The Dirty Dozen

Chapter Fifteen

A light sprinkle of rain started to fall as Jane and Emma walked briskly along Tottenham High Road. Emma was wearing a warm black ankle-length mac and headscarf, and offered Jane her umbrella, but Jane moved closer and suggested they share it. As Emma transferred the umbrella to her left hand, Jane noticed that she had to place it into the palm, as her fingers were curled into a fist and she didn’t seem to be able to move them.

‘I know you don’t want to report the abuse incidents you and Rachel have suffered to the police but you really should so there’s an official record. You also need to explain you’re worried any investigation would lead to further abuse. That way you’d also have the police on your side when you ask for a move.’

Emma stopped walking and looked at Jane.

‘Could you maybe help us write a letter?’

‘I’ll do what I can to help, but the local police are your best bet for direct communication with the council. My current inspector worked at Tottenham CID before being moved to the Flying Squad — he might know an experienced detective there you could talk to. I’ll have a word with him when I’m back at the office.’

‘Thank you, Jane. I appreciate your help — and so will Rachel.’

‘I don’t want to appear nosy, but can I ask how you ended up in a flat on the Broadwater?’

‘It was the only place Haringey Council offered us. We hadn’t seen it and didn’t know what the estate was like when we accepted it.’ She pointed across the road. ‘The sorting office is that way.’

Jane could see a railway bridge with a sign saying ‘Bruce Grove,’ then as they walked under the bridge, the street sign for Moorfield Road on her left and the Bluebird cafe on the corner of the junction with Bruce Grove.

‘That’s the cafe Rachel uses — the bingo and snooker hall are just up there on the other side of the road.’

Jane could tell from its shape and size that it had once been a large cinema.

As they turned into Moorfield Road, Jane noticed a menu stuck to the inside of the cafe window and pretended to look at it so she could see the layout of the interior. The premises were a reasonable size, with a lino floor and nine square wooden four-seater tables and chairs laid out in three rows of three. The tables were covered in red and white check plastic tablecloths, and on each one there was a red squeezy tomato-shaped sauce dispenser, pepper and salt shakers and a bowl of sugar lumps. The cooking and serving area were at the far end, and the cafe was about three quarters full of tradesmen having their lunch. Next to the menu was a notice saying: STAFF REQUIRED — MALE OR FEMALE — REASONABLE HOURLY RATES — APPLY WITHIN OR CALL NICK ON 808-9611.

As Jane got out her pocket notebook to jot down the name and phone number, two workmen got up from their table and left. The enticing smell of roast beef, potatoes and vegetables wafted out from the open door onto the street. One of the men did a thumbs-up to Emma and said, ‘All right, luv?’ but she ignored him. Jane recalled Emma had said that she’d never been in the cafe, but it seemed as if the man had recognized her.

Jane looked at her watch. ‘It’s nearly two o’clock, so we’d better make our way to the sorting office if we want to catch Rachel when she leaves work.’

‘It’s just around the corner. I’ll nip in and tell her who you are first, if that’s OK with you?’ Emma said as they approached the building.

Jane started to make a drawing of the layout of the Bluebird cafe in her pocket notebook while she waited. A few minutes later she saw Emma come out of the sorting office with Rachel, and was instantly struck by the resemblance between them. The only difference was that Rachel’s shoulder-length hair had some grey streaks in it and she was wearing a Post Office uniform under her open black mac.

‘Rachel, this is Jane Tennison.’

‘I’m pleased to meet you. It hadn’t dawned on me you were twins,’ Jane said.

‘Born identical, but different now we’re older,’ Emma remarked.

Rachel, with her right hand closed in a thumbs-up position, brushed her thumb along her chin before holding her index fingers upright in front of her body. She moved her fingers towards each other, so they touched and then pointed them at Jane, who was unsure what she was signing, apart from ‘hello.’

‘Rachel said she’s pleased to meet you,’ Emma told her.

Jane smiled as she shook hands with Rachel, then spoke slowly, accentuating her lip movements.

‘I’m very... pleased... to meet... you too—’

Emma interjected. ‘It’s OK, Jane, you can speak normally — it’s actually easier for Rachel to understand what you’re saying if you do.’

‘I’m sorry, I hope you weren’t offended.’

