Honeymoon for Three

their notebook from the briefcase. “We’ve already checked it for fingerprints.”
    Gary took it and flipped through the pages. “This is ours.”
    “Unfortunately, I can’t let you keep it. We need it for evidence. If there’s any information from it that you need, you can look at it now.”
    “I think we successfully reconstructed everything. He took it from our tent at Crater Lake.” Gary handed the notebook back to the detective.
    “Which proves that he’s followed you throughout the trip.”
    “We think he’s the one who tried to stop our wedding in Reno,” Penny said. “Gary was taken to the police station.”
    She and Gary elaborated on the police incident while Detective Landon took more notes. When they finished that recital, he looked at Penny.
    “When was the last time you saw Alfred before your trip?”
    She thought. “I saw him a few times while I was going to college. Not very often. Usually during the summers when I was home. I think he was working in Fenwick. As far as I know, he didn’t go to college. But we never did anything together. I don’t remember saying more than a hundred words to him all the time I was in college.”
    “When did you go to California?”
    “June 1962, right after I graduated from college.”
    “You didn’t know that he was living close to you in Lomita, California?”
    “No.” She still couldn’t believe it, although the evidence indicated it must be so.
    “He’s probably been keeping tabs on you for some time. Your mother told me he called her from California before you left on your trip. He was looking for you.”
    “She didn’t tell me that.” Sometimes her mother could be exasperating.
    “She told him you were going on a trip.”
    “Great.”
    “What about the phone calls and the notes?” Gary asked.
    Penny explained about those to the detective. Alfred knew where she lived. She shivered, realizing that he had been watching her, and she didn’t even know it.
    “Now I’d like to show you the pictures that were found in his car.” Detective Landon hesitated, looking sideways at Gary. “You might find one of them a little…shocking.”
    Penny didn’t think she could be any more shocked than she already was. Detective Landon pulled a sketchpad out of the briefcase with pages approximately equal to legal size stationery. He lifted the cover and extracted a black-and-white photograph that Penny recognized immediately. She was in her cheerleader uniform. Her sweater had a large F on it, and she had a smug smile on her face and one hand raised into the air, as if she were in the middle of a cheer.
    “That’s from my high school yearbook.”
    Detective Landon nodded. “It was hanging from his rearview mirror.”
    “It wasn’t hanging from the mirror while I was driving his car.”
    “He probably hid it in his trunk. He didn’t want to reveal too much about himself to you. People like him are very secretive. The note below the picture mentions your high school. That’s how we found your parents. There aren’t many Singletons living in Fenwick, Connecticut. It turns out that Alfred is something of an artist. Take a look at this.”
    He pulled a loose page out of the sketchpad and held it up. The pencil drawing was a very good likeness of the cheerleader picture, even to Penny’s smile.
    “When did he do that?” Penny asked.
    Detective Landon shrugged. “It could have been anytime since you graduated from high school. I have one more to show you.” He hesitated. “I’d rather not get it out in here with all these people around. Go ahead and finish your dinners. Then we’ll go outside, and I’ll show it to you there.”
    Penny hardly ate anything. What was so bad about this picture? She wanted to take the detective outside right now without Gary, but that was impossible. Gary, however, didn’t seem to have any trouble eating.
    While they ate, they talked about what Alfred might do next. Detective Landon was of the opinion that he would keep following them, if he could. He asked them where they were staying. When they told him they were camping, he said that the National Park Service was cooperating with the police. They would keep a watch on the campground. He wrote down their route for the rest of the trip in his notebook. He gave them a number where they could call him collect, any time, day or night.
    They paid their bill and went out of the restaurant. Detective Landon took them to his unmarked car, which was parked in