It made the national news.

For a year after, the residents of the picturesque seaside town talked of little else. Friends of Robert’s family kept copies of the newspapers his disappearance had provided headlines for. The headlines ranged from shrieking alliterative tabloid sensationalism at its worst, to a slightly calmer, more informative recounting of events. Some included an appeal for information. However, in all reports, the details were the same, for despite their different political biases, newspapers always treated an inexplicably missing child in the same way.

Such a thing is an outrage and all newspapers sell outrage.

Robert Taylor, an intelligent and reasonably popular twelve year old, had left his house one sunny Easter holiday morning and met up with four friends at a pre-arranged meeting place. From there they had gone to the beach of Carbis Bay to play amongst the rocks and the rock pools and in and out of the small caves dotted along the cliffs. After a while the five children had decided to play hide and seek. Robert had asked to hide first – in fact, according to the other children, he’d been very insistent about this one particular detail. His fervent insistence had unnerved them and their acquiescence had been nervous and hurried. Robert had promptly run off into the afternoon air to hide as his friends counted to two hundred. Then they searched for him.

They have not found him yet.

After an hour of searching, the four children gave up and walked to the local police station, where they tearfully told the duty policeman, Sergeant Stuart Goddard, what had happened.

That night, a line of police officers and civilian volunteers walked the length and width of the halogen lamp-lit beach of Carbis Bay, shining torches and pushing poles into every crevasse, hollow, enclave, pool, cave and such like. By the first pale light of morning they searched for a final time, finally calling a halt to a fruitless search. The evidence was incontrovertible; Robert Taylor (alive or dead) was not on the beach.

The four children were tactfully questioned again, but they all swore vehemently that they had played only on the beach of Carbis Bay – they had not gone and played in any of the other bays. Were they sure? Of course they were. Had they – just by accident – wandered along to Porthmoor Bay? No, they hadn’t. Or perhaps to Rock Point? No. Definitely not. Nor anywhere else. They’d played in Carbis Bay all day, only leaving to go to the police station and report Robert’s disappearance to Sergeant Goddard.