Honeymoon for Three

roof.”
    Penny had prepared dinner for them in the small kitchen. She didn’t claim to be an expert chef, but she had cooked for Gary several times while they were dating, and he had survived. He appreciated her efforts.
    “Have you seen Steve?” Gary asked.
    “No. He hasn’t shown his head.”
    “Well, don’t worry about him. He’s probably shacked up somewhere.” Steve sometimes didn’t show up for a couple of days at a time during the summer when he wasn’t teaching school. He would also supplement his teaching income by selling sets of pots and pans to suggestive teenage girls for their “trousseaus.”
    Gary told this to Penny, and she said, “Speaking of trousseaus, I don’t have one. I haven’t had time to get one together. I noticed that you purchased a dozen T-shirts and pairs of underpants.”
    Caught, Gary could only laugh. “I’ve been meaning to buy some things and this seemed like a good opportunity.”
    They sat down to dinner at the table beside the kitchen. The menu consisted of hotdogs with all the toppings, baked potatoes, and corn on the cob, along with a celebratory bottle of cheap champagne. Gary couldn’t have been happier with it. He opened the champagne bottle with a pop and bounced the cork off the refrigerator. It reminded him of shooting woodchucks with a .22 on the farm back home.
    He filled two water glasses—he didn’t have champagne glasses. “To us.”
    “To eloping.”
    They clinked glasses and drank.
    Halfway through the meal, Gary noticed that Penny had become very quiet, which was unlike her. She was usually as bubbly as the newly opened champagne. He was about to make a quip about it, to attempt to lighten the suddenly oppressive atmosphere, when she spoke.
    “Gary, there’s something I need to talk to you about.”
    “Uh-oh, here it comes.” Gary was trying to keep it light.
    “I received a couple of notes at the Lomita apartment.”
    “Notes from old boyfriends?”
    “I don’t know.”
    The way she said it sobered Gary up. He gave her his full attention as she described the circumstances of receiving the notes. She went and retrieved them from the envelope.
    “I also had several phone calls from somebody who didn’t say anything.” She placed the notes in front of Gary. “He just breathed into the phone.”
    Gary studied the pieces of paper and the scribbled words. He didn’t know whether to be concerned or not. They looked like the work of a prankster, but one could never tell.
    “Did you show these to the police?”
    Penny shook her head. “I showed them to the apartment manager and a few tenants. That’s all.”
    “You didn’t show them to me.”
    “I was afraid you’d wonder what kind of a crazy girl you’d gotten mixed up with.”
    “And you have no idea who wrote them?”
    “None.”
    “Did you tell anybody where you were going when you left your apartment?”
    “Nothing specific. I said I was going on a trip. I told the owner I had rented a new place, but I didn’t tell him where it was. I’m sure he’s completely harmless, but he often looked at me a little funny. As if he could see through my clothes. He was always asking whether there was anything he could do for me. And I’ve been thinking about what happened to Emily.”
    “Emily. Your girlfriend who was….” Gary stopped, unable to say the word. He said slowly, “Well, it seems to me that you’ve successfully covered your tracks. I don’t think whoever did this will be able to find you. Unless—it’s somebody connected with your school. If something else happens after school starts, I’d be concerned, but until then—”
    “Gary, I don’t want to go into this marriage thing under false pretences. This may mean nothing, or it may mean a potful of trouble. If you want out, I’ll release you from whatever promises we’ve made.”
    Gary stared at Penny. Want out? That was the last thing he wanted. She was so serious about it. He stood up and took her in his arms. “I don’t want out. I want you. I love you.”
    He noticed that she was crying. “I hope you’re not crying because you want out.”
    “No,” she managed to say between sobs. “No. I never want out.” She buried her face in his shoulder.
    ***
    Alfred looked at his watch. It was almost six o’clock. Whatever hope he had nurtured that Gary would be coming back to the office had evaporated like water on a hot sidewalk. Not only was he not coming back, Alfred would bet anything that he and