‘A bit buckled and charred,’ Turner observed, and rubbed his finger on the plate, removing some of the soot. ‘I’ve got chemicals in the car for cleaning off burn damage. If it’s all right with you I’d like to remove the plate, because the details are stamped in the underside like a mirror image and often less damaged in arson cases.’

Jane could sense his enthusiasm as he spoke.

‘Fine by me, PC Turner. You’re the vehicle expert so do whatever you feel will get the best results.’

‘I’ll go fetch my equipment,’ he said and walked off at a brisk pace.

Having finished updating the exhibits book, Jane decided to speak to Cam Murray and ask how the house-to-house enquiries were going. She could see the uniformed sergeant and some of the PCs speaking to people on their doorsteps but there was no sign of Murray. She walked over to the sergeant when he’d finished speaking to the resident.

‘How’s the house-to-house going?’ she asked.

‘No reply at a lot of the flats – so they’re probably residents who work during the day. I’ll arrange for some of the late turn officers to attend the no reply’s this evening.’

‘Anything of interest so far regarding the owner of garage twenty-nine?’ she asked, hoping to hear something positive.

‘The garage numbers don’t directly relate to a flat number and you pay extra to rent one. My officers have got details of some of the garage owners, but not twenty-nine so far.’

‘Is there not a resident caretaker?’

‘Yes, but he’s on holiday. I spoke to the relief caretaker – he doesn’t know who uses what garage. He also said some of them are vacant and left open all the time to avoid break-in damage.’

‘When will the regular caretaker be back?’

‘Next week. I also spoke to a lady who’s sixty-two and lives at flat fourteen Edgar House. She’d been out shopping and got off at the bus stop in Blake Hall Road. From her timing I’d estimate it wasn’t long after the bank robbery occurred. She saw two men walking towards Felstead Road and one was carrying a large black holdall in his right hand. They caught her attention because the holdall was like the one she bought her grandson at Christmas.’

‘Any description of the men?’

‘Not really, she was on the opposite side of the road and only saw them from behind. She thought they were about five feet eight to five feet ten in height, one was dark-haired, the other lighter coloured. Both were smartly dressed in casual clothes and she thinks one of them was smoking a cigar.’

‘Which one?’

‘She didn’t know.’

‘Then what made her think it was a cigar?’

‘I didn’t ask, but I guess from the smell.’