'When you saw who together?'
'Daphne and Martin Shore, talking together, when we first went to the party at the Bowmer. I just flat lost it. They were off in the dark theater, sitting with their heads so close they must have been necking. They didn't think I saw them. I knew about Shore, of course. Daphne had told me all about him long ago. They started out as partners and were even married for a short time. But that was all in the past. At least, I thought it was. Then, when I saw them together like that, acting so cozy, I don't know what got into me. I went crazy. That's when I hit the sauce.
'You saw the bar at the party. There was plenty of booze to choose from, and I chose it all. When we left the party to walk back to the Mark Anthony, I was already drunk and plenty pissed. Daphne and I ended up in a terrible fight. For a while, we walked on opposite sides of the alley, screaming insults, but I don't think anyone noticed because of all the sirens and fire trucks down on the street.'
'That must have been when the accident happened, and when Martin Shore got killed.'
'That's right,' Guy agreed. 'I suppose it was, but I didn't know that at the time. By then I was too drunk to know anything, and I probably wasn't much fun to be around, either. There was a message waiting for Daphne at the hotel. When she told me she was going for a walk, I accused her of all kinds of terrible things. I told her she was probably going to meet with Martin Shore up in the park, that they'd go off in the bushes and fuck like a pair of dogs.'
He blushed then, recalling those awful words. For a moment, with the ruddy color back in his cheeks, he looked more like himself-the way he'd been on Saturday night when the two of us crossed the street together before the plays. The color faded, almost as fast as it had appeared, leaving him washed-out and sallow.
'I'm sorry I said those things now,' Guy said softly. 'It hurts like hell that the very last thing I ever said to her was so hateful and mean. I'd take it back if I could, but right then, more than anything, I wanted to hurt her. I said if she walked out of the lobby not to bother coming back, that I'd leave Ashland and go home without her. She probably thought I was bluffing-that I was too drunk to try it-and she was right. I was too drunk, but I did it anyway. That's how I ended up here.'
He paused, tracing shapeless forms in the splotches of spilled coffee on the tabletop, connecting the dots with streaks of brown.
'I really did leave her,' he went on distractedly. 'In my mind, I was leaving for good, but I had no idea I was abandoning her to a murderer. Jesus! What a creep I am! What an incredibly worthless, no-good creep! Where was I when she needed me? I'll tell you where I was-being arrested and carried into a hospital because I was too goddamned drunk to walk!'
Guy Lewis' deep voice quavered, shaken by the intensity of his own self-loathing. 'If she's not alive,' he added softly, 'I don't much care if I am, either.'
Veiled threats of suicide are fairly common in those kinds of circumstances. When someone says they don't want to go on living after some unforseen tragedy, it's always easy to stand outside the circle of their pain and give worthy advice. 'You don't mean that,' and 'You'll get over it,' and, worse, 'Life goes on,' are only a few of a thousand empty-minded statements that devalue the shattered treasures of someone else's heart.
Daphne Lewis might have been a consummate scam artist and an unfaithful wife to boot. The things she did might have been reprehensible and criminal both, but she had been the single light in Guy Lewis' life. Without her, he was virtually incapable of continued existence. The rest of the world might have mocked him and called Daphne his 'trophy wife,' but to Guy Lewis, she had been a rare jewel, a prize worthy of the game at whatever price it cost him.
'How did you meet her?' I asked.
'At the Rep,' he said, 'at one of the first fund-raisers after we opened the Bagley Wright Theater back in the early eighties. Daphne and Monica, the girl who used to have Alex's job, knew one another from somewhere, although I can't recall now just where. Monica was the one who introduced us.
'It was love at first sight, for me anyway. Unfortunately, I was still married to Maggie at the time. That was a big problem. But someone who deals in chemical toilets gets used to dealing with shit, one way or another. It's godawful. It's messy, but somebody has to do it. My father made a fortune at it, and so have I. I figured if I had to spend some of what I call my hard-earned turd money just to get rid of Maggie, I would. And I did, too. She fought me every step of the way, and her lawyer drove a hell of a hard bargain, but I figured Daphne was worth it-and she was.'
As he warmed to the telling, some of the color and animation returned to Guy Lewis' pathetic cheeks. Just talking about Daphne seemed to make him feel better. I felt sorry as hell for him. He wouldn't be able to talk about her like this forever, because I suspected I knew some dark things about Daphne Lewis that were going to poison the well of his treasured memories.
'You said you thought your wife was being blackmailed?'
Guy nodded. 'I never balanced a checkbook in my life,' he said. 'That's why God gave us accountants. But I'm one of those guys, if you ask me what's in my wallet, I can tell you within five bucks. Same way with my bank accounts. I'm not tight. I've met men who are. They make a lot of money and then can't stand to spend it. Or can't stand for their wives to spend it. Not me. I say, ‘If we've got it, use it.'
'Daphne had a real hard life until she met me, God bless her. I wanted to give her everything she ever wanted. I wanted her to have fun. She got a real kick out of having plenty of money. Used to be, if a big chunk disappeared out of the household accounts, something would come back in-a piece of bronze sculpture she liked or a painting maybe. She liked those damned abstracts best. Once she bought a whole damn garden and had them move it into our yard a brick at a time.
'In the last year or so, three big lumps of money evaporated completely. I didn't ask her about it, because I figured maybe she was getting me something for my birthday. I was afraid to ask, afraid I'd wreck the surprise. But now I don't think that anymore. Do you?'
His direct question caught me off base. 'How much money?'
'Right at a hundred-fifty thou, give or take.'
I shook my head. 'No, Mr. Lewis,' I said. 'There may have been a surprise, but I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for a birthday present.'
He nodded sadly. 'That's what I thought,' he said.
Picking up the coffee cup, he swilled down the remainder of its contents and then took an almost unconscious bite of his sandwich. 'Tell me about Tanya Dunseth,' he said, chewing thoughtfully. 'Know anything about her?'
'Not much.'
'Fraymore says she was in some of the movies Daphne and Martin Shore made.' Guy paused and took another bite. 'That's how people are going to remember Daphne now, isn't it?'
'What do you mean?'
'That she was involved in those movies once.'
'Some people may,' I hedged.
'I know better,' he returned. 'Don't try to placate me by telling me any different. Daphne did a lot of good for charities in Seattle. No matter what anybody thinks, she was a hard worker. What I do isn't very pretty, but the nonprofits like having my money on their balance sheets. Daphne was glamorous as hell. Having her with me made me almost…well, legitimate. And I did the same for her. We could go places together that wouldn't have let either one of us in by ourselves. But now that Daphne's dead and gone and can't defend herself, those same society dames who used to suck up to her will throw her to the wolves. They'll probably still want my money, though,' he added bitterly.
'Why is the world like that, Mr. Beaumont? Why do people love to find someone like Daphne-someone beautiful or a little different, someone they can smear or tear to pieces?'
'Guy,' I said, 'if I knew the answer to that, you can bet I wouldn't be working as a homicide detective.'
'No,' he agreed, 'I don't suppose you would.'
Listening to Guy's version of the story, I wondered where the truth lay. Had Daphne been carrying on with Martin Shore the whole time or was she being blackmailed by him? If not him, who else was a likely candidate? How much did Guy Lewis know about Daphne's real past? How many other kids besides Tanya had been victimized by taking a starring role in one of Martin Shore's movies?
Given what I had learned from other sources, I tended to agree with people who would say the fates meted out to both Martin Shore and Daphne Lewis were nothing if not just desserts, but sitting closeted in a darkened
