That was true. Dark woods loomed on either side of the road. Hansel and Gretel woods. If she ran into the woods, she would get lost. Or the witch would get her. She would have to come back to the road at some point. There was no way to elude Alfred. He apparently saw the truth of this. He took the blanket off her and untaped her hands. She brought them around to her front and started rubbing them together to get some circulation back into them. Then he untaped her legs.
Penny had a momentary urge to attack Alfred, but her hands and feet were barely working, and he would quickly overpower her. She put on her shoes. He opened the sliding door and stepped outside with her. He told her to stay in sight. She walked a few feet into the woods and went behind a tree, trying to preserve a modicum of modesty.
When she came back, Alfred said, “I think you cut your head. Let me look at it.”
For the first time, Penny noticed the ache on the top of her head. She remembered that it had been worse right after Alfred grabbed her, but she had ignored it as being the least of her problems.
Now he sat her on the floor in the doorway of the camper with her feet on the ground. She didn’t have any choice in the matter. He stood on the ground beside her and parted her hair with his fingers.
“You cut yourself. That’s what caused the blood on the pillow. It’s stopped bleeding, but I want to clean it up.”
Alfred stepped inside the camper and wet his handkerchief at the tap of the sink. He started working on the cut. Penny was surprised at how gentle he was. She thought she remembered hitting her head on the trunk cover of the VW when he grabbed her from behind and jerked her upright. It stung when the water touched it, but she didn’t say anything.
How could she be angry with him when he was taking such good care of her? That was a stupid question. He had kidnapped her. He had hurt her. He might kill her. She had to stop feeling sorry for him. Or whatever her feeling was.
“What do you want with me?” Penny asked.
Alfred didn’t answer immediately. She couldn’t see his face because it was above her as he concentrated on her head, being careful not to hurt her any more than necessary.
After a pause, he said, “I thought we could be happy together.”
In one way that was laugh-out-loud funny, but she didn’t dare laugh. She had to set him straight, though. No false pretences.
“Alfred, I’ve always liked you.” That wasn’t really a lie. At least she hadn’t actively disliked him. But when she didn’t see him, she never thought about him. If he had disappeared, she wouldn’t have noticed. In her life he was a nonentity. She couldn’t tell him that.
“I’m married now. I belong to Gary. I’ll tell you what I’ll do. When we get back to L.A., I’ll fix you up with some girls. I know some nice schoolteachers.”
Alfred didn’t say anything. He kept working on her head. She suspected that he had completed cleaning the wound. Maybe he just wanted to touch her. She was no psychologist, but she realized that what she had said about fixing him up didn’t register with him. For whatever reason, he didn’t want other girls; he wanted her.
Otherwise, he wouldn’t have lived near her and spied on her. He wouldn’t have followed her on her honeymoon. He wouldn’t have tracked her down again after he had lost her, against great odds. He wouldn’t have killed a man. God, was she responsible for that? That was more than she could handle right now. It was time to try another tack.
“I’ll make you a deal, Alfred. I’ll stay with you until we get back to L.A. Then you have to let me go back to Gary.”
A rational person would see through this, but Alfred had not been acting in a rational manner, as defined by the norms of the human race. Would he accept half a loaf? She wanted to create an atmosphere of trust so that he wouldn’t tape her again, but she also didn’t want him to get his hopes up too high. Why not? Why should she care what he felt?
If he accepted her terms, she could watch for an opportunity to escape. Escape back to Gary’s arms.
Alfred stopped working on her head and showed her the handkerchief. It had the yellow and black stains of clotted blood on it. He washed it with water from the faucet. She sat and looked at the trees while several minutes went by. When he didn’t speak, she tried again.
“We might go by the coast.”
The coast road, Route 1, was the long way, farther and slower than heading straight down 101. They would have more time together. Prolonging the trip could work to her advantage.
It would give Gary and the police more of a chance to find her, on the relatively unpopulated coast, rather than in Los Angeles where, in spite of any promises Alfred might make, he could easily decide not to release her. People could get lost in the wilds of L.A. Gary might never find her there.
Penny went to the front seat and looked at the California map. She knew approximately where they were.
“Route One cuts off at Leggett. We can follow Route One to just north of San Francisco. After we cross the Golden Gate Bridge, we can follow Route One again to San Luis Obispo. This is such a beautiful part of the country; we should take our time going through it.”
Baiting the hook, dangling the lure. Would he bite?
Alfred sat in the driver’s seat and followed her finger on the map. He looked into her eyes-a look that showed he wanted to believe her. Wanted to believe that she cared a little. She gazed back at him with as much sincerity as she could muster. She might be able to escape at a campground. Or at a gas station. If not, she would face the problem of what Alfred wanted to do with her at night. She would worry about that later. One problem at a time.
“I have food, but I need to get gas.”
“I’ll be your navigator.”
Alfred looked almost apologetic. “I can’t take that chance. Please get back on the bed.”
“Are you going to tape me again?”
He nodded, looking miserable.
“Okay, but tape my hands in front. My shoulders are killing me.”
There was no use trying to fight him. He was bigger, stronger. She had to pick her opportunity. She lay on the bed. First he taped her legs. Any hope she might have had of him taking it easy on her evaporated when he made her place her arms behind her back. He taped her wrists together. Then he bent her legs behind her and pulled them up toward her hands.
“What are you doing?”
“Taping your hands and feet together.”
“No, absolutely not. I’ll…get cramps in my legs.” She was flexible from her days as a cheerleader, but this was probably a true statement.
Nevertheless, Alfred insisted on doing it. He had seen her turn over when she was taped before. She would barely be able to move with her arms and legs taped together. He obviously didn’t want her to attract any attention when he got gas. When he had finished, he taped her mouth, in spite of her protests, and placed a blanket completely over her. She felt even more helpless than she had before. Would she ever see Gary again?
CHAPTER 27
The sheriff’s deputy, Officer Radziwill, didn’t seem to believe Gary’s story at first, and Gary couldn’t blame him. It sounded like something out of the Brothers Grimm. A phantom spiriting his wife away. The officer thought that perhaps Penny had wandered off somewhere. She might be lost in the woods. Gary persisted. He didn’t want a search effort to be misdirected. He asked the deputy to call Detective Landon in Montana to confirm that Alfred had pictures of Penny and was probably a killer.
After the call, the officer treated Gary with more respect. In fact, because Alfred was undoubtedly on the move, he called in the California Highway Patrol, which had an office a short distance away, and they sent an officer over. The representatives of these two agencies didn’t think it was a case for the F.B.I. yet. They wanted proof that
