Spiral

his—
    Helides said something from the shadows that I didn’t catch. ”I’m sorry, David?”
    Slightly louder with, ”John, what do you think... happened to Malinda and Mr. Vega?”
    ”I don’t know. Did either of them ever say anything to you about being afraid?”
    The cough again. ”To... me?”
    ”I know it sounds unlikely, but I thought maybe Ms. Dujong might have told you something.”
    ”No.” A pause. ”No, she just asked about... me. Sat where you did.” The head turned toward the house. ”In my room, I mean. It was easy to talk with Malinda, but now someone has probably taken her away.”
    ”I’m afraid so.”
    Another bob of the head. ”I used to wish... for that.”
    ”What?”
    ”Malinda asked about my... dreams, what I really wanted in life. I told her... that what I really wanted was to die.” A stirring in his chair. ”Oh, I do not mean... suicide, though without Dr. Forbes and his pills... I think I could. I mean just for someone to take me away....” His right hand came up and then down. ”Away from here, from my life. To a place where I could start everything over again, all sound in mind and body.”
    My time in Boston after Nancy’s death flooded back. ”I don’t think life works that way, David.”
    ”No,” came the voice softly from the shadow of the tree. ”No, it never... seems to, does it?”
    Duy Tranh yelled, ”Mr. Cuddy, are you out there?” Helides jumped as I turned toward the back door of the house.
    I said, ”What is it?”
    ”There is a telephone call for you.”
    Getting to my feet, I thanked David Helides for his time before breaking into a run.

TWENTY-THREE

    We found her car,” said Lourdes Pintana’s voice on the other end of the line.
    ”Where?”
    ”Got a pencil?”

    It was a big, park-and-lock lot near the beach, behind a string of restaurants and bars. I could see a marked cruiser and an unmarked sedan blocking the driveway, Pintana and a uniformed officer standing together at the dovetailing trunks. Nearby, an older man sat in a lawn chair and stroked the neck and back of an obese cat taking up most of his lap.
    I left the Achieva at the curb and walked over to the police cars. Pintana pointed at a yellow Toyota Celica several rows away, then beckoned me to follow her toward it. Over a shoulder, she said to the officer, ”Dundee, don’t let anybody else drive in.”
    The older man looked up from his cat. ”Oh, that’s just peachy.”
    Pintana said, ”Only until our tow truck arrives, Mr. Freeman.”
    A squirting spit from the lawn chair. ”What I get for calling the cops in the first place.”
    Pintana just shook her head.
    As we approached the Celica, I said, ”How did you find it?”
    ”Didn’t,” she said. ”I put it in the computer as a bolo.” Meaning, ”Be On the Look Out” for. ”And?”
    ”And when ‘Freeman, Arthur’ back there noticed this car was still in his lot a day later without the guy coming back to claim it, he called into the department to let us know it was going to be towed.”
    I said, ”The guy?’”
    We reached the Toyota. ”Sí.”
    ”Description?”
    Pintana almost smiled. ”I’ll let you ask Freeman when we get back to him.” Then she turned serious. ”I don’t see any damage. You?”
    I walked around the car. ”No.”
    ”See anything else?”
    My hands clasped behind me so I wouldn’t accidentally touch paint-job or chrome, I peered in through the windows. A beaded talisman hung from the rearview mirror. Some wadded napkins lay on the floormat, passenger’s side, and a puddle of dark liquid had dried on the armrest, driver’s side. The rear seat was clean, as though Malinda Dujong never used it.
    I mentioned the stain to Pintana.
    She said, ”That all?”
    ”I saw something like the talisman on the rearview when we were back in Dujong’s apartment.”
    A nod this time. ”Me, too.”
    ”You pop the trunk?”
    ”I thought we should wait till our truck got it back to the garage, let the techies do their thing in a controlled environment.”
    I said, ”What if Dujong’s in there?”
    ”I don’t get any decomposition smell coming out.”
    ”What if she’s alive in there?”
    ”You think that’s likely?”
    I looked around the lot. ”Seems to me there are plenty of places in your city where our killer could have left her car without its being found this quickly.”
    Pintana stared at me a long moment before turning toward the uniformed officer at the entrance.