‘I drew a plan of the inside of the cafe earlier. Can you mark with an “R” where you were sitting and put “M1” and “M2” where the men were? The man you think might be called Tommy can be M2.’ Jane handed Rachel her pocket notebook.

She marked up the cafe plan and made some hand signs to her sister.

‘She said there were two young men sat at the table by the wall when the two older men came in, but they must have said something as the two young men quickly moved to another table, taking their food and drinks with them.’

‘What age would you say the two older men were?’

Emma told Jane that her sister thought the one whose lips she’d read was late forties to early fifties, and the other man was late thirties to forty.’

Jane looked at the plan. The men were seated in the far top right-hand corner, with a wall behind them and a window to the left that looked out onto Bruce Grove. Rachel had marked herself as sitting in the middle row, two tables down from them.

‘From where you were sitting, did you have a clear and unobstructed view of them both, and in particular the man who you lip-read?’

Rachel nodded, then signed. Emma said, ‘Apart from when Nick, the cafe owner, walked past or was serving them breakfast.’

‘I think it might be easier for now if we continued to refer to the men as M1 and M2, then at the end I’ll get a detailed description of them. Emma, could you translate what Rachel says in the first person?’

‘You mean as if it were her speaking?’

‘Yes please.’ Jane looked at Rachel. ‘Can you start with the time you saw the men come into the cafe, then tell me what M1 said?’ Jane held her pen to her pocket notebook.

Rachel did a thumbs-up and started signing to Emma.

‘I’m not sure as I was reading my book, but I think it was maybe between quarter past and half past nine. At one point I looked up and M1 was taking sugar lumps out of the bowl, then instead of putting them in his coffee cup he put two down next to each other in front of him on the table. I don’t normally lip-read what other people are saying as I don’t want to be nosy, but I was curious because I thought he was going to do a trick with them.’

Jane looked at Rachel and asked her to continue signing. She looked at her notes, then to Emma, who translated.