Dark Passage Read Free Page A

squeeze. I was all for sisterly bonding, but crawling over a sibling in the middle of the night in order to go to the bathroom was taking sisterhood a bit too far. ‘We’ll definitely need two cabins,’ I said. ‘The rates are based on double occupancy, but we could …’
    â€˜I’ll take the single,’ Ruth interrupted. ‘No worries there.’
    I could have hugged her. I’d shared sleeping arrangements with Ruth before and, not to put too fine a point on it, the woman
snored
. ‘Well, it’s decided, then!’ I snapped my laptop shut and sprang to my feet. ‘C’mon, Georgina,’ I said from the door that led into the adjoining bedroom. ‘If we’re going to be roomies, we better start practicing. You and I get the king. Ruth, the sofa is all yours!’

TWO
    â€˜There are approximately 200 overnight ocean-going cruise vessels worldwide. The average ocean-going cruise vessel carries 2,000 passengers with a crew of 950 people. In 2007 alone, approximately 12,000,000 passengers were projected to take a cruise worldwide.’
    Cruise Vessel Safety & Security
Act of 2010 (H.R. 3660)
    P aul slotted a platter into the dishwasher. ‘I think that’s a terrific idea.’
    â€˜You do?’ I hadn’t expected Paul to
disapprove
of our plan, but I wasn’t expecting him to stand up and cheer for it, either. The man was practically waving pompoms.
    Paul reached out a soapy hand and tapped the tip of my nose. ‘I’ll miss you terribly, of course, but what a wonderful opportunity, especially for Georgina. That girl doesn’t get out enough, in my humble opinion.’
    â€˜That’s because, as Georgina is quick to remind me, she has four children.’ I scraped the leftover spaghetti sauce into a plastic container, snapped on the lid, then passed the dirty cooking pot to Paul. ‘I’m hoping that Scott doesn’t throw a monkey wrench into our plans. Georgina didn’t seem too worried, but you know and I know that Scott can sometimes be a spoiled brat.’
    â€˜Don’t be too hard on the guy. He’s stuck with your sister through some pretty tough times.’ Paul attacked a patch of burnt-on tomato sauce with a scrubby sponge. ‘How’s the new therapist working out?’
    â€˜Very well, I think. Georgina was worried when Doctor Christopher retired, but she’s settled into a routine with the new guy that seems to be working out for both of them. She hasn’t had a depressive episode in over a year.’ I gave him the thumbs up. ‘Kudos to the shrink and to the new meds.’
    â€˜Anyone is better than that quack. What was her name? Voorhis?’ Paul rinsed the pot with hot water and upended it in the dish strainer. ‘What a piece of work
she
was!’
    Paul was right. Georgina’s first therapist had been so twisted that someone had murdered her for it. Sadly, Georgina had discovered the woman’s body. She was still recovering from the trauma.
    â€˜When will you be gone?’ Paul asked. He pulled the plug and watched in apparent fascination as the dirty water swirled in a counter-clockwise direction down the drain.
    â€˜Around the second or third week of June, depending.’
    â€˜On what?’
    I closed the refrigerator door on the leftovers. ‘There must be a gabillion cruise lines out there, Paul. Cunard, of course. Holland America. Princess. Seaborne …
    â€˜They’re all owned by Carnival, aren’t they? Carnival owns Costa, too.’
    â€˜Right. But Carnival doesn’t own the cruise line we’re interested in.’
    Paul wrung out the dishcloth and draped it over the edge of the sink where it could dry. ‘Hannah, sweetheart?’
    â€˜What?’
    â€˜Promise me something. Pick a cruise line that doesn’t run into solid objects. Like Italy.’
    I had to laugh. ‘Don’t worry, I have. It’s one