Honeymoon for Three

by Alan Cook

  Gary hadn’t given up. Alfred had underestimated him. What should he do? He couldn’t outrun the Beetle. It was more maneuverable than the camper and could go faster. And as much as he hated to admit it, Gary could drive a stick-shift better than he could.

  He had to abort his plan to go over the Golden Gate Bridge. All Gary had to do was to tell the toll taker that there was a kidnapped girl in the camper, and the San Francisco police would be all over him like maggots on a dead body. In fact, although he had now backed off, Gary had been close enough to read his license plate. He could report it to the Highway Patrol.

  Alfred guessed that Gary wouldn’t stop to do that as long as the camper was moving. He wouldn’t want to take a chance on losing Penny. That meant Alfred had to deal with Gary. He had to go toe to toe with him. The situation was like the one Gary Cooper faced in High Noon, except that Gary was the bad guy in this case. Alfred was the good guy. He would win the battle.

  He had one advantage that even Penny didn’t know about. While he had been searching for the duct tape, he had found something wrapped in a cloth in the back of the storage cabinet. Something hard. It was a small handgun, much like the one he had purchased. It must belong to Don.

  Alfred had checked it, holding it inside the cabinet, out of sight of Penny. It was loaded. When Penny bent down to pick up the tape, Alfred shoved the gun into his pants pocket. He was glad that Don was a gun lover. He was ready for Gary.

  ***

  Penny worked carefully, trying not to attract Alfred’s attention. She knew he was watching her in the rearview mirror. Since she was completely under the blanket, he couldn’t tell exactly what she was doing. Hopefully, he would regard her movements as just an attempt to get comfortable.

  She was pulling the tape off her wrists, using her teeth for the most part. Because her hands were taped in front of her, she had been able to use them to untape her mouth. However, she left that piece of tape dangling from her cheek, so that she could quickly retape her mouth if Alfred stopped the camper. It was tedious work, especially in the dark, but she had found the end of the tape with the sensitive tip of her tongue and managed to get a tooth hold on it. She was carefully unwinding it, working it around and around her wrists.

  As the loose end got longer, she could even help the process along with her hands. Not much further to go. Then she would take the tape off her legs. Once she was free, she would be ready to make her escape when Alfred stopped to pay the toll at the Golden Gate Bridge.

  Suddenly Alfred braked and put the camper into a tight left turn. What the hell was he doing? From the sound and feel of it, he fishtailed on gravel for a few seconds. Now they were back on the road again. Unless she was mistaken, he had made a U-turn and was headed in the opposite direction, away from the Golden Gate Bridge. Had he lost his mind? Or had he seen something? The change in direction threw her plans into disarray.

  ***

  When Alfred slowed and made the U-turn, he caught Gary by surprise. Without thinking, Gary immediately turned behind him. His car had a tighter turning radius than the camper, but he had to cut in front of an oncoming car, causing its driver to stand on his brakes, which produced the loud screeching noise of skidding tires, followed by several honking horns. Too bad. Gary took off after Alfred, ignoring the car that was now behind him with the driver still blowing his horn. Alfred had to do better than that to get away from him.

  ***

  On their drive south, Alfred had noticed a particular cliff a bit north of Bodega Bay, with a place to park beside it. It was far enough away from the road that the traffic from Route 1 wouldn’t be able to see what he was doing. It was a perfect place to get rid of Gary. Gary, who was the source of all his problems.

  A cliff. Alfred thought about another movie: Rebel without a Cause. With James Dean. Alfred was James Dean. He was the misunderstood rebel. There was a scene in Rebel in which James Dean and another boy drove stolen cars over a cliff. Last boy to bail out before the cars went over was chicken. James bailed out successfully. The other boy didn’t. He went over the cliff in his car. The irony was that James was later killed in an auto accident for real, not all that far from where Alfred and Gary and Penny were playing out their own drama.

