Alex walked out into the cold night air, the icy wind stabbing at her skin through her clothes. It took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the lack of light before she was able to make out the wooden gate at the end of the back garden.

Stepping carefully through the overgrown weeds, Alex made her way along the alleyway, looking for a route through to the street, following the distant sound of voices.

She fought her way through the narrow gap between the brick garden walls and a hedge, which may at one time have been well trimmed but was now consumed by bramble. A few steps ahead of Alex, the path she was following turned sharply and ran along side the wall of the last house.

Here the light was even worse. A dim glow from a distant street lamp illuminated the far end and Alex blindly stumbled towards it. Several times she nearly fell and once she almost cried out after knocking her leg painfully against an unseen obstacle.

The voices were closer now, and Alex slowed to a stop, her heart thumping loudly in her chest. The last thing she wanted was to step out for the dark alley right beside the two men she was trying to stay hidden from, so she stood, as though frozen, and listened:

"You've had your last warning, if I have to come back-"

"You won't have to, I promise."

The younger man laughed in response, "I think we both know how little your promises are worth." The other man, who Alex guessed was Iain Wright, said nothing to this. The first man continued, "You already know how I feel about you. Think about what I've said tonight. I meant every word."

Alex had heard enough. What she really wanted now was a good look at the younger man, so she dropped to her knees and began to crawl towards the street.

Her hands sank into something soft and for a second she stopped to wonder just what she was crawling through…

Maybe if she had been more alert what happen next could have been avoided, or maybe it would have happened anyway. But just at that moment, as her concentration wavered, a large dark haired tabby cat jumped down from the wall above where Alex was crouched and landed hissing and spitting before her. She gasped and scrambled desperately backwards, away from the angry feline. Her feet slipped in the mud and she fell back into the brambles behind her.

Her foot crashed into a tin dustbin. Alex watched in silent horror as the bin began to topple…

Inside, Gene had positioned himself by the window; he watched, from behind the blinds, as the argument between the strangers outside continued, while keeping an eye out for a sign of Alex. He raised the camera and took several photos of the two men in the street below him before returning the camera to the table and going back to looking out for Alex.

Finally, he spotted her crawling through the alley. Crawling! He shook his head in disbelief - that woman did some strange things! he thought.

Gene saw the cat. He watched as it leapt down from the wall. He gaped as Alex scrambled away in fear. He cringed as she fell back into the hedge. His heart missed a beat as the bin began to fall…

The bin crashed into the wall as it fell, and rolled noisily out of the alley and onto the pavement. The two men turned and looked in the direction of the sound. Gene panicked, he could see Alex from his elevated position but they could not – not yet at least. The younger man started towards the alley, and Gene did the only thing he could think of:

"Oi!" He yelled, throwing the window open and leaning out, "What's all the racket about?"

Alex held her breath and waited, hoping Gene's distraction would work. The younger man, forgetting what had disturbed him, turned to shout back at Gene,

"Piss off! Its none of your business!" The man picked up a rock from a nearby garden and threw it up at Gene, forcing him away from the window. Turning back to Iain Wright he said more quietly, "I'll be in touch." and then he left. Alex caught a glimpse of his face, from her not-much-of-a-hiding-place, as he passed the alley and committed it to memory.

Upstairs Gene heaved a sigh of relief as he returned to the window and watched the man out of sight.

After waiting a moment for her heart rate to return to normal, Alex disentangled herself from the hedge as best she could and made her way across the road, pulling out her warrant card as she walked,

"Mr Wright?"

"Yes. Where did you come from?" he answered in surprise, looking from her warrant card to her dishevelled appearance and back again.

Alex ignored his question, "I'm investigating your daughter's murder, Mr Wright. I need you to answer a few questions: firstly, who was that man?"

"I don't think that's relevant to your investigation."

"Come on Iain. For Sally. Help me to help you." He still said nothing. Alex waited but her patience was wearing thin, she turned and began to cross the road.

"Jimmy Elphick."

Alex swivelled round to face him, "Who's Jimmy Elphick?"

"I've already said too much, but he knows what happened to my Sally, I know he does."

Alex nodded and made her way over to Gene, who was waiting for her outside the house in which they had spent their far from uneventful evening. "I don't think there is any point continuing the surveillance now. But I've got a name: Jimmy Elphick."

"Good. At least this wasn't a complete waste of time." Gene paused and took in her ridiculous appearance: there was mud staining her jeans and bramble caught in her hair. "Your little display of incompetence tonight was disgraceful, I'm only glad Chris and Ray weren't here to see it too. Go home Drake, and only come in tomorrow if your ready to act more like a DI and less like a WPC."

For less than a second the hurt she felt at his words shone out through her eyes but it was quickly replaced by anger. Alex scowled back at him, and stormed away without a word.

Gene watched her go. He was getting better at reading her, he realised, and had seen the embarrassment she was feeling.

Less than an hour ago they has been so close, and not just physically. He had felt connected to her in a way that was so alien to him. He wanted nothing more than to carefully remove the debris from her hair, to sit with her and watch her laugh about the whole evening…

And then kiss her. He was desperate to be kissing her again. But instead he had made her feel small and sent her home alone. Shit.

He turned towards the Quattro and hoped desperately that his harsh comments hadn't just ruined everything…

The next instalment is coming soon…