Page 11 of Bridles and Bribery

I bet.He wasn’t sure what to say to make her feel better, so he kept silent.

“We’re going to lose everything if you don’t help us, Dave.” Her voice grew pleading. “Jason received a death threat exactly one week before he died. I received one a little over an hour ago.”

Wait! What?He squared his shoulders. “Ma’am, you need to hang up and report this to the police immediately!”

She gave a humorless laugh that ended on another sob. “You think I haven’t already done that?”

“What did they say?” He gripped the phone tighter.

“That the threats aren’t related to my husband’s death. The police think the person sending them is someone they’re calling the Prophet. They’re not sure if it’s a man, woman, or group of teenagers. All they know is the Prophet reads up about ongoing cases in the news and muddies the evidence with prank calls and messages — everything from death threats to kidnapping threats. Oh, and they’re almost always accompanied by some sort of demand if you want them to go away. Otherwise,” she paused dramatically, “they assure you it’s lights out for the victim.”

As he listened, Dave leaned over his desk to open his laptop. He did a quick online search on the Prophet. Sure enough, there was all sorts of chatter about the mysterious digital prankster. Cartoon memes in his honor were flooding social media and going viral. Dave scanned a full page of them, shaking his head at how humorous a few of them sounded.

Gimme your lunch money, or it’ll be the last baloney sandwich you choke down your windpipe.

Send me $10,000, or I’m gonna punch you so hard in the mouth, you’ll have to unbutton your shirt to say hello.

You’d better liquidate your retirement account and send me half, or I’ll hire a professional boxer to slap you silly for the rest of your life.

Some of the memes weren’t funny at all. Just bizarre. One thing was apparent. Whoever was behind the Prophet’s threats wasn’t being taken seriously by law enforcement.

“Are you still there, Dave?” Jan Jacobson’s voice grew thready.

“I am.” The more he heard about the case, the less he was interested in taking it. Yeah, he’d been friends with her son in high school, but a lot of time had passed since then. For all he knew, Mrs. Jacobson had snapped after losing her husband. He was sorry about her loss, but nothing he did would bring the man back. And since she wasn’t being very forthcoming over the phone about why she needed legal representation, it was possible her family was as guilty as sin about whatever they were being accused of. Even good people made mistakes sometimes.

While he was trying to come up with the right words to inform her he was going to pass on the case, a knock sounded.

He glanced toward the double glass doors and was surprised to see Jillian standing, white-faced, on the other side. “Hang on a sec, Jan.” Without waiting for an answer, he mashed the HOLD button and tossed his work phone onhis desk. Hurrying across the room, he flung open the door on the right.

Jillian fell into his arms. “I’m sorry to bother you while you’re working, but…” The words tumbled out of her like a tidal wave. What concerned Dave the most was how pale her heart-shaped face was.

“What’s going on, babe?” He cuddled her closer. His job could wait. Whatever was upsetting her, he would make time to handle it, even if he had to call Jan back later.

“I just received the weirdest text message.” Her voice trembled. “A ransom note, actually, for a kidnapping that thankfully hasn’t taken place yet.”

“You’re right. That’s weird.” It was especially weird that his new wife had received such a bizarre message so soon after he’d found out about the mysterious Prophet. “Who’s getting kidnapped?”

“Our unborn child.” A silent sob shuddered through her.

His insides grew cold. “Let me see your phone, please.” If this was yet another one of those digital pranks currently blowing up the Internet, it was one of the not-funny ones. He couldn’t have felt less like laughing.

Why contact us? Why now?

Questions burned like wildfire through his mind, not the least of which was how the prankster had gotten hold of his wife’s cell phone number. Was the incident in any way related to the Prophet? Or the threats Jan and Jason Jacobson had received? The call he currently had on hold was starting to feel less and less like a coincidence.

“Gil has my phone.” Jillian shivered. “As soon as I saw the text message, I passed it over to him, and he left the room with it. My mother pitched a fit, demanding to know what was going on. When I told her I wasn’t sure, shelost her religion, claiming I’ve been shutting my family out of my life ever since I met you. She stormed out of the house, and my dad and sister followed her.” She drew a shaky breath. “I don’t think they’re coming back.”

Good riddance!Jillian looked so distraught about it, though, that Dave kept the comment to himself. “Did you see where Gil took off to?”

“I’m right here.” Gil popped his head around the door, looking grave. He waved Jillian’s cell phone in the air, making the crystals on her floral phone case flash in the sunlight. “I’ve reached out to both Luke and Lonestar Security.”

Dave nodded, frowning. Luke Hawling was the newly elected sheriff of Heart Lake, Gil’s replacement. He was a good guy, but… “I hear a but.”

“You know how it is.” Gil handed Jillian’s phone back to her. She passed it on to Dave in one fluid movement. “There’s not much law enforcement can do before a crime is committed, other than document it. The number’s untraceable. They checked.”

“Shocker,” Dave intoned as he scanned the text message Jillian had received.

“They’re not sure it’s even a real threat.” Gil looked troubled. “Apparently, there’s something new trending on social media right now. It’s called?—”

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