Rachel shrugged her shoulders and did some sign language to Emma.

‘She said she can’t hear you — so no offence taken.’

Jane smiled awkwardly at the joke. ‘Are you happy to talk to me about the men you saw in the cafe on Monday who you thought were talking about a robbery?’

She looked anxious and did some more sign language to Emma, who translated.

‘I told her you were investigating a robbery. Rachel’s very nervous and doesn’t want to talk about it near the cafe or in the police station.’

Jane looked at Rachel. ‘That’s totally understandable. We can do it at your flat if you like?’

Rachel nodded.

‘My car’s just up the road. Where do you live?’

‘She lives with me on the Broadwater Farm.’ Emma turned away from her sister and looked at Jane. ‘While I was in the sorting office she told me the same two men were in the cafe this morning.’

Driving Rachel and Emma to Broadwater Farm, Jane knew that Teflon and Cam would think she was mad going there on her own and was worried about parking her car on the estate. But she knew that every time the sisters left their flat, they risked verbal or physical abuse, and if they didn’t let it stop them going about their business, neither would she.

As Jane approached the estate, Emma told her it might be best if she left her car in a side street and they walked to the flat.

‘Your car’s really conspicuous and it might get damaged or stolen if you leave it on the estate.’ Emma pointed to a street on the right. ‘Your car will be safe down there.’

‘As it happens, my boss thinks my car looks like a custard tart,’ Jane remarked.

Emma laughed, turned to Rachel and repeated what Jane had said, but she didn’t smile.

Jane checked the rear-view mirror and could see Rachel was frowning and looking out of the window. She looked forward as she spoke to Emma.

‘Can Rachel talk at all?’

‘Being deaf she can’t hear what she says, so her voice is very monotone and sounds like she’s got a really bad throat. At first she tried speaking, but got fed up with people looking at her as if she was mentally ill.’

Jane wondered if Rachel wasn’t born deaf but felt awkward asking Emma, as if she was talking about Rachel behind her back.

Jane felt nervous walking through the estate, but thankfully there were only a few people about, who didn’t pay any attention to them. The lift door at Tangmere House was still stuck open, and although the pool of urine in it had dried out, the smell was still overpowering. Rachel pinched her nose and pulled a face, implying how bad it was.

‘Sorry about the state of the lifts,’ Emma said.

‘It’s not your fault. Is there no caretaker to clean or repair them?’

Emma sighed. ‘They’ve been advertising for a new caretaker for months, but no one wants the job. The engineers do come now and again to repair the lift but as soon as they have, the kids break it again.’

Jane shook her head sadly. ‘I can understand why you want to move away from here.’

‘The flats have been poorly maintained by the council, there are water leakages, damp and electrical faults. We recently had an infestation of cockroaches and me and Rachel had to deal with it ourselves. The walkways that connect the blocks are dangerous. They provide easy escape routes, so people often get robbed on them.’

As they walked up the stairs Jane realized how lucky she was to have a place of her own in a nice part of London. She’d taken a liking to Emma and Rachel, and it seemed so unfair that they should have to live on a rundown and crime-ridden estate. She suspected that even if she did put a word in with the council on the sisters’ behalf, they probably wouldn’t be given preferential treatment.

As Emma unlocked the flat door Rachel held her open hands, palms up, towards Jane. She bent her fingers back and forth at the knuckles in short, repeated movements, then put the tips of her fingers together to form the shape of a roof.

‘She’s welcoming you to our flat,’ Emma said.

Jane smiled and said, ‘Thank you.’

The kitchen was to the right and opposite it a cupboard storage space, next to which was a bathroom, then a separate toilet and another room, which Jane suspected was a bedroom. Opposite was a room with the door open, in which Jane could see two single beds with handmade multicolored patchwork throws on them. At the end of the hallway Emma opened a door, which led in to a reasonably sized living room. As Jane walked into the room, she recognized the musty smell of dampness and could see a small area of black mold on the wall under the large wooden-framed double window. Emma turned on the electric fire.

‘Sorry about the damp smell — once the room heats up it goes away. Rainwater’s been leaking in through the window frame, which is starting to rot. We keep cleaning the mold off with bleach and water, but it always comes back.’

Rachel looked at Jane and mimed drinking a cup of tea from a saucer.

