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.
Penny closed her eyes for an instant, but she couldn’t not look. She screamed as Gary fell hard on the rocky surface. The terror stayed with her, even after it was apparent that he had managed to stop himself from going over the cliff, at least for the moment. He was hurt perhaps, but at least he was alive.
She found that she had taken a couple of steps toward Alfred, ready to rush him-ready to try to push him
