19th August 1980

Post date: 04-Nov-2016 19:21:37

A missing person case - a little girl. According to her mother, she disappeared overnight.Parents are divorced and mother wants a "clean break". I rather fancy the kid would rather keep seeing her dad.

I took DC Porter with me to talk to the parents. It'll be good experience for him to see how it's done. He's a bright lad.

Johns wanted to get off - understandable with Angie expecting and the baby due any day now - so Porter and I went through his notes together after he'd gone. And it's a good thing we did stay late, because a call came through that turned out to be a bit of a beakthrough (or at least it ought to have been!) I've got a hunch about it all, but it'll have to wait until first light tomorrow.

Mind you - I did have my doubts about Porter when he turned up late looking as if he'd spent a night on the tiles, with his hair sticking up on end and his tie knotted under one ear. But I gave him the benefit of the doubt and kept to my original plans and he pulled himself together and made a reasonable fist of things with the family. He's still a bit wet-behind-the-ears though. I could see he didn't have much sympathy for the runaway girl's father, who left her mother for a younger woman.

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