Page 40 of Pied Sniper

“Unfortunately.”

“What a creepy world we live in.”

“And a beautiful one too. Let’s not forget that,” said Lucas.

“I don’t imagine it feels that way to Tiffany right now,” I said, my shoulders drooping as I thought about the kind of shit she had to endure on a daily basis. I wondered if and how it damaged her self-esteem, not to mention, her independence in the world. Could those threats be her motivation for leaving a bustling city like New York to move further down the coast to the quieter, much smaller Montgomery? Or did she delegate her social media management to her PA so she didn’t have to bear the criticism? I really needed to talk to her PA. I already placed a call to her, which went straight to voicemail. I hoped she’d appear soon. If my boss were kidnapped, I’d be eager to help. Stumbling into my boss’s issues was how I fell into PI work in the first place. “I’m heading over to the police station. I’ll call you in a little while,” I told him.

“I’ll be here,” said Lucas. “Don’t forget: I’ll be hungry.”

I headed back downstairs to the parking lot and hopped into Lily’s car, peeling out as quickly as I could, eager to join the detectives and find out what they knew. On the way over, I wondered again if Tiffany read any of the threats against her and if so, did she consider any of them valid? Or did her assistant read them? Was Grace hiding them from her? I wasn’t sure that could be a good thing. If a kidnapping were threatened, she could have done something to protect herself better. I really needed to get in touch with the PA. As soon as I finished with the police, I decided to call Grace again. Then I’d update Abigail and urgently insist that she persuade Grace to return my call. It hadn’t been twenty-four hours since Tiffany’s disappearance yet but even I knew that time was the enemy. As the hours passed, so too the likelihood of Tiffany’s safe recovery diminished. Instantly, I regretted going home to bed. I hated leaving the heavy lifting of processing the crime scene to the police. I could have stayed awake. I could have shadowed and observed, even from behind a police barrier.

The desk sergeant waved me through and I headed directly to Garrett’s office but as I walked into the homicide detective’s squad room, I found him standing at his door, arms folded, in conversation with Maddox and Special Agent Farid.

“Hey!” said Farid, his face bright and eager. Maddox and he had been partnered for some time. Farid was pleasant to be around, smart and well-balanced in attitude. Plus, my cousin liked him and he seemed to like her plenty too.

“Hey. This is nice,” I said, looking around the busy squad room. I liked Farid but not nearly as much as my mother did, and she practically adopted him. “Dare I ask who’s in charge? Or will that start a fight?”

“Special Agent Maddox and Special Agent Farid have taken over the case due to the high-profile nature of the victim. MPD will assist them,” said Garrett through gritted teeth. He leaned in. “Thanks for the heads-up about the bullet hole. I sent forensics back after reaming them out for not looking up from the floor.”

“Lieutenant Graves and his team are already doing an excellent job. We’re merely bringing a little extra to the table,” said Farid.

“No need to suck up,” I replied. “We’re all cool with you dating Tara.” Farid met my cousin, Tara, newly returned from Chicago to join MPD recently, on a shared case. Both seemed equally smitten with the other. I liked Farid and Tara so I was pretty happy to see them together too.

“We’re having dinner with her parents next week,” said Farid.

Garrett and I sucked air through our teeth and exchanged concerned glances.

“What?” asked Farid.

“They’re messing with you,” said Maddox.

“Are we?” I asked, raising my eyebrows.

“Good luck, man,” said Garrett as he whacked Farid on the shoulder in a moment of manly bonhomie, causing Farid to stumble. “Remember to wear a tie. A nice one.”

Farid looked down at his tie. “Okay,” he said. “What about wine? Should I bring red or white?”

Garrett and I looked at each other again and repeated the air-sucking motion.

“Okay,” said Farid, gulping. “No wine. How about fancy chocolates? Flowers?”

We gasped loudly.

“If you’ve both finished messing with my partner, perhaps we can get back to work,” said Maddox. “The clock hasn’t stopped ticking on this case.”

“Anything new come in?” I asked. “A ransom demand? Something worse?”

“Not a peep,” said Garrett. “Uniforms canvassed the building’s residents and the area where we found the dumped van and there weren’t any witnesses who saw the van or could identify the driver or the replacement vehicle. They checked every dumpster and alleyway within a mile radius but found no signs of a body. No hospital reports of any unidentified females. So far, the theory is: Tiffany is alive, but hurt, and they intend to keep her for some reason. The most obvious theories are money or revenge.”

“We’re getting a team ready to parse any threats made to Tiffany and track down the IP addresses of those individuals because we intend to identify them,” added Maddox.

“If I happen to know a highly intelligent IT guy already doing that, would you be interested in the data he turns up?” I asked. All three looked at me skeptically. “I’ll take that as a yes. I’ll have a copy of it sent over once it’s finished.”

“There’s no point in us repeating the work. That’s a great help, thank you. We’ll need you to bill us for a consultant’s fee. What do you say to… oh, I don’t know… how about a dollar?” asked Maddox.

“I’m reasonably sure a whole dollar is acceptable to the agency.” I didn’t need to add that the value of a good working relationship far exceeded any monetary value. Plus, I would have given it to them for free so it was a dollar more than I expected. I wondered if Solomon would add it to my paycheck and, if so, what candy bar I should purchase. But only, I decided with a guilty swallow, if Tiffany were found.

“What else do you know?” asked Maddox. “According to Garrett, you know more than us about Tiffany Rose.”

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