By lthr_jock
PC Keith Phillips checked his watch and sighed – still an hour to go before the end of his shift. Tonight had been a long, frustrating evening and while he had been busy earlier, the last couple of hours had been quiet and he had been patrolling on foot on his own. The usually busy streets were empty due to a combination of a fine drizzle and the fact that it was three days before Christmas. He sighed again as he turned to head back towards the station. On nights like this, he really wished he had a police dog to keep him company.
Keith took out his phone in the forlorn hope that someone would have texted him – no luck. Everyone he knew apart from work colleagues was probably asleep. As he resigned himself to a miserable trudge back through the silent streets, he caught sight of a car’s headlights shining out from a garage block. The block was at the end of a narrow, darkened lane and he had often found people up there shooting up. At this time of night, any light was unusual so he squared his shoulders inside his stab vest and walked up the lane.