‘You okay, Ebb?’ ‘Yes, Sarge. I feel okay . . .’ He looked across at her as he pulled away from the parking space. ‘Spit it out, Ebb. What’s bugging you?’ ‘Just that . . . no one’s heard of Shannon before today; she was a nobody who ended up murdered. There was never going to be a Crimewatch story about a girl like Shannon disappearing. Kids run away all the time: normal kids even from good homes, from loving two-parent families . . . Even they run away and are never seen again. What hope has someone like Shannon got and who cares? She’s just one more troubled kid from one more kids’ home.’ ‘I understand what you’re saying, Ebb, and yeah . . . you’re right . . . a hundred and fifty thousand kids go missing every year in the UK. Some of them find their way home, some end up in snuff movies. It’s the society we live in; we accept it as normal but it shouldn’t be. Everyone failed Shannon. She was easy prey. But if this is personal with you and you want to talk to me about stuff .
