Free Dead Girl Beach by Mike Sullivan Page A

the coast another two miles to their campsite at Dead Girl Beach. She had it all figured out.
    The car drove on and on across dark, eroding pavement that narrowed and pot-holed in spots. Greta maneuvered between the chunks of broken asphalt and roared up the highway along the coast. Every now and then, a car whizzed by, going in the opposite direction. Bram Beckers kept a safe distance behind them.
    After a while, Suma could no longer hold her silence. She shook her head and started to protest. “Honestly, I don’t know who you are…or what you…”
    The man’s heavy hand crashed off the side of her face.
Bam!
She reeled back, dazed and stunned. Her head went one way and her body another. Hot, white light exploded behind her eyes, her ears rang, and the side of her face throbbed, hot as baked stone.
    I can’t believe he did that
, she thought,
I can’t believe he hit me…that hard
.
    The blow had loosened teeth. Her head ached. Suma pulled her dress down as far as she could and crawled back into a far corner. Her eyes misted. Tears began to flow.
    After a while, she stopped crying. Gradually, her eyes caught sight of the door lock fused into the door panel next to her. She reached out without thinking, just reacting when she suddenly stopped. She shook her head and felt a chill knife through her body.
    Just my luck
, she thought. Automatic. Locked tight. She gasped in horror and attempted to scream.
I can’t get out. I’m completely at their mercy
.
    The man stared up at Greta. “Dadgummit, how far before the turn off?” he asked. “We been drivin’ it seems like forever.” It was hard not to notice an East Texas drawl.
    â€œDon’t ask, Parry. Don’t start acting like you care.”
    â€œI do. Ya’ll just don’t see it.”
    â€œYeah, right.”
    â€œYou don’t think so?”
    â€œNo, I don’t…not one bit. So, don’t start playing Mister Innocent with me.”
    Greta screeched around a curve and straightened the car out. On Baan Khai Road and heading back toward Laluna, she inched along behind a delivery van for a quarter mile. At the bottom of the hill, she roared around the van and gave the delivery driver the finger as she zoomed by.
    Minutes later, she eased a look over her shoulder. “Don’t think.” Greta returned her attention to the road. “Every time you think, we end up completely screwed and not even kissed.” She flashed a foxy smile over the front seat. “So, don’t think. Don’t even bother. Let me do all the thinking, all the time.
Comprende
?”
    â€œWell, you don’t have to act so fuckin’ mean.”
    â€œDon’t I?” She wheeled back at him.
    â€œNo, you don’t.”
    â€œYes, I do, pervert. Why I married a loser like you, I’ll never know.”
    â€œI ain’t no pervert, Greta.”
    â€œTell that to the cop whose palm I had to grease.” Greta held up her right hand. She rubbed her index finger against her thumb. “A lot of baht went into that dumb mistake you made, yesterday. You just couldn’t keep it in your pants, could you? Sad, sad, sad…that’s all I gotta say. Sad.” She steered into a curve and came out at the other end.
    â€œFYI,” she went on, “the Forex exchange rate’s not so bad right now, with 31.50 Thai baht to $1.00. Still, that extortionist cop—that dickhead with the red eyes and boozy, whiskey breath—do you know how much he wanted to fix things? Three grand. Three
fucking
grand. That’s how much he wanted. He said he’d have to pay off the girl’s family plus pocket a little for himself, or else you’d end up in the slammer. Forever. I should have left you there. That’s what I should have done.”
    â€œWhat cop?”
    Â â€œHave you been listening to anything I’ve said, or are you really that dumb?”
    â€œI