Page 20 of Bridles and Bribery

“Nothing since I volunteered, and I’m off the clock.”

“Gil,” she protested, “you can’t?—”

“I can, and I will,” he interrupted. “It’s not up for debate. Dave would do the same for Bliss if our situations were reversed.”

“Speaking of Dave,” she sighed wistfully.

“That’s the bad part of my news.” His voice was grim. “We found a sealed envelope sitting on the rug outside your front door. It has Dave’s name glued to it in letters that look like they were torn out of a magazine.”

“Did you open it?” she asked quickly.

“We did. It contained another ransom request.”

“For the baby?”

“No. This one is for Dave.”

A terrified sob escaped her. She clapped a hand over her mouth to muffle it.

Eloise came out of her chair. “What do they want, Gil?”

“A million dollars by midnight if we ever want to see him again. No location for the handoff.”

A keening wail burst from Jillian as she glanced at the time on her phone. A mere thirty-five minutes remained before the deadline.

“The police are running it through some forensic tests as we speak,” he continued. “Their initial assessment is that it’s just another prank. More handiwork of the infamous Prophet.”

Unfortunately, Dave wasn’t in the room to verify that claim with his presence. Jillian fought to recover her voice. “Have there been any updates to my husband’s flight?”

“Yes and no. As you are already aware, his charter flight was rerouted due to the storm. After that, the plane experienced some mechanical issues. Now air traffic control is claiming they’ve losttrack of his flight.”

“You mean he’s missing?” Jillian leaned closer to the phone, gasping for air again.

“Breathe,” Eloise commanded as she snatched up the phone. “In case you’ve forgotten, sheriff, my daughter-in-law is very pregnant with my first grandchild. She doesn’t need any more stress in her life, so you need to have better news the next time you call.”

“Eloise, you know I won’t rest until I can give you better news.” Gil sounded adamant. “In the meantime, a member of Lonestar Security will escort you every time you leave the house, even if you or Jillian are just stretching your legs in the driveway. You read me?”

“Loud and clear, sheriff.” Looking pleased with their exchange, Eloise hung up the phone and handed it back to Jillian. “It’s bedtime for you, little mama.”

She helped unlock the safe room and led Jillian to the too-big king-sized bed. “In you go. I know you’re anxious for news about Dave. So am I, but there’s no law against getting horizontal and shutting our eyes while we wait. Gil will let us know the second he has an update.”

“Thank you.” Jillian rolled to her side as Eloise pulled the blankets up to her shoulders. She kept her cell phone clutched in front of her face until the midnight deadline for Dave’s ransom came and went.

At some point, she must have dozed off. She woke in the middle of the night and tried to call Dave again. Like it had every other time, her call rolled to voicemail.

“Where are you, sweetheart?” She whispered the words into the dark room, not expecting any answer. She didn’t receive one.

Her spirits sank to a new low. She’d been married less than a day, postponed her honeymoon, and now her husband was missing.

To make matters worse, if there was any truth to the latest message from the Prophet, she was never going to see him again.

Fear burgeoned inside her, making it impossible to go back to sleep.

Chapter 4: Under Fire

Five hours earlier

“Nice.” Gil gave a long, low whistle as he drove Dave out to the runway of the newest private airstrip in Heart Lake. It was only a couple of years old and mostly used by the agriculture pilots contracted to spray the crops on the surrounding farms. The sleek turboprop airplane idling on the tarmac tonight, however, was no crop duster.

---