Policewoman Susan Carstairs, of the Los Angeles Police Department, was very cross with herself for worrying about her lipstick and looking starry-eyed just because Sergeant Maddox, also of the Los Angeles police, had asked her help on a case. Why should she care about how she looked for Maddox? Just because almost every woman who saw Maddox found him very attractive was no reason why a sensible policewoman like Susan should. No reason at all. The case Maddox wanted help on was the disappearance of a teen-age  girl – thirteen, but she looked older, said her mother, Mrs. Beal. A sluttish Mrs. Beal, who hadn't paid much attention to her daughter when she was around, and who hadn't reported her disappearance from home (such as it was) for days.