‘Someone from Liverpool might say hozzy instead of hospital, but I think it’s safe to say from what my sister told us that M1 had a London accent.’

Rachel nodded in agreement.

‘I know you’re not very good on vehicles, Rachel, but have you ever seen M1, M2 or the young man you mentioned in a car?’

Rachel signed that the only one she’d ever seen in a vehicle was the good-looking young man, when he was parking outside the cafe in a big white van. Jane put her pocket notebook and pen in her bag and told Rachel she’d like to take the notes she made back to the Flying Squad office as evidence, in case it was related to her investigation.

‘Can you tell us anything about the robbery you’re investigating?’ Emma asked.

‘Yes. It’s been in the papers and happened yesterday in Leytonstone High Road. A Securicor van was robbed at gunpoint and a police car crashed into a house chasing the suspects,’ Jane said, deliberately not mentioning that guns had been fired.

‘And do you think the men in the cafe might be responsible?’ Emma asked.

‘I can’t say at this stage, but I can tell you that some of the things Rachel said are of interest to the investigation. Like I said earlier, there’s no need for either of you to be worried. Believe me, you did the right thing by telling us – police work would be much easier if there were more upstanding citizens like you two. If there are any developments, I’ll let you know. I may need Rachel to look through some police mugshot albums of known criminals at Scotland Yard. Would you be willing to do that, Rachel?’

Jane picked up the way Rachel nervously signed to her sister and there was a moment before Emma replied.

‘Of course. It’s the right thing to do,’ Emma said, looking at her sister.

Chapter Sixteen

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Jane decided to go to Tottenham Police Station and speak to the collator, a uniformed PC who maintained records of local criminals and gleaned information from various sources, including uniformed beat officers, the CID and the public. She knew that station collators had usually worked at least twenty years on a division, and often provided invaluable information to serious crime investigations. It was late afternoon and the collator was putting a coat on as Jane entered his office.

‘Hi, I’m WDS Tennison from the Flying Squad. I’m following up on some information I was given and wondered if you could help me.’