Six Minutes

by Petronella McGovern

  I’d always thought that Archie’s birth—and death—were my fault. I’d been so ill on that trip to Indonesia. My body had given birth to a sick child. And then I’d gone out that evening. Hadn’t checked on him when I’d got home. For the last four years, I had woken each morning at two and stood in the dark, listening to my daughter’s steady breaths.

  When I’d kissed Archie before going out that night, he was wriggling in pain as usual. The massaging, the medications, changing position, changing formula—nothing seemed to help. As his mother, it was heartbreaking not to be able to soothe him. I’d held my lips against his soft cheek as he groaned. If I’d found it unbearable as his mum, how did Marty feel as a father and a paediatrician? While I’d been doing everything I could to make our son’s life more comfortable, had Marty been planning to end it for him?

  But he was a doctor! He’d sworn an oath to do no harm. To protect life.

  When we were in England, Phoebe had tried to talk to me about Marty and Archie, but I refused to listen. I was sure Victoria had her doubts too and that was why she was so awful to her father. Had they both seen what I wouldn’t? Had Marty taken Archie away from me?

  If he’d done that and lied about it … could he have done something to Bella too?

  My instinct was to confront him but then self-preservation kicked in. I couldn’t save Bella if he did something to me. Avoiding him, I stayed upstairs, listening for his movements. When I heard him go into the shower, I dashed down to the kitchen and scrolled quickly through the emails and texts on his phone. No unusual messages. Nothing to Mel. Just work. Bringing my iPhone next to his, I switched on the Share my Location feature. Now I could keep track of his movements.

  The TV program, the newspaper, the commentators—they’re all out to blame the parents.

  But the mother is only guilty by association.

  Four years on. Not too late for jail.

  Dr Parker wouldn’t survive one minute in a hellhole like that.

  All charming and caring. Everyone else has fallen for it.

  The nurses and the staff at the hospital.

  Even his patients and their parents.

  They don’t see the real him—an evil monster.

  THE CANBERRA TIMES ONLINE EDITION

  MONDAY, 23 SEPTEMBER, 7.05 AM

  Bella’s shoe and water bottle found

  A shoe and water bottle belonging to Bella Parker were found outside a church in Ainslie yesterday, thirty kilometres from where the little girl went missing. Police are refusing to comment on the discovery but an inside source says the disappearance is now considered to be suspicious. The Sex Crimes Squad has been brought in to work with the investigation team.

  According to the source, cadaver dogs did not pick up any scent of Bella at either Merrigang or Ainslie. There are growing fears for Bella’s safety and survival.

  Message of thanks

  Lucas Lawrence, a playgroup father who has been involved in the search, released a statement from the parents last night.

  ‘We thank everyone for their hard work in trying to find our little girl. If you live around Merrigang, please check your backyards. We miss you so much, Bella—please come home quickly.’

  The Parkers refused to comment on the Weekend Wrap television program in which a playgroup mother implied that Mrs Parker had left the gate open, enabling Bella to leave the grounds.

  Little Bella Parker will turn four years old on Friday. A family friend has started a campaign to ‘bring Bella home for her birthday’.

  42

  CARUSO

  SUZE SLOWED THE CAR OUTSIDE A DOUBLE-STOREYED WHITE HOUSE facing south towards the Brindabellas. Caruso could see the red hatchback parked in the driveway. They’d tracked it down to Mrs Ramos, a cleaner who’d been working at a place in Fig Street.

  Mrs Ramos was a similar age to his mum but with a lot less wrinkles. Plump like his mum, too. Black hair in a bun, black pants and top. She lived with her son and his family in Canberra’s southernmost suburb. Caruso suddenly pictured his own mum widowed. Would she expect him to move back home?

  ‘I clean four houses in Merrigang,’ Mrs Ramos explained. ‘I do Merrigang on a Thursday, Red Hill and Forrest on a Friday, Yarralumla on a Monday, O’Malley on a Tuesday. And on Wednesdays, I take my grandchildren to school and clean our house.’

  ‘Did you know that a little girl went missing in Merrigang on Thursday?’ Caruso asked Mrs Ramos.

