Jane thanked Paul and ended the call. As she got ready for bed, the image of a man hiding in the toilets, calmly waiting until his victim was alone, wouldn’t leave her mind, and she wasn’t sure if she would sleep.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

All the observation points were operational by 6 a.m.: OP1 was the newsagent’s in Bruce Grove, manned by Bax; OP2 was George Ripley’s house, the entrance to which was being watched by a CROPS officer from a hide in the field opposite; OP3 was Tommy Ripley’s flat, being watched by Stanley in an OBO van; OP4 was GR Motors, being manned by Teflon; and OP5 was Aidan O’Reilly’s flat, being manned by CO11. Each OP also had three CO11 surveillance officers ready to do foot follows, and two unmarked vehicles nearby with officers ready to tail the suspects’ cars. Motorcycle surveillance officers were also parked up near the Ripleys’ addresses.

Kingston and the Colonel were carrying revolvers and parked up at Tottenham Police Station, with firearms officers from D11 in two unmarked cars, ready to pounce on the suspects if they committed a robbery. Murphy was with Cam at Rigg Approach controlling the operation. Their call sign was ‘Gold’. George Ripley was Target 1, Tommy Ripley Target 2, Aidan O’Reilly Target 3 and Graham Smith Target 4. If the suspect believed to be Carl was seen he would be Target 5, and the man in the camel hair coat Target 6.

*

Jane parked her car in a back street away from the cafe.

Nick opened the door when she arrived. ‘Buongiorno, officer Tennison.’

‘Buongiorno, Nick. I think it would be best if you called me Jane.’

‘OK, Jane. You wanna cappuccino?’

‘Yes please.’

‘Bene, you gonna make it on the machine, and I watch you.’

‘Straight in at the deep end, eh? I’ve never used an espresso machine, but I’ll give it a go.’

‘You better learn quick, cause we open in an hour.’ He handed her a short-waist black apron with pockets in it for a pen and order pad. ‘I tell you how to make the cappuccino.’

Under Nick’s guidance she poured some cold milk into a metal steaming pitcher, then held it under the tip of the steaming wand on the espresso machine and turned the dial, releasing the steam.

‘Not too much or you burn the milk.’

She turned the steamer off, and with a little help from Nick made a single shot of espresso, which she poured into a large cup. She picked up the steamed milk and went to pour it into the cup.

‘Aspettare, aspettare, you have to give it a tap first. You tap the bottom of the pitcher on the counter to bring the foam to the top.’

She finished making the cappuccino and Nick took a swallow.

‘Molto buona . . . Is good.’

‘Would you like me to do any cooking?’