Romance on the Edge 01 - Hooked

After that I don’t want to see any more of your crew in my Infirmary.” She returned to her patient, the door shutting like a final decree behind her.
    “What happened?” Garrett asked.
    Peter slumped into a seat, looking spent.
    “You okay, Peter?” Sonya ignored Garrett for the moment, and took a seat next to her brother. He seemed younger, as if Gramps’s injury had taken years off his already young life.
    “He could have been killed,” he mumbled, his breathing agitated.
    “He wasn’t. Your quickness saved him from being hurt worse than he was.” She rubbed her hand along his tense shoulders. “He’s going to be all right.”
    Peter raised dark eyes to hers. “How did you deal with losing our parents? Losing Sasha? I don’t even remember them.”
    She tossed his hair, which badly needed a cut, and tried for some levity. “I had you to raise, brat.”
    He smiled, though she knew he pulled it out for her benefit. He jerked his head in Garrett’s direction. “Go talk to Garrett. I’ll wait for Gramps.”
    “Sure?”
    Peter nodded. “I’ll be fine.” Sonya stood, but his next words stopped her. “We need to get this son of a bitch, Sonya.”
    She sucked in a breath. He sounded so much like a man, demanding justice. Part of her wanted to reprimand him for swearing, but then she wanted to get the son of bitch responsible too.
    She motioned for Garrett to follow her outside. In the precarious state Peter was in, he didn’t need to overhear the conversation she was about to have.
    Once outside, Sonya glanced around. The area was deserted, most of the village’s occupants still out on the water. Gramps’s accident had put a halt to them fishing out the opening.
    She brought Garrett up to speed on how Gramps had gotten hurt. Then she pulled the pieces of the steel pin out of her pocket. “These aren’t supposed to break.”
    His knowing eyes met hers. He reached into the inside pocket of his jacket and drew out a plastic bag. Carefully, he picked up the two pieces without touching them.
    Realization dawned. “Sorry, I didn’t think of fingerprints.”
    “Chances are we won’t recover any. Salt water destroys most evidence, but we’ll see what we can do. I’ll need your prints to rule them out.” He studied the pieces of the pin. “I don’t see any tool marks where someone could have compromised the pin.”
    “They didn’t need to damage it, just replace it with an inferior metal.”
    “When Wes was knocked unconscious?”
    “That’s what I’m thinking.” She indicated the pin. “When we checked the boat over, it never dawned on me to inspect that.”
    “Even if you did, how would you have known it wasn’t the original?”
    “I wouldn’t have. Not until it failed.”
    “You understand what this means, don’t you?”
    She nodded her head. “Someone wants me or one of my crew dead.”

C HAPTER T WENTY- T HREE
    “Now don’t fuss, Maggie May,” Gramps said, though Sonya knew he loved the attention Grams showered on him as she fluffed his pillow and tucked a lap throw over his lower body.
    “You just hush and lay there while I get you something to eat.” Grams had taken the news of his accident better than Sonya had hoped, but then not much ruffled her platinum feathers. She was one classy bird.
    “I’ve got an errand to do,” Sonya said. “You two going to be okay? I’ll be about a half hour.”
    “We’ll be fine, Sonya.” Grams steady blue eyes met hers. “I’ve got Barberella if the need arises. Her nod indicated the sawed-off shotgun hanging on the beam above their heads. Grams always gave her guns female names out of respect for being dependable girlfriends.
    “I’d feel better if you would keep Gracie with you,” Grams said, referring to the small pocket-size pistol she kept beside the bed.
    “I appreciate it, Grams, but I won’t need Gracie where I’m going.” Sonya left the cabin and made her way across the creek to the Harte camp.
    “Earl, Roland,” she greeted Cranky and Crafty who sat on the broken-down porch. “Is Aidan around?”
    “Haven’t seen you around much this summer,” Roland said, smoking a cigarette.
    “You need to get you a man, Sonya,” Earl said. “Help with the load you seem determined to carry.”
    “You sound like Gramps,” she replied with a smile, though it was hard to pull off.
    “How is Nikolai? He didn’t look so good when you brought him home a while ago.” Earl rested an ankle on his knee and reclined