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 read, 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.