  The three of them should do it the same way. He and Gary should drive their cars over the cliff and find out who was chicken. Penny would be the girl, played in the movie by Natalie Wood. Alfred had always liked Natalie. He had seen all of her movies. Penny somewhat resembled the beautiful Natalie in looks, hair color, and hairstyle. Penny would wave her arms to start them. The winner would get her. That was fair.

  Alfred drove through Bodega Bay for the second time this morning. Gary stayed on his tail. Once he was out in the open again, he watched the rugged landscape along the coast, looking for the spot he had in mind. He drove past a sandy beach. That wouldn’t do. Then he saw it on a curve. The vertical, black cliff, outlined against the sky, swooping down to the relentless ocean. The top of it was shielded from the nearest section of the road by rocks. And anybody who saw them from this far away wouldn’t be able to tell what was happening.

  He signaled for a left turn but had to stop and wait for a stream of cars going by in the opposite direction. Cars lined up behind the camper, since nobody could pass him. He was pleased to see Gary’s car right on his bumper, also signaling.

  A gap in the traffic allowed him to make the turn. He crossed the lane and drove off the road onto the gravel shoulder as far as he could, to a spot partially shielded by rocks. He shut off the engine and locked his door. He pulled out the gun. This story was different than Rebel without a Cause or High Noon, because he wasn’t leaving anything to chance.

  Gary stopped right behind him. In his outside mirror, he saw Gary jump out of his car and run up to Alfred’s window. Gary tried to open the door. Failing that, he pounded on the window and yelled through the glass, “Where’s Penny?”

  “Come around to the sliding door,” Alfred shouted.

  Alfred got out of his seat and went back to the bed where the blanket still covered Penny. He uncovered her head, keeping his gun hidden. She glared at him, unable to speak with her mouth taped. He unlocked the door, unlatched it, and gave it a shove so that it slid open. Then he put the gun to Penny’s head.

  ***

  Gary looked through the window of the camper past Alfred, confirming that Penny wasn’t sitting in the other seat. If Alfred had done anything to her…. As he went around the front of the camper, he noticed the damage to the spare tire and a dent in the metal. Had Alfred caused that? Was Penny hurt?

  Through the front window, Gary saw Alfred get up from his seat and go back toward the sliding door. Gary tried to open the front, passenger-side door, thinking that if he could get through it, he might gain an element of surprise. It was locked. He took another step to the sliding door and tried to open it. Also locked. What kind of a game was Alfred playing? Gary couldn’t see through the curtained window on the door. Within seconds he heard a click and the door unlatched. Gary grabbed the handle and slid it all the way open.

  By the time the door opened enough for Gary to see in, Alfred was standing over Penny at the end of the bed, just inside the doorway. Gary saw Penny’s face and the gun pointed at it simultaneously. The combination of the two turned him to stone. Her eyes were large, looking at him with a warning she couldn’t voice because her mouth was taped.

  Alfred faced Gary, a slight grin on his face. “I don’t want to have to shoot. If you cooperate—”

  “Is she hurt?” Gary’s fear showed in his voice.

  Penny hummed, “Mmmh mmm.” It sounded like a negative.

  “No, she’s fine. The tape is just a precaution.”

  “If you hurt Penny, I’ll kill you.”

  “Brave words from the guy who doesn’t have the gun. This is what I want you to do. Sit down here with your back to me.” Alfred pointed to the floor of the camper.

  Gary saw the cut on Alfred’s forehead. It had been ble
eding fairly recently. Something had happened—but what? He sat down at the entrance, reluctantly, with his feet on the ground. He turned his head to watch Penny and Alfred. How could he get the gun away from Alfred without endangering Penny’s life?

  “Face front.”

  Gary watched the gun swing around until he felt the cold metal against his own head. He faced away from Alfred. He wouldn’t be any good to Penny if he were dead.

  “Put your hands behind your back.”

  Should he duck and roll and try to get the camper between himself and Alfred? No, because then Alfred would shoot Penny.

  “What are you going to do?”

  “Put your hands behind your back.”

