Perfect Victim by Megan Norris, Elizabeth Southall

say.
    He really is a sweet kid, I thought.
    Manni’s parents were unaware that Manni had been interviewed by the police at the dance school with his teacher. And they felt, considering he was under-age, that they should have been present, or at least contacted. And Manni had been nervous of the detective senior sergeant: he seemed to think Manni knew where Rachel was.
    We left Carlo’s at about 10.30 because we were absolutely beat. We felt guilty about going home, but we needed rest.
    There were a few presents for me on our return. One of them was a collage from Ashleigh-Rose with a ‘I miss you heaps from your middle daughter with love’ message on the back.
    Shaun, Renée and Manni decided to continue with the posters. They went into the city and obtained permission to put posters up at the Moomba ticket offices and at all the rides. The annual Moomba festival, which covered the Labour Day holiday weekend, brought many thousands of people – tourists and families – into the city of Melbourne to enjoy the entertainment. The Moomba office advised security men to make sure none of our posters were pulled down. Shaun said one ride manager told him ten thousand people a day rode on his ride and would see the posters.
    The Carella brothers continued working through the night as well. Frank said he was taken aback by the number of street kids he met. One said, ‘I hope you find her. She’s too beautiful to be on the streets.’
    Any kid is too beautiful to be on the streets. I wondered how many of these street kids were listed as missing persons.
    Into the second week there was so much knowledge about Rachel’s disappearance that if someone had recognised her they would have reported it. It seemed that every second person the Carellas spoke to knew of her story.
    My brother Drew arrived this Sunday afternoon and sent Mum home for a rest, but she was back the next day. Drew added more phone messages to Mum’s list. Our former neighbour Gail had rung in the morning, distressed by Rachel’s disappearance, and offered to help. And at 9.15 p.m., although I was not aware of it until much later, Gail’s eldest daughter, Caroline Reid, had also rung and left her silent number.

11
    E SCORT A GENCIES
    Day 7: Monday, 8 March
    The beginning of the second week. Our obvious defeat was disillusioning. I had to act positive. I could not help Rachel with a defeatist attitude. I still couldn’t sense Rachel’s spirit so I chose to believe she was alive, being held captive.
    It was decided that Renée, who was a catwalk model, should pretty herself up and walk around the streets of Richmond, trying to entice the woman who had followed the dress-shop girl off the train. Obviously this woman didn’t work for the Daily Planet, but she was working for someone. Thankfully, though, Renée in the end didn’t need to offer herself as bait.
    On the Sunday or the Monday, against my better judgement, Mike visited Rachel’s old dance school in Prahran and left a poster. (We all decided that when Rachel was found safe we would distribute ‘I HAVE BEEN FOUND’ posters to celebrate and thank people for their support.)
    Then Elaine, a secondary school friend of mine and Rachel’s godmother, rang to say she had some thoughts about the old female friend . ‘Elizabeth,’ she said, ‘this friend could not be a school, church or dance friend, because Rachel would have said – old school, church or dance friend.’
    She was right. Why hadn’t we thought of this? So, who were we looking for then? A friend of the family? A friend of a friend? Perhaps someone more distant?
    Mike and I were at Carlo’s when a phone call came through from Drew. The mother of two of Rachel’s past dance school friends had rung. The older girl, Alison, had arrived home from work to hear her younger sister, who had been in the same class as Rachel for six years, say, ‘You’ll never guess who’s gone missing! Rachel Barber. She was last seen in Richmond at 5.45