Spiral

me.
    ”Sir, what I’ve found out is still just logic until I can put some proof to it, but I’ll have that evidence by tomorrow.”
    ”Mother Goose!” Helides tried to bring himself under control. ”Then why did you come to my son with the information this morning?”
    ”Because it was something he said that closed the circle.”
    ”The circle?”
    ”Of the logic, Colonel.”
    Helides moved his good hand up to the functioning side of his face. ”Lieutenant, are you all right?”
    ”I believe so, sir.”
    ”I mean”—the hand went back down to his lap—”that concussion in the fight you had with... His name again?”
    ”Ford Walton.”
    ”Walton, yes. Are you sure you’re now thinking clearly?”
    ”Reasonably, but I’m not absolutely certain. Which is another reason I want hard evidence before I spell out anything further.”
    Duy Tranh spoke for the first time. ”If you are concerned about evidence, Mr. Cuddy, perhaps you should consult with a lawyer.”
    ”I plan to call Justo Vega.”
    ”If you can’t reach him,” said Nicolas Helides in an iron voice, ”he’ll be here tonight by seven, and so should you.”

    ”Mr. Cuddy, wait!”
    In the corridor outside the den, I turned around as Duy Tranh closed the door behind him. After six determined strides, he reached me.
    ”I have things to do, Mr. Tranh.”
    ”In addition to what you already have done to the Colonel?”
    ”What I’ve done to him?”
    An angry flash from the black irises. ”He loved his granddaughter, for all her faults. And ever since Veronica’s death, he has lived for the moment someone will bring him her killer. But just now, in that room, you... teased him.”
    ”How do you mean?”
    ”I mean just what I said! The Colonel is a proud old man with one remaining, defining goal. And you play games with that, and with his feelings. Even in front of a house servant like Delgis.”
    An awfully good deflection, but then, I’d come to believe that Duy Tranh was a very clever player. ”I’m sorry if it came off that way. Not every investigation progresses in a direct, linear—”
    ”I am not talking about your methods of investigation. I am talking about the spirit of an elder whom you serve in one way and I serve in others. That spirit must be nurtured, not... toyed with.”
    ”Mr. Tranh, take this one to the bank: I’m not toying with anyone involved in Veronica Held’s murder.”

    ”God, talk about the bad nickel.”
    I watched Cassandra Helides come around the opposite corner at the back of the house. She wore a thong bikini bottom and not much more on top, the implants she’d mentioned standing unnaturally forthright under the faux-leopard fabric.
    ”Mrs. Helides.”
    She stopped two feet in front of me when, given that we were outdoors and not sharing a secret, three feet would have felt more comfortable. But then, I didn’t think Helides was trying to make me feel comfortable.
    Her left thumb and forefinger went up to the spaghetti strap of material running from her shoulder toward her breast. Then the fingers slid down the strap like a firefighter going down a pole. ”I figured I missed you.”
    ”Missed me?” I said.
    ”Coming here. After Spi called in a huff a couple hours ago, I waited to see you, but I had an appointment that I don’t like to miss.”
    ”At the tennis club.”
    A saucy smile. ”At the spa, actually.” The right hand stroked her thigh as she gracefully shimmied toward the grass, then back up again, the hand following suit. ”Wax job. Go ahead, feel. Smooth as silk.”
    ”I’ll take your word for it.”
    ”Your loss.” Saucy gave way to coy. ”So, what did you find out about Very, our little dead lesbo?”
    ”The same thing Malinda Dujong did.”
    ”The fortune-teller? What could she know about it?”
    ”I thought you were the one who recommended her to Jeanette Held?”
    ”I did.” Helides changed hands and straps, but the effect was the same. ”A couple of girls I know at the club swore by her. And I even talked with Malinda a few times myself.”
    ”Until?”
    ”Until she told me things I didn’t need to hear.”
    ”For instance?”
    The left hand came over to me, its fingers doing the same thing they had been on her bikini. ”That I should ‘close’ one chapter of my life and ‘open’ another. Love ‘people,’ not ‘things.’”
    ”Meaning?”
    ”Meaning turn my back on a fortune and instead settle for short money that wouldn’t last me five