Alan Cook - Honeymoon for Three

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 over. She backed up and tried to will her heart to slow down so she could think.

Gary rolled away from the edge and laboriously got to his knees, wincing in pain. Penny knew how difficult it was to accomplish that with his hands taped behind his back. He stayed in a kneeling position. She hoped he could stand. She had to distract Alfred.

“Alfred,” she said in a high-pitched voice that sounded as if she had been inhaling helium, “we know you’re not really a killer.”

Alfred backed away from Gary a few steps so that he could more easily watch both of them. That was a positive. He even looked a little shaken that Gary had almost gone over. Maybe he had a heart after all

“Let’s go back to the camper and talk about this.” Penny tried to sound matter-of-fact, as if this were the reasonable thing to do. “You both must be getting hungry. I’ll make sandwiches for lunch.”

She half-turned, willing Alfred to follow her. He looked undecided. She fixed her eyes on his. He wouldn’t look at her. She glanced at Gary, hoping he would be quiet, but he didn’t appear to be very talkative. The seconds ticked by, and the silence became painful. Penny had an urge to say something, perhaps repeat what she had just said. The pressure was on Alfred, so she forced herself to keep her mouth closed.

The engines of the cars on Route 1 hummed behind her, far away, in a different world. A safe world, without guns and maniacs. Could she ever return to that world?

Alfred raised his eyes and looked from one of them to the other. His gun was pointed down, not at Gary. Gary didn’t pose an immediate threat to him. Maybe the situation could be defused.

Alfred mumbled, “It’s too late.”

“What did you say?” Penny pretended she hadn’t heard him.

“It’s too late. We have to get on with it.”

“You know if you kill Gary, I will never be yours.”

Alfred looked at her again, hesitating for another few seconds. Then he started walking toward Gary, saying “On your feet. It’s time to get the show on the road.” He lifted the gun and pointed it at Gary.

Her comment had backfired. The gun gave him false confidence. Penny felt the horror of what was about to happen well up inside her.

“Wait!”

Alfred stopped and turned his eyes to her. She backed away a few steps. By the way he handled the gun, she guessed that he was a neophyte and probably couldn’t hit her at this distance. She also thought she could beat him back to the cars, shoeless though she was.

“If you kill Gary, I’m going to the police. I’ll also tell them you killed the clerk in the market. That will make two people. How do you think you’ll like the gas chamber at San Quentin?”

That had an effect on Alfred. He hesitated. Behind his back, Gary stuck out three fingers. It took a second for her to understand his meaning.

“Three people.” The words spilled out. “That would make three people you’ve killed. You killed Emily. I see it now. Did you follow her the way you followed me? She was getting married, which meant that she was rejecting you, so you strangled her. Then you took off her bracelet and put it in Darren’s apartment to frame him. He never locked his door. You knew that. You said it was a wonder his bicycle wasn’t stolen.”

Penny stopped for breath, trembling. She had an overwhelming desire to attack Alfred. There was complete silence. Penny wondered whether she had said too much. Had she sealed Gary’s fate? If Alfred took one step toward him, she was prepared to charge.

“Emily made fun of my bellybutton,” Alfred said.

“She made fun of your bellybutton two days before she was going to be married?”

Alfred frowned. “She shouldn’t have gotten married. She was…”