  Alfred’s voice was more strident, more demanding. The gun dug into Gary’s scalp. Alfred wasn’t rational. He couldn’t be reasoned with. Gary could swing his arm and hope to dislodge the gun from Alfred’s hand, but if he missed, Alfred would shoot them both. For the moment, Gary had to do what Alfred wanted. He placed his hands behind his back. He had never been so scared in his life, but he was more scared for Penny than himself.

  With one hand, Alfred arranged Gary’s arms so they crossed at the wrists. With his other hand, he kept the gun pointed at Gary’s head. Then Alfred wrapped something around and around Gary’s wrists. It felt and sounded like tape. Gary tried to surreptitiously hold his hands so that there would be some play between them, but Alfred wound the tape tightly enough to nullify this. He was obviously experienced at taping people. He must have practiced on Penny.

  “Isn’t that enough?” Gary asked. “I can’t move my hands.”

  “That’s the idea. Okay, here’s where you get to be a hero and save the life of your wife.”

  Doing what? Gary didn’t say it out loud. He waited, hardly breathing, to hear his fate.

  “You and I are going to walk out to the cliff. Then you’re going to be big and brave and jump off. If you do that, Penny will live.”

  The unspoken part of that statement was that Penny would live with Alfred. She wouldn’t do that. The fact that Alfred had to tape Penny’s mouth and probably her hands and feet—she hadn’t moved—was in a way a relief to Gary. It meant that she hadn’t been seduced by Alfred. It meant that she still loved him. He had heard of kidnapped persons relating to their kidnappers, but it hadn’t happened in this case.

  Should Gary walk to the cliff or should he force Alfred to shoot him here? The noise of the shot probably wouldn’t be loud enough for any cars on the road to hear, and they were shielded from the road by the body of the camper and some rocks. If he shot Gary, would he then shoot Penny?

  Gary would rather take his chances with the cliff. When he was mobile, he might be able to do something. Even with his hands taped behind him, he had some options. The least he could do would be to take Alfred over the cliff with him. If he could get in the right position, he could slam his body into that potbelly. They would die together.

  Alfred told Gary to stand. Gary stood slowly, turning his head a little to glance at Penny. She had a look of horror in her eyes, but it was more than that. Was she trying to tell him something? He wasn’t sure what. Then she hummed what sounded like a few notes of a song.

  “Shut up.” Alfred momentarily aimed the gun at her.

  She became quiet. What was the song? Gary wracked his brain. Penny’s voice had been a little hoarse, and he wasn’t sure he’d caught the notes. Alfred prodded Gary with the gun. He closed the door of the camper. Gary started walking slowly toward the cliff. He had to walk carefully on the uneven surface, covered with rock and slippery, green ice plant, because he couldn’t use his arms for balance. If he tripped, he would fall hard.

  “Keep moving.”

  Gary could feel the barrel of the gun in his back from time to time. Just to let him know that Alfred still held it on him.

  “It’s hard to walk with my hands behind my back.”

  “My heart cries for you. Just keep moving.”

  What was that song? Eight notes. That’s what Penny had hummed. It was like being on the TV show, “Name that Tune.” He should be able to remember it. He hummed it in his head as he had heard it. It was coming back to him. It had been popular in the fifties, when he was in school. They were approaching the cliff. Gary could see the ocean below. Far below. Much too far to survive a fall. Especially since he would undoubtedly land on jagged rocks.

  Gary stopped walking and turned to face Alfred. The words of the song had come to him: “Wait little darling, wait for me.” Wait for her. But what could she do? Could she get free? If so, what could she do to help him? She shouldn’t jeopardize her own safety. She should escape if she had the chance. But she would try to help him. He had to make sure she got away. He had to stall.

  “You can’t do this. You can’t kill me in cold blood. It’ll be on your conscience forever.”

  “I’ve already killed two people. Another one won’t make much difference.”

  “I’ll make you a deal.”

  Alfred spoke with a sneer. “You’re really in a position to starting making deals.”

  CHAPTER 32

  As soon as the door closed, Penny set to work. She got up on her knees, shaking free of the blanket. She took a look at the tape on her wrists. She had managed to unwind much of the tape in the dark. She had been afraid Alfred would discover this when he uncovered her but, fortunately, he uncovered only her head. And she had had time to retape her mouth.

