sheâd driven across Putney Bridge, sheâd seen a lone sculler working his way upriver, and hadnât been able to picture Doug huffing and puffing in sweaty rowing gear. Sheâd never seen him exert more effort than it took to attack a keyboard.
âI can paint as well as the next bloke,â he said, sounding a little insulted. âAnd as for the rest, there are loads of books, and the Internet . . .â
Melody had no doubt that Doug could find out how to fix thingsâhis research skills rivaled her ownâbut sheâd no idea if he had the manual aptitude. Reading about pipe wrenches and actually using one were entirely different propositions, at least in her limited experience. She wasnât exactly the DIY type either.
âI want to see you in your workmanâs overall.â She grinned and hooked her arm through his, earning a startled glance. âCome on, then. Show me the goods.â A snake of wind eddied down the quiet residential road, swirling the brown leaves in the gutters and lifting the hair on Melodyâs neck. Although the terraced houses blocked any view of the river to the north, they were near enough that she imagined she could smell its dank, earthy scent.
Releasing Dougâs arm so that she could turn up her coat collar, she could have sworn she saw a fleeting look of relief cross his face.
She chided herself for teasing him. She suspected he wasnât comfortable with physical contact, and she was not usually demonstrative herself. But there was something that seemed to goad her into pushing his boundaries.
Theyâd developed an odd sort of friendship in these last few months, and friendship in general was something that it seemed neither of them was very good at. She wondered, in fact, if he hadnât been able to think of anyone else with whom he could share his new acquisition.
Melody had always been guarded in her relationships. When she was younger, sheâd never been sure if people liked her for herself or were just sucking up to her because of her father. Then, after sheâd joined the police, she hadnât wanted to let anyone get close because sheâd been afraid of being rejected because of her dad.
But Gemma had learned the truth, as had Doug Cullen, and then Melody had gone to Duncan. Although she didnât work directly with Duncan, their friendship had made her feel that he was the senior officer to whom she most owed the truth.
When Duncan had heard her story, heâd given her an assessing look before nodding once. âYour family is no one elseâs business,â heâd said, âas long as you donât make it so.â That had been that. The revelation had given Melody, for what seemed like the first time, the opportunity to be herself. And it had changed her relationship with Doug Cullen in some indefinable way.
âItâs two up and three down, basically,â said Doug, leading the way up the steps to the front door. âBut thereâs a garden.â
The door, in spite of its dilapidated frame, had some nice Victorian stained glass in pale greens and golds. When they stepped inside and Doug closed the door behind them, the watery sun came through the panes, making Melody think of the light in a spring wood. The original black-and-white-tiled floor was intact, and a staircase led up to what Melody assumed were the bedrooms.
Doug motioned her forward with a little theatrical bow, the light from the stained glass glinting off his glasses and giving his blond hair a greenish tint. âMy humble abode.â
To the left behind the stairs, Melody saw a cupboard, and tucked next to that, a small toilet. Beyond that a door led into a tiny galley kitchen.
But on the right-hand side of the hall, two adjacent doors opened into the two rooms that ran the length of that side of the house. When she walked into the front room, she saw that the wall between the two rooms had been partially
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