‘I think he’s in India. That’s where I met him.’

‘Right—well, if we can just have his name, then we can check on him.’

‘Seriously, he’s not interested in Sammy or me. He made that clear four years ago.’

‘A name, please,’ Suze repeated. ‘Then we can cross him off our list.’

Mel sighed and folded her arms over her breasts.

They waited silently.

‘You won’t speak to him, will you?’ Mel asked finally. ‘I don’t want him getting in contact with us.’

‘We’ll just check the system and his current location.’

‘Look, Ben’s a drug addict. He went to India to find himself and found lots of drugs instead. His name is Ben Anderson.’

‘Thank you.’ Caruso suddenly noticed the quietness of the house. A soft classical tune floated down the hallway. ‘Is your son actually here? He’s so quiet.’

‘Sammy is drawing. We were practising his letters before.’

‘And you do some childcare too, don’t you?’

She nodded. ‘I look after Morgan every Tuesday and Wednesday, and Zoe on a casual basis.’

‘Julia’s daughter and Tara’s—is that right?’ Caruso matched the kids up with their mothers.

‘Yes. I love kids. I’m planning to do a childcare certificate when I can.’

Now that she was relaxed, Caruso could ask the questions that he’d really come for.

‘Did Mrs Parker often go up to the shop and leave Bella in your care?’

‘This was only the second time.’

‘I see.’ Interesting. Tara had said Lexie left Bella all the time.

‘Do you go up to the shop? Do the other mothers?’

‘I don’t normally need to—Sammy’s a good boy, I can take him with me anywhere. But Tara is always popping up to the shop or making doctors’ appointments. Julia and Imogen do sometimes … it’s not a big deal.’

Except when your child goes missing.

‘I know we’ve asked you already, but did you see anything out of the ordinary?’

‘Hold on a minute, I’ll get you some biscuits. I made them yesterday before …’

Mel didn’t finish her sentence as she walked through the door to the kitchen. The smell of baking wafting in the air made Caruso’s stomach gurgle. He couldn’t remember if he’d had more than coffee in the last six hours. There had been sandwiches at two in the morning. He’d smelt the egg-and-bacon rolls of some SES blokes at about six, but he hadn’t eaten anything then. Suze stood up and walked to the window, checking the backyard.

‘Here you go.’

Mel offered the plate of biscuits to Caruso. Her hand shook and three biscuits tumbled onto his crotch. Mel bent to pick them up, then stopped, obviously realising where they’d fallen.

‘Oh no, I’m so sorry.’