Honeymoon for Three

Alfred. My legs are killing me.”
    This had an effect on him. He set to work immediately, tearing the tape off. When he had her arms and legs separated, Penny straightened her legs with a cry.
    “The backs of my thighs are tied in knots.”
    Alfred looked contrite. He rolled her onto her stomach and started massaging her upper thighs through her slacks while Penny directed him. Gradually he kneaded the knots out of her muscles. Although his hands came close to her genital area, he made no effort to touch her there, even though it would be easy for him since her wrists were still taped together.
    This surprised Penny. What kind of a man was he? She still didn’t have him figured out.
    When the pain finally stopped, she said, “Now take off the rest of the tape. And never do that again.”
    “I’m sorry I hurt you. We won’t have to get gas again until somewhere south of San Francisco.”
    She wasn’t ever going to let him tape her that securely again. She would die first.
    “Are you going to let me sit in front and be your navigator now?”
    Alfred hesitated. “If you start signaling to people or yelling out the window…”
    “I won’t. I promise.”
    She didn’t promise she wouldn’t jump out of the camper if they stopped in one of the villages along the way. She went forward and sat in the passenger seat and looked at the map. Fort Bragg would be a good place to make her escape. A center of population meant people. People meant protection.
    Alfred must have read her mind. He was about to drive away when he glanced sideways at her. Maybe she looked too happy. He shut off the engine and got the duct tape.
    “You said you weren’t going to tape me.”
    “Just your legs. So you don’t jump out.”
    Aarrgg. She argued with him. He was adamant. If she wanted to ride in front she had to have her legs taped. The alternative was for her to lie on the bed. She couldn’t take the bed anymore. She let him tape her legs, but she didn’t give in easily. He did it in such a way that it would be time consuming for her to untape them. Then he taped her legs to the seat. He also took her shoes.
    Alfred got out of the camper, walked around the front, and opened her door. What was he up to now? He made sure her window was rolled up all the way. He securely taped the window crank so that she couldn’t open it. She had told him she wouldn’t shout out the window. He still didn’t trust her. He also taped the door lock in the locked position. He’d thought of everything.
    This was galling. Penny did not like being told what to do in the best of times, and she hated being physically restrained. If she got out of this mess, nobody would ever tell her what to do again.
    ***
    More campgrounds existed along this stretch of Route 1 than Gary thought. Not only public campgrounds but private campgrounds such as KOA—Kampgrounds of America. He stopped at each one. He drove through the larger ones and walked through the smaller ones.
    He didn’t know what he was looking for. Some sort of car, probably. A lack of camping equipment. Would they be sleeping in the car? Gary didn’t want to think about the sleeping arrangements. If he did, he might kill Alfred when he found him. Since they didn’t have camping equipment, wouldn’t they stay in a motel? Alfred didn’t have much money. Otherwise, why would he have robbed the food store? They had been told he hadn’t gotten a lot of money from that. Penny had no money with her. He had found her wallet in the Beetle.
    How would Alfred prevent Penny from escaping? Would he keep her tied up? She was feisty and wouldn’t like that. How could he keep her hidden? Maybe somebody would see her and report it to the Highway Patrol. It was a faint hope, but he had nothing else to cling to.
    This was an arduous process. Gary could easily spend all night doing this. Well, he might as well. It would keep his body and mind occupied. He certainly wasn’t going to be able to sleep.
    ***
    Fort Bragg was an actual city, albeit not a large one. It had streets and people and even traffic lights. One would think it would offer an opportunity for Penny to escape. It might have, if Alfred hadn’t been as clever as he was. Penny couldn’t open her door or her window. She couldn’t even get up and hop to the sliding door.
    She could pound on her window and mouth words to somebody who wouldn’t understand what she was saying. Alfred would retaliate; she knew that. No, there would be a better