‘In a way, yes, I told him Rachel is deaf and she thought she saw some men talking about a robbery in a cafe. I assumed he’d passed it on, but clearly not.’

Suddenly Jane understood. ‘Your sister can lip-read.’

Emma looked around to make sure no one was eavesdropping.

‘Yes, but only me and a few close friends know – including you, now.’

Jane was pleased that Emma was confiding in her.

‘Thank you for telling me. But I will have to tell my boss if it turns out to be connected to our investigation.’

‘That’s OK, she’ll have no problem with police officers knowing.’

‘Why doesn’t Rachel like to tell people she can lip-read?’

‘She reckons the big advantage of people not knowing is it allows her to judge their personalities when they realise she is deaf.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘She can lip-read their rude comments about her deafness.’

‘I bet she feels like giving them a piece of her mind when that happens.’

Emma frowned. ‘She would if she could, but she can’t speak.’

‘I’m sorry, I didn’t realise—’

‘It’s not your fault. Life would be easier for the deaf if more people learnt to use sign language. That’s the way Rachel and I mostly communicate, apart from leaving little notes for each other – especially after we’ve had an argument.’

‘What did you tell the uniform sergeant when you spoke to him yesterday?’

‘I spoke to him on Tuesday evening after work.’

‘Are you sure about that? The information sheet I was given said you were at the station yesterday evening.’

Emma shook her head. ‘I know it was Tuesday evening. Rachel told me about the men in the cafe on Monday evening after I got home from work.’

‘What exactly happened at the station?’

‘Rachel didn’t want to go in and waited outside. The sergeant at the front counter asked how he could help me. I told him my sister was in a cafe on Bruce Grove on Monday morning and saw two men talking and she thought it was about robbing a van. He asked what I meant by “saw” and I told him she was deaf. He gave me a funny look and said there was no CID on duty who dealt with robberies.’

Jane knew there would have been at least two detectives minimum on late turn CID duties, but what annoyed her even more was the fact that the information sheet had nothing on it about Rachel being deaf or a van being robbed.

‘Did you tell him Rachel could lip-read?’

‘I was about to, but his desk phone rang, and he said he had to answer it. He handed me a police notepad and pen and said to write down my name and address, which I did while he was on the phone.’

‘And he didn’t speak to you in more detail after he finished his phone call?’