Honeymoon for Three (8 page)

CHAPTER 8

The noise that woke Penny sounded like the
percussion section of McNamara’s Band on a drunken spree. As she
became more aware, she realized that she had heard the same noise
several times during the night. She was going to ask Gary what it
was, but he was still sleeping, warm and comfortable. She decided
not to disturb him.

She crawled out of the sleeping bag and at
once felt the bite of the cold air. They weren’t in Southern
California anymore. It was still dark, but with the aid of a
flashlight she found her clothes piled in the corner of the small
tent and pulled on as many as she could as fast as she could,
shivering as she did.

“What time is it?” Gary asked, his face
still buried in the sleeping bag.

“Time to rise and shine. The sun will be up
soon.”

Gary said something incomprehensible. Penny
undid the tent flap and crawled out into the even colder morning
air. Her peripheral vision registered a flash of movement nearby.
She turned her head and watched a bear lumber off into the woods.
He had been eating out of the garbage can beside their
campsite.

“Gary,” she said, yanking back the canvas
panel and sticking her head into the tent, “I just saw a bear.”

“Well, don’t let him eat our breakfast.”
Gary was now fully awake. “Wow, it’s cold.” And then, as an
afterthought, “We’ve been married a whole day now. Amazing.”

“Put on your warmest clothes and let’s get
the show on the road. We’ve got places to go and things to do.”

***

Gary was awed by the beauty in front of him.
Crater Lake had the bluest water he had ever seen, surrounded by
two thousand foot cliffs that were also reflected in the water,
giving it an appearance of great depth. Two small, sharply defined
islands completed the picture. Penny had read from the guidebook
that Crater Lake was created when the 12,000 foot Mount Mazama
collapsed 7,700 years ago following a large volcanic eruption.

They were driving around the crater on Rim
Drive, stopping at viewpoints. The only problem was the cold. And
the fact that he couldn’t get the events of yesterday out of his
head. Penny commented on how somber he was.

“I’m still thinking about what happened
yesterday,” he admitted. “I can’t figure out who could have accused
me of murder.”

“Well, do you see him here?”

There were only a handful of people at this
viewpoint, and none of them remotely fit the description of Jack
London, or whoever he was.

“No, but I did come up with a remote
possibility during the night.”

“Tell me,” Penny said as they hustled back
to the car to get warm.

“I had a roommate before Steve. His name was
Henry. He could have fit the description the woman at the chapel
gave, at least in a dark room. He had a beard. He may still have
one.”

“When was the last time you saw him?”

“About a year ago. But he called me just
before we left, and I told him something about what we were doing.
I can’t remember exactly what, but he did imply that because I had
been the best man at his wedding, he should be mine. I told him we
were eloping, but I’m not sure he bought it.”

“Why do you think he might be a
suspect?”

“He’s an odd duck. He loves to play
practical jokes. But they go beyond joking and verge on cruelty.
For example—”

“Yes?”

They got into the car. As Gary started the
engine, he realized that he was going to have to be careful what he
said.

“I shouldn’t even be telling you this on the
second day of our marriage. Henry got married two years ago, and,
as I said, I was his best man. For some reason he spread the rumor
that I was…queer. I have no idea why he did it.”

“Well, I can give you a reference. Do you
think it might have anything to do with the fact that you’re
probably a lot better looking than he is?”

“I never thought of that. Anyway, he got
everybody connected with the wedding to believe it.”

“Since you were roommates, didn’t that
implicate him?”

“He told people that we had separate
bedrooms and agreed to live our own lives. I brought in guys, and
he brought in girls. Of course that never happened—including him
bringing in girls. He wasn’t a big success with the ladies. He got
his wife because she found out that he was a member of a rich
family. Not to put too fine a point on it, but she was a gold
digger.”

“Did you confront him with this?”

“Yes, but he laughed it off. Said it was
just a joke and nobody would care in two years.”

“Except that it’s been two years, and you
obviously still care.”

