“Yeah,” Peter said, though he didn’t sound convinced. Was Nikolai putting on a strong front for the other men? Was Sonya hurt worse than they thought?
“Judd, finish taking their statements. I’ve got to see Sonya.”
Garrett reached for the doorknob, but stopped when Nikolai stood and grabbed his arm.
“Before you go in there, let me give you a few words of advice.” Nikolai leaned in, and lowered his voice, “The more scared Sonya gets, the louder and mouthier she becomes.”
“Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind.” He knocked and entered the exam room before a “come in” was issued. He knew Sonya wouldn’t want him as a witness to her hurting. The woman liked to put on a tough front. Being someone who did the same, he understood where she was coming from. He didn’t give a damn if she didn’t want him there. Right now, it was about what he wanted. Making sure she was all right was at the top of his list.
Sonya wore a hospital gown toga-style over blood-spattered jeans. Her right shoulder was bare so the doctor could access the cuts that criss-crossed her shoulder and arm. He sucked in his breath when she turned toward him. The right side of her face was traversed with nicks and cuts. Most were superficial and didn’t require stitches, but blood had matted her hair from a deep gash, already stitched closed, near her hairline, and two butterfly stitches taped over a slash on her cheek. Half an inch higher and she would have lost an eye.
“Get the hell out of here.” She might be wounded, but her voice held enough fire to make him think of stepping back, which he knew was her intent. All bark but not enough strength to bite.
“I’m not going anywhere.” He turned to the woman with striking salt and pepper hair, cut just below her chin. She was dressed in pink scrubs with a small moose pattern printed on them, holding a wicked pair of tweezers in her latex-covered fingers. He tried to steel his features into a mask that wouldn’t give away how worried and upset he was over Sonya’s appearance. “How is she?”
“Who are you?” The woman took in his uniform, not intimidated or impressed.
“Garrett Hunt, Alaska Wildlife Trooper. I’m investigating the incident that sliced up your patient today. And you are?”
“Dr. Wanda Abalmasoff, but everyone calls me Wanda.” She turned to Sonya. “You told me you were cut because of a broken window?”
“The window might have been broken by a bullet,” Sonya mumbled under her breath, while her eyes shot payback promises at Garrett.
“Sonya,” Wanda scolded. “If your injuries are a result of a crime, there are certain procedures that need to be followed.”
Garrett bit the inside of his cheek to keep from grinning. Sonya seemed as repentant as a hungry child caught snitching a cookie before dinner. The relief of knowing she would be okay was enough to make him giddy, even though he still relished catching the son of a bitch who’d done this to her.
“Do I need to call Inga?” Wanda asked. At his questioning brow she added, “Inga is our VPSO.”
“As a courtesy, you can share whatever information you want to. But this incident happened in open waters, during a fishing period, which falls under my jurisdiction.”
Wanda gave him a nod. “If you have to stay, then make yourself useful.” She pointed to the cabinet behind him. “I need more gauze. Top shelf on the right.”
“No, no, absolutely not,” Sonya sputtered in a rush. “I don’t want him staying. What happened to patient/doctor confidentiality?”
Wanda raised her brows. “Are you kidding me?”
“No. I’m half dressed and in no mood to entertain a fish cop.”
“No entertainment needed,” Garrett said. He’d had enough excitement for one day. “You’re not getting me out of here, Sonya. Might as well resign yourself to the fact and deal with it.” He grabbed the packaged gauze and handed it to Wanda. She took them and dropped them on the tray within easy reach.
“Do you two know each other?” Wanda asked.
“No.” “Yes.” They both said at once.
Sonya eyed him with retribution. He relished taking whatever she could give him, just as soon as she was up to it.
“Glad you cleared that up.” Wanda went to work with the tweezers. Sonya gasped as Wanda pulled a sliver of glass from the deep cut in her shoulder. “Hunt, since you’re obviously sticking around, wash your hands.” She indicated a sink with a jerk of her head. “Then get over here. I need a nurse.”
