We HATE Martin and Lexie Ross

Sweeter: Looks like the parents did away with another child. Why haven’t the police caught them yet? Don’t miss tonight’s Weekend Wrap program on Channel 10 (in Oz not the US). Maybe we’ll get some answers.

Ding Dong: How can this have happened again? The police are useless.

Mercy: Fuckwits. Fry them, I keep saying it.

Lost99: Those poor children.

33 CARUSO

33

CARUSO

SUZE OPENED THE PASSENGER DOOR, PASSED CARUSO A LONG BLACK and climbed into the seat, balancing her cappuccino. Sitting in the car on the street outside playgroup, they kept the windows up so their conversation wouldn’t be heard.

On the surveillance camera from the bakery, they’d identified a blond head—almost obscured by other customers—at 10.18 am. Brendan Parrish had been at the Merrigang shops minutes before Bella went missing. A check on Parrish’s rego plate through the ANPR database over the past few days showed his vehicle going to the rugby club, to his girlfriend’s house and to the apartment of a colleague: the PE teacher, Jeff Olsen. They couldn’t find Parrish’s numberplate in Civic at the same time as the CCTV from the shopping centre. But it didn’t mean he wasn’t there.

The Intel team had cross-checked Parrish’s name with other agencies in Canberra and New South Wales. No red flags on Parrish anywhere. Just lots of photos of him on Facebook, snowboarding and knocking back schnapps. He wasn’t Facebook friends with any of the playgroup mums or dads.

The smell of coffee filled the car. Caruso needed an IV of it this morning. ‘Here’s a theory, Suze, just hear me out. What if Lexie and the teacher are in this together?’

‘That she’d arranged for him to take Bella?’

‘Mm—that would explain why they’d both stayed quiet about him being at the bakery. It would match up with the white car on the CCTV in Civic.’

‘Do you think she’s trying to get Bella out of a DV situation?’

‘Maybe.’

‘I’ll get Intel to look into any links between them.’

God, they needed something. He sucked air through his teeth, making a clicking sound with his tongue.

‘I thought you were going to stop that,’ Suze chided him.

He’d need three more coffees to wake up. Maybe even a Red Bull. They had to sort out the DV angle; rule it in or out. Was there any history?

‘Let’s speak to the ex-wife and the older daughter again.’

‘Sure. What about that hate site?’

‘The techs are still working on it. But you know, it’s rare for those trolls to come out of their computers and act in the real world.’