Page 59 of Pied Sniper

“We can,” agreed Solomon. “You can either come with us, or you can take the address of the office and we’ll follow you there.”

“I’ll take the ride. I don’t have a car. Can we leave now? I really want to see Jonathan.”

“Sure,” said Solomon. “Let’s go.”

Grace followed us quietly to the car and when we were inside, I said, “As Tiffany’s assistant, you must know a lot of things about her that she hasn’t aired. Is there anything you can think of that might help us find her?”

Grace wrinkled her nose. “Like what?”

“Like, did she have any credible threats?”

“Oh, all the time. She got doxed regularly online, but lots of influencers do.”

“Did you notice anyone suspicious following her? Especially after she moved to Montgomery?”

“No. I wasn’t really looking though so I can’t say for certain, but I didn’t get the feeling that anyone was watching us, if that’s what you mean?”

“No cars following you? Seeing the same person in different locations, like at a coffee shop, and then at the grocery store?”

“No, but Tiffany didn’t shop for groceries, I did. Sometimes she would go shopping by herself. I didn’t accompany her anywhere.”

“What about when she walked her dog?”

“The only time she ever walked that dog was when she was filming for her channel, otherwise I did, or the doorman at her apartment in New York did. She hardly ever went out, except to film, excluding Wednesdays.”

“Where did she go on Wednesdays?”

Grace frowned. “I don’t know. She never said. She just had me block it out on her schedule shortly after she moved here. I figured it was something embarrassing like a high-colonic or getting her back waxed.”

I gasped. “She did that?”

“Of course! And be sure to spread it around.” Grace winked.

I sighed. That wasn’t much help either. “Look,” said Grace. “All I know is she got into that big, stupid car, which she could barely park, and went out for a few hours. She’s been doing it for the past six weeks. I don’t know where she went or what she did but she never put anything in her calendar. She just had me blank it out. Whatever it was, she didn’t even want me to know about it and, to be totally honest, I really didn’t care.”

“Could she be having a secret tryst with a man?”

“If she were, I would expect her to look much happier. Plus, she would have been crowing about it.”

“Did she ever return home with anything new?”

“She brought in takeout once. For herself. She told me to go home. Home here is a tiny hotel room that she barely covers the cost of.” Grace rolled her eyes again. I got the message: Tiffany was a selfish, demanding boss. She’d been going somewhere secretly and regularly, which was puzzling but I hoped to learn more once I examined her laptop in more depth. I decided to switch to a different line of questioning.

“Did she ever receive anything that struck you as strange? Flowers or candy? A note she was secretive about?”

“I don’t think so. I handled most of her mail.” Grace paused, looking thoughtful. “I don’t feel right saying this but I wouldn’t put it past Tiffany to send shit to herself. She once told me a stalker on her trail would be cool and she could film all kinds of content that would make great viewing and probably land her on some talk shows. I didn’t agree but I think she actually considered doing it until Abigail talked her out of it.”

“Abigail didn’t mention that to us,” I said to Solomon.

“She probably had fifty other hare-brained schemes to shoot down ahead of that one,” scoffed Grace. “Are we nearly there yet?”

“This is our building,” said Solomon when he turned into the parking lot entrance.

“Did Tiffany have many friends here?” I asked.

“I don’t think Tiffany has many friends anywhere,” snorted Grace. “She has an uncanny knack for pissing people off.”

A few minutes later, we entered our office. Delgado looked up from his desk where he was reading paperwork and got to his feet. “How is he?” asked Solomon.

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