Spiral

any—”
    ”You don’t understand, Lieutenant,” from Helides, shaking his head in a motion that more resembled a shudder. ”Veronica wasn’t killed by some transient maniac peeping through a window.” The Skipper swallowed hard. ”She was murdered by someone attending my... birthday party.” Now just a hollow stare, the right side of his face like a Halloween mask. ”By an invited guest in my home.”
    I gave it a long beat before, ”Colonel, I think you could do better hiring someone other than me for this.”
    ”I don’t, and I’ll tell you why.” Helides straightened himself in the chair. ”After retiring from the service, I went into investment advising. I even took my own advice, to the point where I don’t need it anymore. I have a lot of money, Lieutenant. For present purposes, an unlimited amount. Which can be a dangerous... distraction in South
    Florida.”
    ”Distraction?” I said.
    ‘Yes. That profiler only confirmed what I already suspected, that I’d be seen as a doddering old fool who could be ripped off by any charlatan offering his snake oil with some snappy patter. I need an investigator I can trust absolutely, someone who’ll treat me loyally rather than royally.”
    Out of the corner of my eye, I thought Tranh flinched at that. Then I looked over to Justo. ”Sir, it seems that you have the right person already.”
    ”Agreed, but only for certain aspects of this situation. Lieutenant Vega is an excellent lawyer with exceptional judgment, but he hasn’t been an investigator since our time in Saigon together.” A pause. ”Also, he has a family himself.” I wasn’t sure I understood that one. ”Meaning?”
    The Skipper sighed, the right side of his lip flapping a bit, some spittle running down onto his chin. As Tranh moved toward him, Helides swiped at it with the back of his good hand, then swiped again. ”Blasted stroke, makes me drool like an infant.” He refocused on me. ”Lieutenant, I’m more than a little concerned that any investigation I commission could make the killer take another life.”
    I turned that over. ”Another reason to stay with the police investigators already assigned to the case. Not many killers would go after a badge.”
    The Skipper closed his eyes a moment, the right lid fluttering when he reopened them. ”Lieutenant, the police have had this case for over a week, and if they are telling me the truth, they’ve discovered nothing. I need a fresh approach, and I need it...” Another hard swallow. ”... soon.”
    I was pretty sure that this time I got what he meant. ”Colonel—”
    ”At least let me walk you through what we believe must have happened. Then decide.”
    I owed Nicolas Helides that much. And a lot more.

THREE

    Since the stroke, I pretty much confine myself to the downstairs rooms.”
    Not hard to understand, as I followed the Skipper and Duy Tranh along a wood-paneled corridor, Justo staying behind in the den. Like someone with polio, Helides grasped a single aluminum brace in his left hand, but he used it more as a ski pole than a crutch, pointing it forward and then vaulting a little when its white rubber tip made contact with the beige carpet.
    ”And now to the right.”
    The Skipper turned as he said the words, that dank smell of chlorine noticeable as I reached the branching hallway. The carpeting gave way to tile laid in a blue and ivory checkerboard pattern, and Helides preceded me into a gleaming, humid space with a glass wall on the side facing the Intracoastal and the moored sailboat. We moved more deliberately on the damp tiles, coming to a stop near the end of a pool that was Olympic-size in length and four lanes across.
    ”Before the stroke, I used to swim every day. Now Duy helps me walk through the water at the shallower end. Physical therapy for the muscles that still work.” The Skipper pointed his wobbling brace at the far corner of the pool—the northeast one, if the Intracoastal ran due south by the house. ”Veronica was found there.”
    ”By who, Colonel?”
    ”By me,” said Tranh.
    I glanced at him, got a neutral stare from the dark eyes. ”How long had she been missing from the party?”
    Helides shook his head. ”Not that kind of a party, Lieutenant. Not so formal, I mean. People drifted in and around the house all afternoon, and just about everyone had been in the pool at some point before Duy came in here.”
    I looked away from Helides. ”Were you going for a swim