“Let’s go help him out,” Virgo said, and they grabbed their keys to head to the station.
* * * *
“What did you just say?” Wyatt asked Davie.
“Look, Sage texted me like thirty minutes ago and said that Amanda contacted her. She said Amanda’s in Dallas with the guy she hooked up with. They’re meeting her at some dance hall.”
“Wyatt, I got the sheriff in Keanter on line one. You need to take this call now,” Rosie told him with Matt and Quaid in the same room.
“Sheriff Cantrell.”
“Wyatt, it’s Ben, we got ourselves a hell of a situation. I heard you’re missing one of your girls, and we’re missing one as well. Kelly Porter. Plus we got reports of three others in the surrounding towns. A Texas Ranger by the name of Becker is on his way here. They believe that this is part of the smuggling ring taking place across the country. Jesus, Wyatt. The Porters are hysterical. I’ve got people in town in a panic.”
“Hold on. I can’t believe this. I’m in my office with Davie Mathews. He just got a text about an hour ago from Sage Jones. She’s in Dallas and had been texting her friend Amanda, when Amanda replied that she was in Dallas and would meet her.”
“You better talk to this Texas Ranger. There’s a whole scam these assholes have to lure their victims in. Your girl Sage may be in trouble.”
“Give me the Ranger’s number now,” Wyatt stated.
He wrote it down and then quickly started putting in the number as he spoke to Matt and Quaid.
“Get Sage on the line. Call her, text her, do whatever you need to do to get her to not meet up with Amanda yet. It could be a trap,” Wyatt told them.
“What are you talking about?” Matt asked as he and Quaid started calling and texting Sage.
“Those cases we heard about where the young women were being abducted from across the state? Ben said four other women went missing Saturday night. There’s a Texas Ranger who is working the case. I’m trying to call him now. They think it’s all connected. The ones who took Amanda and the other girls could be luring Sage in right now.”
“Fuck!” Matt yelled out.
“She’s not answering. What the hell was the name of that dance hall she went to in Dallas?” Quaid asked, now in a panic, too.
“Fuck if I know. Wait, let me call Curtis.”
“Curtis? You have his number?” Quaid asked.
“What the fuck do you think, that I would send our woman out to Dallas to stay with an old friend and not have checked out the guy?”
“I better call Virgo and Dale,” Quaid stated.
“Yes, Ranger Becker, this is Sheriff Wyatt Cantrell from the town of Pearl. I understand you’re conducting an investigation into some missing women—”
The sheriff stopped talking and Matt and Quaid stared at him.
“Shit. Tell me what you need. What is the government offering in assistance?”
Wyatt was writing things down and Matt and Quaid kept trying to contact Sage.
Finally Wyatt hung up the phone. He looked at Matt and Quaid. “Amanda is definitely not the one talking through text to Sage. They found Amanda’s purse minus her cell phone. Her ID was in there, and there was blood on the material.”
Matt looked at Quaid. “We never should have let Sage go. She’s in trouble and she doesn’t even know it.”
* * * *
The music was very loud and Sage was trying to walk toward the corner bar near the exit door as Amanda texted her to meet her there. At least that was what she thought she meant but the text came in partial. Curtis was right. There was bad reception here.
“Excuse me.” She heard the male voice behind her, and felt his body wedge up against her back. The place was really crowded, and Curtis and Liz were two seats away from her, but turned the other way.
“Yes?” she asked. The guy was very attractive. Blond hair, tan complexion, dark brown eyes.