Hunting BLind: It's Every Family's Deepest Fear

by Richardson, Paddy

  ‘What do you want? Have you—? What’s happened?’

  ‘Nothing yet, Mrs Anderson. We were hoping to talk to you. I’m Matt Hayes and this is Chris Warwick.’

  ‘I’ve already told Brian Jackson everything I can remember last night. I want, I need to go out and look for Gemma.’

  ‘We have plenty of people out there right now looking. Whatever you can tell us might help them.’

  She takes them into the living room and shuts the door. ‘I should be there. When they find her I have to be there.’

  Matt’s voice is calm and reasonable. ‘Mrs Anderson, the more we know the better chance we have of working out what’s happened. What if we all sit down and go over everything you can remember?’

  She sits and faces them, her eyes blazing. ‘I told Brian everything I can think of. I can’t see—’

  ‘We’ve read the report but we’d like to go over it just to make sure there’s nothing that’s been missed, Mrs Anderson. Minna, isn’t it? Is it okay if I call you Minna?’

  ‘Yes, yes but I told—’

  ‘Let’s just take it slowly. Tell us what happened starting on the morning before you left to go to the picnic, what you did to get ready, anything you can recall.’

  She shrugs impatiently. ‘I got the food ready, helped the kids get dressed. Then I packed up all the stuff we needed into bags and put it in the car.’

  ‘What about Gemma? What was she doing during that time?’ Matt says.

  ‘Gemma was always, is always— Oh God, where is she, my baby, my baby.’

  ‘Take your time, Minna. Gemma is always?’

  ‘Slow. She’s always slow getting washed and dressed. She gets, she gets distracted. She’s only four.’

  ‘So you helped her?’

  ‘Yes. No.’ She shakes her head. ‘Not me. Stephanie did that.’

  ‘What about your husband? Did Mr Anderson help as well?’

  ‘Dave had already left. He’d gone to work.’

  ‘Your husband works on Saturday mornings?’

  ‘He’s in real estate. Dave says, he always says you have to work every day in real estate.’

  ‘Let’s get this right. Mr Anderson returned in time to leave for the school picnic? Or did he meet you there?’

  ‘Dave? He wasn’t there.’

  ‘But I understand it was your husband who phoned in and reported Gemma missing.’ Chris this time. He’s staring directly at her and his voice sounds accusing as if the police have been intentionally misled.

  ‘Yes but he, he came down later. When we couldn’t find Gemma someone called him. Look, what’s this got to do with what’s happened to her? How’s this going to help? We should be—’

  Chris glances swiftly at Matt. ‘Just let us get the facts right, Minna. Try to be patient. You’re saying Mr Anderson wasn’t there during the day? He came down to the lake when Gemma was found missing?’

  ‘Yes but I really can’t see—’

  Matt’s voice again. Soothing and even. ‘You got everything ready. What time did you leave the house to drive down to the lake?’

  ‘Eleven o’clock. Well, just after eleven.’

  ‘Are you certain about that time?’

  She nods. ‘Yes. Because we had to be there by eleven-thirty for the races. The boys were getting angry because we were running late and I looked at the clock in the car and told them we had plenty of time.’

  ‘It takes approximately how long to drive there?’

  ‘Five minutes. Less probably. Usually we walk to the lake but we had a lot of gear with us so I took my car.’

  ‘So I’m guessing you would have arrived at around eleven-fifteen.’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘You didn’t stop for anything on the way? Didn’t talk to anyone?’ Chris is leaning forward, still staring at her.

  ‘No, we were in a hurry and—’

  ‘What did you do when you arrived there?’ Matt’s smiling encouragingly.

  ‘We took everything from the car and set it up close to the lake near to everyone else. Steph and me, we put the rugs down, put out a bit of food and drinks. I made the boys put on sunscreen then they took off.’

  ‘Took off?’

  ‘For the races. They wanted to run in the races.’

  ‘Did Gemma go with the boys?’

  ‘No. She was with us. She was on the rug with Steph and me. I made her put on her hat and I, well it was Steph actually, rubbed sunscreen on her face and arms and legs. She hates that— Oh, oh God, find her please.’

