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“Hold onto me.” Malcolm offers his arm and Dani raises an eyebrow, pausing at the top of a very steep hill. She grinds her heels into pavement, tilting her head so she can see where the rest of the team is.
The body that the police reported is at the bottom and Edrisa practically had to crawl on the back of JT’s shoulders to make it down there in one piece. It’s muddy, slippery and plastered with wet leaves and uprooted tree trunks—a maze of things to get caught up in.
“What makes you think you’re more balanced than I am?”
Bright smiles a little and sticks his hands in his pockets, pursing his lips. “You really want me to answer that?”
Dani smirks before shaking her head because, no, she really doesn’t. She wants to suggest waiting until the body is brought up on solid ground but knows that they both need to see the crime scene in order to get a full context picture of the murder. Gil tumbled within the first few steps, a paramedic needing to come check out his knees and Dani bites her tongue on teasing him about bein’ an old man because she’d like to keep her job.
“How hard is it really? We just need to find a few trees on our way down.”
“Right, course,” Malcolm’s voice is laced with amusement. “Yeah go head, you first.”
She narrows her eyes at him and chews on her lower lip, taking a step forward but hesitating because…this is going to be a disaster. Maybe taking Bright’s arm wouldn’t be such a bad idea. Dani can feel him watching her, his eyes gliding over the long lines of her back as she contemplates what’s the best way to tackle this.
She extends her foot forward and into the mud, pausing to grab onto a small bush. All goes well except when her next step slides and—
Malcolm grabs onto her arm, stopping her from stumbling all the way down. He looks far too pleased with himself, his mouth opening as he takes a few steps beside her, “Don’t even say it.” She warns.
“Not sure whether I’m more afraid of you or rolling down this hill.” He mutters, helping her onto the next solid patch so he can follow her down.
“Let’s not find out.” She smiles over her shoulder and squeezes onto his hand as they move.