‘That would be lovely,’ Jane replied, and Rachel went to the kitchen.

‘Let me take your coat and I’ll put it in the hallway cupboard for now.’

While Emma helped Rachel make the tea, Jane looked around the neat and tidy carpeted living room. In front of the two-seater settee was a small wooden coffee table. On it were some colored sketches of different styles of skirts, dresses and women’s blouses, which Jane assumed were sewing designs. On the wall above the fireplace were some small black chalk figure drawings; there was one of a young girl kneeling and cleaning a floor, a similar one with an older woman doing the same thing and another of an old man digging in a field with a spade. The drawings looked familiar, but Jane couldn’t remember where she’d seen them before.

At the back of the room was a four-seater drop-leaf wooden dining table with two wooden chairs. Up against the far wall were three tall mahogany bookshelves, which, like the dining table, looked as good as new. The shelves were filled with an array of books: classics by the Brontë sisters, Charles Dickens, Jane Austen and Thomas Hardy, as well as Shakespeare’s plays and The Canterbury Tales. There were also books by Agatha Christie and horror stories by Bram Stoker and Mary Shelley, next to which were the twenty-three children’s tales written by Beatrix Potter and some Enid Blyton stories.

‘Do you take milk and sugar?’

Emma put a tray with tea things on the coffee table. Rachel followed behind with some biscuits and vanilla slices. Jane took one of the slices and sat down on one end of the settee, while Emma sat next to her in an armchair. Rachel moved the other armchair into a position where she could see their lip movements and sat down.

‘You have a lot of books,’ Jane remarked.

‘We’ve always liked to read since we were very young, and haven’t bothered with a TV due to Rachel’s deafness. We like to go to book fairs and buy second-hand ones.’

‘Did you make the furniture covers yourself?’ Jane asked Emma.

‘Yes, do you like them?’ She poured Jane a cup of tea.

‘They’re lovely — and so are the sketches of the dresses and blouses.’

‘Rachel’s the artist — I explain my ideas to her and she brings them to life on paper, then I make them.’

Jane looked at Rachel. ‘You are very talented.’

Rachel smiled. She held her closed right hand to her chest, then extended her index and middle fingers in front of her face before moving them downwards in a snake-like motion and proudly pointing to the chalk drawings on the wall. Emma was about to translate, but Jane instinctively knew what Rachel had signed.

‘You did all those sketches.’

Rachel did a thumbs-up, then a scissors motion with her fingers by her left ear and pulled a sad face.

‘I thought they looked familiar — are the sketches copies of Van Gogh’s paintings?’

Rachel nodded.

‘I remember them from art studies at school when I was sixteen. Your drawings are as good as the real thing!’

Rachel signed ‘Thank you.’

Jane thought it strange that were no individual or family photographs in the room.

‘Do you have any family in London?’ she asked, and Rachel shook her head.

‘Not that we know of. Our parents died in a car crash when we were six, then we stayed with our uncle in Wood Green before we were put into a care home,’ Emma said, showing no sign of emotion.

‘I’m sorry — I can’t begin to imagine what it would be like to lose your parents when you were so young. It must have been awful for you both.’

‘It was worse for Rachel. She was in a coma after the crash and not expected to survive. It wasn’t until she came around that the doctors realized the injuries to her head had made her permanently deaf.’

Jane was surprised. ‘You were both in the crash?’

‘Yes. Not being able to hear anything after the crash made Rachel withdrawn and she stopped communicating with anyone, even me at first.’

Rachel nodded, then made some signs to Emma, and ended by touching her left wrist and holding her hand in a bent fist shape like Emma’s. Jane thought she’d grasped what she was saying.

‘Did you injure your hand in the accident?’ she asked Emma.

‘Yes, I had an open fracture, which, as you can see, never healed properly. But although my wrist movement is restricted, I can still use it well enough to work and do my sewing.’

Rachel made some signs to Emma.

‘She’s asking if your parents are still alive.’

Jane nodded.

‘Do you have any brothers or sisters?’

‘I had a brother, but he died when I was four. My sister Pam is married and has a little boy.’

Rachel held her hand open in a vertical position in front of her nose and mouth, and moved it downwards while making a sad face.

‘She’s sorry about your brother; it must have been very upsetting for you,’ Emma said.

