Free Hidden in the Shadows by T. L. Haddix

Raven’s letter is. Anyhow, this person posted the pictures online, and by that evening, Ethan’s parents were knocking on our door, demanding an explanation.”
    When she fell silent, he covered her hand with his and continued the story. “I had Maria start looking into the forum where the pictures were posted, just as a favor. It’s too big a coincidence that Raven would appear on there at the same time as he’s receiving blackmail letters. Anyhow, she’s found some interesting and unexpected links on this forum. Maria?”
    Picking up the ball, Maria said, “Since the forum went up in May of this year, it’s had thousands of posts. I’ve read through about seventy percent of them, and while the majority are just gossip or bickering, I’ve found at least thirty threads that seem to have been started by the same person. The motivation behind this is anyone’s guess, but my theory is that their sole purpose is to cause trouble for the people they target, like Beth and Ethan.”
    “Thirty? That’s incredible.” Stacy whistled.
    “There may be more. It’s easy to figure out which ones were started by the troublemaker, because three-quarters of those threads resulted in calls to us or complaints.” As she listed the cases she’d linked to the forum, an almost palpable wave of shock went around the room.
    Wyatt was incredulous. “All these cases were the results of one person’s efforts? From an online forum?”
    She nodded. “Yes, I’m pretty confident they were. I know some of the people involved well enough that I took the liberty of contacting them. I didn’t pry too hard, but managed to confirm my suspicions. They put the blame for the trouble starting firmly on that forum.”
    “Did you talk to any of the deputies involved in these cases?” Ethan asked.
    “No. The troublemaker could be anyone, so call me paranoid, but I didn’t want to take the chance of tipping them off. I hope that’s okay.”
    “That’s exactly how you should have handled it,” Wyatt reassured her.
    “What I don’t understand is why we’re just now figuring this out,” Stacy said. “With that many calls, surely someone would have mentioned the forum before now.”
    Maria held up her hand. “From what I was able to find out, the reason no one has said anything is because they thought the other party in their disputes had started the posts, so when it came to a head and resulted in a call, they figured it had been taken care of.”
    Wyatt gazed at the papers in front of him with consternation. “Have you been able to find out anything about the person or persons who started the forum?”
    Maria rubbed her eyes. “No. I’ve been chasing that ghost for nearly two days now, and each time I think I’m getting close, they lead me on another tangent. That tells me that whoever did this has some serious computer skills.”
    “I think it’s safe to say that you’re going to need to stay on this until we have it figured out, or at least until we don’t have a choice but to get outside help, if it comes to that. God help us if it does.” He turned to Stacy. “Tell them about the reverend.”
    “You’ve all heard about Tim Jones’s suicide by now, I assume?” Everyone nodded, and she sighed. “Well, this morning, his wife found this letter in his trash can in his home office.” It was her turn to push an evidence bag across the table. “From what the letter says, the reverend had been having an affair with his church secretary. The union was fruitful, as she has apparently borne him two children in the last five years. It’s just a guess, but I’d say this is probably news to her husband. It certainly was news to Mrs. Jones.”
    Beth shook her head. “That had to devastate her. Did she believe the letter, then?”
    “Yes. She’d suspected he was cheating for some time. She also told me that her youngest child was the same age as the secretary’s, so they were pregnant with the reverend’s children at the same