Page 30 of Pied Sniper

“She might be the reckoning the world needs now.”

“That’s a lot to put on a baby’s shoulders.”

“Don’t tell her yet,” I suggested. “We’ll keep fighting for her until she’s ready to fight her own battles.”

“She shouldn’t have to fight at all.”

I reached over to Lily and squeezed her hand, a small act of solidarity. “Smash the patriarchy,” I said.

“I’ll put it on my to-do list. I should be able to fit it in between my inventory report at the bar and filing my taxes.”

We paused as the video started, and then we both leaned in, simultaneously glued to the screen. We saw the red dot bouncing around and when the camera fell over, I realized we were so busy tracking down her address and driving to her residence that we missed the next portion of film. Even as we watched, there wasn’t much to see between the darkness, the angle, and the cracked lens. Then I caught a hint of movement in one corner of the screen, merely shadows, and some screaming. Tiffany wasn’t just making noise, she seemed to be fighting off her attacker. A shadow crossed the screen, its feet and ankles briefly making an appearance and swiftly moving out of view. I heard apop, pop, pop!The screaming stopped and everything went still. A couple of minutes later, two sets of feet passed the camera. We watched a couple of minutes more but I couldn’t see a thing. All that remained was the sound of Elf’s frightened whimpers.

“Did that sound like gunshots to you?” I asked.

“Hard to say,” said Lily. “It seemed too quiet for a gun.”

“I’m not sure about it either. If the scene were different, I might have said it was three champagne corks popping.”

“Tiffany wouldn’t wear sneakers like that,” said Lily. “Not like those.”

“I agree. Plus, they’re too big to be hers. I saw another video where she said she was a size eight, and those shoes look much larger, probably size eleven at least. I’m guessing two men were in her apartment. And it really did look like a laser sight but I still don’t know why they would need one when they were so close to her.”

“Thatisstrange…Hey, we didn’t see Tiffany leaving when her assailants left. Could she have gotten away? Maybe she found a hiding spot somewhere that she didn’t have to pass the camera?”

“There’re no other exits. She definitely wasn’t there when we were and I’m sure the police conducted a more thorough search. I think she was injured and possibly knocked out cold, or maybe she passed out, and they carried her away. I don’t know if that was their intention but an unconscious woman must be easier to carry than battling a bleeding, screaming, fighting one who could attract all kinds of unwanted attention.”

“Unconscious women often attract attention too.”

“True, if that were a public area, although people don’t always help, but this is Tiffany’s building,” I mused, thinking how I would commit such a crime. “Maybe it went like this: they carried her down the stairwell, where there’s a good chance no one witnessed anything. Perhaps they rolled her up in a rug? Easily portable and explainable if anyone happened upon them. No one would be suspicious of two workmen carrying a rolled-up rug. They could have also been wearing uniforms of some kind. Plus, there must have been a vehicle stashed nearby for a fast getaway.”

“I think this building has an underground parking lot. Tiffany drives a white Range Rover. She films her vlogs from it sometimes and I didn’t see one parked on the street.”

“I’ll call Garrett and ask him to check if it’s still there. I bet a high-end vehicle like that also has a top-quality GPS. That wouldn’t appeal to a kidnapper unless they had no other choice.”

“True, and unless they were really sloppy, they had to arrive in a vehicle. It makes sense that they probably left in it too.”

“I agree. The last big case I worked on, the perps drove a utility vehicle that no one would notice. Question is: did they leave it in the underground parking, or park on the street nearby?” I made another note without expecting Lily to answer. “We should check to see if a rug is missing too. Or a comforter. Or a really big suitcase.”

“Your mind is so disturbed.”

“I’d say thank you but I know you didn’t mean it as a compliment.”

“I hate to ask but can we watch this part again?” Lily inquired, using the mousepad to scroll back to the point Tiffany last looked happy and relaxed on camera.

“Did you think of something?”

“No. I just thought we should watch it again.”

“I agree. We focused on what happened after. Now we should observe what we already saw, except without the heightened emotions of that night.”

“I still feel bad,” said Lily.

“Why?”

“Well… We didn’t get there in time.”

“There was no way we could have! It’s not like livestreaming her kidnap would help her…” I trailed off and paused, my forehead furrowing as I turned to Lily. “Solomon said she might have done it for publicity but I’m not sure I buy that, given the volume of blood we found. So, my theory at present is the kidnappers didn’t know she was broadcasting when they entered her apartment. I think that was their first mistake!”

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