"Come in and warm yourself by the fire while I give Joe Pearson, Sara's brother, a call. I'm sure he'll want to hear what you have to say."
Ben accepted David's offer of brandy and went to stand by the fire, warming his hands in the heat radiating from the flames. Once Joey arrived, and the introductions were made, the detective explained what he had learned.
"Now, remember, this man may have nothing to do with Sara's disappearance, but it couldn't hurt to look into this further."
"So what do we do now?" asked Joey, eagerly.
"First, I'm assuming the local authorities will be willing to help, it will make things a lot easier if they do."
"Oh yes, I'm sure Sheriff Parker will be happy to help in any way he can." assured David.
"Good, sometimes they get their noses out of joint."
"No, you don't have to worry about that. My Dad and Tom Parker have been friends all their lives, I'm sure he'll understand why we called in a private detective."
"OK, then I think you better introduce me to Sheriff Parker. We'll get a tracer on this license plate, and it wouldn't be a bad idea to get Sara's missing person report over the wire in the New York City and Atlantic City area"
"Atlantic City?" asked David.
"Well, yes. You said you had just been there, maybe she met someone."
"But we were together all the time."
"Maybe, but I've got a hunch this ties into that trip to Atlantic City."
Not ten hours after Sara's description was put on the wire, Sheriff Parker got a telephone call from the Atlantic City Police Department. They had a Jane Doe in the morgue who fit the description. Tom took down the information, but prayed to God it wasn't Sara. He stared at the phone for a moment, then stood up and put on his jacket. He'd have to do this in person. Maybe he should give this to David before talking to the Pearsons. Tom knew his old friends, Ed and Edith, were having a real bad time, and he hated to tell them this. What if it wasn't Sara? Yeah, he'd talk to David Wilson first. Maybe they would want that private detective to go down to check it out-not a job Tom would relish. He shuddered at the thought of poor little Sara stretched out on a cold slab.
David was on the phone immediately after hearing the news from the Sheriff; first to the airlines, then to Ben Peterson at the Saxon Inn, and finally to Joey. They decided that the three of them would go, that way if it was Sara, Joey would be the family member who could claim her. And if it wasn't her then Ben would stay on for a few days and see if he could find anything more about this mysterious man who had been in Saxon Mills just before Sara's disappearance.