Shore was kicked off the force over there. They had split up shortly before all hell broke loose. After they split, Daphne somehow managed to go straight. Later she hooked up with Guy Lewis, while Shore started working in Seattle as a private eye.'
'Any current connection between them?'
'Between Daphne and Shore? Could be, but I haven't found one yet.'
Networking has always been Ron Peters' strong suit. Nonetheless, it was amazing that, sitting stuck in a desk-bound wheelchair in Seattle's Public Safety Building, he had learned almost as much as I had, with considerably less trouble and at far less expense. Knowing that made me humble.
'You've been working overtime,' I said.
He laughed. 'You know me. I'm a big one for using inside sources. That Ashland cop, Fraymore, has asked Seattle P.D. to cooperate with his investigation. Right now, they're looking into a possible blackmail angle. All I've had to do is ask a few discreet questions.'
'And know who to ask,' I added. 'Anything else?'
'That's about it, except for some clippings I've come up with on Guy Lewis. The guy's a real publicity hound. He ends up with his picture in the paper almost as often as the mayor, along with whichever wife is currently in vogue. Does he have a complex or what?'
'If you'd made your family fortune with chemical toilets, maybe you'd be defensive, too.'
'Maybe. Anyway, I have a whole fistful of society-page-type clippings and several photos of him and his two wives. Separately, of course. Naturally, Daphne Lewis and Maggie Lewis don't appear in any pictures together. If you'd like my unsolicited opinion, and judging by the photos alone, Guy did lots better in the looks department the second time around.'
'I suspected as much.'
Ron Peters laughed. 'I've got a picture of Maggie Lewis and a puppy she picked up at a Humane Society benefit. The dog's better-looking than she is. Want me to send you this stuff?'
'How much is there?'
'Ten, twelve pages.'
Even though I personally was out of it, and even though I didn't see that it would do much good, I didn't want to sound ungrateful. 'Please. Fax it on down to Ralph so we can take a look at it.'
'What about the information from Consumer Reports on the car seat and high chair?'
'Fax that, too,' I told him. 'And thanks.'
'No problem,' he said. 'Glad to do it.'
Once I reached Ashland, I drove straight to the Ashland Hills. All I wanted to do was tell Ralph I was out of it, that he was on his own, but Ralph's rented Lincoln wasn't in the parking lot, and no one answered the door when I knocked. I took a turn around the coffee shop in case he was there having breakfast, but when I couldn't find him, I headed back to the Oak Hill B amp; B. Maybe he was joining Alex for breakfast.
It turned out Ralph wasn't there, either. Alexis Downey was. So was Amber Dunseth. I found Alex sitting in the sun on the back deck watching Amber play with some stuffed animals. Alex didn't seem exactly overjoyed to see me.
'It wasn't nice to take off like that without letting me know,' she said. 'Given the chance, I would have gone along.'
I was struck by her obvious irritation. The day before I had left Ashland in my single-minded work mode, intent only on the jobs at hand-of seeing Guy Lewis and hurrying on to Walla Walla to do what was needed there. Like detectives everywhere, once I'm immersed in a case, there isn't much room left for personal considerations. It's part of my nature and one of the things that makes me good at what I do. It's also something that drives people around me crazy. It's a leading factor in statistical studies of police-officer divorces-mine included.
Dummy that I am, it hadn't occurred to me to invite Alex along on the trip to Walla Walla, much less that she might have wanted to go.
'Walla Walla's not all that much fun,' I said, in hopes of worming my way out of the doghouse. 'Besides, you enjoyed going to the play with Ralph, didn't you?'
'That's not the point,' she observed coolly. 'You forget, I see plays all the time. I thought we came here to spend time together.'
Touche. I tried changing the subject. 'Have you heard from Ralph this morning? I stopped on my way here, but he wasn't in.'
'Naturally, you went to see Ralph first,' Alex returned. 'Here.' She picked up Amber and angrily thrust the child in my direction. 'You take care of Amber for a few minutes while I take a bath and cool off. All the actors and technical people have a required meeting at the Elizabethan this morning. There wasn't anybody else to take care of Amber. Jeremy dropped her off again a little while ago.'
Carrying both the child and a collection of toys, I trailed Alex into the house, through the dining and living rooms, and up the stairs. Amber had spent the night with her mother, and I was in more trouble than I thought.
'Alex, what's going on?'
'Going on?' She paused in the doorway and spun around. I fully expected the door to slam shut in my face.
'I'll tell you what's going on, Mr. Beaumont. This may come as a surprise to you. It certainly does to me. I think I'm jealous, dammit, and I don't know what to do about it.'
I was standing there in the hallway, holding Amber with one arm while stuffed toys leaked out of my other arm and spilled down my leg. How could anyone be jealous of someone like that?
'Who are you jealous of?' I asked in genuine dismay.
She shrugged. 'I don't know. With Kelly and Jeremy and your whole family here-and now with all this business about Tanya-I feel like I'm on the outside of your life looking in. It's not very pleasant. I don't like it.'
'But, Alex, you asked me to help Tanya, remember?'
'I know, that isn't fair, is it?' she agreed, her voice near tears. 'If you're doing what I wanted, it's not right for me to feel lost and abandoned. I hate being unreasonable!'
I finally gave up and dropped the rest of the stuffed animals. Then I reached out and pulled Alex to me in an awkward, sideways, one-armed hug. 'Go take your bath,' I said. 'We'll talk about all this when you're finished. Maybe by then you'll feel better.'
She disappeared into the bathroom. I put Amber on the bed, then went back into the hallway to retrieve the scattered toys. I had no more than closed the door to the hallway when the bathroom door opened, and Alex popped her head out.
'I have one question,' she said.
'What's that?'
'Can we have dinner tonight? Just the two of us?'
By then I was prepared to grovel if that was what it took to earn my way back into Alex's good graces. Dinner was easy.
'You bet,' I said, meaning every word, not knowing that life was about to throw me another curve and that dinner with Alex that night would be a physical impossibility.
'Where would you like to go?' I asked.
Alex turned away from the bathroom door, leaving it slightly ajar, enough so that I caught a glimpse of naked leg as she climbed into the tub. 'Oh, I don't care. Someplace nice where we can talk. Dinky says there's a new French restaurant that's very good. It's called Monet's. We could try that.'
'Wherever you want to go will be fine,' I said.
With Amber playing contentedly on the bed beside me and in the comfortable intimacy of a bathroom/bedroom conversation, I slipped into a nodding doze. It wasn't quite like being married, but it was very nice.
Downstairs I heard the distant ring of a telephone, but it didn't cross my mind that it might be for me until I heard footsteps hurrying up the stairs. Someone tapped on the door. 'Mr. Beaumont,' Florence asked. 'Are you in there? Telephone.'
It was exactly like being married. I got up and opened the door. 'Who is it?' I asked.
'Jeremy. He says it's urgent.'
