‘When you say a green coat, can you describe it in more detail for me, please, like the length, style and number of pockets?’ Jane was thinking about the Barbour jacket Rita Brown from Edgar House had seen.

Rachel thought about it for a few seconds, then wrote:

Mid-thigh length, with a brown corduroy collar, big pockets at the front and two breast pockets, and a zip fastener up the middle and I think some metal studs as well.

Jane smiled, pleased with how much detail Rachel could recall. Rachel then began writing a description of M2:

An inch or two shorter than M1, dark blond hair which covers his ears, with a parting to the right, sideburns, blue eyes, dimple chin and similar build to M1. Often wears a shirt, dark jumper and black trousers or a black button-up leather jacket and black roll neck jumper, with a long gold chain around his neck and gold pendant hanging from it.

‘Can you describe it?’

Rachel held her hands in a fist shape and jabbed them back and forth.

‘A boxer?’ Jane asked. Rachel pointed to her hand, then made out she was putting something on it. ‘A boxing glove?’

Rachel shook her head and held two fingers up.

‘A pair of boxing gloves?’

She nodded with a smile and held her thumb up.

‘Thanks, they’re very good descriptions. What about the younger man you said sometimes joins them – can you describe him in a bit more detail?’

Rachel wrote:

Same height as M2, blue eyes, wavy blond hair down to his shoulders, slim and very good looking. Usually wears a T-shirt and jeans or a polo shirt with a little emblem of a crocodile or man on a horse on the left breast.

‘I must say, you’re very observant.’

‘She is when he goes to the cafe. She’s told me about him before and I think she fancies him,’ Emma said, and her sister glared at her.

‘He sounds a bit like M2 – do they look like they may be related?’

Rachel shrugged and signed they might be, and that she’d seen M1 give the younger man a large bundle of money on one occasion.

‘How big was the bundle?’

She held her fingers about six inches apart and signed that she thought they were twenty-pound notes as they were purple.

‘That’s quite a big sum of money by the sounds of it. Have you noticed if any of these men smoke?’

Rachel signed that M2 smoked cigarettes and M1 smoked a big cigar, and she didn’t like the smell as it put her off her food.

‘This may sound like a silly question, but can you tell people’s accents from the way their mouths move?’

Emma answered for Rachel. ‘Accents are really hard for lip-readers to detect, but sometimes they can get an idea from the words and phrases people use.’

‘How do you mean?’