Page 28 of Pied Sniper

I knew how Solomon felt every time I got hurt. And how distressed he was when I was kidnapped by a psycho. I also knew how I felt when someone shot him. “Yeah,” I sighed. “I’ll ask Abigail for his details. The police have probably already interviewed him to rule him out as a suspect but I’ll need to ask him some other questions.”

“You don’t think…” Lily’s jaw dropped open as she placed the phone on the counter. “You don’t think he had something to do with it? He seems so normal and exceptionally cute.”

“So far, we don’t know anything. We need a bigger picture of Tiffany’s life and who was in it. At this point, all we’ve got are her manager, Abigail, her boyfriend, Jonathan, and her dog, Elf.”

“Don’t forget her personal assistant. She must know a lot about Tiffany’s day-to-day life, including the stuff we never see.”

I made a note of that with a question mark next to the PA’s name. She would probably know more about Tiffany’s daily life than her manager. Maybe even more than her boyfriend. I wonder if Tiffany ever confided in her. They seemed friendly the few times Grace briefly appeared in Tiffany’s videos, usually just long enough to say a cheerful “hey” or wave at the camera.

“We should watch last night’s video again,” I said. “There are parts we never saw and we should also review those crucial minutes where it all goes wrong. Is it still online?”

“Is it still online?” scoffed Lily. “It’s her most watched video! It’s number one on the site, and it’s gone viral. I saw it on the news this morning and clips were being run on all the social media sites. Some of the comments are wild.”

“In what way?”

“The theories of what happened to her span everything from terrorists, human trafficking, to stalkers and, get this, even aliens!”

“Aliens?” I held back a snort of laughter.

“I didn’t put much credence in that. Aliens would have beamed down a bright light,” said Lily. “There was no bright light. Just that red laser dot zipping around.”

“You saw that too? I think it was a laser sight from a gun. I mentioned it to Solomon and he suggested it could have also been a laser pen, only I can’t work out why anyone would bring that kind of tool to a kidnapping?”

“Why would an alien need a gun? I always assumed their technology was far more advanced.”

“Good points,” I agreed even though I was surprised Lily gave any thought to such a ridiculous idea, never mind it was just a theory. I stared at my phone for a long minute. The screen was too small and I wanted to see more details. “I want to watch it on my laptop. This screen is too hard to see on my phone. I’ll be right back.”

“Cool. I’ll see if my purse is any cleaner or still covered in gooey applesauce.”

“The joys of parenting,” I said, making a mental note to never let my future child throw crap like that on my purse. Of course, I had to get pregnant first but that would eventually happen. I was sure of it.

“So many joys,” agreed Lily.

I paused before I left the room and turned back. “Would you have given birth if you knew it could be at the expense of your purses?” I asked.

“Sure. I would have just gotten some kind of plastic liner for all my purses. They don’t tell you things like that in parenting class.” Lily peered at me. “That sounds like an oddly specific question. Does it concern theother thingSolomon was so cagey about before he left?”

“The other thing is: we’re trying for a baby,” I said, unable to hold back my smile.

“Shut up!” screamed Lily.

“Okay,” I agreed, relieved.

“By ‘shut up’, I mean, tell me everything!”

“Confusing! But there’s not a lot to tell. I’m pretty sure you know how babies are made. We’re trying to do that and often.”

“I’m so excited. Who else knows?”

“No one and you’re not allowed to tell anyone.”

“What about Jord?”

“Nope. Not even Jord.”

“Okay, fine. Our marriage needs more mystery anyway. What about your mom?”

“Absolutely not! Under no circumstances! We’ll let her know after it’s born.”

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