Twisting his wrist, Caruso checked his Seiko: 12.35 pm. Almost two hours since the call had come in. The GDs had thoroughly examined every space around the playgroup where a child could hide. A few years ago, Suze had been involved in a search for a missing toddler for hours; eventually they’d found him curled up asleep in a laundry cupboard underneath a pile of towels. If Bella had escaped through the gate, she could have walked up to two kilometres an hour. It was amazing how far kids that age could travel if they were focused on following something like a cute dog. Lost and injured seemed most likely in this quiet village. Despite the media headlines, when a child was abducted, it wasn’t usually by a stranger but by one of the parents. From what the GDs had reported that didn’t seem to be the case, however, Caruso was open to all possibilities. An elderly neighbour on the laneway behind the playgroup recalled a red hatchback driving off around eleven o’clock, half an hour after Bella had disappeared. The doorknocks were trying to identify the vehicle.

Normally, the Crime team wouldn’t be involved at this stage; they’d leave it to the first responders and only come in later, after the initial searches and interviews had been completed. But this was no ordinary day. Most of the city’s police force was on duty at Parliament House. Thousands of people were marching to protest the bill for voluntary-assisted dying. One of the right-to-life leaders had managed to bring all the different groups together and they were congregating outside the Parliament. Caruso had seen some footage back at Woden police station, hundreds of people waving placards with slogans like KILL THE BILL NOT US, LOCK UP YOUR GRANNIES, DR DEATH IS COMING, SAVE THE SENIORS and MY RIGHT FOR LIFE. He’d been all for assisted suicide in the right circumstances until five months ago, when his dad was diagnosed with prostate cancer. Now, he didn’t want to think about any kind of sickness and dying.

Of course, the cameras had focused on Nurse Natalie, her long black hair and her impassioned, indignant tirade. When her face appeared on the TV, the detectives had groaned. Whether or not they agreed with her, they were tired of Natalie Alvarez inciting fear and hatred. She stirred up emotions and encouraged her people to attack their opposite number. The pro-euthanasia groups were arriving now, and police teams were ready in their riot gear. Some of the roads around Capital Hill had been blocked off. At the Lodge and Government House, extra patrols were in place, as well as at a couple of the churches with outspoken priests. The protest was expected to turn ugly fairly quickly.

Not the best day to mount a search and rescue with so many police involved elsewhere. Hopefully they’d find Bella quickly and it wouldn’t come to that.