Sterling laughed. ‘I’ll have to call and thank her.’ She’d been dreading coming back here, worried the mess from the scuffle would conjure up images of Heidi in her mind again. But the place looked as neat and tidy as it had when she’d first inspected it.

‘A crime scene,’ she said, embarrassed that it hadn’t even crossed her mind. ‘Honestly, I thought I was a tough cop, but I think something happened to my brain in that fight.’

‘You’ve had a traumatic experience,’ he said, walking around and checking the place out. ‘Go easy on yourself. It’ll take a little while.’ He stopped walking and pointed to the old oil heater.

‘Yes, that’s it,’ Sterling said with a laugh. ‘That’s my hiding place. If you take the fascia off there’s a cavity inside, not that I’m going to do it now.’

‘I used to try and imagine what this place looked like, when we’d talk on the phone,’ he said.

‘Those conversations helped me so much,’ she said with a rush of affection—or was it more than that? ‘Thanks, Mitch.’

‘You’re welcome.’

When he didn’t say any more, she went over to look at the pile of things stacked against the wall. Harriet had cleaned out the bathroom and kitchen cupboards and packed everything into green shopping bags.

‘I don’t care who she did this for, I’m going to buy this woman dinner,’ she said.

‘Do you want me take those out to the car?’ Flowers asked.

‘We may as well. No use hanging around here any longer than necessary.’

‘I’ll get them.’ Flowers leaned down and gathered up as many bags as he could carry. ‘Have another look around and make sure you haven’t left anything behind.’

She did as he suggested, but she soon concluded that Harriet’s cleaning and tidying skills were as meticulous as her forensic investigations.

‘All good?’ Flowers asked, appearing in the doorway.

Sterling nodded. ‘Let’s get out of here. This is one chapter of my life I’m really keen to close.’

‘You’re not going to close the entire book?’ he said, his eyes turning serious. He shrugged. ‘I was wondering about us.’

‘Us?’ Sterling’s heart skipped a beat.

‘Yeah. I did try, you know.’

Sterling frowned, not following.

‘After you told me we couldn’t date, I took an interest in other women, flirted with some, even went out with a few, but then I decided not to do that anymore.’ He smiled at her, the way he had when they’d first been introduced at the Homicide office. ‘I was happy seeing you every day at work.’

Sterling stepped towards him, a pulse throbbing at the base of her throat. ‘I was certain you were going to kiss me when we were walking home last night after dinner, but you didn’t.’