  Now that she was able to see, she could go much faster. She untaped her mouth again, and used a combination of her teeth and her fingers, tearing and pulling at the tape like a lion tearing meat from its prey. She applied herself to the task with feverish fervor, but she progressed much too slowly.

  She had to save Gary. It was her fault that Alfred had been able to take him captive. She should have been able to stop it. She hadn’t known about the gun, but even so… She was a bad person. First she had catered to Alfred’s bizarre sexual proclivities and now this. If she could, she would sacrifice herself for Gary. He deserved to live.

  She had reacted too slowly when Alfred produced the gun. If she had yelled, Gary could have gotten away. But he wouldn’t have run as long as he thought she was in danger. So it was probably just as well that she hadn’t yelled and revealed the looseness of her gag. It would have brought Alfred’s attention to her, and he would have found out that she was in the process of freeing herself.

  At least Gary hadn’t deserted her. She hoped he understood the words of the song she had hummed. Wait. Stall. She would get to him. She ripped off the last vestige of tape from her wrists and shook them in relief, feeling her skin tingle. Now for her legs. They were much easier to free because she had both hands to work with. She was running out of time. It wasn’t far to the edge of the cliff. Gary and Alfred would be there by now.

  She finished the job and flexed her toes. She had feeling in them; she could walk. Where were her shoes? Not in the storage cabinet. She didn’t have time to look for them. She opened the camper and jumped to the ground in her sock feet. She started for the cliff.

  A rock wall, green with plant life, hid Gary and Alfred from her sight. The uneven, rocky surface cut her feet, slowing her down. She tried to ignore the pain. She trotted with a sort of hobbling gait. Once she slipped and stopped her fall with her hands. Ouch. Then she saw them. Standing close to the edge of the cliff, facing each other. Alfred was holding the gun on Gary. He gestured toward the cliff and she felt sick.

  “Alfred,” she called.

  That distracted him. They both turned and saw her. She continued to approach. She was within thirty feet of them.

  “Don’t come any closer,” Gary said. “Get away. The keys are in the car. Go get the police.”

  “I’ve got a deal for Alfred.”

  ***

  When Alfred heard Penny call his name, he was surprised. And angry. Was this the way she repaid him for being lenient with her? The bitch. He hadn’t taped her arms and legs together. He
had even taped her hands in front of her instead of behind her. Now she had escaped.

  She must have been working on the tape while they were driving. He had watched her in the mirror and seen her moving around under the blanket, but he hadn’t guessed that she would actually try to take the tape off. She had betrayed him.

  He was ready to shoot her. Except that he didn’t know whether he could hit her at this range. If he aimed the gun at her, he knew Gary would attack him. He had to deal with Gary first.

  “A deal,” he said with the sneer he had used on Gary. “You and your…husband must read the same book. He just offered me a deal.”

  “Let us go,” Penny said, “and we’ll let bygones be bygones. We won’t go to the police. Live and let live. We can coexist.”

  Her voice had a note of desperation in it. He didn’t like that. It sounded like she was still in love with Gary.

  “Amazing. That’s almost identical to the deal Gary offered me. Unfortunately, I can’t accept. Even if I trusted you, I couldn’t accept. For you see, you belong to me now. Last night proved it.”

  ***

  Last night? What had happened last night? What had Alfred done to her? He looked so smug. Of course, when you had the gun you could afford to be smug. Gary had an urge to smash his body into Alfred’s regardless of the consequences. If only Alfred were closer to the cliff, Gary could knock him over, but Alfred was being very careful about keeping Gary between him and the edge.

  Alfred was focusing some of his attention on Penny. He couldn’t look at both of them at the same time. Gary took a couple of steps away from the cliff, intent on getting behind Alfred.

  “Stop right there.”

  Alfred glared at Gary. He walked over to him and gave him a shove toward the cliff. Gary stumbled backward, fear gripping his stomach like a constricting vise. With his hands behind his back, he couldn’t get his balance. He was going over.