Jane felt she could be open with them after what she’d learned about the sisters’ parents’ death.

‘I’d just turned four and he was three when he fell into a neighbor’s pond and drowned. I didn’t really understand what had happened at the time but my parents were devastated. Sadly, I have very little memory of Michael, but I do have some photographs of him. Do you have any of your parents?’

Emma shook her head. ‘Memories are all we have, Jane. When our uncle was looking after us, he cleared all our parents’ belongings out of the house and didn’t give us any pictures of them. Looking back, I think he thought it would be best for us to try and erase them from our memories.’

‘Have you ever tried to trace him?’

‘No. He never made any form of communication after putting us in care, so as far as we were concerned, he didn’t want to know us,’ Emma said bitterly.

Jane was curious about the twins’ childhood, their time in care, and what had happened after that, but time was pressing, and she needed to get a result, be it positive or negative, for DCI Murphy by the end of the day. She got out her pocket notebook and pen and looked at Rachel.

‘I’m not from Tottenham CID — I actually work for the Flying Squad. We investigate robberies and your details were passed to us by the sergeant Emma spoke to on Tuesday. Are you still happy to talk to me about what you saw and lip-read in the cafe on Monday morning?’

Rachel nodded and did a hand movement as if she was holding a pen and writing on her hand, then jumped out of her chair and left the room.

‘Did I say something to upset her?’

‘No, she’s just going to get the pad that she made notes in.’

Rachel returned to the room and offered the notepad to Jane. Jane signaled for her to keep it.

‘It would be better if I read what you’ve written after I’ve interviewed you. You can use your notes to refresh your memory of what happened as we go along. I was wondering what’s the best way to do this. Should I speak to you direct, or to Emma, who can then sign the questions to you?’

Emma interjected, ‘It might be best to do both, just in case she has difficulty with anything you ask. I can translate her replies for you if they’re more than a nod or shake of the head.’

Rachel did a thumbs-up.

‘As you tell me what happened, take your time, and if you change your mind about anything then please tell me. Firstly, Rachel, I just need to confirm that you’re referring to the Bluebird Cafe in Bruce Grove, Tottenham.’ Rachel nodded, and Jane continued. ‘And the date you saw the two men who might have been talking about a robbery was Monday the twenty-first of April.’

Rachel did another thumbs-up.

‘Had you seen them in the cafe before?’

Rachel nodded.

‘Do you know their names by any chance?’

‘I asked her that the other night and she said she doesn’t, but at one point the man whose lips she read referred to the man sitting opposite him as Tommy.’

Rachel signed to Emma that Nick, the owner of the cafe, might know their names as the one who might be called Tommy often comes into the cafe in the morning.

‘Does the other man go there often?’ Jane asked.

Rachel shrugged and signed.

Emma looked at Jane. ‘She said maybe once or twice a week, usually on a Monday or a Friday and sometimes both.’

‘How long have you been using the cafe?’ Jane asked Rachel.

Emma waited for her to finish signing. ‘She said since she started working at the sorting office, which was about two years ago. She goes there most weekdays for her meal break, which is between nine and 9:45. The two men only started coming in about six months ago.’

‘I drew a plan of the inside of the cafe earlier. Can you mark with an “R” where you were sitting and put “M1” and “M2” where the men were? The man you think might be called Tommy can be M2.’ Jane handed Rachel her pocket notebook.

She marked up the cafe plan and made some hand signs to her sister.

‘She said there were two young men sitting at the table by the wall when the two older men came in, but they must have said something as the two young men quickly moved to another table, taking their food and drinks with them.’

‘What age would you say the two older men were?’

Emma told Jane that her sister thought the one whose lips she’d read was late forties to early fifties, and the other man was late thirties to forty.

Jane looked at the plan. The men were seated in the far top right-hand corner, with a wall behind them and a window to the left that looked out onto Bruce Grove. Rachel had marked herself as sitting in the middle row, two tables down from them.

‘From where you were sitting, did you have a clear and unobstructed view of them both, and in particular the man who you lip-read?’

Rachel nodded, then signed. Emma said, ‘Apart from when Nick, the cafe owner, walked past or was serving them breakfast.’

