Honeymoon for Three Page 17

  Mattie chuckled. “Well, you were the one who fixed it. It’s running great now. You’re a pretty good driver. I don’t think Don would object. I’ll tell you what; you can take some of the food we had left over from the trip. I’ll even give you a change of underwear and socks. I don’t think you can wear Don’s pants—your waist size is a little larger than his—but his shirts shouldn’t be a problem.”

  Now she was definitely acting like a mother. Things were working out just fine.

  ***

  Gary and Penny reached the coast at Crescent City. They turned south on Route 101 and found themselves almost immediately in a forest of redwood trees. They stopped at Redwood National Park and took a hike along a path with the giants towering above them. The vista reminded Penny of pictures she had seen of the interiors of large European cathedrals, with the ruler-straight tree trunks representing the cathedral columns. This was on a much grander scale than any cathedral.

  “The tallest tree in the world is somewhere in this area.” Penny read from her guidebook. “It’s almost four hundred feet tall.”

  “Taller than a football field is long.”

  Penny looked up the trunk of one of the trees, imagining what it would be like to be in the relatively stubby branches at the top. She felt dizzy and almost fell over backward. She quickly looked down and went back to the guidebook.

  “They need a damp climate, with moderate temperatures all year long.”

  Tendrils of fog drifted past them, and they were none too warm in their sweatshirts. The place was enchanting, but it was also a place where Penny didn’t want to linger. The canopy of branches high above their heads blocked out most of what sunlight there was, leaving an eerie aura.

  A half hour of feeling like Lilliputians was enough for them, and they headed back to the car. Penny said, “Let’s find ourselves a nice sunny beach.”

  ***

  Alfred stationed the camper in a parking lot facing Route 101, which was also the main street of Crescent City, near the intersection where Route 199 came in from Oregon. That was the route that Mattie, Don, and he had taken last night to get there, and he was positive that Penny and Gary would be coming the same way.

  The question was when? He hoped they hadn’t already passed this way. If they didn’t show up by mid-afternoon, he would return the camper to Mattie and take the bus back to Los Angeles. Mattie had provided him with plenty of food so he wouldn’t go hungry as he waited. She had gone from trying to be his lover to being his mother. He was more comfortable with her in that capacity.

  A green Volkswagen Beetle approached from the north. Alfred glanced at his watch. He had been here less than two hours. His excitement grew as he became more and more certain it was them. He started the engine of the camper. His excitement peaked when he saw Penny’s profile in the side window of the small car as it passed.

  He pulled out onto the highway, keeping enough distance between them that they wouldn’t become suspicious. At least they had no reason to be looking for him in a VW camper. He hadn’t followed them very far when they slowed down and pulled into the entrance of a park containing redwood trees—the trees Alfred had told Mattie he wanted to see. Now he would get to see them.

  Alfred pulled in behind them and was careful to park some distance away from their car. He saw them walk off along one of the paths that led through the groves of big trees. He couldn’t follow them on foot without risking being seen. In addition, there were a few other people in the park. Not many, but enough to scotch any plans he might have had.

  Alfred sat in his car and pondered his next move. He obviously hadn’t thought through what he was going to do. He needed them to be in a more isolated area. In addition, he needed to separate Penny from Gary. How was he going to do that? He didn’t know.

  While he was wondering what to do, he saw the honeymooners returning along the path. He would keep following them. Maybe his luck would change.

  ***

  They continued south on 101, through the village of Klamath and across the Klamath River. The road went inland for a bit, but it still wound through forests of the magnificent redwood trees. After the village of Orick, the road came back to the coast again.

  “Let’s stop here,” Penny said.

  Gary obediently pulled the car off the road at a turnout with access to the beach.

  “The guidebook says that we can find black jade and agates in this area,” Penny said. “Maybe we can collect some for our table.”

  They got out of the car and walked toward the water. As they came to the top of the sand slope that led down to the beach, Gary stopped in amazement.

  “Have we shrunk or are we in the land of the giants?” he asked.

  “Holy cow. That driftwood on the beach is…those are redwood trees.”

  “How did they get there?”

  “Remember, there was an earthquake in Alaska last March. It was one of the biggest quakes ever recorded. It caused a tsunami. I remember hearing that several people in Crescent City were killed by the tsunami.”

  “So the tsunami uprooted redwood trees, washed them out to sea, and then they were deposited on this beach. Holy cow, as you say. That was some powerful wave.”

  “I want my picture taken with one of the tree trunks.”

  Penny ran down the slope to the sandy beach and raced over to a gargantuan piece of driftwood. Gary ran after her, holding the camera. They took pictures of each other being dwarfed by the white trunks of what used to be redwood trees. They felt insubstantial, like a mouse would feel when encountering ordinary driftwood.

  When they had their fill of photography, they walked down close to the water.

  “Look,” Penny said. “This is black jade. And here are agates.”

  “Aren’t the pieces of jade too big for our table?”

  “They’re so beautiful. Maybe we can use them for something else.”

  Penny began picking up the rocks. Her enthusiasm was infectious, and Gary joined in. When she was happy, he was happy. They soon had an armload of the rocks.