  ‘Yes, the poor dear.’ The woman clutched her hands to her heart.

  ‘Were you driving in Boronia Place that morning?’

  ‘Oh, I turn around there. I’m not very good at backing out of driveways. So I always park on the street and then turn around in the laneway. It’s much easier.’

  ‘Did you see a little girl?’

  ‘Lord, no.’ Mrs Ramos raised her eyebrows. ‘I would have rung the police straight away.’

  At last, they had located the red hatchback and could cross it off their list. But Mrs Ramos hadn’t finished.

  ‘Oh my Lord, I should have called. I remember …’

  ‘What?’

  ‘When I was turning around, I saw a man in the laneway. A young man. Long fringe over his eyes.’

  Caruso resisted the urge to jump out of his seat and kiss the grandmother.

  ‘Do you think you would recognise this man again?’ Suze asked, her voice calm.

  ‘Yes, of course.’

  Would she identify the schoolteacher, Brendan Parrish, or the husband, Josh Murphy? But Josh said he’d parked up near the shops. There was no reason for him to be in the laneway behind the playgroup. Unless it was someone else: a tradesman working nearby; a devoted son visiting his mother at the nursing home; a doctor from the surgery at the shops. An unknown abductor …

  Caruso had received a shouted voicemail from Dr Parker late last night saying that the teacher had supplied drugs to his teenage daughter at a house in Ainslie. He’d already tasked Gwen with locating Parrish’s rugby friends and the ‘party house’ in Ainslie. Was the house close to the church where Bella’s shoe had been found? Caruso planned to speak to Imogen and Lucas this morning to find out when they were last at the church. Earlier, he’d left a message telling Marty that he was investigating the teacher and his mates. It wouldn’t help to have the enraged doctor breaching the protection order and attacking Brendan Parrish.

  ‘Do you remember what this man was wearing?’ Caruso asked Mrs Ramos.

  ‘Work clothes. Casual—is that the right word? Trousers and a jacket.’

  Bingo again. The sort of clothes a schoolteacher might wear.

  Mrs Ramos continued speaking about clothes. She’d been a seamstress in the Philippines but now her eyesight wasn’t good, so she was cleaning houses for pocket money.

  Caruso flipped open his iPad. He didn’t have a photo of Josh Murphy, but there was a picture of Brendan Parrish on the school website, leading an excursion to the botanic gardens.

  ‘Mrs Ramos, would you mind having a look at this photo, please?’

  The grandmother stared down at the iPad. She squinted and leant closer. Caruso held his breath.

  ‘I need my glasses. Now, where did I put them?’

  Suze scanned the living room, rushed through to the dining table, checked there and then continued into the kitchen. She came back holding a pair of glasses with a gold chain attached.

  ‘Is this them?’

  ‘Thank you, yes, they’re the ones.’

  Caruso presented the photo to her a second time.

  ‘Yes, I recognise him. He was hurrying. In a rush.’

  The schoolteacher had told the detectives that he would be staying with his parents for a week. Caruso put in a call to Albury Local Area Command, requesting that they visit Brendan Parrish at his parents’ house as soon as possible. In the meantime, Smithy could start driving down there. One of the Albury detectives said he knew the family—Brendan’s father was head of maintenance at the high school and his mother ran a small ch
ildcare centre.

  ‘Can you do a check on any missing children in your area over the past, say, five years?’ Caruso asked. ‘See if there are any links to Brendan Parrish or his family?’

  Had Bella been taken to Ainslie and then to Albury? They’d searched the teacher’s Merrigang townhouse twice and found nothing. Parrish’s background check was clear; not even a speeding ticket in that high performance car of his.

  They’d only been back at Woden station a few minutes when Caruso received a call from the front desk. Two parents talking about a missing girl—could Suze and Caruso come down?

  Caruso sized up the couple sitting in front of him. Both had hair matted into dreadlocks and medallions around their necks. Leather and beaded bracelets snaked up the woman’s arms. The air around them smelt musty.

  He thought they’d come with information on Bella; but no, this was about their own child.

