‘This one was five months ago. The VRN is linked to a London crime gang, the Millwall Boys. We’re a long way from their stamping ground but obviously they were happy with their purchase because the same vehicle makes another trip a few weeks later.

‘I’ll skip four and five. The VRN is out of shot and the pattern is just the same as the first three encounters. But number six is clear. It’s the most recent exchange from last Friday.’

Jones’s car was parked in its usual spot. A van pulled up in the bay behind it, the door opened, and a figure got out. The new driver was male but he was too far away and too badly lit to make out clearly.

‘Can we enhance the image?’ said Gabriel.

‘Yes – but it doesn’t help. But stay with it.’

The driver of the black car, presumably Sergeant Jones, got out and joined the other man. The boot flew up and the new arrival leant in, pulled out a bag and took it to his car. Then Jones got back in and drove off. The second man shut his boot, but instead of driving off, left the car and walked towards the camera. Within a few seconds, Gabriel was able to make out his clothes – a blue jacket over black jeans. He was bearded, but more than that was hard to see.

‘Is that all we’ve got?’ said Gabriel, frustrated.

‘Course not, ma’am,’ said Skeffington. ‘We went back and asked for the CCTV from inside the supermarket.’ Campbell clicked on a new file icon. The brightly lit interior of the supermarket appeared.

‘The light’s much better and we get a good look at him,’ said Campbell.

The camera was angled towards three checkouts. The bottom half of the entrance was visible in the top right.

‘Now look.’ He slowed the video as a pair of black jeans and the bottom half of a blue jacket entered.

‘He’s gone to get a sandwich,’ said Campbell. ‘But he’s about to come into view.’

He clicked again, and the camera switched to an aisle view – sandwiches and drinks, thought Gabriel. The man in the blue jacket was walking down the aisle with his back to the camera. He was red-headed, and the hair was close-cropped.

‘Turn around,’ said Gabriel to the screen.

He did. For a second, he turned towards the camera, his pasty face, narrow eyes and straggly beard clear in the white light from the display shelves around him. Campbell clicked on the pause.

The world stopped. ‘Jesus Christ,’ said Gabriel.

‘Not quite, ma’am,’ said Skeffington with a grin. ‘Abu Mujahid.’

#

Cumbria

Abu Mujahid left the cottage early in the afternoon.

‘Stay here and practise assembling and disassembling the rifle,’ he told them. ‘I need to test these. Waheed – you’re with me.’

Saleem looked delighted to have been singled out. He carried the two Amazon boxes that Abu Mujahid had collected yesterday to the van. Abu Mujahid dropped a briefcase which Asad knew contained a laptop in the front seat. Asad heard the van scattering stones along the gravel pathway as it accelerated away.