“Hard to tell,” Bowman said.
“Whatever you need to get this case solved, consider it done. He’s close and we have a real chance of catching the son of a bitch.”
“Roger that. She’s now my number-one priority.”
Riley placed a call to Sharp and repeated the conversation she’d had with Rebecca Wayne. He agreed to join her so they could conduct the interview together.
It was minutes before three when Riley and Sharp arrived at the school. Both got out and leaned against the car, enjoying a moment of fresh air and sunshine.
“I ran a background check on Darla Johnson,” Sharp said.
Riley leaned forward, her interest keen. “Carter’s girlfriend?”
Sunglasses glinted as he tipped his face toward the sun. “She’s twenty-three years old and has a list of priors that rivals her boyfriend’s. Assault, drug trafficking, and drunk driving make her a perfect fit for Carter. Johnson is a high school dropout and has no primary job. A real piece of work.”
“Any idea where she might be now?” Riley asked.
“I’ve issued a BOLO, but no luck finding her yet.”
“Flushing out Darla is not going to be easy.”
“I agree.”
“Unless we have the right bait.”
He tipped his face toward her, his expression unreadable. “What do you have in mind?”
“Her kind often trolls on social media. I could dig out a picture of me when I was nineteen and set up a page and start posting comments about how hard my life is and how no one understands me.” She had a picture taken of her at nineteen when her hair flowed around her shoulders. She was smiling in the photo, but her eyes reflected a darkness that showed life had not been a piece of cake. It was perfect.
Sharp remained silent as if mulling the idea.
“The page is only intended to find her. And I’ll even use my real name so no lawyer can ever accuse me of using a false identity.”
“What name are you using?”
“Elizabeth Riley Tatum. My mother called me Beth.”
“Beth Tatum?”
Sensing his interest, she said, “I’ll send friend requests to Vicky’s high school pals. If a couple accept, I’ll look more legit.”
He considered her idea. “Set up a page. But if you get any kind of bite, I want to know about it.”
“Done.”
The afternoon bell rang and as the hundreds of kids poured out of the school, she texted Rebecca. The girl responded back within seconds, and they agreed to meet at the bleachers near the tennis courts.
Riley and Sharp stood in the afternoon sun, soaking up the warmth and the breeze. They watched as the kids assembled by the tennis courts, and when one girl hung back from the crowd, Riley nodded. “I think that’s her.”
“Okay.”
The girl was a tall, leggy blonde wearing a tennis skirt. Her hands trembled as she pretended to adjust the strings on her racket. “Can I make initial contact?”
“Sure.”
Both pulled their badges and walked toward the girl with Riley taking the lead. “Rebecca Wayne?”
Rebecca responded to a text on her phone and looked up. “Trooper Tatum?”
“That’s right. And this is Agent Sharp. He’s also with Virginia State Police.” Both held up their badges.
The girl barely glanced at the shields and seemed more worried about making it to practice. “I don’t have a whole lot of time. Practice starts in fifteen minutes and the coach gets all bent when I’m late.” Rebecca fished a power bar out of the side pocket. “My mom texted me the news about Vicky. Mom is Mrs. Gilbert’s friend. I still can’t believe she’s gone. I saw her about a month ago.”
“Any reason why you two haven’t seen each other recently?”
“Yeah. Her new boyfriend. Mr. Super Creep.”
“His name?” Riley pulled out her notebook and pen.
“Jax Carter.”
“How’d they meet?”
“Through his weird sister.”
“Sister?” Riley asked.
“Yeah. Darla. She said she was his sister.”
It was easier to lure prey as a brother and sister act. “Okay.”
“They met us at the mall one day. Vicky and I kind of ditched school a couple of months ago and went shopping.”
“You skip school a lot?” Sharp said.
“A few times.” She raised the bar to her mouth and hesitated. “You aren’t going to tell my parents, are you?”
“Not about skipping school,” Riley offered.
She bit into the bar. “Good. That wouldn’t go over so well.”
“Tell me about Darla and Jax,” Riley asked.
“They were hanging out in the food court. She’s pretty. He’s cute and can be nice. And when they came up to us, it was kind of fun. He started flirting, and we were both thrilled. But I could tell Vicky was into it a lot more than me. She ended up giving him her cell phone number, and within a day, he was calling and texting her all the time. Total mind control.”
“Why do you say that?”
“She and I could be hanging out and then he’d text and boom, she was gone. When he snapped his fingers, she jumped like a puppy dog.”
“He was good to her?”
“At first. Gave her all kinds of presents. Bracelets, earrings, and a pair of very cool high heels. She was always gushing when she talked about him.”
“But you said you didn’t like him.”
Rebecca swiped a loose strand of hair from her eyes. “She used to play tennis with me. The last time we played was a couple of months ago. She had a wicked bruise on her thigh and when I asked her about it, she blew it off. Said she bumped into the corner of a table. And then in the locker room I saw a bruise on her back. I pressed and she became all defensive and angry. She quit the tennis team the next day.”
“You think Carter was hurting her?” Sharp asked.
“Yeah. I told her to tell her parents. Her parents are a pain, but they’re okay. They were always trying to help Vicky stay on the path. But she wouldn’t tell them.”
“What about her mental health?”
“She swung between highs and lows.”
“So what was the appeal of Jax Carter?”
“She always liked playing with fire. Which explains why she thought Jax was all that.”
“Did you say anything to her parents about Jax?” Sharp asked.
Rebecca glanced at him, nervous. “I told my mom, who said she’d talk to Mrs. Gilbert. I don’t know if she ever did.”
“When Vicky left home last month, where did she go?”
“She spent a night with me, but my mom started asking questions. Vicky said she was going back home, but I knew that was a lie. She went to live with Jax.”
“Where?”
“He has some trailer or motor home. Kinda creepy. She said it felt like home. She’d been talking about running away with him. He kept telling her he loved her and she believed him.”
“Have any idea where I can find Darla?”
She folded over the wrapper of her power bar and tucked it back in her bag. “Did you check the mall? I saw her there the other day.”
“When you skipped again?”
“Again, you aren’t telling my parents, are you?”