‘All the time.’ Tara shook her head in disapproval. ‘She was always going up to the shops to buy stuff. On this blog, Crazy Hazy Dayz—that’s dayz with a “z”—there’s been some discussion about when’s the right time to leave a child in the care of others. It’s a great blog and we’ve been trying to understand how Bella went missing.’

Phew, she’d got in a plug.

‘And how do you think Bella went missing? There were four mothers in the playgroup and lots of kids. How could Bella just disappear?’

‘Well, it wasn’t my fault, I was busy with my own child at the time. And I was always careful with the gate, I made sure it was locked.’

‘Could Bella have climbed over the gate or the fence?’

‘No, they were both too high.’

‘What about from the cubbyhouse?’

‘It’s too far from the fence. Lexie must have left the gate unlocked herself. Either that or …’

‘Or what?’

‘Or Lexie set the whole thing up herself.’

31 LEXIE

31

LEXIE

ANY MOMENT NOW. SITTING INSIDE WODEN POLICE STATION, I REPEATED my mantra. The building was shiny glass and steel. Everything looked new and efficient. With all this manpower and technology, the police would find Bella, I was sure of that. Any moment now.

‘Mr Parrish is filing for a protection order against your husband,’ Detective Sergeant Caruso continued. ‘Dr Parker must not approach the victim or contact him in any way.’

If only it were the female detective releasing Marty to me and not Sergeant Caruso. We needed to keep him on side. His disappointment in Marty was evident in his tired eyes.

‘Please let us do our job,’ he said.

I pictured Brendan Parrish lying on the ground, blond fringe soaked with blood. Fiddling with my wedding ring, I considered tossing it in the wastepaper basket near the front counter. Who did Marty think he was? Wasting police time and energy when they needed to be looking for Bella.

Still in his tracksuit, Marty limped towards me. His face greyish, the lines etched deeply around his mouth, his hair flat with dried sweat.

‘I’m so sorry,’ he whispered. ‘I really thought she was there.’

Suddenly too tired to be angry, I put my hand on his back and began steering him towards the exit.

‘Can you walk to the car?’ I asked. ‘What’s wrong with your leg?’

‘I think I pulled a muscle.’ He shrugged and leant on me. ‘I’ll be all right.’

Some superhero.

‘Why do you think it’s him?’ I asked.

The teacher seemed like a nice guy; I couldn’t believe he’d be involved in Bella’s disappearance.

‘Parrish lied. He was at the shops when Bella disappeared.’