Down Among the Dead Men (A Thriller) by Robert Gregory Browne Read Free Book Online

onstage? Sure, why not.  
    “You have a remarkable voice.”
    “Thank you. I don’t often have an opportunity to show it off.”
    “Oh? You’re not a professional?”
    “Singing is more of an avocation for me. A form of release.”
    “With a voice like that, I’m surprised you don’t have a record deal.”
    Marta shrugged. “Such things don’t interest me.” She glanced at her watch. “And I don’t mean to be rude, but Rafael, we need to talk.”
    Rafael’s eyebrows rose. “What is it?”
    She looked at Beth. “Do you mind if I steal him for a moment?”
    “No, not at all.”
    “It was nice meeting you.” Marta took Rafael by the hand, and he shrugged at Beth, saying, “Una momento,” as his sister led him across the floor to a spot near the wrought-iron staircase. They huddled together, speaking into each other’s ears, Marta doing most of the talking.
    Beth tried not to watch them, tried instead to concentrate on Miguel, the piano player, but she couldn’t help herself. Rafael and Marta’s conversation seemed to be growing heated—a fiery look in Marta’s eyes—and Beth had a feeling they were arguing about her.  
    Which made no sense at all.
    As if to confirm it, however, Rafael glanced in her direction—forcing Beth to momentarily avert her gaze.
    Then Marta touched his cheek, looking apologetic, and Beth got the sense that something more was going on here than a simple spat between siblings. Something in their body language that went beyond the bond of brother and sister.
    With a quick look around, Marta pulled Rafael into the shadows beneath the staircase. Beth could barely see them now, but what she could see made her stomach turn.
    Marta leaned into him, kissed him.
    Full on the mouth.
    And this was no sisterly kiss. And least not where Beth came from.
    Worse yet, Rafael seemed to be kissing Marta back, neither of them even remotely close to coming up for air.
    Oh. My. God.
    Turning away from the spectacle, Beth took a nice big gulp of her drink, then set it on the counter. Waited for her stomach to settle.
    This was obviously her cue to exit. She had no interest in hanging around with Mexico’s answer to the Appalachia twins. And from all appearances, they seemed to be getting on just fine without her.
    Ugh.
    Scooping up her purse, she crossed to a doorway on the opposite side of the bar and fled.

16
     
    W HEN SHE GOT back to their stateroom, Jen was gone. A note on her bunk said:
     
    GOT MY SECOND WIND. WENT DANCING.
     
    Beth sighed. Only Jen could be throwing up one minute and raring to go the next. She never ceased to amaze.
    Pulling off her dress, Beth crawled onto her bunk, grabbed the remote from her nightstand, and flicked on the TV. Not that there was anything playing that could top what she’d witnessed tonight.
    She was no stranger to incest. In her work at the prosecutor’s office, she’d seen more cases of father/daughter couplings than she’d wanted to, but those were always crimes of abuse. Some twisted fuck taking advantage of his parental authority, perverting a child’s love.
    What Beth had seen between Rafael and Marta, however, was obviously consensual. But that didn’t make it any more palatable. Some might argue that her objection to it was both morally and intellectually empty—Rafael and Marta were adults, after all—but that didn’t keep it from creeping her out. The ick factor was almost too much to bear. And the image of two his-and-her beauty queens macking on each other was not likely to go away anytime soon.
    Beth shivered, trying to concentrate on the TV, which was showing a remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still with Keanu Reeves. She managed to stare at it for a full thirty minutes but would be hard-pressed to tell anyone what she’d seen.
    This was turning out to be one hell of a vacation.
    But if Jen could recover so quickly, why couldn’t she ? The original plan was to go dancing together, and late was better than never.
    Flicking off