Page 46 of Pied Sniper

“No further instructions from the suspects yet?”

“None,” she said and this time, all the fight seemed to drop out of her voice. I felt bad for calling her and positing the theory that Tiffany might have created this mess herself, but after the evidence in her notes pointed to it, I had little choice. “Your associates just got here and they’re setting stuff up so I guess they’ll let you know?”

“They will,” I assured her. When the screen went black, I reached for the phone and tucked it into my jacket pocket.

Solomon turned in his chair, leaning back and looking over at the patient man. “What’s up, José?” Solomon asked.

“Something weird showed up on the helpline,” said the waiting man, José.

“Something weird always shows up,” said Solomon. “What made this one stand out?”

“The woman said she was Tiffany’s mom. She’s called in seventeen times already.”

“Tiffany’s mom died when she was young,” I said. “She talked about it online a few times.”

“Well, this woman is pretty insistent. She says her husband is Tiffany’s father too. I spoke to them both the last time and they were pretty convincing except…” José hesitated.

“What?” asked Solomon.

José shook his head, a flash of embarrassment crossing his face, like he regretted bringing it up. “It’s just that they both called Tiffany by her surname, Rose, and when I corrected them, they insistedIwas wrong and they had her birth certificate to prove it. They could be making it all up. She isn’t the only woman calling claiming to be Tiffany’s mother.”

“Sounds like they saw the news report and got it stuck in their heads thatRosewas her name. It’s a common girl’s name so it’s not hard to see how they tripped up,” said Delgado.

José nodded. “I figured something like that. It just seems weird that they keep calling. When I spoke to them last, they said they were going to the papers instead.”

“If they call again, take down their number and tell them someone will call them back,” said Solomon.

“I tried that but they wouldn’t leave a number.”

“They’ll call back if they’re that insistent. If they claim to have evidence, we should verify it before ruling it out.”

“Wait,” I said, holding up a hand, “did they ask about a reward?”

José shrugged. “Yeah. Most all the callers have. I told them there isn’t one.”

“They probably aren’t viewers and don’t know her family background. I bet they crossed their fingers and hoped there was something in it for them,” I said. “Thanks for bringing it to our attention.”

“I’m sorry for wasting your time.” José stepped towards the door and patted the door frame as he paused, clearly uncertain whether he was being dismissed.

“Not in the slightest.” I offered him a warm smile. “Hopefully, something will come up soon.”

He hesitated. “There is one more thing… but again, it might be nothing.”

“Go ahead,” said Solomon.

“We got a call a few minutes ago from a young woman with a possible sighting of Jonathan Brett. He’s Tiffany’s boyfriend, right? She said she saw him in a bar downtown and he looked drunk.”

I checked my watch. “At this hour?”

“Some people like to get a headstart,” said José, holding back a smile at his joke.

“Did she say where she saw him?”

“No, just downtown. She also mentioned a reward. I told if there was a reward it would be for information leading to Tiffany’s location. We had a brief debate about the value of spotting the boyfriend and I told her the boyfriend was merely a person of interest. We hope he might provide more leads. Then I asked her to give me the location first. She demanded money again and then told me where to go before she hung up. Sorry.”

“Did you get her name?”

“No. She declined to give it after calling me a few choice appellations.”

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