Spiral

unless she call first.”
    ”Any problems between Ms. Dujong and Mr. Radescu?”
    ”Cornel? Why he have problem? He have life of Riley.”
    I must have looked at her oddly.
    Temkin smiled knowingly. ”I too young for those shows, but in Korea, I learn English from Americans at Army base. I never read Shakepeare except in my language, but television, movies, I could be on Jeopardy game.”
    ”So, no problems between—”
    ”—Malinda and Cornel? No, I think she tell me.”
    ”How about Ms. Dujong and Mrs. Helides?”
    ”Ah, different story. I don’t think they give each other Christinas presents.”
    ”Do you know why?”
    ”I ask Malinda once. She tell me, Cassandra not like the way Very—her granddaughter—behave here sometimes. Cassandra think maybe Malinda tell her bad things.”
    ”That Ms. Dujong told Veronica Held bad things?”
    ”Yes, but not about Cassandra. More like, advice for life.”
    ”Advice for Veronica’s life?”
    A nod as our iced teas arrived in plastic beer cups. ”I think Very talk to Malinda, ask her questions.”
    ”About what?”
    Temkin tried her drink, then reached for a sugar packet. ”Malinda never say. She is professional, not tell on her clients.”
    ”Veronica was a client of Ms. Dujong?”
    A shrug as Mi Soo Temkin stirred in some sweetener. ”That was word Malinda use.”

    When Cornel Radescu opened the door to his unit, I said, ”No need to get me a drink. I brought my own.”
    He stared down at what was left of my iced tea, then back up at me. Radescu wore a dirty T-shirt and raggedy shorts. There was plaster dust in his long black hair, the kitchen behind and over his shoulder all torn up.
    I said, ”Renovating?”
    ”What do you want?”
    A familiar voice behind him said, ”Me, probably.” Radescu’s eyes closed for just a second. ”Cassie, I told you not—”
    ”Oh, Cornel, the bastard’s a detective. He can probably sense I’m here, just like Malinda can.”
    I spoke to Radescu. ”May I come in?”
    He stared at me a little more, his features so blank I really didn’t know what answer he’d give. ”Why not? It seems to be the way of my life now.”
    The living room beyond the kitchen was a lot bigger than the one in Malinda Dujong’s place. I didn’t see any bedrooms, though there was a four-by-four hole in the ceiling that a man with an eight-foot vertical leap could have jumped through.
    ”Cornel’s putting in a spiral staircase.” Cassandra Helides had taken off her sunglasses, but was still wearing the ball cap. And, at least so far, a sleeveless mauve pullover and skin-tight white slacks. Rolling her shoulders against the back of the sofa in basically the same way she’d rolled her rump at the back of her house, she said, ”Very romantic, don’t you think?”
    I took a barrel chair that contrasted nicely with the colors of the other furniture. Radescu stayed on his feet.
    ”Mrs. Helides, you mentioned Malinda Dujong.”
    ”Yeah. That’s your flavor of the day, right? I mean, when that call from Spi came in this morning, you’d have thought Nick finally got the word that those Vietdongs had won.”
    Only half-correcting her, I said, ”They did win.”
    A flip of her hands. ”Then whoever.”
    Radescu said, ”You asked us yesterday after my match about Malinda. Now everyone around the clubhouse says she is missing.”
    ”So far as we can tell, nobody’s heard from her since sometime on Wednesday.”
    ”We?”
    ”The police are involved, too.”
    Helides started doing leg lifts, knees locked, toes pointed toward the hole in the ceiling. ”I wouldn’t worry about the cops. They still can’t figure out who dunked our little Very, and there weren’t more than a dozen of us in the house that day.”
    I waited a bit before saying, ”You don’t seem worried about Ms. Dujong, either.”
    ”Hey, like I told you back on the Isle, I didn’t have much use for her advice, so I’m not exactly holding my breath till you find out what happened to her.”
    ”What makes you think anything has?”
    Dropping the leg lifts, Helides began rotating her feet while keeping the calves stationary. ”The way you keep coming back here.” The coy smile. ”Unless it’s just to see me?” Radescu said, ”Only Mr. John Cuddy comes to this unit, not yours.” Then, in my direction, ”What is it that you want, really?”
    ”To know who killed Veronica Held, and what’s happened to Malinda Dujong.”
    ”Very died five, six miles from