"You should go back to the car and tend to these straight away,” he continued softly, “or you might risk infection."
"A couple more minutes won't matter. Can you pull the splinters out?"
"I could, but I think it might be wiser if you went back to the car." Why was he suddenly so determined to get rid of her? “No. I want to see to Monica first."
"There's nothing to see, Nikki. Go back to the car and tend to your hands."
"No.” Besides, something warned her not to leave the girl's body with this man. Warned that she might not find it again if she did. An odd thought indeed—what in hell would Michael want with a dead teenager?
"You're a stubborn woman, Nikki James."
She smiled at the hint of exasperation in his voice. He'd only known her twenty-four hours, and already he'd come to that realization. It usually took people far longer to see beneath her polite veneer.
"And this is one of my good days,” she replied lightly. “Now, would you please remove the damn splinters?"
"As you wish."
She stared into the darkness and tried counting to one hundred. It didn't work. She could no more ignore the sting in her hands than the warm brush of his body against hers.
"There,” he said after a moment. “All gone."
"Good. Now we can go find Monica."
He smiled, though she couldn't say how she knew this. Perhaps it was little more than a quick caress of laughter in her mind. Or wishful thinking.
He placed a hand under her elbow again and led her forward. The smell of decay tainted the air, a smell that had nothing to do with the sea or the rotting rubbish she kept tripping over. It was the smell of death. If only she hadn't dropped her flashlight...
Ahead, moonlight flickered through a few broken wallboards. The darkness shifted slightly, becoming less intense. Shapes loomed—old crates and half-destroyed internal walls. Michael stepped through a shattered doorway then stopped. Monica lay before them, serene and quiet on a battered old mattress. She looked at peace, Nikki thought. Innocent. Strange how death could be so deceiving. She knelt beside the teenager's body and gently touched her neck. Though she didn't doubt Michael's word, she couldn't help hoping that perhaps he was wrong.