Alfred was determined not to get stopped for speeding. He had been stopped for speeding in Montana, and, as a result, he been forced to give up his car. If he were stopped now, the police would see Penny with the tape over her mouth. There was no way he could hide her completely, unless he placed her on the top bunk and crammed her into the back of the camper where she wouldn’t be visible from ground level. He would have to tape her so securely that she couldn’t move at all.
He wouldn’t do that, even if he could somehow get her up there. Not if he wanted her to love him. He could put a blanket over her head while she was on the lower bunk, but the shape of her body would be suspicious to a cop. He would just have to drive carefully. At least he wasn’t driving a stolen car. Mattie had been very kind to him. He would have to return the camper to her when he was through with it. Or at least write her a note and tell her where to find it.
Alfred decided not to try to drive all the way home in one day. It would be too hard on him, since he had to do all the driving. He had a camper. He would find a nice campground, north of San Francisco. Camping wasn’t so bad when you had a vehicle like this. He had food and water. Penny would enjoy it. She liked camping. They could do it if he could trust her.
In addition, he needed time to win Penny over. The sooner he could do that, the better life would be. Maybe he could do it tonight. Tomorrow he would drive the rest of the way home. He couldn’t actually go to his apartment, at least not until he knew whether the police were still looking for him. She and Gary were moving into a new apartment. He and Penny would go there. Instead of Penny and Gary, it would be Penny and Alfred. That sounded better.
He would get back his job at the grocery store, or maybe work at another one. Penny would teach. Alfred would become a checker and maybe even a store manager. Penny would be proud of him. They would live happily ever after.
Penny couldn’t remember when she had ever felt more uncomfortable. Her arms ached from being behind her back, and she had no feeling in her hands. She couldn’t separate her legs. She had cramps from lying in the same position. She had to go to the bathroom.
There was one ray of light. The single piece of tape over her mouth was not completely effective. She had attempted to open her mouth as soon as Alfred’s back was turned and partially succeeded. She could talk- indistinctly-or even scream. With further effort, by working her lips and jaws, she could probably free her mouth altogether.
She had to pick the right opportunity, since she knew that Alfred was watching her in the rearview mirror of the camper. She could tell because she could see his eyes in the mirror when she lifted her head and looked forward. She kept her mouth closed, making it look as though it were still securely taped. She didn’t want Alfred to double- or triple-tape her mouth.
Her discomfort had drowned out her fear. If he were going to kill her, wouldn’t he have already done so? No, he wanted her alive. At least for the moment. He seemed to change his mind more often than the tide changed. If Darren, the gentle janitor at Fenwick High School, could kill Emily, Alfred could certainly kill Penny. He hadn’t shown much gentleness so far, and he had already killed one person.
Were all men secretly like this? Did Gary have a mean streak inside him, waiting to come out? Alfred was definitely unpredictable. The only constant was his obsession with her. He was taking her someplace. Perhaps back to Los Angeles. In his twisted world, he saw them as a couple. Well, maybe she could use that. But she couldn’t do a damn thing while she was tied up.
She didn’t really believe Gary could act like this. She was worried about him. What did he do when he couldn’t find her? He must be frantic. He would contact the police, but what good would that do? She had vanished into thin air. The last thing she wanted was to make trouble for Gary, but she had been nothing but trouble for him all during their honeymoon. What if he decided she wasn’t worth it-that he was better off without her?
She became angry at Alfred. The longer she lay there, the angrier she became. What right did he have to ruin her honeymoon-to ruin her life? If she got the opportunity, she would be hard pressed not to kill him-and she was not a violent person.
Maybe she never should have left Connecticut. Connecticut was safe. Safe because it was home. Home was supposed to be safe. She certainly wouldn’t have been able to avoid Alfred if she’d stayed in Connecticut, but maybe it would have been easier to handle him there. Or was she deluding herself? Her best friend had been murdered just before her wedding. Did that sound like a safe place to live?
In Fenwick, everybody nosed into everybody else’s business and made judgments. That was one reason she had left. People erected facades, and some things remained largely hidden. The alcoholism of her father, for example. Her mother lived with him and put up with him, but she should have divorced him long ago.
There were a few people who didn’t bother to look respectable. One of them was Katharine Hepburn. She had a home in Fenwick. Kate would drive through town in a powder-blue Cadillac convertible with the top down, sitting beside her lover, Spencer Tracy, their scarves and hair flying in the wind, even though Spencer was married and would never divorce his wife. Flaunting their love for each other, flouting convention and respectability. Kate also did good deeds, such as buying a new fire engine for the town.
Penny had been to Kate’s home once. Kate invited her because Penny was a founder of an organization composed of teenagers who helped others. They baby-sat during elections so that people could vote. One cold January they collected $1,200 worth of recyclable bottles, and presented the proceeds to the March of Dimes Polio Fund. Kate gave Penny a dozen autographs, and she never gave autographs.
Penny had to learn to be more like Kate. To pursue her dreams without worrying what the world thought about her. First, she had to get out of this mess. She would do whatever it took to escape from Alfred, even if she had to do things the folks in Fenwick would frown on-things a good girl didn’t do.
Penny rolled over onto her back with her arms underneath her. She knew she could sit up from that position, especially if she could get her legs over the side of the bed. To do that, she would have to rotate her whole body 180 degrees. She could scoot around, but Alfred would see her do it.
Could she risk it? Would that make him mad because she would be more visible through the windows of the camper? What would he do to her? Would he tie her so thoroughly that she couldn’t move at all?
How long had they been driving? It seemed like hours. Just when she couldn’t stand it anymore and was about to sit up, regardless of the consequences, Alfred slowed and pulled off the highway and stopped. He picked up a map from the seat beside him and looked at it.
Penny hummed to attract his attention. She kept her mouth closed so he wouldn’t realize that she could open it. He turned around and looked at her.
“How is my sweetheart doing?”
I’ll sweetheart you, she thought. Take the damn tape off my mouth, and I’ll tell you how I’m doing.
He got up and walked back to her. As if he had heard her thoughts, he peeled the tape quickly off her mouth. She pretended that it stung, although the actual pain was minimal.
“Owww.”
“Sorry. There’s blood on your pillow.”
He actually sounded concerned.
“I don’t know about that, but I have to go to the bathroom.”
Alfred seemed taken aback. “Uh, can you hold it?”
“I’ve been holding it. Now I’ve got to go.”
“I’ll get one of the cooking pots.”
“I’m not going in any damn pot. I’ll go outside in the trees.” It wasn’t her favorite thing to do, but she would if she had to.
“But you can’t walk.”
“Okay, Alfred, it works like this. Untape my hands and legs and give me my shoes. I’ll go in the trees. I’m not going to run away. We’re in the middle of nowhere. Where would I run to?”
