Page 94 of Pied Sniper

“Yes, your sister said you haven’t found that poor girl yet.” Mom fixed us both with a stern look and clicked her tongue, a tell-tale sign of her disappointment.

“Speaking of which, we need a quick talk,” I said, grabbing Garrett’s arm before he could step any further into the house.

“Should I send Adam and Sadiq to join you?” asked Mom. “Or are you talking shop over the dinner table?”

“They’re here?” I asked. Why didn’t I guess my mom would invite her favorite FBI agents?

“Of course! Sadiq and Tara came together, and we couldn’t possibly exclude Adam. He brought a lovely dessert that he made himself! Pavlova! I don’t know how he finds the time what with such an exhaustive job. He’s such a wonderful man.”

I opened my mouth to retort but I didn’t know what to say, and more importantly, I wanted to know what size the Pavlova was. So I said, “Yes, tell them to come through.” Mom shuffled off, and in under two minutes, Maddox and Farid returned for our entryway conference.

My brothers, Daniel and Jord were right behind them. “We feel left out,” said Daniel.

“But we know most of the case from all the stationhouse gossip,” added Jord.

“We met Tiffany’s parents,” I told them. “Not only were they two hours late to our meeting but they’re more interested in the reward than their daughter’s welfare and plan to sell their story. I’m going to make a wild guess and say it’ll go to the highest bidder.”

“The reward money Tiffany’s friend, Flavia, put up, definitely made them crawl out of the woodwork,” added Solomon.

“Our news is probably obvious. Davy Morris is definitely interested in Tiffany. He thinks they’re getting married,” said Maddox. “He has it all planned out! He showed us his wedding scrapbook. The color theme is red and white.”

“Poor dude,” said Garrett, shaking his head. “Let’s not burst his bubble quite yet.”

“Where is he now?” asked Solomon.

“Being looked after by two officers. We don’t expect to hear anything from the kidnappers until much later and there’s nothing further we can do tonight until we get that video analyzed.”

“Our people are on that,” said Maddox. “So far, we’ve ascertained it came from another burner phone that’s switched off.”

Dad strolled past us on his way upstairs. “How’s the case going?” he asked.

“We’re following more leads, Dad,” said Garrett.

“Nowhere then,” replied Dad. “Keep up the good work, kids. Glad I retired from the force.”

“Thanks, Dad,” said Garrett. “Appreciate the support.”

“Lexi thinks Tiffany is setting us all up,” said Solomon. “Maybe she’s right.”

“The whole thing feels off,” I said. “The only two people the kidnappers approached for money don’t really have access to the kind of cash they demanded, but they’re both willing to help. In Davy’s case, he practically advertised that he had the money. Tiffany refuses to admit she has a family so that could be why she hasn’t reached out to them. Why didn’t the kidnappers send a video to her alleged boyfriend? Or her assistant? Or friends? Instead, they sent it to Davy who told Tiffany all about his money. How could they know about him unless she told them? It just doesn’t add up.”

“You know what else doesn’t add up?” said Dad. “How does someone manage to lose a tiger.” He strolled past us again, staring at his phone before disappearing into the living room.

“Is he going senile?” I asked. “Should we be worried? Mom’s scared he’ll hurt himself.”

“The tiger really isn’t any of our concern,” said Garrett.

“Perhaps even after all this, Tiffany still doesn’t want her family around,” said Maddox. “There must be a serious reason she refuses to have any connection with them.”

I shrugged. “Her parents came here strictly for the reward money. Her brother is on the DEA’s radar. The nicest one of the bunch is her half-sister, who doesn’t want to be involved either. I think Tiffany is on her own here, and she wants to keep it that way. Her granny passed away. Her mom mentioned a couple of cousins. They’re her sister’s kids so they probably won’t have the same surname, but she said they were called Caleb and Huey. They sounded crazy.”

“I sent you my DEA contact’s information,” said Solomon. “But I don’t think there’s anything in that angle.”

“Have the cousins names come up in the investigation so far?” asked Maddox and we all shook our heads. “I’ll get someone to look into them anyway.”

“Maybe also call the agency to check the tip line records. It’s possible that they called regarding the reward too.”

“Money seems to be the only thing that motivates that family,” I said as one of my nieces barreled towards me, being chased by another.

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