  ‘We’re doing our best,’ Matt says, ‘and everything that you can tell us will help. So. Gemma was with you then? Around, what, eleven-thirty?’

  ‘Yes. Uh, no.’

  ‘No?’

  ‘Gemma wanted to go swimming. She can’t swim, not properly, but she thinks she can and she was carrying on, you know what kids are like. I got Steph to take Gemma to the lake. She was there with her for a while and then, I think, they went over to watch the races.’

  ‘You think?’ Chris cuts in.

  ‘She was with Steph. Steph’s good with her.’

  ‘Stephanie looks after Gemma a lot?’ His voice is disapproving.

  ‘Not too much. I don’t think too much.’

  ‘How often does Stephanie look after Gemma?’

  ‘I don’t know. I can’t say.’

  ‘Once a week? Twice a week? Every day?’

  ‘I told you. I can’t say, exactly. It changes. From week to week it changes. Never for a long time. Never overnight, nothing like that. Just, she’s a good kid, Steph, capable, you know. I just get her to mind Gemma for a bit while I pop out.’

  ‘Pop out?’ He’s frowning slightly.

  ‘To the supermarket. That sort of thing.’

  ‘Does Stephanie ever complain about looking after Gemma?’ Matt leans forward, his voice gentle.

  ‘No. Well, just sometimes. Most of the time she’s really good about it.’

  ‘Going back to Saturday. What happened after the races finished?’

  ‘The kids came back and we had lunch.’

  ‘You were all together at that time?’

  ‘Except for when the kids went over to the barbecue.’

  ‘Gemma too?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Did she go over to the barbecue by herself?’

  ‘Stephanie took her. I was talking to the Stevens. Beth and Gary Stevens. They were sitting near us.’ Minna’s face is flushed, her eyes bright with tears. ‘Look, what is this? I feel as if—’

  ‘We’re nearly there, Minna. Bear with us just a little longer. Gemma was either with you or Stephanie throughout the time you were eating lunch?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘What time are we talking about here?’

  ‘Between about twelve-thirty and, maybe, almost till two o’clock. The kids ate what we’d brought first and then the guys got the barbecue going and they went up for sausages and stuff, then they went for ice creams, so lunch went on for quite a while.’

  ‘And all that time between around twelve-thirty and two, you could see Gemma, you knew exactly where she was?’

  ‘Yes. Of course I did. Then I, we, Steph and I packed up the food and the boys wanted to go in swimming and I said no, not straight after they’d been eating so they went over to watch the cricket.’

  ‘Where was Gemma then?’

  ‘By that time she was playing Barbies with Sophie.’

  ‘Barbies?’

  ‘Barbie dolls. She wanted to go and find Sophie Patterson, that’s her friend, as soon as she’d finished eating. I said she had to wait a while to make sure Sophie’s family had finished their lunch, then around two I let her go.’

  ‘Could you see Gemma from where you were?’

  ‘Sophie and Gemma were sitting directly in front of me by the lake. I, I kept an eye on them.’

  ‘How far away were they from you?’ Chris; his gaze on her severe.

  She stares back, her chin raised. ‘Not far.’
/>   ‘They were close enough for you to have a clear view of them?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Did you watch them all the time?’

  ‘Well, you don’t, do you? Not every minute. There were other people around. Sophie’s mother was keeping an eye on them as well. I was reading. I looked over at them from time to time. Steph was there. She would have seen them.’

  ‘Uh huh. And were they on their own?’

  ‘Kylie was there for some of the time. That’s Kylie Blake. And, oh, I don’t know. There were a few little girls who came over then went away again.’

  ‘Did any adults approach the girls?’ Matt asks it.

  ‘I, I don’t think so.’

  ‘Would you have seen an adult talking to them?’ Chris again.

  ‘What are you saying? She’s not just lost, somebody took her? Oh my God. You know, don’t you? You know something and you’re not telling me.’

  ‘Minna, we don’t know anything you don’t know, okay?’ Matt. Kindly, unruffled. ‘But we have to look at all the possibilities. You have to trust us.’

  ‘But there was nobody there we didn’t all know.’

