‘The other cash box contained six grand in fives, tens and twenties. We should release that to the press to really piss the bad guys off,’ Baxter suggested.

‘Up till now I thought we might be dealing with professional criminals – not a bunch of amateur desperados,’ Teflon said.

‘Actually, I think these guys knew exactly what they were doing,’ Kingston said.

‘Look, the robbery went pear-shaped when the off-duty PC decided to have a go and got a stomach full of rice for his troubles,’ said the colonel.

‘The other barrel of the sawn-off was probably loaded with a real cartridge, ready to be used if needed,’ Murphy added.

Kingston nodded in agreement. ‘Although the guy with the handgun popped off a few shots at the crew of Juliet 1, he seemed calm and precise in his actions during the robbery.’

‘The torching of the Cortina and clothing suggests planning from experience as well,’ Stanley said.

Jane raised her hand and Murphy pretended not to notice, but she kept it raised until he acknowledged her.

‘What now, Tennison?’

‘I spoke to a young witness called Abby Jones. After the police car crashed, the man with the handgun walked towards the officers, but a man with a shotgun said something and the two of them got back in the Cortina.’

‘Why didn’t you tell us this earlier?’ Murphy asked, clearly annoyed.

‘She didn’t see their faces because of the masks and refused to make a statement.’

Murphy sighed. ‘Did you try and persuade her?’

She looked to Kingston.

‘Tennison did mention it to me, but the girl was only seventeen, in shock and had a baby with her, so I said to let her go for now and speak to her again in a day or two.’

It wasn’t quite the truth, but Jane appreciated that Kingston was at least backing her up.

‘Is there anything else you’ve overlooked, which you’d like to now share with the team?’ Murphy asked.

Jane ignored his sarcastic tone. ‘The bank manager told me he’d recently had CCTV installed on the inside of the premises, but none outside where the crime took place. I wondered if it was possible the robbers had been tipped off about this and that’s why they decided to rob the security van in the street.’

She realised that everyone was staring at her.

‘It’s a valid question,’ Kingston remarked, attracting a few funny looks.

Jane assumed he was defending her because she hadn’t embarrassed him about Abby.

Kingston continued, ‘Thursday is a regular cash delivery day at many banks as companies need to withdraw money to make up their employees’ Friday wage packets – and criminals are just as aware of that fact.’

‘Thank you, sir,’ she said, acknowledging his support.