  “We’re going to have trouble getting these in the car,” Gary said. “Let me take a load back and see how many more we can fit in.”

  Gary carried the rocks up the slope to the parking area. He placed the rocks on the ground, unlocked the door of the VW, and popped open the hood. He didn’t want to place the dirty rocks inside the car. He squeezed them into the storage space under the hood and returned to the beach. He saw that Penny had more rocks.

  “I’ll take these up,” Penny said.

  “Okay, but that’s the last load.”

  “Promise.”

  “I’m going to walk down the beach a little way and take pictures of some of those other trees.”

  Gary ambled along the beach, stopping now and then to take a picture. After five minutes he turned around to see whether Penny was returning from the car. He didn’t see her. Oh well, it was time for them to hit the road again. They had to keep moving. The honeymoon was winding down, much as he didn’t want it to end.

  Gary retraced his steps and went up the sandy slope to the parking area. As the car came into view, he noticed that the hood was open, but he didn’t see Penny. Maybe she was inside the car. He reached the top of the slope and looked through the car windows. No Penny.

  Where was she? Maybe she had to go—she might be taking a nature hike as they called it in the boy scouts. Bushes grew alongside the road. Penny didn’t like to go in the bushes, but if she were desperate…

  Gary went to the car to close the hood and noticed that a couple of the rocks she had brought up were lying on the ground in front of the car. He became mildly irritated. That was sloppy. He picked up the rocks and placed them inside the storage area. Then he saw a scratch on the car just below the opening that he was certain hadn’t been there before. A falling rock must have struck the car. He became more irritated.

  He would chew her out for that. No he wouldn’t. What did it say in the Dale Carnegie book he had r
ead, How to Win Friends and Influence People? Don’t criticize, condemn, or complain. But she had to learn to be more careful.

  Gary waited beside the car, glancing at the nearby bushes for a sign of movement. Another five minutes passed. He began to worry. Where could she be? At least he knew that she hadn’t been attacked by a bear. They had left the bears in Yellowstone. He walked for fifty feet along the highway, calling Penny’s name. Then he walked the other way, doing the same. The only answer was the sighing of the breeze.

  After fifteen minutes he began to panic. His heartbeat accelerated and sweat soaked his underarms. Had she decided that marriage was a big mistake and run away? She couldn’t have picked a more remote location to do that if she had; she wouldn’t get far. Even if she wanted out, she wouldn’t run away here. Had she been hit by a car? No, because, gruesome as that sounded, her body would be on the road.

  Had she been abducted? Who would do a thing like that? An awful thought came into Gary’s head.

  CHAPTER 25

  When Penny and Gary stopped at a turnout on the highway, Alfred had to keep going. If he pulled in after them, it might be enough to arouse their suspicions, even if he parked fifty yards away. In any case, they were bound to notice the camper, and it was conspicuous enough with its bubble top that they would recognize it if they saw it again.

  Alfred drove around a curve until he was out of sight of the green VW. He stopped on the side of the road and waited five minutes. The waiting was nerve wracking because he wanted to time it just right. He had to keep focused on his watch to prevent himself from immediately going back to where they had stopped.

  The tension stimulated his bladder, and he desperately had to pee. He got out of the camper and found a clump of bushes, pretty much out of sight of the highway, and picked a time when traffic was almost nonexistent to relieve himself.

  Back in the camper, he watched the secondhand creep around the watch. He had spent a lot of the past few days waiting for something to happen or not happen. He was growing tired of it. This was the last time. Finally, the five minutes were up. He started the engine, made a U-turn, and went back to where their car was parked. Penny and Gary were out of sight, down on the beach. Good. He parked on the inland side of the highway, down the road from the Beetle, and got out of the camper.

  He let a logging truck loaded with big tree trunks rumble by and then crossed the highway. As he approached the slope down to the wide beach, he couldn’t believe what he saw. Giant pieces of driftwood lay on the sand, some of them a significant distance from the water. These trunks were as large as those of the redwood trees. They were redwood trees, bleached white and stripped of their bark by the water and sun.

  Alfred didn’t have time to ponder the whys and wherefores of how they had come to be on the beach. They could be helpful to him, allowing him to keep out of sight. That was what counted. Maybe this was a sign from heaven.

  Standing behind a rock, he scanned the beach for Penny and Gary. He spotted them some distance away. They were taking pictures of each other posing with the huge logs. He watched them, wondering whether he should go down the short slope to the beach and try to get closer to them.

  If he did that, he would have trouble keeping them in sight. The tree trunks would be a hindrance to him, as well as a help. He was safer where he was now, and he had a good view of the whole beach. If he had to, he could retreat without them seeing him. He didn’t want to retreat. He felt in his bones that this was the place to take action. This might be the best opportunity he would get. He was charged up and ready.

  Now they were down by the gray ocean picking up things—rocks, perhaps. Gary took an armful of whatever they had collected and started walking back toward the car. Alfred watched him until he was sure that Gary was coming all the way. It was too late to make it across the street to the camper. Alfred worked himself further into the rocks beside the parking area, out of sight of Gary’s car.

