Page 31 of Pied Sniper

“But Tiffany shares everything. She’s a chronic oversharer!”

“Didn’t she say at the start of the video that it was an impromptu vlog? She didn’t intend to be filming last night and she only told her viewers hours before when she asked for questions on social media. Perhaps her kidnappers didn’t know that!”

“Of course, they could have wanted the kidnap to be live so everyone saw. That would increase the urgency and pressure to get her safely returned,” countered Lily. “Have they demanded any money yet?”

“I don’t know. I need to call Abigail and ask. I can’t think who else they’d call because Tiffany’s so open about not having any family. Kidnapping her live on air seems like a bigger risk to themselves,” I added, although Lily’s theory made sense. A violent kidnapping in front of witnesses would be truly shocking. The violence, the blood, and the sheeraudacityof the crime would surely induce swift cooperation to pay a high ransom from Tiffany’s nearest and dearest. I couldn’t imagine Tiffany’s kidnappers could want anything else, although they must know Tiffany didn’t have any family.

“Let’s watch,” I said, as I hitplay. A couple of minutes later I hitpause. “You know what I got from that?” I asked.

“She saw her attacker enter,” said Lily.

“Well, yes, and no. She saw the perp, but she didn’t necessarily observe him, or them, entering the apartment. How did they get in? We’ve already established that getting inside the main entrance is easy but how did they get inside her apartment? I didn’t notice any damage to the door. Did she leave the door unlocked? Or did they have a key?”

“The building manager would have a key. It’s probably kept onsite.”

“I imagine the residents’ key box would be locked, and behind another locked door, say the manager’s apartment or a maintenance room, which adds more layers of difficulty in obtaining it. Not impossible though. What concerns me more was Tiffany’s reaction.”

“She looked scared.”

“Yeah, but not immediately. Watch this.” I used my mouse pointer to pull the rewind slider back to the moment Tiffany last seemed in good spirits. “See here? I thought this was weird. She doesn’t scream or shout, she just frowns a little bit and it looks like she starts to smile before she gasps and speaks.”

“Could she have recognized her attacker?”

“Maybe, or she thought she did. She didn’t yell immediately but she obviously realized it wasn’t a friendly visit very quickly. I don’t think she would have seen the laser sight moments before, but she most certainly saw a gun.”

“So they were ready with the gun from the start,” said Lily.

“I think so but if I intended to kidnap someone, I’d wear a mask. I wouldn’t give them any opportunity to recognize me.”

“Maybe she didn’t. Wouldn’t you say something to a masked man? I’d recognize you even if you were dressed in a banana suit and had a mask on. I’d know it was you by your body shape and the way you walked and spoke.”

“How could you tell my body shape if I’m dressed in a banana costume?”

Lily shrugged as if my question were stupid. “It’d be a sexy banana costume, not a thick, plush one without any body shape. But you’d probably still have to say something to me like ‘come with me!’ or ‘don’t scream!’ before I’d definitely know it was you.”

“We don’t hear them say anything on camera,” I pointed out. “Just Tiffany, and she wasn’t scared at first.”

“Pointing a gun says it all.”

I nodded in agreement. “So she’s happily filming her video, answering questions from the viewers, when she notices something from the other side of the camera where we can’t see. For a split second, she recognizes, orthinksshe knows the person, then realizes she’s in danger and tries to escape, abandoning the camera, which gets knocked over. After a struggle, she’s injured, captured, and disappears. I wonder if anyone has heard from her yet.” I picked up my phone, wondering whom to call first. Abigail Swanson? Or Garrett to find out what he gathered from the official investigation? Maybe even Maddox? Had the FBI formally taken over the case yet? Before I could weigh up the best person to ring, my phone trilled loudly and I almost dropped it.

“This is Abigail Swanson,” said the woman when I answered.

“Great! I’m reviewing last night’s video. Have you heard anything more from the police?” I asked.

“That’s a question I intended to pose to you. I’ve called three times and they aren’t returning any of my calls. Are you certain you’re taking the case?”

“I am,” I told her, “I haven’t spoken to the police but I’m going to ask them for an update immediately.”

“After you’ve done that, can you meet me at Tiffany’s apartment? I was told her apartment has been cleared by the police forensic team. I thought you would want to take a second look?”

“Absolutely,” I agreed. “I’d like to see her car too. I can come over now.”

“Good. Meet me at the parking garage entrance. The front of the building is crawling with journalists.”

Chapter Seven

I thought about leaving Lily to scroll through the comments received during the livestream video, and afterwards, when it was still live. But Lily pointed out they now numbered several thousand and kept increasing by the minute, so I knew it was a fruitless task that would have her tied up for weeks. That was best left to those with unlimited resources. Not that the police had many more resources than our agency, but they probably had some kind of computer algorithm that could detect any threatening comments and give the detectives another place to look. So, instead, I shot off a message to Lucas, asking what he could do. A few minutes later, while shrugging on my jacket, he replied that he was looking into it.

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