J. Jance - Failure to appear

I didn't blame anyone for wanting to forget. I did, too.

On the lowest level of the deck stood a redwood picnic table with two splintery benches. We both sat. While we waited for Tanya to appear, I studied Ralph Ames. Not particularly tall or powerfully built, he was an unlikely-looking candidate for the role of knight in shining armor. I knew a daily regimen of swimming laps in his Scottsdale pool kept his body in fighting-trim condition. He was dressed casually that day, which, for Ralph, meant a Polo golf shirt, impeccably creased Ralph Lauren trousers, and blemish-free Johnston amp; Murphy loafers. Wing tips. With tassels.

"What will you do if Tanya turns you down?" I asked somberly.

"She won't." Ralph's reply was brisk and confident. "I'm prepared to play hardball."

Tanya, her hair pulled back in an unruly ponytail and wearing shorts and a tank top, emerged from the house a few minutes later. She was drying her hands on the back of her shorts, while Amber trailed behind, dragging along an assortment of toys. We both rose to meet them.

"Sorry it took so long, Mr. Beaumont," Tanya apologized. "House rules say we all have to clean up together after mealtimes."

Plainly, Tanya Dunseth was not at all herself. Her skin seemed exceptionally pale. Ralph and I sat back down, but she didn't.

"How's Kelly?" Tanya asked anxiously. "Is she all right?"

"I hope so," I told her. "According to the doctor, it's still too soon to tell."

"And the baby?"

"Karen's fine," I said. "A few weeks early, but fine."

Tanya breathed a relieved sigh. "I was so worried. It's bad enough that Kelly's hurt. I don't know what I would have done if something happened to her baby. I know it's all my fault. None of this would have happened if Kelly hadn't been helping look for Amber."

"Don't blame yourself. Kelly was doing what anyone would do. But that's not why we're here. Right now I'd like you to meet a good friend of mine, Ralph Ames. He's an attorney."

At the word "attorney," an expression of guarded wariness crossed Tanya's face. She didn't actually move away from us, but there was a perceptible drawing back-a distancing.

"He's a personal friend of mine," I continued reassuringly. "I guess you two weren't introduced at the brunch." Tanya shook her head.

Ralph smiled and reached across me to her, holding out his hand. "The name's Ralph," he said.

They shook hands, but Tanya's heart wasn't in it. She stood there facing us like a watchful bird poised for flight. At the slightest provocation, I was afraid she would scoop Amber into her arms and disappear. If she did that, Gordon Fraymore would be pissed off at everybody, including Ralph Ames, self-appointed attorney for the defense.

"I asked Beau here to bring me out so I could meet you," Ralph said, speaking calmly, addressing himself directly to Tanya. "I wanted to talk to you in private."

She examined his face with a puzzled frown. "How come?"

"I believe you may need our help," he answered quietly.

Tanya's mouth tightened. She folded her arms in front of her. "Why would I?"

With a glance at me, Ralph said, "I presume Detective Fraymore has been by to talk to you?"

Her eyes flitted apprehensively from Ralph's face to mine. "Several times so far, but I don't see how that's any concern of yours."

"Do you mind my asking what he said?"

"Yes, I mind," Tanya replied with a flash of anger. "I mind a lot."

She vacillated between being frightened and argumentative. Didn't she understand what was at stake here? Surely, she realized Gordon Fraymore meant to arrest her. Or did she? I couldn't tell.

Meanwhile, Ralph was growing frustrated. He's used to having his polite, understated manner achieve instant results, but this time that tried-and-true technique wasn't working. He must have drawn much the same conclusion, because his next depth-charged statement jarred me, and it shocked the hell out of Tanya Dunseth.

"Beau here and I haven't actually seen the videotape of you and Martin Shore, but we know all about it," Ralph said quietly.

He might as well have dropped a bomb onto the middle of the wooden deck. Tanya's body stiffened. She glared at Ralph from flat, angry eyes. "I didn't kill him," she declared. "I didn't kill either one of them."

"Did Detective Fraymore ask you about them?"

Tanya ignored Ralph's question. "Are you really an attorney?" she demanded. "I'll bet you're from the Festival. Did they send you out here to make me quit?"

"Please, Miss Dunseth. I'm not with the Festival. We're here to do nothing of the kind."

"Then how do you know about the tape? Who told you? Fraymore?" Her eyes darted furiously from Ralph's face to mine.

"Actually," Ralph said, "Mr. Beaumont is the one who first brought the tape to Gordon Fraymore's attention."

She turned on me. "Thanks a lot," she jeered. "Nice guy. Remind me to return the favor sometime."

"You don't understand," Ralph interjected quickly in my defense. "He had no choice in the matter. As soon as he realized both you and Martin Shore were in the film together, he was legally constrained to turn it over to the investigating officer. That's the law, Tanya. It's the way things work."

"Not if I didn't kill him," she retorted.

"And you didn't?"

"No."

"But you did know him."

"Of course I knew him. I was on the tape with him. You said so yourself. I just want to know one thing. That tape was made years ago. Where did it come from after all this time? Did they find it on Martin Shore's body? In his room?"

"Fraymore didn't tell you?" Tanya shook her head.

"It came from Denver Holloway."

Tanya's eyes widened in alarm. "Dinky? The director?"

Ralph nodded. "She received it in her mail yesterday, along with a note from Monica Davenport asking if she knew anything about your previous acting experience."

The shock of that news wiped out Tanya's last reserves of strength. Her knees wobbled under her. She grabbed the edge of the table for support and eased herself down onto the bench while Ralph leaped to assist her. Amber had been playing contentedly near her mother's feet. Now, instinctively knowing something was wrong, the child clambered onto her mother's lap. Tanya gripped the child tightly as though drawing some of the child's natural resilience into her own grown-up body.

"So the Festival knows about that, too," Tanya breathed.

Ralph nodded. "I'm afraid so," he said.

Tanya shook her head despairingly. "I haven't done anything wrong, but that's the end of it. The Festival won't keep me on, not with all the adverse publicity."

"Don't you see? That's why we came," Ralph said. "I'd like to be your attorney."

"Do I need an attorney?"

"Did Gordon Fraymore tell you you were a suspect?"

"No, but…"

"You are," Ralph asserted. "In not one but two cases, and unless someone helps you, you're going to jail. Now tell me, was Martin Shore blackmailing you?"

Staring blankly at Ralph's face, Tanya shook her head. "No. Why would he?"

"To get something you had that he wanted."

"What would that be? I don't have any money."

"Maybe he found out you were becoming an established actress, and he wanted you to make another movie for him."

"No," Tanya said, shaking her head. "I'm too old for what he does."

I had stayed quiet because Ralph was doing an admirable job without any help from me. In that kind of situation, it's best not to interrupt. Now, though, I couldn't help asking a question of my own. It was, after all, the question that had dragged me into this fracas to begin with.

"What about Amber?" I asked. "Is it possible that he wanted to use Amber instead?"

An almost visible jolt shot through Tanya Dunseth's body, a tremor just like the one I had seen two nights earlier in the Members' Lounge. Tanya hugged a now sleeping Amber tightly to her breast, but the gaze she turned on me was filled with murderous intensity.