“Because of what happened. They got married
in San Diego where the bride’s parents lived. The wedding party was
staying in a hotel. Henry engineered it so that on the day of the
wedding I didn’t have a room to use to change into my wedding
clothes.”

“How could he do that?” Penny sounded
belligerent.

“Because he was paying for my room.” Gary
sounded sheepish. Maybe he shouldn’t have started this topic.
“Anyway, he said he needed my room for something else. He said the
only room available was the one the bridesmaids were using. I would
have to share it with them.”

Penny gasped, and Gary knew he was digging
himself deeper.

“I figured the girls would veto it, but they
said fine.”

“So you got dressed in the same room with
the bridesmaids?”

“Yes.” He wanted to end the discussion right
there.

“How many girls were there?”

“Three.”

“Were they good looking?”

“Oh, average.”

“Sure they were.” Penny didn’t try to hide
her sarcasm.

All right, they were gorgeous. The one thing
he liked about the bride was her girlfriends. Out loud, he gave a
noncommittal grunt.

“How did it work out for my poor Garykins?”
Penny asked with mock sympathy.

“We made do. We respected each other.”

Penny snorted. “Gary, I feel for you, but I
can’t quite reach you.” She started playing an imaginary violin.
“You were the fox in the henhouse.”

He didn’t tell her that the girls ran around
before the wedding in garter belts, sans bras, because they didn’t
want to get their backless dresses dirty, but she had obviously
figured it out.

Trying to regain some of his dignity, he
said, “But let me tell you what happened next. At the reception I
danced with the bridesmaids. There was one I kind of liked, and I
tried to make time with her. She just laughed at me.”

“Aw, the light dawns. My Garykins got
laughed at by a girl. You poor thing.” Penny laughed herself. “But
that’s okay. Aphrodite was watching over you and looking out for my
best interests. You were being saved for me.”

“I guess so.” He grinned. He would get no
pity from her. He was glad he was out of that conversation.

“How did the marriage go?”

“She divorced him a year ago. Got a big
settlement, as I understand it.”

“So you think he might be envious of you.
From what you’ve said, I believe it. What you need to do is call
him and make sure he’s home.”

“It’s a long distance call, and we’re in the
middle of nowhere.”

“I’m sure there are phone booths at Rim
Village. You can call from there. Your peace of mind will make it
worth the cost.”

“I’ll call him collect. He owes me.”

***

Alfred wheeled into Mt. Mazama Campground as
if he owned the place. He had no intention of staying at another
campground, after his cold night in Lake Tahoe, but if Penny and
Gary were following the route he thought they were following, their
tent should be here.

Last night, he had watched the movie
Moulin Rouge
on the television set in his motel room. It was
the tragic story of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, with Jose Ferrer
playing the crippled French painter. Seeing it on the black and
white TV gave it a stark, almost tragic appearance. He identified
with the man who hadn’t been able to find true love because of his
deformity.

Alfred wasn’t exactly a painter, but he had
some talent at drawing. He could draw a pretty good likeness of a
person. He had made two sketches of Penny. In fact, they were with
a sketchpad in the trunk of his car. After the movie ended he
retrieved the drawings and spread them out on the bed.

One was of Penny in her cheerleader outfit.
He had copied it from the yearbook picture. It looked just like
her. He had also tried to sketch how she looked when he saw her
through her apartment window. He had never done a nude before, but
he thought it had turned out pretty well, considering the fact that
he only caught a glimpse of her. He remembered the mole on her left
breast. He spent a long time trying to get her bellybutton correct.
He really should take an art class sometime.

Seeing the drawings made him want to see
Penny again in person. A good night’s sleep in the comfortable bed
of the motel refreshed him and reinforced the feeling. He had come
a long way. He wasn’t going to go home until he saw her one more
time. Just to make sure she was all right.

He ate breakfast and then went to a clothing
store and bought himself a winter jacket, gloves, and a hat. It
cost him a significant portion of his financial resources, but he
wasn’t going to freeze again.

