Romance on the Edge 01 - Hooked

rubbed his palm up and down. She took more comfort in the small caress than she should have. “Get your crew and keep out of the way while we do our job.”
    “I’m not fishing out this period either, am I?”
    He shook his head. “Sorry, Sonya.”
    Garrett turned to Judd and informed him, keeping his tone low, then he picked up his radio and called for backup while Judd returned to the Calypso .
    “You’re calling in more troopers?” she whispered harshly. She glanced around at the drifters still watching her like a thick cut of prime rib.
    “We can’t very well reach the body in a drift boat, now can we?”
    “Oh…yeah.” She took a deep breath and tried not to think about Kendrick’s body bloated like a ghost fish in her net.
    “Did you do anything to secure the body or is it floating free in your net?”
    “No.” She swallowed past the bile in her throat. “We—Aidan and I—looped a rope around his leg—” She slapped a hand over her mouth until the need to be sick passed.
    “You okay?” Garrett reached out to touch her.
    She held up her hand in a motion to give her a minute, walked over to the cooler they kept on deck, and grabbed a water bottle. She took a long drink, paused and then took another. Screwing the lid back on, she rejoined Garrett.
    “Securing the body was good thinking on your part, Sonya.”
    “Thanks, but it was Aidan who thought of it.”
    The Miss Julie II rubbed against the Double Dippin’ causing Sonya to stumble into Garrett. He caught her, holding her tight against the hard, warmth of his body, and flashes of what had transpired between the two of them, just hours earlier, sizzled between them.
    Garrett set her back on her feet, waited until she was steady, and then let go of her. He turned toward the Miss Julie II . “Treat! Quit using Sonya as an anchor and back off.”
    “I’m only acting as a buffer between Sonya and some of the unsavory fishermen out here.”
    “I’m all the buffer she needs right now.”
    “Really?” Treat dragged out. “So that’s the way of it? Sonya, seriously? Slumming with a fish cop? You could have set your cap so much higher.”
    “I’m too busy to slum, Treat. Besides, slumming would be going for you,” Sonya returned.
    “Ouch, Sonya, that hurts.”
    “Treat,” Garrett warned.
    “What’s really going on here anyway? Someone dead?” Realization dawned across his face. “Shit almighty, that’s it, isn’t it? Who? Who’s dead?”
    “Back off, Treat, or I’m confiscating your catch for anchoring.”
    Treat grumbled but backed his boat off.
    Garrett turned as a RHIB arrived with two more troopers aboard. “Stay out of the way, but within earshot in case we need help with your net. Okay?”
    She nodded. He reached out and squeezed her arm again and then he was gone, having swung back over to the Calypso . She watched as he and Judd dropped from the Calypso onto the RHIB. Judd carried a black tool box, and a camera hung around his neck. Garrett carried a body bag.
    Sonya lost her morning-after breakfast.

    “Yep, that is one dead body,” Judd said as he and Garrett floated Kendrick to the surface with the pull of the rope the Double Dippin’ had secured the body with.
    “Yo, Double D !” Ringo motored up on the Mary Jane . “Are you throwing a party without inviting us?” Ringo caught sight of Kendrick’s body as Garrett and Judd pulled it aboard the RHIB. “Holy moly! Damn, Sonya. I heard that you threatened Kendrick last night, but no one believed you’d actually go through with it.”
    “Listen up!” Garrett yelled in a voice that got the circling drifters’s attention. “I’m in the mood to write some tickets. I suggest you all get back to fishing—” he did a three-sixty, staring at all the flocking drifters, “—unless you want a fine for interference.”
    Mumbling complaints mixed with rumbling diesel engines as the drifters gave them some space. Though not enough to satisfy Garrett. News of Kendrick’s death would be brimming over the bay in minutes, if it wasn’t already.
    Judd started snapping stills as the other trooper—Garrett forgot his name, just that he could eat everyone under the table when it came to King Crab—videoed the scene.
    Garrett examined the body but didn’t see any obvious signs of injury. “Judd, help me turn him over.” They flipped him, and there, in Kendrick’s upper back, was a wicked gash.
    “Guess this was no accidental drowning.” Judd picked up the