  ‘When did you last see your daughter?’ Caruso asked.

  ‘Maybe a week ago,’ answered the father. ‘The moon was a waxing crescent.’

  ‘Where do you think she would go? Have you tried to find her?’

  ‘Fox doesn’t always come home,’ the father said, scratching his beard as though that should explain everything. ‘She stays in town sometimes with my brother, Ray.’

  They hadn’t reported their daughter missing. The school had called the Department of Education, who had called Child and Youth Protection Services. CYPS had been out to visit the parents and insisted the Hensleys come in and make a statement to the police.

  ‘Fox decides where she wants to go, does she?’

  ‘We named her Fox because we knew she’d be an independent spirit,’ the father said. ‘A wild spirit to choose her destiny.’

  Caruso clicked his tongue. The girl was only eight years old.

  ‘So, do you have any idea where she may be?’ Caruso couldn’t believe these people. Once the girl was located, he would be charging the parents with neglect. ‘Are you concerned?’

  ‘On the path she has chosen, she will be strong and safe,’ the father declared. ‘She’ll come back when she’s ready.’

  ‘Have you heard of Bella Parker? The three-year-old missing from Merrigang.’

  ‘A three-year-old? Poor thing. No, we hadn’t heard,’ the mother murmured. ‘We’re off the grid. No phones, no electricity, no TV. But we’re sure Fox is fine. She’s probably with Uncle Ray.’

  ‘And have you spoken to him?’

  ‘No, he’s not at his house and he doesn’t use mobile phones.’

  Parking at Merrigang Primary School, Caruso could almost see the spot where Bella had disappeared. How could two girls go missing less than a kilometre apart in a small community in the space of four days? Though Fox might not be missing at all—she might simply have ‘chosen her own path’, as her father suggested.

  Two detectives were trying to track down the uncle but the man had no routines. He didn’t work, didn’t have a mobile phone, didn’t have a partner, often disappeared without telling others. The parents had labelled Uncle Ray a free spirit, just like their daughter. A neighbour said she hadn’t seen Ray Hensley for at least a week. But they did have a rego number for his car, which had been distributed through all channels. They would either find Fox quickly or have an even more complex case on their hands. The Intel officer was investigating any possible links between Fox Hensley and Bella.

  In the principal’s office, Caruso heard a different perspective on Fox. He suspected that the girl had sat in this chair many, many times.

  ‘Fox has behavioural issues,’ Patricia Campbell told him. ‘She has run away from school on numerous occasions.’

  ‘But she was definitely here last Monday?’

  ‘Yes. That’s correct. She normally catches a bus. The driver said she didn’t get on the bus that afternoon.’

  ‘Does Fox have any friends whose houses she might go to?’

  ‘Let me get the class roll from Kathleen.’

  The principal went out to the front office. Caruso could hear snippets of her conversation with the staff. The community was already devastated by Bella’s disappearance. Another one would send families into a mad panic. He had to resolve this quickly. Was the girl actually missing or not?

  ‘Right.’ Patricia Campbell positioned her reading glasses on the end of her nose and squinted down at the list. She ran her finger down each name.

  ‘Mm, Fox doesn’t really have a lot of friends. But Chloe Fleming is always kind to her.’

  ‘Chloe Fleming,’ Caruso echoed. ‘What’s her mother’s name?’

  ‘Julia. Lovely lady. She helps out regularly at school.’

  Julia Fleming. The organiser from Bella’s playgroup.

  ‘Could we ask their teacher to join us?’ Caruso asked. ‘The teacher can tell me a bit more about Fox’s routines.’

  As Caruso waited for the principal to answer, he had a niggling memory related to Julia’s older daughter. Something about her teacher. He’d have to check his notes.

  The principal took off her glasses, rubbed her eyes and frowned at him. Her voice wasn’t quite steady when she finally spoke.

  ‘I’m afraid he’s on sick leave. The girls’ teacher is Brendan Parrish.’