‘I think it might be easier for now if we continued to refer to the men as M1 and M2, then at the end I’ll get a detailed description of them. Emma, could you translate what Rachel says in the first person?’

‘You mean as if it were her speaking?’

‘Yes please.’ Jane looked at Rachel. ‘Can you start with the time you saw the men come into the cafe, then tell me what M1 said?’ Jane held her pen to her pocket notebook.

Rachel did a thumbs-up and started signing to Emma.

‘I’m not sure as I was reading my book, but I think it was maybe between quarter past and half past nine. At one point I looked up and M1 was taking sugar lumps out of the bowl, then instead of putting them in his coffee cup he put two down next to each other in front of him on the table. I don’t normally lip-read what other people are saying as I don’t want to be nosy, but I was curious because I thought he was going to do a trick with them.’

Jane looked at Rachel and asked her to continue signing. She looked at her notes, then to Emma, who translated.

‘The men were leaning forward close to each other, as if speaking softly, so as not to be heard. M1 picked up the salt pot and put it down next to the sugar lumps and said, “When the van pulls up, I’ll take the rear.” He picked up another sugar lump, put it down on the other side of the salt pot and said, “You cover the front with...”’

There was a pause as Rachel spelled the individual letters of the name.

‘W... E... S... L... E... Y?’ Emma asked.

Rachel shook her head, then picked up her notepad from the coffee table. Leaning over to Jane, she pointed to what she’d previously written.

‘M1 said, “You cover the front with Webley.” Is that right?’ Jane asked.

Rachel nodded, then Jane asked them to continue.

‘M2 nodded and M1 picked up the pepper pot and slid it across the table and said, “We rob the van, J... U... D... G... E — Judge pulls up here and we fuck off.”’

‘Are you sure he said, “rob the van”?’ Jane asked and Rachel nodded. ‘And how positive are you that the names M1 said were Webley and Judge?’

Rachel raised her hand, tilted it from side to side and signed to Emma. Emma told Jane that names can be difficult to lip-read but her sister was reasonably sure M1 had said Webley and Judge and a hundred percent certain he’d said the name Tommy.

‘What do you think the sugar lumps, salt and pepper pots represented?’ Jane asked, and Rachel looked at her as if it was a silly question. ‘I appreciate it’s reasonably obvious from the way M1 moved them, and what he said, but I don’t want to influence your thoughts by asking a leading question.’

Rachel nodded that she understood, then with her index finger and thumb of her right hand held slightly apart, she moved them downwards in front of her body, before mimicking someone moving a steering wheel up and down.

‘She said vehicles for the sugar lumps and people for the salt and pepper?’

Rachel frowned as she shook her head and waved her hand at Emma, indicating she was wrong, then repeated what she’d just signed.

Emma sighed. ‘Sometimes she goes too fast for me. She said it’s the other way around — sugar lumps for people and condiments for vehicles.’

Jane asked if M1 had said anything else, and Rachel slowed down as she signed to her sister.

‘She couldn’t recall all the conversation when she made her notes, but she thinks the two men were disagreeing with each other as M1 was shaking his head and said something about a loose cannon and three of them was enough.’

Jane nodded. ‘Did they say anything else about how many men were involved?’

Emma spoke as Rachel signed.

‘At one point M1 sat back in his chair, raised his hands and said, “All right, he’s in.” And something about helping with the boxes and doing what he’s told. That’s all she was able to see and lip-read as Nick brought them their breakfast and she had to go back to the sorting office.’

‘Emma mentioned to me earlier that you thought one of the men might be connected to the snooker hall opposite.’

Rachel nodded and signed to Emma.

‘She’s seen him come out of the entrance quite a few times in the morning and cross the road to the cafe while she was there.’

‘And I take it the bingo hall above would be closed at that time?’ Jane asked, and Rachel nodded.

‘What you’ve told me could be very useful to us, Rachel, and you and Emma did the right thing reporting it to the police.’

‘Do you think they were involved in a robbery you’re investigating?’ Emma asked.

‘It’s possible, but I’ll obviously need to do a bit more investigation to find out their identities...’

Rachel looked concerned and signed to her sister.

‘She’s worried that if you speak to the cafe owner, he might tell them she lip-read what was said and they will know she spoke to the police.’

