“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 a kidnapping had actually occurred and that it might cross state borders.
Unfortunately, Gary couldn’t tell them what kind of vehicle Alfred might be driving. They agreed to check for stolen cars. One thing that Detective Landon had done was to coordinate with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and ask them to keep an eye on Alfred’s apartment in Lomita. They had alerted his landlord, who would call them in case he returned to it.
He might never return to his apartment. There was a lot of space between here and Lomita where he might be. He had Penny with him. What was he doing to her?
After Gary had told the law enforcement people all he knew, he left the sheriff’s office, bereft and discouraged. He couldn’t expect much help from them. He agreed to stay in touch with them and let them know how they could contact him, but he had to do something on his own.
He thought about calling Penny’s parents. That would scare the hell out of them, and what would it accomplish? They couldn’t do anything. He thought about calling his parents-or his aunt and uncle, since his parents were in Europe. Same problem. What he needed most was support, which they couldn’t give him from across the country. Maybe he and Penny should have waited and had a traditional wedding back east.
Was he the one who had wanted to elope or was it both of them? If something happened to Penny, would it haunt him for the rest of his life? Yes.
He drove south slowly on Route 101, trying to look at the passengers in all the vehicles that passed him in either direction. A lot of good that did. He came to Leggett where Route 1 started (or ended if you were heading north) and went to the coast while 101 continued south in more of a straight line.
He stopped for gas while a new fear seized him. Up to now, he had assumed without really putting words to it that he was following the route Alfred and Penny were taking, and that, therefore, at least a chance existed that he might spot them. Now he had to make a choice. Which way would they go?
After his gas tank was filled, Gary parked in a corner of the station and tried to block out his fear for Penny long enough to think rationally about what he should do. It wasn’t easy, but with effort he gained some semblance of control over his mind. Alfred wanted Penny all to himself. He would like to live with her in L.A., but he must realize by now that L.A. was a dangerous place for him, especially if he returned to his apartment.
Penny would be trying her darndest to escape from Alfred. She might feel that it would be easier to escape from him in L.A. than up here, especially since escaping where there weren’t any people around to help her might not gain her anything.
On the other hand, she would want to stay as close to Gary as possible. If she had any control over Alfred at all, she might try to influence him to go somewhere Gary might find them, such as a campground.
Gary made his choice. He headed toward the coast. He would drive through every campground between here and San Francisco on Route 1. There were a lot of them, but it would keep him busy.
When Alfred stopped the camper, Penny heard him get out and close the door. She assumed he had stopped for gas. She couldn’t see anything because the blanket was still over her head. She had worked the tape partially loose from her mouth again, but she doubted that screaming would help her situation, and it would certainly bring his wrath down upon her. Anyway, she didn’t think that she could open her mouth wide enough to scream loudly so that she could be heard outside the camper. The blanket would muffle any noise she made. She couldn’t get the blanket off her; in fact, she could hardly move at all.