First Response

LAMBETH CENTRAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMAND CENTRE (12.25 p.m.)

Sergeant Lumley jumped up from his workstation and waved at Kamran. ‘Got it,’ he said excitedly. Kamran hurried across and looked over the sergeant’s shoulder. ‘It’s a white van. It was outside three of the four locations. Haven’t seen it at the Brixton church but there isn’t much in the way of CCTV in that street.’

‘Same van? You’re sure?’ asked Kamran.

Lumley pointed at his left-hand screen. It was divided into four and in three of the four sections there were close-up shots of the number-plate of the white van, two from the front, one from the rear. They matched.

‘Who owns it?’

‘According to the DVLA, it belongs to a company up in Birmingham.’

‘Get the Birmingham cops around to see the owner,’ said Kamran. ‘And find out where the van is now. Run a search through all the number-recognition databases, but focus on north and north-east London.’

‘I’m on it, sir,’ said Lumley.