  43

  LEXIE

  I WAS WOKEN BY THE SOUND OF THE FRONT DOOR SLAMMING, followed by the car starting up. Was Marty off to check in with the police at playgroup? Lying in Bella’s bed, in that haze between sleeping and waking, I remembered taking my little girl into my arms in the middle of the night and cuddling her back to sleep. But, no, I was alone with Bella’s pillow clutched against me. I patted the doona looking for any Lulu-shaped lumps, then leant down to peek under the bed. Had the police taken Lulu and Dora in their search?

  Yesterday I’d been so angry with Caruso for searching our house when they should have been out there trying to find Bella. But now it occurred to me that they might suspect Marty too. Did the police think they’d find the matching shoe in our house? For all those years, I’d been blaming myself for everything that had happened. Lost in a fog of self-loathing when it might not have been my fault after all … If my husband was responsible for Archie’s death and Bella’s disappearance, I had to know.

  I hadn’t searched for Bella yesterday because I’d been expecting the police to find her. Today, I wouldn’t let the fear and the panic immobilise me; I would use it.

  Julia started crying as soon as she opened the door. She pulled me into a fierce hug, her belly a hard ball between us.

  ‘I’m so sorry.’ Julia stepped back and held her palms up in an expression of bewilderment.

  Was she sorry that Bella had gone missing on her watch or sorry that she’d lied on national TV and potentially stopped people from searching? I watched her face as she set about making cups of tea. Puffiness under her eyes. Tiny pimples around her nose. Moving slowly and rubbing her swollen tummy. The bossy organiser from playgroup had been replaced by an exhausted mother-to-be.

  ‘The police asked me about Brendan’s photo shoot,’ she said. ‘Why was that?’

  ‘He was at the shops when Bella went missing. I think he lied about being up there and then Marty … well, I guess you heard …’

  ‘You know Brendan is Chloe’s teacher.’

  My face flushed red. I must have known this but I hadn’t remembered. ‘I can’t believe he’d take Bella.’

  ‘No, me either. Apparently, he’s on sick leave for the week. We had an email from the principal this morning.’

  So, all the parents of his class knew that Marty had broken into Brendan’s house and accused him of being a paedophile and abducting our daughter. Was Marty’s focus on the teacher a smokescreen to turn suspicion away from himself? Had anyone spotted Marty at playgroup that morning? I’d have to phrase my questions carefully; I didn’t want anyone to know that I no longer trusted my husband.

  ‘Julia, where were you when Bella went missing? Did you see her water bottle?’

  �
��Oh, Lexie, I’ve been through this already,’ she sighed. ‘Twice with the police. There’s nothing more I can tell you. We were just doing the usual playgroup things. All the water bottles were on the little table.’

  My anger flared for a moment. Did she know that Bella’s water bottle had been found? Her kids were safe—one at school, one in the playroom and one inside her. Was it really too much for her to talk about it once more?

  ‘Okay, can I speak to Morgan then?’ I asked.

  Julia called her daughter over to the dining table and gave her a biscuit.

  ‘Ith Bella back?’ she lisped between mouthfuls.

  ‘No, not yet, darling.’ I patted her freckly arm. ‘Morgan, did you see anyone in the playground when Bella disappeared?’

  ‘Nah.’

  ‘Did you see Bella go out the gate? Did you see any strange cars?’

  ‘Nah.’

  I’d forgotten that children didn’t explain.

  ‘What game were you playing?’

  ‘Thmathing blockth,’ Morgan lisped. A wide gap between her front baby teeth. ‘Thmathhed them down. Thammy ith naughty. He thmathed hith milk.’

  ‘Oooh, naughty Sammy. His smashed his milk, did he?’ I interpreted. ‘And his poor mum had to clean up all the milk.’

  ‘No,’ Julia interrupted. ‘I just remembered. I cleaned it up. A full bottle of milk. Sammy was pouring it out and it went everywhere.’

  As I was leaving, I decided to ask her outright.

  ‘Was it you on the Weekend Wrap last night?’

  ‘What are you talking about?’

  ‘The TV show. It was all about Bella.’

  ‘Oh, sorry, I didn’t know about it. Will it help with the search?’