Mini-story: Obstacles

It was raining in Edinburgh, but that was nothing unusual — except that it had been too cold for rain since the weekend, and didn’t feel much warmer on this grey morning. Glancey tapped her forefinger rhythmically against her lips as she looked out of the car’s water-beaded side window. The adjacent building was a grand old townhouse of the kind found all throughout the city. This one was a little dilapidated now, but it would still sell for well over a million even if it was a complete bombsite inside. And it probably will be, she thought. She was pulled from her musings by the sound of the passenger door opening, and then her recently-assigned partner ducked into the vehicle and slammed the door shut again, muttering something about the damned weather. His hair was noticeably wet, and his nondescript dark suit was spotted with rain. “You really should dress appropriately to the climate,” she said, and he gave her an irritated look. “It was blue skies yesterday,” Wilder replied, his…