Page 86 of Uncharted

“I can’t. You know that.”

“We’ve been stuck for a long time. A couple more days isn’t going to hurt us. We’ve got more food. Medicine. Seriously, Green. What we don’t need is you getting your foot dirty and getting it infected. Stitches, I can do. Amputations? Not so much. I mean, I suppose if I had to...”

I’m glaring at him. He’s got my heel in his hand.

“I’m still shocked. I think these are the best stitches I’ve ever done.”

My forehead furrows. I have no idea why he’s trying to give himself a gold medal for stitches. Seriously. “Thanks.”

He laughs. “I’m just glad I didn’t fuck it up. I was drunker than you last night.”

“I doubt it.”

Easton cleans the bottom of my foot and wraps it back up in gauze. He’s found a giant sock and pushes my foot inside it. “I’m a quiet drunk. Right until I pass out. Which I was ten seconds away from when the Captain—Sam—called out the tide. You want to get up and use the bathroom?”

“Yeah, that would be good.” I swing my legs around and stand, andholy mother fucker.

Chapter38

Charting the Stars

Dante

I’m wiping down the main galley island when Sassy appears. “Good morning, Sassy. How did you sleep?”

“Great. I heard you were up early and causing mischief.”

“Guilty as charged. How did the Viking take it?”

She cocks her head at me. “How did Sam take it?”

“About the same, I imagine. But do you want an egg?”

“Yes, please.” She pulls a stool from the stew pantry into the galley and watches as I get things ready to take to the back deck.

“Did Zane talk to you about Rocky’s notebook?”

“No, he was focused on getting out of the primary cabin without Calvin exploding all over him.”

“Fair enough. While we were watching the horizon, we bounced ideas around about what some of Rocky’s codes could be about.”

“Did you come up with anything?”

“Nothing that doesn’t sound crazy. So, no. But we got chatting about all the deckhands and the engineers who left on the other raft. Easton hated Emily’s boyfriend, and he wants to blame as much of this on Brick and Candy as possible. You know where the evidence is. Candy switched the real diamond with a copy.”

“Or someone else did.”

“Right. Someone else could have done it too.” I cock my head at Sassy. She’s not going to like what I have to say. “Like Shayla.”

“No way.” Her eyebrows rise. “Plus, Shayla was on the old boat last season, right? She worked her ass off to get the boat ready.”

“Okay, so not Shayla. We’ve searched the primary cabin. There’s still Emily and the one that Brick moved into. Plus all the other crew members.” I pick up the things I need for the back deck and take them out with me. A few seconds later, I’m enjoying the noises coming out of Sassy’s mouth as she cleans her plate.

Things are washed, and after the two of us make a quick visit to the engine room, I realize there’s nothing we can do to help them. They’re trying to figure out how to make a grinder work.

I turn to Haley. “You want to go play Nancy Drew?”

“Oh, I had a Nancy Drew computer game. I seriously loved it. Yeah, let’s go investigate. I’ll get a notebook.” She jumps up. “And we’ll need to find a flashlight.”

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