‘That could happen, but we won’t know unless we speak to her. If she agrees to look at an ID parade, we can tell Murphy, then he can decide on the next move.’

‘He’ll still be pissed off.’

‘God forbid the next robbery our suspects commit should go wrong again. Like Murphy said, one of us – or worse, an innocent bystander – could get killed . . . all because we want to make a pavement arrest.’

He sighed and shook his head. ‘Christ, you can be infuriating at times . . . What’s Abby’s address?’

‘Number six Leybourne Road, Leytonstone.’ She grinned. ‘And don’t worry, I’ll take the blame if Murphy gets his knickers in a twist.’

Chapter Twenty-Five

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Jane rang the doorbell of a terraced, two-bedroom Victorian property and Abby opened the door. She looked worried when she saw who it was.

‘Hi, Abby.’ Jane smiled. ‘You remember me? This is my colleague DC Johnson. Are your mum and dad in?’

‘No, they’re both out,’ she said with a frown.

‘I wonder if we could come in and have a quick word with you about what you saw on Thursday morning in Woodville Road?’

‘I’ve already told you everything.’

‘Have you told your parents about it?’

‘Yes, and my dad was angry with me, he said I shouldn’t have spoken to you without his permission.’

‘If you’d still been sixteen that would be true – but now you’re seventeen we don’t need his permission.’

Teflon threw Jane a warning glance, but she ignored him.

‘There’s just a couple more questions I’d like to ask you, then we’ll be on our way.’

Abby sighed and opened the door.

They followed her into the living room, where her son Daniel was asleep in a carrycot on the sofa. Abby sat down next to him with a surly look on her face and her arms folded.

‘What do you want to ask me?’

Jane decided to get straight to the point.

‘I have reason to believe that the tall man you saw firing the gun at the police car wasn’t wearing a mask and I—’

‘He was so, it was a black balaclava with eye and mouth holes,’ she insisted.

Jane spoke softly. ‘Every witness to the bank robbery said the tall man with the gun was wearing a brown stocking mask.’

‘So? He might have changed into a balaclava after the robbery.’

‘Our forensic officer found drops of blood in Woodville Road leading to and from where the Cortina was parked. He believes the man with the gun took his stocking mask off before he got out of the car.’

Abby started biting her thumbnail. ‘I’m not a liar, you know.’