floyd and Nole that I’d call the police, but not to expect much of a response, given the absence of evidence that anything suspicious had happened to her. As they thanked me for my concern, there was a loud cheer and some sustained applause from near the clubhouse.
    Floyd looked in that direction. ”Well, somebody seems to have won their match.”
    I said, ”The one with Cornel Radescu in it?”
    ”Timing’s about right.”
    ”I’d like to talk to him again.”
    Don Floyd smiled. ”And I’d like to see that, but I’m afraid I’ll have to take a rain check. My bride and I scheduled an early supper.” He stuck out his hand. ”You need anything, John, you call me, hear?”
    I thanked him and Shirley Nole both, then started walking toward the clubhouse.

    There were about twenty people in the patio area between the pool and the