Garrett scrubbed up, and then snapped on a pair of latex gloves. He knew a thing or two about getting sewn back together. He’d had to stitch himself up a few times. He tore into the package of gauze, trying to separate himself from the pain that Sonya must be feeling. She looked like hell.
When Wanda exchanged her tweezers for a needle filled with a numbing agent, he reached for Sonya’s left hand that had escaped the flying glass. Sonya didn’t fight him, instead she clamped down on his fingers as the needle pierced the cut. She also added a few more swear words to the others she’d already spewed.
“All right,” Wanda said. “While we give that a chance to numb the area, I’ll finish cleaning the rest of the cuts on your arm. They aren’t deep enough for stitches. You’ll have to take care to keep any fish slime from coming into contact with them. I don’t have to tell you what kind of trouble you’d be in if you contracted blood poisoning.”
Sonya swore again. “Don’t tell me I can’t fish.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it,” Wanda said. “Just be careful and make sure these cuts are covered up, and disinfect when you’re finished fishing for the day.”
Garrett gauged what Wanda needed and handed it to her, soaking gauze pads with antiseptic. They worked well together cleaning Sonya’s cuts. To keep Sonya occupied, and her swearing at a minimum, Garrett began asking questions. “Tell me everything that happened, Sonya.”
Her shoulders slumped as the events of the day seemed to catch up with her. “I was operating the hydraulics. We were pulling in the net—”
“Where were you fishing?”
“Not far off the line at the mouth of the river.”
“Who was drifting around you?”
She lifted her hand to rub at her forehead and then dropped it, obviously remembering the stitches. “Uh, let me think.” She closed her eyes and grimaced as Wanda’s hooked needle pierced the flesh of her shoulder. Garrett took her hand again and gave her a reassuring squeeze. “The Miss Julie II, the Mary Jane, the uhmm…Intrepid.” Her eyes flew open and met his. Fear flash in them just before anger flared. “And the Albatross.”
Chuck Kendrick.
His name sure came up a lot and it always seemed associated with trouble. Garrett nodded. “Okay, tell me what happened next?”
“There was this loud crack and the window shattered. Glass went flying everywhere.”
“Where exactly were you?”
“At the wheel. I threw my hands over my head, but not in time to avoid all the glass.”
She was damn lucky she wasn’t cut to shreds, or worse. “Then what?”
“Gramps and the guys came running. We wrapped the worse of the cuts as best we could, and then Wes and Peter round-hauled in the net. Gramps and I piloted the boat to the cannery, while the boys picked the net.” Her gaze suddenly swung to his. “I need to get those fish tendered. They’re still sitting in the holds.”
He could care less about the fish, but she cared and she’d worry until it was taken care of.
“I’ll be right back.” He exited the exam room to find Judd writing in his notebook as he took statements. “Which one of you has the permit to sell the drift fish on?”
“Sonya,” Gramps said. “The drift permit is in her name. She’s the only one who can sell to the tenders unless you let one of us do it.”
He couldn’t bend the law, not even for Sonya. “How long have the fish been in the holds?” The longer the fish stayed onboard, the more chances they took with the tenders not willing to buy them.
“About an hour, maybe an ho
ur and a half.”
“Okay, with the weather cold and overcast, there’s still time.” With the elements like they were today, the fish were basically refrigerated. He returned to the exam room to see Sonya looking exhausted. The ordeal was catching up to her. Dark circles formed crescent moons under her eyes, made more prominent with the white butterfly stitches placed so close. Wanda still sutured the gash in Sonya’s shoulder.
“I have to be the one who sells the fish.” Sonya looked as though she was geared up for an argument, probably thinking he would insist she couldn’t leave, which was exactly what he wanted to do. She was in a tough spot. Fishing was a large part of her livelihood, and the fish wouldn’t stay fresh.
“Sonya,” Wanda said. “You are in no condition to pilot a boat. You need rest, and pain killers wouldn’t be out of order.”
