A Merciful Silence (Mercy Kilpatrick #4)(100)

Lacey touched the bone posterior to the second molars. Bare hints of wisdom teeth poked through the bone. Without X-rays to check the root lengths of the wisdom teeth, she wasn’t quite ready to agree that the woman was in her late teens or early twenties, but she hadn’t found anything to counter Dr. Peres’s premise.

The roar of an approaching vehicle seized her attention.

Her freezing fingers clenched the skull as she watched through a hazy plastic window while a man on an ATV ripped into the snowy parking lot and spun, deliberately covering one group of cops with thick snow.

Lacey jumped to her feet, pushed aside the tent flap, stepped out, and stared, sucking in her breath.

The cops weren’t going to appreciate that stupid prank.

The men in blue brushed off the snow, and their disgruntled rumblings reached Lacey’s ears. The driver of the ATV gave a shout of laughter as he hopped off and strode toward the incensed group, casually pulling off his gloves.

Was he crazy?

He was tall and walked with confident strides, apparently not concerned with the wrath of the cops. He faced away from her, showing trim black hair below his baseball cap, and she wished she could see his face. To her shock, the circle of cops opened to let him enter, slapping him on the back and shaking hands all around. The knot in Lacey’s spine relaxed.

They weren’t going to kill him.

Fifty feet away, the rider abruptly turned his head and a laughing, steel-gray gaze slammed into hers. Lacey stepped back at the instant onslaught, her eyes blinking. A solid jaw tensed briefly as he looked her up and down. He gave a deliberate wink and grin, and turned back to his group.

Lust in Lacey’s brain jumped up and took notice. Did he just flirt with me?

Very nice. Her limbs warmed.

Lacey’s fingertip slid into an empty eye socket and she gasped, dropping her gaze to the forgotten skull, terrified she’d crunched a delicate bone. She studied it frantically, searching for fresh cracks. Finding none, she exhaled in a low whistle.

Dr. Peres would have her head if she damaged the skull.