‘I have no intention of asking any questions about them in the cafe. The only other people who will know about our conversation are the detectives I work with on the Flying Squad. May I have a look at the notes you made of what happened at the cafe?’

Rachel looked more relaxed as she gave the notebook to Jane, who then read it and handed it back.

‘Thanks, everything you’ve written down ties in with my notes of our conversation. I believe you went to the cafe this morning and the same two men were there?’

Rachel nodded and signed to Emma that as usual the cafe was busy and they were sitting in the same positions as Monday. She sat on the table one down from them but could only see the lips of M1. Jane pointed to a table on the plan she’d drawn and Rachel nodded.

‘Did they talk about a robbery again?’ Jane asked.

Rachel shrugged and signed that she wasn’t sure.

Jane got ready with her pocket notebook and pen.

‘Well, while everything is still fresh in your mind let’s go over what happened this morning. Go slowly and tell me exactly what M1 said.’

Rachel sat upright, put her hands on her lap, closed her eyes and started to move her head up and down and from side to side.

‘Is she all right?’ Jane asked Emma.

‘It’s her way of recalling what was said. Although Rachel can’t hear she’s got a fantastic memory. She sort of goes back in time and relives the moment.’

After a couple of minutes’ silence Rachel opened her eyes and started to sign to Emma, who translated.

‘She says they came in about half past nine again and M1 looked angry, then pointed his finger at M2 and said, “I told you Riley was a hothead.” M2 said something but she couldn’t see his lips and M1 replied, “Yesterday was a total fuck-up.” M2 said something about having to get a loan for Tina’s wedding as a monkey from the job wasn’t enough.’

Jane held her hand up for Rachel to pause.

‘How sure are you he said the names Tina and Riley?’

Rachel was sure about Tina, but not so confident about Riley.

Jane knew a monkey was London slang for five hundred pounds, and asked Rachel if she realized it meant a sum of money. She shook her head and signed that another man walked up to the table, but because of where he stood, she then couldn’t see M1’s lips. M2 moved along a seat to let the man sit down.

‘Had you seen him in the cafe before?’ Jane asked, and Rachel shrugged. ‘Can you describe him and what he was wearing?’

Emma translated her reply. ‘She says she never got a look at his face as he had his back to her. He was quite tall, maybe three or four inches more than you, with dark slicked-back hair that was neatly cut. He wore a knee-length brown camel hair coat, which had a black suede collar, and was carrying a black leather briefcase.’

‘Did M1 say anything to him when he sat down?’

‘Not at first. The man sat down, put the briefcase on the table, then opened it and took out a large brown envelope, which he handed to M1, who put it on the table beside him without opening it. Then M1 said something about not letting him down and they shook hands.’

Jane held her hand up for them to pause while she wrote in her pocket notebook.

‘Did M1 and the man have any more conversation?’

Rachel signed to Emma.

‘M1 said something about having a nice X... J... S on the front and asked the man if he was interested, and the man nodded.’

‘Did you notice if there was a Jaguar car outside the cafe?’

Rachel looked puzzled. Emma explained that they knew nothing about the makes or models of cars, but she did see him get into a vehicle parked on the opposite side of Bruce Grove and drive off towards the High Road.

‘Can you describe his car?’ Jane asked.

Rachel shrugged as she signed to Emma.

‘She said it was a shiny maroon color, quite long, with one door on the side and expensive-looking.’

‘Did you see his face as he left?’

Rachel shook her head and signed that Nick, the cafe owner, came to the table to take away her dirty plate and was wiping the table down as the man left, so she couldn’t see his face clearly.

‘Did M1 and M2 have any further conversation after the man in the camel hair coat left?’

Rachel nodded and signed to Emma.

‘M2 tried to take the envelope from M1, but he pulled it away and said something about “champagne and caviar for life”. He folded the envelope in half and put it in the pocket of his coat, which was on the back of his chair.’

Jane knew that the conversation M1 had had with M2 and the man in the camel hair coat wasn’t obviously about a robbery. In fact, it seemed more likely they were discussing a business deal that had gone wrong and the man in the camel hair coat was offering them another one that could be more successful.

‘Did M1 say anything else?’

Rachel shook her head and said that he just said some stuff about how Tina’s wedding was costing him a fortune. Then she left the cafe and went back to work.

‘Are there any other people you’ve seen sitting with M1 and 2?’