“She doesn’t have to pilot the boat.” Garrett took Sonya’s uninjured hand. “She just has to be on the Double Dippin’ when they sell the fish.”
Sonya met his gaze. Most of the fight had gone out of her. Pain and worry reflected in her deep brown eyes, making them almost black. She was crashing fast off an adrenaline high and it was taking its toll.
“Better hurry and get her sewn up,” Garrett said to Wanda. “We have to make the tide and she’s about done.”
“She’s still sitting here,” Sonya pointed out with what little bluster she had left. “You don’t have to talk about me like I’m off visiting another dimension.”
“Yes, we do.” Wanda tied the last knot in a twelve-stitch suture. “I need a few more minutes to finish wrapping this, and I’ll give you some pills that will take you to that other dimension.”
“I love you, Wanda,” Sonya said.
“Yeah, sure you do. All my patients say that when I give them narcotics.”
Garrett had plenty of help getting Sonya back onboard the Double Dippin’.
Too much help.
Sonya was back to cursing with all the attention. Who knew the woman could swear with so much creativity. He’d found himself educated, and he’d been in the military.
Judd had returned to the Calypso for the camera and handed it to him so Garrett could document the damage to the Double Dippin’. Wes had located a broom and dust-pan from someone at the cannery, which Garrett also took.
“You’re not going in there without me,” Sonya said, her skin ashen, which made the cuts look angry and sore. Funny, he felt like she looked, and if she kept fighting him on every little thing, he’d blow his cool.
“Peter made you a place on deck where you can sit and rest while I investigate.”
“This is my boat, and nothing happens on my boat without me present.” She might be hurting but she was still as determined as ever.
Nikolai laid a hand on her uninjured shoulder. “Sonya, let him do his job.”
She turned to her grandfather. “If you were in my place what would you do?”
“That’s not fair,” Nikolai said with a frown. “I’m a—”
“Man?” Sonya supplied for him with a raised brow. “I’m captain. I know you’re worried about me, but I’m fine.”
Nikolai pursed his lips and huffed. “I don’t like it.”
She gave him an understanding smile. “I know. How about directing the boys so that we’re ready to tender when Garrett and I are through?” Nikolai nodded, though Garrett knew it grated against the man’s character, and went to the bow of the boat where Wes and Peter hung out.
“Sonya,” Garrett tried again, “You’ll be in my way.”
“Deal with it.” She threw the same words at him he’d thrown at her, when they were at the Infirmary.
He tightened his jaw and clamped his lips shut before he said something he’d regret. Then he turned and marched his way up the stairs into the pilot house. She, of course, followed.
At the door, he slid on another pair of latex gloves before entering. He ordered her to stay. She surprised him and did. He leaned the broom and dust pan next to the door and took out the camera. He snapped a few pictures of the broken window, close-ups of the remaining shards stuck in the frame, and then the spray pattern of the glass.
“Why aren’t these windows made of tempered glass?” If they had been, she wouldn’t have been cut like she was.
“It wasn’t something I thought to ask the previous owner. After this, though, I’ll replace all of them with tempered glass.”
“Good.” He studied the broken pieces of the windowpane, trying not to focus on the amount of blood mixed in with the mess. Most of the glass centered where she would have sat and scattered over the floor. He checked the bunk, making sure no glass was present. “I want you to sit down.” Losing as much blood as she had, he was surprised she was still on her feet. Most men wouldn’t be, but then most men weren’t as stubborn as this woman. She didn’t argue with him, and took a seat, leaning her head against the wall. Wanda had given her a gray South Naknek, “Fish Capital of the World” sweatshirt to wear since her clothes had been too bloody to save. He wished she’d take one of the pain killers Wanda had given her, but he understood why she didn’t. As soon as he was finished, she’d be tendering fish. It’d be at least an hour or so until she could lie down and rest.
She quietly watched him as he continued to look for a bullet. Frustration ate at him when he didn’t immediately find one. The room wasn’t that big. The opposite window wasn’t broken so the bullet didn’t do a through and through. He clicked on the flashlight he carried on his belt, and shined it into the corners of the floor. Nothing flickered back at him, but then his light caught something peculiar. He snapped a picture, then bent and picked it up.
