Romance on the Edge 01 - Hooked

sunglasses from Garrett and looked them over.
    Yep, they were hers, but then she’d known they were the moment he pulled them out of his jacket. There was something dark staining the bottom of the lenses. Blood . She dropped the glasses as though they’d bitten her.
    “How long have they been missing, Sonya?” Garrett asked again.
    She couldn’t tear her eyes away from the glasses lying there on the table next to her plate of German Chocolate cake crumbs. The eaten cake threatened to make a reappearance. She swallowed, imagining her sunglasses lying on the deck of Kendrick’s boat in a pool of his blood. She slid the evidence bag across the tabletop toward Garrett, not wanting to see the sunglasses ever again.
    “Sonya.”
    She ran a shaky hand over her face, closed her eyes for a moment, and then met Garrett’s steady stare. “I don’t know for sure. I searched the boat this morning when they weren’t on the counter where I usually keep them. I’d planned on looking here at the cabin tonight.”
    He covered her hand with his. “It’s really important that you try and remember the last time you wore your sunglasses.”
    The shock was wearing off, and anger blessedly took its place. “Someone stole my sunglasses and planted them at a murder scene, didn’t they?”
    Garrett nodded. “That’s my theory. So think, when was the last time?”
    She leaned back against the wall of the cabin and rubbed her temples. “I had them when we took Gramps to see Wanda. I remember taking them off when Peter and I were in the waiting room.”
    “What about later that day?”
    “You had them when you returned with Nikky,” Grams said, lacing her fingers together. “You grabbed them off the table when you headed next door to see Aidan. Remember, you knocked over the card tower I’d been building.”
    “She’s right,” Sonya said.
    “Were you wearing them when you entered the Pitt to confront Kendrick?” Garrett asked.
    “Yes. I remember taking them off when I entered the bar and hooking them into the collar of my t-shirt.”
    “You didn’t have them when we left the Pitt.” A knowing gleam entered his eyes.
    Sonya felt like the temperature in the room had suddenly increased twenty degrees. Of course, he’d know if she had them on her as he helped to disarm and then undress her later that evening.
    “I think it’s safe to assume you lost them in the tussle with Kendrick. Now we need to figure out who picked them up and planted them on the Albatross . Whoever it is has something against you and against Kendrick. Or was Kendrick just a pawn to frame you?”
    “Who would go through all that trouble? I admit I’ve offended people out here, but no more than anyone else. We can be enemies out there on water but when fishing’s over, we can also share drinks or a meal and laugh it off.”
    “Someone isn’t laughing.” Garrett leaned his elbows on the table. “We need a list of everyone who was in the Pitt that night and whoever has threatened, gotten angry with, or insulted you in some way. I don’t care how slight, I want names.”
    “Okay, kids, I need to lie down some,” Gramps interrupted, indicating his bandaged hand. “Why don’t you two take a walk and let me rest a bit? I’ll think on that list, Garrett. Maybe I can come up with something.”
    “That would be appreciated.” Garrett rose to his feet and offered his hand to Sonya.
    She felt strange placing her palm in his with her grandparents as witnesses. She thought she caught a twinkle in Gramps’ eye before he covered it with a grimace of pain. Was the man still matchmaking? Or was his hand actually paining him enough that he needed to rest? He was getting up there in years, but she’d seen younger men give out before her grandfather would call it quits.
    Sonya was silent as she followed Garrett outside. He led the way around the cabin onto the tundra. The dusk of evening painted red and gold streaks across the sky. The breeze was brisk but not cold, blowing from the southeast, which meant they’d probably get rain by morning. Unfortunately wind from that direction would also blow the fish into deeper water. Set netting tomorrow wouldn’t fare well. If this kept up, her season would be more bust than bumper.
    Garrett came to a stop amongst a meadow of spongy tundra and low-lying wildflowers. Alder bushes dotted areas around them where the plants could get their roots into deeper soil, while the tundra survived on a small amount of