Page 11 of Pied Sniper

We waited a few more beats but as much as I strained to listen, I couldn’t hear any sounds that suggested Tiffany might be hurt and upset, or that someone was helping her. Even the whimpering stopped. Yet no one returned to the camera. The foreboding sensation in my belly got worse.

“What do we do?” asked Lily just as I posed the same question to myself.

“I think we should find out where she lives and check in on her.”

Lily punched the air. “Yes!”

“We know she’s in Montgomery; you figured that out already, and the view out her window did look familiar. But we’re not stalking her or hanging out with her. We’re just going to check and make sure she’s okay and leave. Deal?”

“Deal.” Lily paused. “What if she invites us to stay and participate in her livestream?”

I contemplated that. An evening with Tiffany could be fun, then I sighed. There were a dozen ways that could go wrong. “I don’t think Solomon would appreciate one of his PIs being seen by tens of thousands of viewers across the nation. Maybe even the world. It would jeopardize any future undercover operations.”

“No one would know you’re a PI. You’d just be her fun friend, Lexi Graves-Solomon. I’ll just be Lily Shuler-Graves, owner of Lily’s Bar.”

“But that’s who we are,” I pointed out.

Lily shrugged. “Like I said.”

“All the same.”

“Fine. I can search online and see if anyone posted Tiffany’s new address,” said Lily as she reached for her phone.

“That’s creepy.”

“Creepy might be our friend tonight. Lots of people post personal details on fan message boards and on… what’s the opposite of fan boards?”

“Hate boards?” I guessed.

“Hate boards sounds right. Those people investigate stuff that they then post online too but I think it’s more about nastiness and jealousy than simple curiosity. Besides, do you have a better idea?”

“Yes,” I said. “I got a good view from the big window in her apartment where I saw the spire of St. Mary’s and there’s a building redevelopment going on there. My dad showed me an article in the newspaper. They’re going to tear the old one down and put up new luxury condos. That narrows it to downtown, and given the angle of the view, I’d say she’s in one of the taller buildings, but probably no taller than this one.”

Lily tapped her phone. “Go on,” she said, swiping her finger down the screen, scrolling through the volume of returned entries to the question she input.

I called up my maps app and zoomed in on the building slated for development. By identifying some of the buildings behind it, I could ascertain the street on which Tiffany resided. Several tall buildings were situated there but only one was tall enough to boast that view.

“Let’s go,” I told Lily.

“You found the address?”

“I think so.”

“I’ve got her old New York address and the new Montgomery address too. Someone posted it online this morning.”

“It’s really creepy you could find that.”

“There are a lot of creeps out there. Smart ones too. There are also postings of the New York real estate listing with photos and the floorplan, stills from her videos, and photos of the outside of the building. Someone posted a guess at which door buzzer is hers along with photos of the lobby and the first names of the doormen.”

“Seriously? You found all that online? In just a few minutes?”

“Yeah.”

“That could be dangerous.” We both glanced at the screen where the video still played live but the screen was blank. What if someone learned all the information they needed to break into this apartment too? Just because the address was posted online today didn’t mean someone else couldn’t have previously joined all the dots and gleaned more information than Lily did in her few minutes of searching. And since Tiffany’s move was fairly recent, maybe whoever surprised her erroneously thought the apartment was empty and was just as startled as Tiffany was to find it occupied. That didn’t sound right though. Why would anyone want access to an empty apartment? There was nothing to steal. But back to the facts: Tiffany sounded terrified and we both heard what could have been a fight. “Let’s go,” I said. “The sooner we find out what’s really going on, the sooner we can help her.”

We parked around the corner from what we hoped was Tiffany’s building and jogged over to the entrance. Lily pulled the video up on her phone and passed it to me for the drive but the feed was patchy. When we got out, I returned the phone to her and she stuck in her earphones. I asked a couple of times if anything happened but each time, she said no. I tried the door but it wouldn’t budge so I turned to the buzzer plate. Each apartment had a name listed except for the top floor. I buzzed it but no one answered.

“I don’t see anything,” said Lily, pressing her face against the plate glass door. “How do we get inside? I know! I’ll pick the lock.”

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