  ‘How often did you look up to check on the girls?’ Chris says.

  ‘They were right beside a whole lot of people. They were safe.’

  ‘But you can’t absolutely say that the girls weren’t approached by an adult?’

  ‘I told you. I knew everyone there. I can’t believe—’

  ‘You can’t believe what?’ Chris taps a pen on his notepad.

  ‘Are you saying I didn’t look after Gemma? This is a safe community. For God’s sake, it was a school picnic. There were plenty of kids running around not being watched all the time.’

  ‘Minna, listen to me,’ Matt says. ‘No one is blaming you. We’re on your side but we have to find out exactly what happened.’

  ‘What happened is this was just an ordinary picnic with people everyone knows, families that always go. Just an ordinary bloody school picnic like every other year. Except my daughter, my baby—’

  ‘Was there anyone at all there that you didn’t recognise?’

  ‘There were, well, there were two guys with the Kings I didn’t know.’

  ‘The Kings?’

  ‘The kids go to the school. They live with their grandparents.’

  ‘Was there anyone else?’

  ‘No. Those guys looked rough, though. Oh Jesus, do you think?’

  ‘Minna, we’ve got no reason to suspect anyone at this point. We don’t know what’s caused Gemma to go missing. Now. Did anything, anything at all happen that day that was unusual?’

  ‘Well. The plane. You know about the plane?’

  He nods. ‘Was Gemma with you when the plane landed?’

  ‘When we first saw it she’d just come over for a drink and a biscuit. Then the boys came back as well and she asked to go with them.’

  ‘She wanted to watch the plane?’

  ‘All the kids were down by the lake watching. They all went running down there. I said she could go.’

  ‘Gemma went with the boys, Liam and Jonny isn’t it, at that point? She was beside the lake watching the plane?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘What time was this?’

  ‘Maybe close to four o’clock.’

  ‘Could you see her from where you were?’

  ‘She was with the others. They were all crowded together.’ Minna twists her hands together in her lap, ‘Oh God if only I’d—’

  ‘And then?’

  ‘I don’t, I don’t really know. She was with the boys. I thought she was with the boys.’

  ‘Approximately how long was it between when you saw Gemma, when you knew exactly where she was, to when you started to look for her?’

  ‘I don’t know. Maybe, I’d say maybe not quite an hour.’

  ‘Okay,’ Matt says gently. ‘During that time did you notice anyone leaving the picnic area?’

  ‘People were starting to pack up. But people were coming and going all the time.’

  ‘You don’t specifically remember anyone moving away from the picnic area around the time you lost sight of Gemma?’ Chris is leaning in towards her.

  ‘No.’

  ‘Nobody at all? Are you certain about that?’ He stares at her, his eyes slightly narrowed.

  ‘Yes I am.’ She stares back at him.

  ‘Did anything happen that could have upset Gemma?’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘An argument with her brothers or Stephanie? Some misunderstanding with you?’

  ‘Gemma’s easy. She’s a bit, a bit dreamy. She doesn’t get upset. Not often anyway.’

  ‘You must be quite stretched sometimes, Minna, with four kids. Must be hard not to get impatient sometimes.’

  ‘What the hell are you saying?’

  ‘Every parent gets angry, Minna.’ Matt’s taken over, smiling sympathetically. ‘Justifiably, most of the time. Kids behave unpredictably. Sometimes they take off after a bit of a telling-off. What we need to know is, did anything happen, anything that could have caused Gemma to get upset and run away?’

  ‘Nothing happened. I told you. It was the school picnic. Gemma was having a good time. Nothing was any different from any other year. Nothing.’

  4.

  Hundreds of volunteers from the small Central Otago town of Wanaka have joined with police in the search for Gemma Marie Anderson. Boats have been searching the lakefront since early Saturday evening and divers have been brought into the area. Tracker dogs and helicopter searches have failed to find any trace of the four-year-old.

  Police hold grave fears for her safety.

  There’s a TV van outside their house. Minna’s pulled all the curtains shut to stop people staring in. You can’t see out. You can’t talk to anyone. The house feels stifling. It’s too hot to read, too hot to watch TV, too hot for Stephanie to do anything except lie on her bed and wait.

