Tara hadn’t dared to check her blog while she was down at playgroup, just in case one of the mums peered over her shoulder; they didn’t get online groups, they were all about real-life relationships. First, Tara opened Facebook and scrolled down her private groups. Some she knew IRL and others were online friends only. The Gong Gals—her school friends from Wollongong—were echoing her shock about Bella’s disappearance. She’d only joined Run for Your Life a few weeks ago but had posted the news to them. They all sent their best wishes and a few were going down for the night search. Book Beauties were silent—they hardly ever looked at FB, too busy with their noses stuck in the latest bestseller. Unlike Women Who Wine: they’d left dozens of messages offering support. The page of Marvellous Mums showed lots of crying emojis; none of them was feeling marvellous now. The Merrigang community page, along with the Weston Creek one, had hundreds and hundreds of comments giving advice, theories and the names of suspicious dudes around Merrigang and the nearby suburbs. It would take days to read through all of those. Did the police check this shit?

Tara decided to call Detective Sergeant Caruso directly and tell him. He answered on the first ring.

‘Hi, it’s Tara Murphy here. I just wanted to make sure that you’re aware of all the stuff being said on the community Facebook pages. Can you access them?’

‘Yes, thank you. We’re monitoring it all. But if you or anyone else has specific information, they should contact the police, not write it on Facebook.’

‘Yeah, I know that.’

Tara didn’t want him to think she was stupid. She’d never been involved with the police before. That time the boys burnt down the shed at school, she didn’t get to be interviewed by the hunky police officers.

‘While I have you on the phone, Mrs Murphy, could I ask you about a photo shoot with the playgroup a few months ago?’

‘You mean the one up on the ridge that Brendan Parrish did?’ Tara remembered the day clearly. A break from the monotony. ‘That was brilliant. He took great shots. We got some of them framed.’

‘And have you seen Mr Parrish since that day?’

‘Occasionally, yeah. He’s always around the shops. One day, he bought Lexie a coffee because he was at the front of the queue in the bakery. He was tops with the kids—they were so relaxed when he photographed them.’

Brendan didn’t buy me a coffee, even though I called out too. Fucking Lexie—she attracted the men, young and old. And he was all smiles with Bella but then ignored Zoe.

‘Thanks very much, Mrs Murphy. I won’t keep you. Thanks for calling in.’