‘I’m checking the pedestrian tunnel near the school. Pick me up here.’

Lexie had sounded so controlled on the phone that Marty was surprised when he saw her. Her face puffy, smudged with dirt, her eyes rimmed red. She had bits of leaves and twigs stuck to her jumper and scarf.

‘Where can she be?’ Lexie stared at him, terror written in the lines across her forehead.

‘We’ll find her,’ Marty assured his wife, holding his arms out to draw her into a hug.

She pushed him away. ‘The police didn’t want me out looking but I couldn’t just sit there,’ Lexie explained between short, sharp breaths. ‘I’ve checked all around this road and the underpass. We can search the other way in the car.’

Lexie darted past him and clambered into the passenger seat, motioning for him to hurry up.

‘Can you tell me what happened?’ Marty asked as gently as he could.

‘I don’t know. She was there. Then she was gone.’

‘At the playgroup?’

‘Yes, at the goddamn playgroup.’

As they drove, Lexie muttered the same words over and over. ‘Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, where are you, Bella, where are you?’

She only broke off to tell him to go left or right. These streets all seemed to go in circles. No-one was out walking on the footpaths. And there was no sign of Bella in her pink coat. Marty swallowed down the acrid taste of bile. How could his tiny little girl be missing?

‘Why don’t we go back to the playgroup?’ he suggested. ‘The police will be wondering where we are.’

‘No,’ Lexie barked, her eyes glued to the roadside. ‘We’ll find her, I know we will.’

Marty bit down his retort and continued cruising the street at twenty kilometres an hour. A lime-green Ford sedan sped up behind him and honked. He pulled the Audi to the kerb and let the frustrated driver pass. This aimless wandering was getting them nowhere.

‘Is there somewhere in particular that you want to go?’ he asked.

‘What do you mean?’ Lexie swung around to face him. ‘Do you think I know where she is?’

With the contusion on her cheek, she looked like an assault victim.

‘Of course not. I mean, are there particular parks or friends’ houses or—’ Marty sucked in his breath ‘—I dunno … bike paths? I’ve got no fucking idea what’s happening here.’

‘You’ve got no idea what’s happening?’ Lexie repeated. ‘Our daughter is lost! What do you think is happening? Blame me, Marty—I know you want to. Yes, it’s my fault. Again.’

‘Don’t be ridiculous.’

‘It is my fault. I should never have gone out to the shop.’

‘Why did you go?’

Marty knew it was unkind to ask the question. But it bewildered him. She never let Bella out of her sight.