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have looked like a dunce to the Skipper, because he said, ”My son’s daughter, Veronica, was... performing as the singer in his rock-and-roll band, ‘Spiral.’ She died in this house on my birthday.”
    Rock band and... ” Your granddaughter was the little girl who drowned in a pool?”
    Helides flared. ”No, Lieutenant, she did not ‘drown.’ She was drowned, and not in a pool, but in my pool. And I would greatly appreciate your helping me identify the... bastard who did that to my family.”
    The first time I could ever remember the Skipper cursing.

    Justo had just finished helping Tranh make drinks for all four of us. I sat in a brass-tacked, red-leather chair, Justo on i ts matching couch. The Skipper had never left his seat, and Tranh remained standing, having taken one small sip after his boss had raised his glass in the good left hand and said, ”To old soldiers.”
    I lowered the vodka/rocks in my crystal tumbler. ”Colonel, are you sure you want to hire one as a private investigator?”
    To drink, Helides tilted both his glass and his head slightly to the left, enlisting gravity in the fight against the slack right cheek. ”I’ve tried everything else. Lieutenant?” Justo took his cue. ”John, the Colonel has met with the investigating officers on die police force and spoken with die State’s Attorney’s office, our prosecutor here. He has even—”
    ”—hired a profiler,” finished Helides. ”As in that horrible JonBenet Ramsey situation from Colorado. Golly Moses, Lieutenant, the man charged me fifteen thousand dollars to generate a report that said we should be looking for some orphaned drifter driving an old station wagon.”
    I said, ”Who may have broken in here?”
    ”What?” said the Skipper, clearly confused.
    Slowing down a little, I chose my next words carefully. ”From the things I’ve heard about profiling, the killer is usually a loner who wanders a great deal, partly for his own reasons, partly to throw off 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