  She wants it to be like it was before. To sprint down to the lake, tear along the jetty, feel the dry planks thud-thudding beneath her bare feet. She wants to leap leap leap as far out as she can go. Let the biting ice-gush of water swallow her up and glide deep down there below the surface and open up her eyes, feel the sting of water, see the blackness. She wants to swim until her body aches right through with chill and tiredness, until her lungs are aching because she needs so much to breathe and then up, up, gasping. Gasping for breath, shaking her head and laughing.

  Let her come home let her come home please please let Gemma come home.

  Gran’s down from Wanganui. She got here on Sunday night. Her face was grey and scared but she folded Minna against her in her strong, freckled-brown arms it’ll be all right darling, hush now, it’ll be all right. She’s up every morning early with her lipstick and earrings on, her hair washed and blow-dried, wearing a crisp, pressed shirt tucked into her skirt. She tries to make Minna eat darling you have to keep your strength up. Gran says she can’t sit down; she says it’s best if you keep busy so she’s in the kitchen whipping eggs and flour and sugar together, chopping vegetables and meat for casseroles. But everyone’s bringing food and the freezer’s already packed; there’s bowls of macaroni cheese and chicken casserole and rice salad and muffins, muffins, muffins stacked in the fridge. Over the bench as well.

  All day the phone is ringing but Stephanie and Liam and Jonny aren’t allowed to answer. Gran snatches it up and breathes inwards before she says anything. Her face looks terrified, like she’s so afraid of what someone on the other end might say but she speaks evenly and calmly.

  ‘Any news? I see. No, no, we haven’t heard anything, not yet. Yes, we’re fine. The children are with me, we’re all fine.’

  The boys watch TV all day and it blares through the house. When the news comes on Gran gets up to switch it off but Stephanie stands up and stares at her. I have to see. I have to know.

  Minna gazes blindly out at them. She clutches Dave’s hand and she looks old, not like th
eir mother at all. Her hair isn’t done properly and she has no lipstick on.

  ‘Minna, if someone has taken Gemma, what would you like to say to that person?’

  She leans forward, all bent up like an old lady begging for someone to help her, begging anyone at all to listen. Her voice is shaky and rough but she speaks slowly and emphatically. ‘If you have her. If you know where she is. If you know anything at all. Help us. Please help us. We want Gemma home. We need her home.’

  Nobody says anything for a moment. The camera stays fixed on Dave and Minna. Dave has his head down. Minna stares out from the screen.

  Stephanie is already scared but the way her mother looks frightens her even more. Minna’s eyes are stunned and empty like some animal dazed by hurt.

  It’s Tuesday. Then it’s Thursday. Stephanie and Jonny and Liam haven’t been outside at all, Gran and Dave said they weren’t to go to school. Stephanie thinks of everyone there in the classroom and the heat in the afternoons that almost sends you to sleep, the smell of sweat and the squeak of marker pens on the whiteboard. She thinks of walking there last Friday with Mary-Anne in the white shirt that’s too hot and scratches her neck and the kilt flapping around her legs.

  With the sun on her head. Talking, talking, talking. About Nick Baker, about that young new teacher, Ms Evans’ quite cool haircut, about the holidays, about these shorts she saw at High-Five and thought Minna might get her for Christmas. About stuff she may never be able to talk about again.

  It’s as if last Friday was years ago. As if years and years have gone by but at the same time everything has stopped dead still, like a magic spell where you’re stuck and nothing can change until what has to happen does happen. And that’s Gemma appearing somewhere, anywhere. Waking up beside the lake, coming out from her hiding place under the pine trees, walking in through the gate. It has to happen otherwise Minna and Dave and Stephanie and Jonny and Liam will be frozen like this forever.

  Mary-Anne comes to the door with her mother. They have muffins in a basket with a checked cloth covering them and Stephanie can smell the warm sweetness and she knows they’re her favourites, ginger and chocolate chip. Except that was before. Gran takes the basket and says thanks so much and asks them to come in and they hesitate. Stephanie can see in their faces that they don’t want to well, if you’re sure, just for a minute or two.