Marty thrust his hands into the pockets of his jacket.

‘For Christ’s sake, it sounds like a funeral. Bella’s alive somewhere. We’ll find her tonight.’

WEBSLEUTHS FORUM

Martin and Lexie Ross

LoveMyDog: It IS them with the missing child in Canberra.

Raine43: Why can’t the Aussie police catch them?

Tracer: Rot in hell, Martin and Lexie.

AD: These people need to be put in solitary confinement, never see light again, and be tortured.

59X: Fucken animals to do this.

Taz: Heartbreaking. I just feel sick.

26 TARA

26

TARA

TARA HAD FIFTEEN MINUTES BEFORE IT WAS TIME TO START THE DINNER, bath and bed routine. A quick bit of TV would keep the girls quiet while she went online. When she’d left the playgroup, it had been filled with a weird energy—mobiles ringing, police radios crackling, lots of deep male voices, a helicopter whirring overhead. Tara’s house was the opposite, as quiet as a graveyard, apart from squeaky voices on the telly. She clicked on the Canberra Times site first. The photos she’d sent in adorned the page. But it was the same story as a few hours ago. No update.

Lexie hadn’t said a word about the photos in the newspaper article. Had she seen them? Was she angry? Or would she understand that Tara was doing everything she could to help find Bella?

Down at playgroup, Tara had tried to stay busy—talking to the police officers, offering cups of tea, in between feeding Daisy and keeping Zoe occupied. Perhaps she shouldn’t have taken the kids with her; Imogen had off loaded her twin terrors to some poor, unsuspecting grandma. Even Julia and Mel had left their kids with other people. But Tara didn’t have that option—Pam worked at the library on Fridays. The childcare plans for next year weren’t quite sorted but she was hoping Pam would have the kids Monday to Thursday, and she and Josh could take alternate Fridays off to stay home. Pam had made it clear that Fridays were non-negotiable. And while Tara appreciated Mel’s family day care, she still had to pay for it. She’d only used Mel because she was exhausted, and Pam was always too busy. Both her workplace and Josh’s promised family-friendly, flexible hours; Tara would kick up a fuss if they didn’t follow through. Last year, they allowed Raquel from accounts two alternating days off every fortnight, despite it being confusing for everyone else. No-one ever knew the right day to get in their invoices.