Rachel signed that a younger, attractive, blond-haired man, who was maybe late twenties or early thirties, had been in a few times when M1 and M2 were there. But she had never paid attention to any of them until Monday, when she saw M1 moving the sugar cubes and condiments about.

‘What I need now is a description of M1 and M2. If it’s easier than signing you can write them down in my pocket notebook for me. You’ve given me their ages, so all I need now is their height, hair and eye color, any notable facial features and what they were wearing.’

Rachel signed to Emma.

‘She said she could draw their faces for you if you like.’

‘That’s a great idea, but I’m a bit pressed for time right now as I have to get back to the office and type up a report. I could pick the drawings up from you at work on Monday, if that’s OK?’

Rachel nodded. Jane asked if she would mind sitting beside her on the sofa, so she could read the descriptions, and if necessary, ask questions as she wrote them down. Rachel moved over beside Jane, who handed her the police pocket notebook and pen.

‘Do M1 first.’

Rachel wrote:

‘When you say a green coat, can you describe it in more detail for me, please, like the length, style and number of pockets?’ Jane was thinking about the Barbour jacket Rita Brown from Edgar House had seen.

Rachel thought about it for a few seconds, then wrote:

Jane smiled, pleased with how much detail Rachel could recall. Rachel then began writing a description of M2:

‘Can you describe it?’

Rachel held her hands in a fist shape and jabbed them back and forth.

‘A boxer?’ Jane asked. Rachel pointed to her hand, then made out she was putting something on it. ‘A boxing glove?’

Rachel shook her head and held two fingers up.

‘A pair of boxing gloves?’

She nodded with a smile and held her thumb up.

‘Thanks, they’re very good descriptions. What about the younger man you said sometimes joins them — can you describe him in a bit more detail?’ Rachel wrote:

‘I must say, you’re very observant.’

‘She is when he goes to the cafe. She’s told me about him before and I think she fancies him,’ Emma said, and her sister glared at her.

‘He sounds a bit like M2 — do they look like they may be related?’

Rachel shrugged and signed they might be, and that she’d seen M1 give the younger man a large bundle of money on one occasion.

‘How big was the bundle?’

She held her fingers about six inches apart and signed that she thought they were twenty-pound notes as they were purple.

‘That’s quite a big sum of money by the sounds of it. Have you noticed if any of these men smoke?’

Rachel signed that M2 smoked cigarettes and M1 smoked a big cigar, and she didn’t like the smell as it put her off her food.

‘This may sound like a silly question, but can you tell people’s accents from the way their mouths move?’

Emma answered for Rachel. ‘Accents are really hard for lip-readers to detect, but sometimes they can get an idea from the words and phrases people use.’

‘How do you mean?’

‘Someone from Liverpool might say hozzy instead of hospital, but I think it’s safe to say from what my sister told us that M1 had a London accent.’

Rachel nodded in agreement.

‘I know you’re not very good on vehicles, Rachel, but have you ever seen M1, M2 or the young man you mentioned in a car?’

Rachel signed that the only one she’d ever seen in a vehicle was the good-looking young man, when he was parking outside the cafe in a big white van. Jane put her notebook and pen in her bag and told Rachel she’d like to take the notes she had made back to the Flying Squad office as evidence, in case it was related to her investigation.

‘Can you tell us anything about the robbery you’re investigating?’ Emma asked.

‘Yes. It’s been in the papers and happened yesterday in Leytonstone High Road. A Securicor van was robbed at gunpoint and a police car crashed into a house while chasing the suspects,’ Jane said, deliberately not mentioning that guns had been fired.

‘And do you think the men in the cafe might be responsible?’ Emma asked.

‘I can’t say at this stage, but I can tell you that some of the things Rachel said are of interest to the investigation. Like I said earlier, there’s no need for either of you to be worried. Believe me, you did the right thing by telling us — police work would be much easier if there were more upstanding citizens like you two. If there are any developments, I’ll let you know. I may need Rachel to look through some police mugshot albums of known criminals at Scotland Yard. Would you be willing to do that, Rachel?’

Jane picked up the way Rachel nervously signed to her sister and there was a moment before Emma replied.

‘Of course. It’s the right thing to do,’ Emma said, looking at her sister.