  This was a perfect opportunity if he wanted to kill Gary, except that he didn’t have a suitable weapon. He had a better idea. Killing Gary would also kill any chance he might have of winning Penny. At least, killing him now would. After Penny saw things his way, it might be different. He needed to have a little more patience. Gary was coming up here alone. Perhaps Penny would do that next.

  He peeked out and watched Gary open the hood of the car and place a number of black rocks inside. He closed the hood but didn’t latch it and walked back down to the beach. Why were they picking up black rocks? Who cared? What Alfred cared about was whether Penny might take the next trip to the car—alone.

  He looked back down at the beach. Penny had an armful of rocks. He held his breath. She was walking toward the car. By herself. Gary was walking in the opposite direction, along the beach. Perfect. Penny struggled up the sloping sand toward the parking area. In a few seconds she would reach the top of the slope and be out of sight from the beach. Out of Gary’s sight.

  Alfred retreated to his hiding place. She would walk right past him. When she placed the rocks in the front of the car, she would be within a few feet of him. Her back would be toward him. This was the opportunity he had been waiting for.

  ***

  Penny was happy. She loved to collect pretty things. The small rocks, including the agates, they would use in the coffee table they were going to build. They would place them on top of the table and then cover it with liquid plastic. The larger pieces of jade couldn’t be used in the coffee table, but they were too pretty to leave behind.

  She came up the slope and saw the car. Gary said he had left the hood unlatched. She walked directly to the front of the car. How could she open the hood without putting down her rocks? She bent her knees and managed to hook one finger around the handle of the hood and pulled. The hood came up. She bent over the storage area and carefully let go of some of the rocks.

  An arm snaked around Penny’s upper body from behind and jerked her upright. She screamed and dropped her remaining rocks.

  “Shut up.”

  Alfred’s voice was unmistakable. Penny twisted, trying to escape his grip. A sharp pain in her back stopped her. She grunted but swallowed the next scream that threatened to come out. It wouldn’t do any good, anyway. Her first scream had been carried away by the wind. Gary was too far away and couldn’t have heard it.

  “Don’t move. And don’t scream.”

  The pain in her back increased. He had a knife. He had acquired another knife. Penny stopped struggling. How had he gotten out of Yellowstone? How had he found her? Why was she thinking these inane thoughts? He was going to kill her. She tried to relax her muscles so he would stop hurting her.

  “That’s better. Now I’ll tell you what we’re going to do. We’re going to walk across the road and go to the VW camper.”

  She saw the white camper with the bubble top. It was parked across the highway about a hundred feet south of them. How had Alfred obtained a camper? Had he stolen it? If so, the police must be looking for him. Oh yes, they were already hunting him for murder and car theft. Where was Gary? Penny turned her head as far as she dared and realized she couldn’t see the beach from here. Gary couldn’t see her. She was on her own.

  Alfred’s arm was wrapped around her body at the level of her breasts and held her tightly. Her back was pressed against his belly. His potbelly. The thought almost made Penny giggle, in spite of her situation. She was on the verge of hysteria. She had to control herself. They marched in lockstep toward the road. When they reached the road, they waited for a lumber truck to roll by at high speed.

  Penny thought about trying to signal the driver. Her arms were free; she could wave to him. What would that accomplish? He would think she was being friendly and wave back. They were just two lovers, out sightseeing. Even if by some remote chance he recognized her plight, by the time he brought the big rig to a stop and came back to help her, she would be dead, and Alfred would be gone.

  She had to cooperate with Alfred—for now. They made it across
the highway before a couple of cars zoomed past, heading north. They were going too fast to see what Alfred was doing to her. She had to admit that at sixty miles per hour they would look like lovers. Ha. Big joke. And the knife? She didn’t feel it. He must be hiding it, somehow.

  They made it to the right side of the camper, the side away from the road. If Alfred wanted her inside, he had to open a door. He would have to use one of his hands to do this. His left arm held her. His right hand presumably held a knife. He reached his right arm around her and unlatched the sliding door. There was nothing in that hand—no knife, nothing.

  Penny simultaneously twisted out of his grip and ducked under his right arm, which was still on the door handle. She stumbled for a moment and then regained her footing. She took a couple of steps toward the front of the camper, intending to cut around it and cross the highway just ahead of a car she could hear approaching.

  Alfred tackled her from behind before she could make the turn. The wind left her lungs with an oomph as she hit the ground. She struggled to breathe. The stumble had cost her too much time. The car went by, but the passengers couldn’t see them. They were hidden by the camper. She felt a sharp pain in her back again and gave an involuntary grunt.

  “If you do that again, I’ll kill you.”

  Alfred was breathing hard. She didn’t doubt that he would do what he said. He removed the knee from her back—that’s what had hurt her—and put his arm around her neck in a chokehold. She got to her knees and then to her feet. She had no choice if she wanted to breathe. Alfred guided her back to the sliding door.

  The door was partially open. He pushed it farther open with his shoulder. Then he shoved her onto the floor of the camper. Before she could move, he had closed the door and was on top of her again with his knee in her back. It hurt. What now? She found out. He bent both of her arms behind her back and bound them together somehow. He worked fast.

  “What are you doing?”