‘I just don’t know.’ Caruso ran his fingers through his black hair, blinked, then turned to the rest of the team: Suze, Hassan, Smithy and Gwen.

‘It’s got to be her,’ said Gwen. She pointed at the screen. ‘Look, she’s the same height as Bella, the same colour clothing. And that’s definitely the mother holding the girl’s hand. She walks the same way as Mrs Parker.’

‘I’m not so sure.’ Caruso studied the image again. ‘All those yummy mummies look similar. And their kids are all wearing whatever’s in the latest Target catalogue.’

The CCTV footage had come from Civic, the main shopping area in the city. Time-stamped 3.43 pm the previous day—five hours after Bella had been reported missing. A little girl and her mother had walked out of the front entrance of the shopping centre to a waiting car, which sped away once they were safely inside. The camera was up high, fixed above the automatic doors, and gave a top view and a back view of shoppers. In terms of timing, it could easily have been Mrs Parker—she was in and out of the playgroup yesterday, off conducting her own search with her husband. Police had interviewed her earlier, around 11 am and then again later, around two in the afternoon. From the angle of the CCTV camera, they couldn’t see the figure in the car. The security team at the shopping centre had gone through their other cameras but the girl didn’t appear anywhere else.

‘Do the Parkers have another car that we don’t know about?’ Suze asked. ‘A white one that would match this?’

‘Not unless it’s registered under a different name.’

‘I’ll check the rego of the ex-wife. There might have been some swapping of cars.’

Caruso liked working with Suze; they both had a methodical approach but they questioned each other and argued sometimes, which brought different angles to an investigation. She’d been invaluable in the Wilson case, persevering to find a link between two sets of investments and two business partners, where a less-determined cop would have given up. It had been boring and time-consuming, but ultimately her work had paid off. Sometimes, he’d had to remind her to go home, see the kids, attend the school prize-giving day and the netball grand final. Suze had booked time off in the next school holidays to take her kids bushwalking in the Blue Mountains. Was that next week or the week after?

Caruso rubbed his eyes, which were sore from focusing on the screen for so long. And the lack of sleep last night. Possibly it was the Parkers and their daughter pictured in the footage, but why? When parents were involved in a disappearance, it was usually over a custody battle or because they’d hurt their own child, not to take them shopping.