Page 34 of Pied Sniper

I shrugged. The more I witnessed from the dark side of the world, the more perplexed I felt. Lately, I’ve been harboring a desire to live in a butterfly sanctuary and spend my days reading good books, eating cake, and watching pretty, fluttery insects go about their daily business.

“And the last one! ‘Die, bitch! Haha!’ I seriously don’t get the amusement factor,” added Lily, a deep frown marring her forehead.

“Do any of the comments reveal a concern for Tiffany whatsoever?”

Lily flipped the blinker and slowed down to make the turn. “Thankfully, the majority that were posted once the video took a bad turn and the ones posted after it became clear that something terrible had happened. Some of them were genuinely concerned, but an awful lot said ‘she deserved it’ and it ‘serves her right for flaunting her money.’ Plenty of people are defending her privilege to share whatever she wants about her life. It’s seems like a whole lot of people are very invested in her daily vlogs, both her supporters and her critics.”

“Influencers are the new movie stars,” I said. “The higher they rise, the harder people want them to fall. Hey, look at that!” We slowed down to drive past the front of Tiffany’s building where a slew of reporters took up half the sidewalk and half the street. Some had video crews with them. Reporters with microphones were filming segments as they gestured towards the entrance doors. There was a blonde woman who looked just like theMontgomery Gazette’sformer Chief Reporter, Shayne Winter, but when I craned my neck to be sure, she was gone. The last thing we needed was a tenacious reporter poking her nose in!

We took the next left and proceeded down a small ramp, braking in front of the gates. Abigail stepped out from the shadows and motioned us in as the gates slid open. Lily accelerated at the moment they were fully open and Abigail directed us into a space away from prying eyes as the gates slid shut.

“That has to be Tiffany’s car,” I said, nodding at the huge, white Range Rover arrogantly taking up two spaces.

“That’s some jerk parking,” said Lily. “My mom always said if you can’t park it, don’t drive it.”

“Your mom usually had a driver,” I pointed out.

“She still made a good point. She couldn’t park it, so she got someone else to drive it. Look at all the scratches on it!” exclaimed Lily.

I climbed out of the car and Abigail walked towards us. “I’m sure you have a lot of questions,” she said, shaking our hands. Despite her perfectly shiny, blonde hair and beautifully applied makeup, her eyes were tired and I wondered if she slept. Her manicure looked fresh but one forefinger was nibbled, the polish coming away at the tip.

“How do you keep your coat so white?” asked Lily.

“Prayers, mostly,” said Abigail, holding back a small smile as she adjusted the belt of her calf-length cashmere coat and rebalanced her large, expensive purse. “Also, I have an excellent dry cleaner and I only consume clear liquids when I’m wearing it.”

“Smart,” said Lily.

“And you are?” Abigail gave Lily a fast appraisal; the kind people did when they had to make quick decisions on little insight.

“Lily Shuler-Graves. I was with Lexi when we tried to help Tiffany.”

“And you were arrested too? I’m so sorry about that,” said Abigail, not looking enormously upset but also not planning to evict Lily from the parking lot. “Shall we go upstairs? There’s an elevator over here.”

“Is this the only access to the garage?” I asked.

Abigail shook her head. “There’s a staircase over there and also a service elevator. I couldn’t tell you how often they’re used as I’ve only visited Tiffany here twice.”

“Oh? How come?” I asked.

“I live and work in New York. I came here to visit Tiffany when she first moved in and then again, a couple of days ago to discuss some business opportunities. I was planning to leave at the end of the week but now I’m not so sure.”

“What kind of business opportunities?” I asked as we stepped into the elevator.

Abigail gently tossed her hair, contemplating my question, and, I presumed, how much of an answer she was willing to give. “We discussed video content strategy, a magazine that was interested in profiling her, guest appearances on a talk show and a fashion show, modeling, a perfume, and also some novel ideas for a book,” she said, leaning in to press the penthouse button with one delicately manicured finger.

“That all sounds interesting. I had no idea Tiffany needed a video strategy. Didn’t she just decide what she wanted to do and then do it?” asked Lily.

“Most of the time,” agreed Abigail, with a tilt of her head, “but she also has an audience that insists on new, exciting content and sponsors to satisfy. If a makeup brand wants to work with Tiffany, we need to work out ways to incorporate that into her content so the brand gets what they want, and the viewers also get what they want.”

“What does the brand want? More sales?” I asked.

“Yes, but also brand awareness and a strong position in the market. Say there’s a makeup brand that’s doing poorly with the younger demographic. They might engage an influencer like Tiffany to change the perception of their brand as they relaunch. A long-term strategy can help support that and the sales naturally follow.”

“How does that differ from what the viewers want?”

“They want to know which products are hot, which will benefit them the most, and they don’t like a hard sell. They seek life improvement and being ‘in the know’. If you want to see the results of that, take a look at Tiffany’s ‘Getting ready for Saturday night!’ video from last month. The sponsor gets a full five minutes of Tiffany’s makeup application, and no hard sell, and the viewers only see her looking great. They want to look that good too.”

“Where does she go after she gets ready?”

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