What was a rock doing aboard a drift boat?
It wasn’t like someone could carry a rock the size of a walnut onboard in the tread of their boots. Sand yes, small pieces of gravel maybe, but not a rock.
“Have you seen this before?” He held the rock for Sonya.
She shook her head. “No.”
“I can’t find a bullet. I think your window was shot out with this.”
“How? There wasn’t a drift boat close enough to throw that small of a rock with enough force to break a window.”
“They could if they used a slingshot.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
This whole situation was surreal. Sonya rubbed at her temple as her headache built.
“We’re probably reading more into this than there is,” she said. “If that rock broke my window, it was probably an accident. Someone target practicing while their net soaked.” That was easier to swallow than someone intentionally shooting at her.
“That’s one possibility. After the trouble you’ve already experienced, I’m inclined to think the worst. So should you.” Garrett carefully enclosed the rock in a plastic bag and put it in his pocket. He tore off the latex gloves and then took her hands in his, being careful of her cuts. “Sonya, I don’t want anything more to happen to you.”
He wasn’t the only one. She didn’t want anything to happen to her either. His eyes traveled over her face. She’d yet to look in the mirror. Wanda had reassured her that the cuts would heal without leaving scars, except for maybe the one on her cheek. The cut at her hairline was a definite, but her hair would hide it. She wasn’t vain, at least no more than the next woman, but she knew when she had a moment to look in the mirror, she’d give into the tears she’d held at bay all afternoon. The longer this day lasted the harder it was to hold them back.
Something must have shown in her eyes for Garrett’s expression changed from determined lawman to something softer, kinder, and certainly more of an emotional threat. Especially considering her current condition.
“Seeing you hurt today…” He swallowed and slowly blinked, obviously having trouble getting across what he wanted to. That alone, made her want to lean toward him. If he kept this up, she’d beg to be held and comforted, totally destroying the tough-girl image she’d cultivated. “You aren’t just another victim, Sonya. You matter to me.
”
Ah, hell. Why did he have to go and say that? A sniff was the first thing to betray her. Damn it, the tears would come next if she didn’t do something fast. “Garrett—”
“Don’t say anything. You’ve had a rough day.” He smoothed a strand of hair behind her ear. “When you’re feeling better we can—oh shit, don’t cry.”
“Then quit being so damn nice to me.” She swiped at the tears and winced as she hit the butterfly-stitched cut. Her head pounded and if she didn’t get these tears stopped, she’d be in real trouble.
Garrett grabbed a paper towel off the roll she kept near the small sink, and carefully wiped at the tears that wouldn’t stop. “Everything will be okay. I’ll make sure of it.”
She cracked a laugh, though it caused her head to ache further. “You can’t promise that.”
“I’m good at my job, Sonya. I’ll find this asshole.” His steady stare told her he believed every word he said.
“When you do, I want a few minutes alone with him.” She’d take pleasure in getting her hands on the man who thought he could mess with her and hers.
Garrett chuckled. “Until then, let’s get you in bed with some pain pills.”
“Sounds like heaven.” She shut her eyes, just thinking of the bliss checking out would be.
“Who do you want me to call to pilot the boat to tender your fish?”
Crap, she couldn’t totally check out until they’d finished tendering. “Wes, he’s had the most time at the wheel.” Tendering took a bit of finesse, but in her condition she was smart enough to realize that Wes would be the better man for the job.
“All right. I need to leave, but I’ll check in with you later.” He seemed reluctant to go, but he needed to.
Already Sonya knew the gossip mill had to be buzzing with the Calypso tied to her boat. Hell, right now anyone could see inside the Double Dippin’, and Garrett stood too close to her.
Word had gotten out about her connection to Garrett. She didn’t know how, but she’d felt ostracized from the small community of fishermen fishing with them today.
Hooked (A Romance on the Edge Novel) Page 12
