“We know some,” Susan said with a glance at Archie. “But why don’t you fill us in?”

“I was a lot younger then. Twenty-six.” Gloria smiled slyly. “And I was an independent woman, like a lot of us during the war. I worked at the stockyards as a secretary to the president, a man named Williams. It was a big operation back then. Just south of Vanport.” She stopped and gave Archie a careful look. “You said you had an affair?” she asked.

Archie coughed.

She waited.

“Yes,” he said after a moment. He glanced at Susan. “When I was married, I cheated on my wife.”

Gloria patted him on the knee, seemingly satisfied.

Archie pulled the tea bag out of his teacup and laid it on the side of the saucer.

“I was involved with two men,” she continued. “One of them—Elroy McBee—was married.” She nodded to herself. “I was the other woman.” She looked at Archie. “Like your other woman, I suppose.”

Not exactly, thought Archie.

“After a time I broke it off with McBee,” Gloria said. “The other gentleman and I were going to move to California together.” She blinked rapidly. “McBee was angry. And they fought. Ugly things were said. I wanted them to settle down, so I told McBee that I’d meet him the next morning to talk things out. Have you heard of the Vanport Theater?”

Archie shook his head no, and took a sip of tea.

“It sat seven hundred and fifty people, and showed three double features a week,” she said. “We were supposed to meet behind it.” She leaned forward and lowered her voice to a whisper. “But when I got there, he was dead. I found him slumped against the wall, head down, legs splayed out. Someone had shot and killed him.”

Archie looked up from his tea.

“I knew that my gentleman friend had to be responsible. He knew where and when McBee and I were meeting, and he knew that McBee would do everything in his power to stop us from going away together.”

“He was a fireman?” Archie asked.

“Yes,” she said, smoothing the robe on her lap. “The gun was on the ground. I thought my friend’s fingerprints would be on it, so I picked it up and I threw it in the storm drain. And I got in my car and I drove to work. I waited all day to hear news that the body had been found. I could barely think straight.”

Her eyes filled with amazement. “But the day passed, it was almost four o’clock and he hadn’t been discovered. Can you imagine? And then I remembered what day it was.”

“Memorial Day,” Archie said softly. “The theater was closed.”