Page 38 of Pied Sniper

“No. She has a financial manager for that sort of thing. I deal with her business arrangements, not her personal purchases.”

“So you don’t know anything about what Jonathan Brett wanted?” This time, Abigail gulped. Apparently, something wasn’t quite right there. “What do you know that I don’t?” I asked. I scanned the apartment again, realizing I missed something that was only noticeable due to its stark absence. “I don’t see any man things in the apartment anywhere. None in the bedroom, nor the bathroom.”

“I don’t know anything!”

I narrowed my eyes. “But you suspect something?”

Abigail sighed. “I know something isn’t right between them but if it’s risen to the threat of lawyers, that’s new to me. Tiffany hasn’t done any press with Jonathan in a couple of months. She keeps making excuses.”

Lily looked up from her phone. “He isn’t in any of her recent photos on social media either. Oh, no, my mistake, there’re a couple, but not as many as there usually are. Hmm.”

“What?”

“I’ll need to check but the photos she posted of them together are old. This one has the hashtag ‘throwbackthursday’ attached to it. That’s a popular hashtag for revisiting old photos and memories.”

“So none of the photos are current?” I asked, although I didn’t need any answer.

“I can reach out to Jonathan’s agent,” said Abigail. “Would that help?”

“Yes, please. I’d like to speak to him as soon as possible,” I said, without addingbecause he’s just risen to the top of my suspect list.“And it appears he’s in town, or has been very recently. Terrance said Jonathan wanted his things back but I don’t see anything that looks like his lying around, so he could have collected whatever it was already. Do you know what Terrance might have been talking about?”

“I have no idea,” said Abigail, the faintest frown appearing on her forehead.

“I’d like to speak to Tiffany’s PA too, as soon as possible. Grace?”

“She took a couple of days off. She’s due back tomorrow. I can email her your details and tell her to contact you.”

“Thank you, I appreciate that. I think we’re done here,” I said, disappointed that I hadn’t found more evidence. Even thumbing the notepad was no use. Tiffany only used a couple of pages.

“You should probably keep the keys in case you need to check anything,” Abigail said as she locked up. “You can return them to me when Tiffany is found.”

“Thank you for trusting me,” I said, taking the fob with the apartment and car keys. We headed down in the elevator and in the parking lot, Abigail told us she was remaining at her hotel a few more days on the chance that Tiffany would be swiftly found. I agreed to call her later with an update. She climbed into a rental car after telling us how to exit the parking garage.

“I still don’t get why Tiffany would lie about owning the apartment. Why not just say she was renting it? No one cares about that stuff,” said Lily. “Most of her audience probably rents their homes.”

“Maybe she wanted people to think she’s wealthier than she really is?” I mused. “Or maybe she didn’t sell her other apartment yet?”

“Where to now?” Lily asked as we got comfortable in her car. I opened the laptop and the password screen came up. I typed in the password Abigail gave me but it flashed a red cross and prompted me to try again.

“To the office to find out what Lucas has learned and also to ask him to crack the password. Tiffany changed it,” I said. “Then Garrett wants me to brief the detectives on Tiffany’s case.”

“Cool!”

“I’m not sure you’re invited.”

“Harsh, but fair,” Lily agreed, which surprised me. I thought she would be perturbed by her lack of invitation but apparently not, since she just shrugged.

“Are you really okay after last night?” I asked, wondering if she were suffering the after effects of our arrest.

“Totally cool. Everyone knows it was a big misunderstanding.” This time, she flashed me a bigger smile.

“Can you keep investigating Tiffany’s social media?” I asked. “You spotted the change in her posts regarding her boyfriend. Something suspicious is going on between them.”

“I can do that from the bar. You can borrow my car to go to the agency.”

“Thanks!”

“But if you go on a car chase without me, I’ll be super annoyed.”

---