Honeymoon for Three

try to help him. He had to make sure she got away. He had to stall.
    “You can’t do this. You can’t kill me in cold blood. It’ll be on your conscience forever.”
    “I’ve already killed two people. Another one won’t make much difference.”
    “I’ll make you a deal.”
    Alfred spoke with a sneer. “You’re really in a position to starting making deals.”
     
    CHAPTER 32
    As soon as the door closed, Penny set to work. She got up on her knees, shaking free of the blanket. She took a look at the tape on her wrists. She had managed to unwind much of the tape in the dark. She had been afraid Alfred would discover this when he uncovered her but, fortunately, he uncovered only her head. And she had had time to retape her mouth.
    Now that she was able to see, she could go much faster. She untaped her mouth again, and used a combination of her teeth and her fingers, tearing and pulling at the tape like a lion tearing meat from its prey. She applied herself to the task with feverish fervor, but she progressed much too slowly.
    She had to save Gary. It was her fault that Alfred had been able to take him captive. She should have been able to stop it. She hadn’t known about the gun, but even so… She was a bad person. First she had catered to Alfred’s bizarre sexual proclivities and now this. If she could, she would sacrifice herself for Gary. He deserved to live.
    She had reacted too slowly when Alfred produced the gun. If she had yelled, Gary could have gotten away. But he wouldn’t have run as long as he thought she was in danger. So it was probably just as well that she hadn’t yelled and revealed the looseness of her gag. It would have brought Alfred’s attention to her, and he would have found out that she was in the process of freeing herself.
    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