Then he drove north to Crater Lake. He had
never seen so many trees in his life as he had during the last
three days. Especially evergreen trees. He didn’t know there were
this many trees in the world. Most forests in the East were much
smaller than the ones around here. There weren’t any forests in
parts of the Midwest. After this trip he would be completely
satisfied if he never saw another forest.

Alfred drove openly through the campground.
Penny and Gary wouldn’t be here right now. They would be out
sightseeing. They must love sightseeing or they wouldn’t have come
here. Looking at trees. And mountains. And lakes. He didn’t
understand anybody who could go gaga over a tree. It must be Gary’s
doing. Penny was more sensible than that. This was evidence that he
was leading her around by the nose.

He spotted an olive drab tent. It must be
theirs. It was smaller than any of the other tents. He hadn’t
gotten a good look at it during his night perambulations at Lake
Tahoe because it had been almost pitch dark. A green stove sat on a
picnic table near the tent. It looked familiar, but many campers
had similar stoves.

He stopped the car and got out. He became
immediately glad he had purchased warm clothes as the cold wind hit
him. There was nobody around. Time for some investigation. He
unzipped the vertical zipper that held the two front tent flaps
together and the two horizontal zippers at the bottom and folded
the flaps back, so that daylight filled the inside. It was small in
there—claustrophobic. How could anybody sleep in a space this
size?

Alfred noted the double sleeping bag, and
his blood started to boil. There were other things inside the tent:
a cooking pot, a frying pan, plastic utensils, bowls, and cups. Put
in there so they wouldn’t blow away if the wind came up. No food,
however. He had read a sign about bears at the entrance to the
campground. They must be keeping their food in the car.

The sleeping bag was unzipped, and the top
half had been folded back, airing out the inside. He lay down on
the padded cloth and wondered which side of the bag Penny slept in.
He could smell some body odors, but he couldn’t tell one from
another. The ground was hard. How could she sleep in this
environment? Gary was torturing her. Alfred would never treat a
girl like this.

There were also some items of clothing. What
interested him most were a pile of maps and a spiral notebook. He
picked up the notebook and opened it to the first page. It
contained dates and locations. He glanced through it and realized
that this was their itinerary. Valuable information.

He turned several pages and found what must
be a journal of their trip in neat, schoolteacher handwriting. The
first sentence that caught his eye read, “The ceremony was just
perfect for us.” Penny must be writing the journal. That sentence
could only have been written by a girl. He backed up to just before
the description of the wedding to see what it said about Gary’s
run-in with the police.

Not much. The narrative stated that Gary had
been taken to the police station for questioning. Penny went to the
station and talked to a motherly woman. Gary was released in about
an hour. It was all a misunderstanding. There was no mention of how
the misunderstanding came about. No reference to another person,
which would be him. And no mention of any doubts that Penny might
have about Gary.

Well, that had to change. He had to sow
seeds of discontent. Alfred zipped the tent flaps together while
still holding the notebook. He stood up and returned to his car,
throwing the notebook onto the passenger seat. It contained useful
information. They would blame each other for its disappearance. He
wanted a document in Penny’s handwriting, anyway. Even if he didn’t
like what she had written.

Now that he knew where they were going, he
was getting out of here. Out of the rugged country and the cold
weather. The outdoor life wasn’t for him. He wasn’t cut out to be a
camper. He had enough money to hang on for a few more days. He
would meet them a little later in their trip. Assuming that they
didn’t call the whole thing off, which was what he wanted to
happen.

***

“I had it this morning. I’m sure I put it
with the maps.” Penny frantically looked through the pile of maps
and guidebooks again, even though she had already done so twice.
She compulsively looked in and under the sleeping bag and threw the
dishes around the tent in frustration.

“I’ll look in the car,” Gary said.

“I know I put it in the tent.” But since the
notebook obviously wasn’t in the tent it made sense to look in
other possible places. So she let Gary check the glove compartment
and under the front seats. The backseat contained a pile of food
and clothing, almost to the ceiling. She couldn’t have put it
there.