Page 27 of The Vanishing Place
“Where’s the kid?” Effie glanced around the room.
“She’s sleeping,” said Lewis, his voice changed. “We set up a bed for her in the empty consultation room. With only one nurse practitioner, it’s rarely used.”
“One nurse?”
“Yeah,” he said. “Kyle, he’s great. We also get a visiting GP a couple of times a week. She was here yesterday.”
“Did she do an examination of the kid?”
“Yes.” Lewis wouldn’t meet Effie’s eye, as though looking at her made him uncomfortable. Like there was something he wasn’t telling her. “She said that Anya was still suffering from mild dehydration, and also diarrhea. She has a number of minor cuts and bruises. Again, nothing serious, probably just from the bush. Although there is one reasonably bad scar down her right thigh. Old. Most likely a burn. Fire perhaps, or a hot object.”
Lewis hesitated, his eyes flicking even farther away.
“What?” asked Effie.
“We found marks on the girl’s ankles,” said June.
“Ligature marks?” Effie asked, even though she didn’t need to. She knew, every part of her knew.
“Yes,” said June. “It looks like the girl was tied up, at least for periods.”
“Has she spoken again?”
“No, not since she told me her name.”
“Which might not be real?”
He sighed. “Apparently, between 2015 and 2018, there were only forty-six babies named Anya in the entire country. But not one of them was in the West Coast.”
“Not one that was registered anyway,” said Effie. She rubbed her forehead. “And what about missing children, runaways, kids that might have—”
“Nothing.” Lewis shook his head, his eyes dark and his skin pale, the kind of grayish tinge that Blair got after a week on night shift. “I spent Saturday canvassing the village. June helped.”
“Not exactly a big job,” said June, “with a total of ninety-two residents and only the kid from the shop having a clue what we were talking about.”
“And tourists?”
“I visited the motel and the backpackers,” said Lewis. “Then I drove around the freedom camping spots. But nothing.”
“Just rubbish and human filth.” June tutted. “It’s disgusting what these young backpackers think they…”
Lewis glanced up and June stopped.
“And the locals?” asked Effie.
“They’ve agreed to keep it quiet,” said Lewis. “The locals here tend to keep things private—Koraha’s business being Koraha’s business.”
“There’s already been a heap of stuff dropped off.” June nodded toward the reception desk. “Clothes, toys, books, food. People are like that here. Good, solid folks.”
“So you found the girl on Friday afternoon, and it’s now Wednesday.”
“Yes.” Lewis nodded once. “Monday was a public holiday, Labor Day, so we couldn’t get the GP in until yesterday.”
“Things don’t exactly move fast around here,” said June. “Next police station is an hour and a half away, in Franz. Just another sole-charge officer there, too. Greymouth and Christchurch are the nearest cities for anything important.”
“What about child welfare services?” asked Effie.
June and Lewis glanced at each other.
