Sadie's notion that something untoward occurred (maybe Gerry and Jez?) which interfered with a pre-planned pick up has a ring to it for me. I don't think openly carrying a child for any distance at all would ever figure in any forward planning so the vehicle would have to be parked as close by as possible and the route to it fairly unobtrusive and well known to the carrier.
Perhaps even a back-up vehicle? Although further from the target than Sadie's suggestion, the locations you've indicated are only seconds away and as we have seen before the hue and cry, nobody would have paid a blind bit of notice to a man walking the streets while carrying a child.
There was quite a bit of pedestrian traffic coming and going which couldn't be legislated for, as well as people we know of sitting on balconies despite the chill, and probably a few we don't know of.
So all in all a risky venture and if Tannerman was the abductor, without Jane he would have accomplished it sight unseen.
What i think, altho I accept that it might not be right, is that Tannerman never intended to walk anywhere on the open streets carrying Madeleine.
My theory is that they had worked out the timing pretty accurately.
- Going in and out of the apartment, opening shutters and window and lifting Madeleine, took probably about a minute, maybe less.
- The walk for The Watcher/ Getaway driver, which was down block 6 back steps, thru the back garden, thru the garden gate and into the get away vehicle ... and then the drive up to then car park entrance would probably take about the same time .... NORMALLY
But as The Getaway driver started to come off that little car park (opposite Tapas secondary Reception) and started to turn right to go up Rua Francisco Gentils Martins he was suddenly aware of Gerry and Jez in the middle of the very street he had to drive up. Gerry and Jez aware that a vehicle was trying to come up the street where they were standing, backed away to the western side of the street by the alleyway
The driver dithered. Should he brazenly drive past the father of the child they were abducting?
In the meantime Jane appeared and he further dithered.
Meanwhile Tannerman literally left holding the baby (Madeleine) was getting really anxious. Why wasn't his getaway vehicle there? .... So he risked walking to the corner to have a look-see.
Jane was almost upon him, so he took a snap decision to carry on walking in the direction he was going. had he turned around, Jane would have been following him And after all walking the way he was he could double back to the car park and get-away vehicle via the dimly lit alleyways.
The dithering Getaway driver suddenly saw Tannerman carrying Madeleine appear and Jane was almost upon him, witnessing the abductor
Panicking, he turned tail and drove off down the street in a Southerly direction .... leaving Tannerman, carrying Madeleine, in the lurch
I know that this may not be what happened, but it could well be .
Everything, including all the points that I made a few days ago, fits perfectly.
It also explains why Gerry thought that he chatted with Jez on the other side of the street.
Because initially he made the conscious effort to cross the street, meeting Jez in the middle /Eastern side of the street. That changed when the getaway vehicle swung out causing them to back to the western side of the street, which Jane and Jez remember
I think that Jane was able to pick up some colour, enabled by the light that the getaway drivers vehicle headlights produced. The street lights being sodium were virtually monochromatic,and gave out a sickly yellow glow. Other than yellow, they showed little colour on their own
Jane was able to recognize some colour, so I would suggest that the getaway vehicles headlights flicked across Tannerman and helped her do that.
AIMHO
Note to moderators: The above is Sadie's theory as to what may have occurred.
