Spiral

t-t-to d-d-die.”
    He finally slid the door open, then didn’t close it after running inside.
    Buford Biggs stood abruptly in front of me, his hands more fists at the end of his stringy forearms. ”Mother- fucke r , you see what you done?”
    I didn’t get up with him. ”Did your son take any other videos of Veronica Held?”
    ”You can piss shit, Mr. Mother-fucker, before me or my son talk to you again.”
    ”Mr. Biggs, where were you and Kalil after Veronica left her grandfather’s living room?”
    I watched Buford Biggs stalk off toward the open doorway, sliding it violently shut behind him. Then I stayed in my chair a little longer, but not to wait for the hummingbirds this time.

    I’d risen about halfway from my seat toward going back inside the house when the sliding glass door opened again and Malinda Dujong stepped out onto the patio. As she slid it back into place and came toward me, I stood all the way up and paid more attention to what she was wearing: a bright, silky dress that seemed custom-tailored as it floated with her strides, the shoulders padded a little above the delicate bone structure, the hem riding just south of her knees. Dujong’s calves were slim and perfectly shaped, heeled sandals on her feet. The closer she got, the more her eyes arrested me again, set deep in a face framed by lustrous black hair.
    Dujong said, ”Kalil and then Buford go by me inside. They are very upset.”
    I gestured at the chair Biggs, Sr., had been using. ‘Tour concern for them spares me trying to find you. Sit, please.”
    Dujong looked at both empty chairs, then took the one I’d indicated, crossing her legs and smoothing the dress down over her knees. ”You say something to them?”
    ”I asked Kalil questions that he and his father didn’t like.”
    A measuring stare, the irises seeming almost as black as the pupils. ”I hope I am not wrong about you, Mr. Cuddy.”
    ”Wrong?”
    ”When I believe that you do not hurt innocent people intentionally.”
    ”Innocence is a relative quality.”
    ”Relative.” A different stare. ”You make fun that Buford and Kalil are father and son?”
    ”No. I mean that there are degrees of innocence, just like there are degrees of guilt.”
    ”I understand now.” Dujong blinked twice. ”Why do you want to talk with me?”
    ”I’d like to find out what you know about Veronica Held’s death.”
    ”But I was not at the Colonel’s birthday party.”
    Given the welter of people I’d seen on the video in Sergeant Lourdes Pintana’s office, I hadn’t noticed whether Dujong was there or not. I reached into my inside jacket pocket and took out the list of guests Justo Vega had made for me. She wasn’t on it.
    Without leaning forward, Dujong said, ”The names of the people at the party?”
    I folded the paper and slid it back into my pocket. ”Are you psychic as well as a spiritual advisor?”
    ”Yes.”
    No hesitation, no hint of humor. Just quiet confidence in the answer. ”Then what am I thinking now, Ms. Dujong?”
    ”That you do not believe I am either one.”
    Not exactly a stump-the-band question, though. ”Jeanette Held believes otherwise.”
    ”Because I have been able to help her.” A third stare. ”Perhaps I can do the same for you.”
    ”Help me with the case?”
    ”No. No, I mean with your loss.”
    ”My ...?”
    ”The person you care about so deeply who you have lost so recently.”
    My turn to stare. ”Who told you that?”
    ”You did, Mr. Cuddy.” Dujong waved a hand behind her. ”When we are inside the living room here.”
    I tried to keep my voice steady. ”I think I’d have remembered.”
    ”Perhaps, though you did not use words.”
    ”Meaning, you can read my mind, too?”
    Dujong remained perfectly still, but closed her eyes. ”Meaning I can sense such things. Body language, tone of voice, aura.”
    ”Aura.”
    She opened the eyes, and I felt drawn into them. ”Because you wish not to believe me does not mean I am wrong. You are a man who has suffered many losses, but I think only one other more... difficult than this new one.”
    I almost said, ”Beth,” before catching myself.
    Dujong smoothed her dress again at the knees. ”It is painful for you to be doing this thing for Mr. Helides. Perhaps I can make it easier.”
    ”A minute ago you said you weren’t at the party.”
    ”That is right. However, I know some things which you might wish to know, also.”
    I leaned back in my chair. ”Go ahead.”
    ”I