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could work out where Jack might
     be.
    ‘Slow down, Mum,’ he said, squinting into the distance.
    Ursula slammed on the brakes. ‘What is it?’
    ‘There’s a church.’ As they crawled past, he started shaking his head. ‘I just thought … You hear about people leaving babies
     on the doorsteps. Whoever did this, if they hadn’t known Jack was in the car when they stole it, they might have found a place
     to leave him.’
    ‘Good thinking.’ Ursula turned her head towards him, then looked back at the road. ‘Someone will have him, Anthony. I know
     it. He’ll be OK.’
    His eyes stung. He had to believe that. Surely car thieves weren’t interested in harming children. ‘I know. Let’s just go
     to the beach now.’
    Ursula nodded, then indicated and turned onto the main road. He sank back in his seat and continued staring out of the window.
     His stomach churned and he realised he hadn’t eaten since breakfast. He wondered again if Jack was hungry. Even the most awful
     people in the world, the type of people who would steal a car from a mother, would know that you have to feed babies, wouldn’t
     they? They would have enough sense to buy some milk, or even just some water. Wouldn’t they?
    Up ahead, he saw a police car stopped at the turn-off from the main road to the car park. Ursula slowed down and pushed the
     button to open the driver’s window. He leaned across her and gave his name to the policeman, who waved them through.
    The road to the car park was rough, and the stringy trees on either side leaned forward to clutch at the car. The sun was
     starting to dip in the sky, but within the shade of the trees it was twilight already. Occasionally a fallen limb allowed
     the light to push through the gloom. What the hell had Anna been doing here? They had only been here a couple of times before:
     he’d surfed in the bay while Anna lay under an umbrella, reading. She’d never been here alone,and he couldn’t see why she would have driven all this way with Jack just to go for a bushwalk along the track above the beach.
     It proved that he was right: someone else must have been involved. His tears welled up again. He closed his eyes briefly and
     swallowed hard. He needed to get himself under control.
    Reaching the car park they emerged into the afternoon light. There was only one access road, the one they’d taken. A wooden
     board pinned with laminated maps of walking trails stood on their left, and behind it was a track leading through the bush
     to a path along the cliffs. At the other end of the carpark was a wooden fence and a set of steep, worn stairs down to the
     beach below. Ahead, Tony saw an ambulance. His stomach clenched. Two paramedics stood at the back of the van, one with her
     arms folded, the other scuffing his foot in the sand that covered the tarmac. They were laughing at something. Just then,
     the female paramedic looked up, saw their car and stopped laughing. She nodded her head at them. Tony forced himself to exhale:
     they were waiting, just in case. It must be standard procedure; it didn’t mean anything.
    There were two more police cars parked beside the ambulance; both were empty. And at the far end of the car park, near the
     stairs to the beach, there was another vehicle. Tony could only see part of the bonnet, but he knew it immediately. It was
     Anna’s car.
    He looked away, not wanting to believe that it had been here all along. Finding the car had been his last hope, and clearly
     Jack wasn’t in it or the police would have found him. Could he dare to hope that the authorities had missed something so obvious,
     and maybe Jack was still strapped in his capsule?
    Ursula pulled on the handbrake and switched off the engine. ‘Come on,’ she said.
    He undid his seatbelt and opened his door. He swung his legs out, forced himself to stand, then took a tentative step. He
     needed to get out of the car, but somehow it was also the last thing that he wanted to do.
    * *