Tara changed Daisy’s nappy and tried to stuff the dirty one into the nappy bin. It was full and stinky. Now she’d have to empty it. That was Josh’s job, he should have done it before he went away.

Tara lugged the bag out the side door, through the garage to the front where the wheelie bins were kept. God, it stank. She flipped up the lid on the garbage bin and was about to heave it in when she noticed a kid’s shoe on top of the other rubbish bags. Had Zoe put it there, perhaps, pretending the bin was a mailbox and the shoe was a parcel? Reaching in, trying not to touch the rubbish, Tara retrieved the shoe. Strange; she didn’t recognise it. She turned it over and read the label—then dropped it as if she’d been bitten by a redback spider.

A fairy name tag: This shoe belongs to Bella Parker.

49 CARUSO

49

CARUSO

THE ALBURY GUYS SAID PARRISH HAD BEEN SHITTING HIMSELF WHEN they’d rocked up to his parents’ home that morning. His parents had given permission for a search and the officers had checked the house and garden shed. No signs of Bella nor Fox. Now Parrish would have a couple of hours in the car with Smithy. The schoolteacher would definitely be ready to talk by the time he got back to Canberra. Would the forensics on Bella’s water bottle and shoe link them to Parrish?

Before the team briefing, Caruso rummaged for some Panadol in his drawer. His head was thumping. A photo of Bella, laughing on a slippery slide, stared back at him from his desk. Even though he’d never met her, Bella inhabited his every waking hour, as well as his dreams and nightmares. Now he’d have to add a photo of another girl next to her. Caruso closed his eyes and massaged his temples. When he opened his eyes again, Suze was standing beside his desk.

‘The New South Wales Drug Squad has a match on Ray Hensley’s car. They’ve got a surveillance operation on the South Coast and his car was spotted entering the property last Thursday.’

‘The Thursday that Bella went missing?’

‘Yes.’

‘Any reports of seeing a child in his car?’

Suze shook her head.

‘No, but the child could have been lying down or in the boot.’

‘Can they go in and interview him?’

‘They’re discussing the logistics right now.’ Suze sighed. ‘It’s a multi-agency operation that has been ongoing for eight months and involves another two locations. They’ll call us back shortly.’

Caruso answered on the first ring. He was expecting the officer in charge of the drugs operation; instead, it was a constable who had searched around the church in Ainslie.