Page 109 of Pied Sniper

“She’s an influencer, like the Pied Piper,” I said.

“Given the gunsights we saw trained on her for the dramatic effect, she’s more like the Pied Sniper,” said Lily.

“Shooting her was a bit extreme,” I conceded, “but I really think it was an accident. They just thought the red laser light focused on her would be enough. But Solomon’s friend was right, no one needs gunsights at point-blank range.”

“Agreed. That was unintentional. We confirmed their presence at the gun range for shooting practice, thanks to the lead provided by that parking garage ticket, but Huey McNeill could have obviously used a bit more. He’s the one who mishandled his gun, causing it to discharge unexpectedly during the fake, live-streamed abduction. Neither officially admitted who did it yet but Lexi overheard them afterwards and she said it was Huey. Tiffany did get hurt but not seriously, which only added to the drama. The crime scene tech team discovered an anomaly with the blood. I found recent records that placed her at a blood drive a few days before. I think she made off with her own donation, which she used to stage the scene. However, her fresh blood from the gunshot wound was everywhere too. That made it look like a lot of lost blood for such a minor wound. The lab failed to detect the anomaly straight away,” said Maddox. “When we raided the cabin after their arrests, we found a telescope and the tire tracks that matched the kidnap vehicle, plus Tiffany’s blood in one of the McNeill’s cars. We can even match the brick in one of the ransom videos to the brick chimney in the cabin.”

“They really went all out to make it look like she could be dead!” said Lily.

“It appeared pretty terrible and certainly heightened the urgency of the ransom video they released. Tiffany was a good actress but I expect she’ll say they forced her and she was terrified,” I said. “Same performance with Davy’s video and when I was locked up in the shed with her. She’s a very good actress.”

“The DA needs us to search for any contact between Tiffany and her cousins. We need to prove she was calling the shots, not the other way round. I think it’s doable,” said Maddox.

“We already have the evidence from her car’s navigation,” agreed Solomon. “She met up with them multiple times, always alone. Plus, the kidnapping idea is on her laptop. I’m sure there’s more evidence that we haven’t found yet. There had to be more contact between them, probably using burner phones. We’ll sift through the purchase records, texts, phone calls, online searches, and purchases of other things. Something will collapse under our scrutiny.”

“We already have Cal on the hook for the cabin,” said Maddox. “He kept a set of keys from his former ranger job and he knew the cabin was vacant. One of the rangers told me they were aware that he used it occasionally but no one ever objected or really thought anything about it. Most of the staff seemed to like him. Crime scene found fingerprints all over the place. They should match plenty of Tiffany’s. Enough to convince a jury she had free rein over the cabin, and wasn’t locked up in the shed the whole time as she claimed.”

“And we now know Huey did casual work at Abigail’s hotel so that’s how they snuck her a note,” added Solomon.

“I hate the thought of her using me on the witness stand as her alibi. It infuriates me!” I said. “I have to testify that she was bound and there. But I also plan to tell them that she was in the woods chasing me and what I overheard too. But hundreds of thousands of people can testify to seeing that video and watching all the media reports. I doubt they can find an impartial jury.”

“Like I said, she’s the Pied Sniper,” said Lily. “People watch and follow her wherever she goes and then somebody shoots someone.”

“That analogy works. Especially since it makes Tiffany the star of the show.”

“She immediately started screaming for help the moment Lexi faceplanted at her feet. She knew it was all over,” said Solomon.

“Wonder what scared her more, the police, the FBI, the zookeeper and the vets, her cousins, or the damn tiger!” said Maddox. “But I was on the ground pretty fast.”

“I noticed none of her friends turned up for her press conference,” I said, holding back a smile. “I thought Flavia might be there but I guess Tiffany really did alienate everyone.”

“She did say she would honor the tip line payout so that was kind of her,” said Solomon.

“Very,” I agreed.

“Then she mentioned she was making a tell-all video so I’m sure that will be interesting viewing.”

“Oh, boy,” I sighed. “Everything happened so fast so we never did find out if she got any information from her friends about Tiffany but I bet she did.” My phone bleeped and I picked it up. “That’s Abigail,” I said, my smile turning to a frown. “She wants us to meet at her hotel. It’s important. We need to go now.”

Maddox and Solomon’s phones also bleeped before another bleep came from my phone. “Well, that’s interesting,” I said.

“I’m driving,” said Solomon.

~

I stepped out of the elevator and almost collided with a woman. Looking up, I was ready to apologize for my hastiness and when she flinched, I recognized her.

“Tiffany,” I said, thinking,So!We meet again.

“My savior,” she said dryly. “How’s your head? You took a pretty nasty fall when you tried to save me. I wouldn’t be surprised if you had memory problems in the future.”

“None at all, thanks,” I snipped back as I toyed with my phone.

“My lawyer will argue that you did. Apparently, you have quite an impressive medical record for injuries and calamities. You’re not a very reliable witness.”

“Is that really your plan?” I asked. The elevator doors dinged and slid shut behind me. Since I was blocking Tiffany’s path, she had no choice but to stand there, facing me.

“Yep,” she said. “I went through a terrible ordeal at the hands of men I was foolish enough to trust. I will be suffering adverse consequences for years, of course. I’ll need a lot of expensive therapy and rehabilitation. Abigail plans to get me a book deal and I hope it will be cathartic for me to get the real story out there.”

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