Spiral

classes we had t-t-together.”
    ”Every day?”
    ”Most school days.”
    ”And this year?”
    ”Not so much, once her daddy t-t-took her out.”
    ”To be tutored by Duy Tranh.”
    Another nod.
    ”Kalil, did Veronica like Mr. Tranh?”
    ”I guess.”
    ”She ever tell you about problems with him?”
    Kalil shook his head.
    A different tack. ”Can you tell me why you wanted to videotape the party?”
    Another glance up. ”My speech specialist, she thinks it’s a good idea for us t-t-to do that kind of stuff.”
    ”What kind of stuff?”
    Biggs broke in. ”Things like painting or photography, babe, shit that don’t need no talking.”
    I looked over at him. ”Mr. Biggs, please?”
    ”I pay for the speech woman to help him, I can tell you what she think.”
    ”Yes, you can. I’d just rather hear it from Kalil, okay?” Biggs sat back in the chair, reaching for his cigarette pack before catching himself.
    I returned to Kalil. ”You enjoy videotaping?”
    Tiny nod.
    ”Have you been doing it long?”
    A shrug.
    ”How long, Kalil?”
    He looked over toward his father. ”Daddy got me the camera for Christmas, when my specialist said it was a good idea.”
    ”So, as of the time of the birthday party at Mr. Helides’s house, you’d had the camera for only a few weeks?”
    ”I guess.”
    Might explain why he didn’t turn on the audio at first, but I asked anyway.
    Kalil shook his head. ”Just forgot, with everybody running around the house.”
    ”Where around the house?”
    ”Everywhere. The living room, the kitchen, the p-p-p-p...”
    Neck and jaw.
    I said, ”The pool, Kalil?”
    A nod.
    ”Did you go swimming that day?”
    Another nod.
    ”Tell me about it?”
    ”We all went, mostly.”
    ”Who didn’t?”
    ”I don’t know. Just didn’t see everybody there when I was.”
    ”Was Veronica in the pool when you were?”
    Again the nod.
    ”Why didn’t you use your camera then?”
    Kalil looked up, and his father came forward in the third chair.
    The son said, ”What?”
    ”Why didn’t you shoot tape of the pool part of the birthday?”
    ”Camera’s not supposed t-t-to get wet.”
    Biggs said, ”I pay near fifteen hundred for that thing, babe. Damn well not gonna get it ruint.”
    I glanced at him, and he sat back again.
    ”Kalil, why did you want the other cameras turned off during the party?”
    A head shake this time.
    ”I mean the security cameras in Mr. Helides’s house.” He looked at me, then his father, then me again. ”It’s like I t-t-told the p-p-police.”
    ”Told them what?”
    Hesitation. ”Was Very’s idea.”
    ”Veronica wanted the other cameras off?”
    A double nod this time.
    ”Kalil, did she give you a reason?”
    Just one nod now.
    ”What was it?”
    ”Very said I was supposed to have only mine.”
    ”Only yours?”
    ”Only my t-t-tape of her singing, for her granddaddy.” Which was when Kalil had turned on the camera’s audio. ”Did Veronica tell you why?”
    ”She just wanted it her way. Very was like that.” Something clicked for me. ”Didn’t it strike you as odd?”
    ”I just t-t-told you. She was—”
    ”Odd that Veronica wouldn’t want her grandfather to have a videotape of his own birthday party?”
    A shrug.
    Buford Biggs said, ”Could of just dubbed him one, after Kalil took the original.”
    I looked at the father. Even though what he said was true, I didn’t think it was the truth.
    Back to his son. ”Kalil, why didn’t you keep filming the party after Veronica sang?”
    ”Didn’t seem much sense t-t-to, everybody mad and all.”
    ”I don’t think that’s it.”
    A stare this time, for the first time.
    ”I think Veronica told you to start the audio only when she began singing, and to stop the tape after she finished.” Kalil’s mouth opened as his father said to me, ”The hell you talking about, babe?”
    ”Your son didn’t just forget to engage the audio part of the camera at the beginning of the party. Veronica wanted him to do it that way, so she’d be the center of attention, even on the tape of her own grandfather’s birthday celebration.” I turned to my right. ”Kalil, that’s what happened, isn’t it?”
    I wasn’t sure what would come out of the young man’s mouth until he began to wail, jumping up from the chair and running toward the sliding glass door.
    ”Very wanted me t-t-to have it, like the others. She was so b-b-beautiful.” Kalil couldn’t get the door to move. ”She d-d-didn’t have