Page 91 of Pied Sniper

“Who told you that?” asked Jeffery.

“Catherine.”

“Who?”

I paused.What kind of question was that?“Your older daughter.”

“Ohhh,” he drawled, nodding. “Right.”

“Catherine? That angry, little bitch never has a nice word to say about anyone. She’s just like her mom,” snipped Dolores.

“Right.” Jeffery nodded. “So what does it cost to set up a place like this?” he asked.

“Catherine was always jealous of my little Rose,” Dolores cut in. “We used to call her Catty Cathy after all her mouthing off.”

“Angry kinda gal,” added Jeffery.

“Rose was always special, you see. She had star quality. She used to win pageants and prizes and Catherine never had the looks or the talent that Rose did! Rose was clever too so we had to enroll her in a good school.”

“I see,” I said. I thought Catherine was very pretty in an understated sort of way. Not flashy like Tiffany.

“We had to move a few times but Rose’s grades were always high,” said Jeffery. “Star quality. She could have grown up to be anything after attending that school.”

“Why did you move?” I asked.

“Oh, um, work-related stuff,” he said.

“That’s right. My husband is an entrepreneur. He earns six figures and we have a huge house with a covered pool,” said Dolores. “We’re thinking of retiring in Hawaii.”

“Do you work in the business too?” I asked.

“Sometimes. I worked in the cosmetics industry for a long time. I was a top executive with Tammy Mae.”

Solomon glanced at me and I wondered if he recognized the name too. “Wasn’t Tammy Mae a multi-marketing scheme that went under?” he asked.

“I wouldn’t know anything about that,” said Dolores, suddenly studying her fingernails. “I was merely a saleswoman. Nowhere near the top. And I was never indicted!”

“I recall they stranded a lot of people with thousands of dollars of bad stock that they couldn’t sell, leaving them no way to recoup their money back. It was a big disaster,” said Solomon, which was an understatement. Fifteen years ago, Tammy Mae was at the peak of the home-selling cosmetic market. They recruited saleswomen with promises of fat commissions and glamorous rewards. Trips, cars, cash, all were there for the taking while they moved up the ranks. To receive all the perks, their mission was to recruit more saleswomen who bought their exorbitantly priced starter kits. I knew all the details because Lily and I considered doing it once.

“So where’s our Rose now?” asked Jeffery. “What are you doing to find her?”

“Yes. Where is she?” asked Dolores. “Why haven’t you located our baby girl? Her face is all over the news. Surely someone saw something? When we speak to the press later, we have to tell them something newsworthy!”

“You’re speaking to the press?” repeated Solomon.

“Absolutely! Parents always do an appeal when a kid goes missing.”

“Did the police ask you to do that?”

“No. Why would they?” asked Dolores. “We called the news station directly. They’re very interested in learning all about Rose for a special edition. I think we might end up making the rounds of the morning talk shows.”

“I don’t know about that, honey,” said Jeffery. “We need to discuss expenses first.”

“But we also have to make sure the public know Rose’s name! And who better than her loving mother?” pleaded Dolores.

“Okay, okay,” I said, holding up my hands to make them stop. “Is there anything you can think of that might help us find Tiffany?”

“Like what?” asked Jeffery. “She’s been kidnapped. We haven’t been contacted. You should probably talk to that boyfriend of hers. The one we see in all the videos.”

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