Page 89 of Pied Sniper

“He’s fine. I found him in the apartment and he was a little scared but he’s being looked after by the police vet. Tiffany’s assistant might foster him.”

“That’s a relief. I guess,” said Davy, looking anything but relieved.

“And the money?” I prompted. “How did Tiffany know?”

“I told her that I was in a good position to look after her now. I’ve saved up all I can for starting our married life. I can provide Tiffany with whatever she wants. I’ve got a nice apartment until we put a down payment on a house and she won’t have to work or make those videos anymore.”

“I think Tiffany already has everything she wants,” I said.

“Yeah, but she still has to pump out all those videos to make money and some of her followers are creepy. They seem obsessed with her.”

“I think Tiffany likes making those videos. That’s why she has hundreds of them. They help her get sponsorship deals and other opportunities,” I said, wondering if I should feel sorry for this guy or tell him to wake up and smell the coffee.

“That’s what she said, but now she won’t have to. She can be Rose again.”

“Did she ask you how much you saved or did you tell her?”

“I don’t remember.” Davy glanced away, giving me the opportunity to share a look with Solomon. I could easily see Tiffany asking him very directly how much he had even if she had no intention of ditching her flashy life for his humdrum one. However, I could also see Davy shoving the amount in her face as a lure. He had every right to be proud of saving so much, but I wasn’t sure he did it for the right reasons. He was trying to buy a woman who didn’t want to be bought, at least, not for so little. I was pretty sure Tiffany would have a different opinion if a billionaire made the same offer. “I might have embellished a little bit,” he added in a small voice.

Solomon drew a deep breath and said nothing, which was good because the only word I could think of was: idiot. Finally, as the silence grew more uncomfortable, he asked, “Where were you when Tiffany was kidnapped?”

Davy glanced away. “I don’t want to say.”

I leaned in, and in my most menacing voice, I said, “Tell us now or we’re turning you over to the police.”

“Fine! Jeez! I was with my therapist, okay? She’s helping me get over Tiffany so I can move on.”

“And your therapist will verify that?”

“Yes, and I got a parking ticket while I was there. I’ll show you.” Davy got up and hurried over to the desk in the corner. He scrabbled through the small stack of paper, cluttering the right side, and returned, waving the parking ticket over his head. “Here!”

I checked it. “He’s telling the truth. His car was parked miles away from Tiffany’s apartment only minutes before she was kidnapped.”

“And here’s my therapist’s business card,” said Davy, pushing it toward me. “You can call her. I’ll text her and tell her to confirm my appointment. I didn’t hurt Tiffany! I would never! I love her!”

“I believe you,” I told him, “and so will the police when they see this video.”

“But they’ll hurt her!”

“Davy, that’s not on you,” I told him, “they’re looking for her already and this kind of clue could break the case wide open. You would be saving her. Wouldn’t that feel great? Knowing that you helped save Tiffany?”

“But I’m going to do that when I take the money to them!”

“You’re twenty thousand dollars short.”

“They won’t know that right away! Plus, it’s still a lot of money!”

“They’ll know,” said Solomon as a knock came on the door. Seemingly unsurprised, Solomon went to answer it. When he returned, Garrett and Maddox were with him, both of them wearing overalls and carrying toolboxes. I wondered if either had bothered to add real tools, or they just held a couple of bricks to give the appearance of weighty tools.

I wanted to askhow?but I hated to appear like I was out of the loop in front of Davy. “This is Lieutenant Graves and Special Agent Maddox,” said Solomon. “I sent them a message asking them to come. I have a plan.”

“And you’re going to be the hero in the middle of it,” said Garrett.

“I don’t know what’s going on,” said Davy, dropping onto the couch. “What if they’re watching?”

“No one is watching but we took precautions just in case,” said Maddox, pointing to his maintenance worker overalls. “If you could get us up to speed, that would be great, then we can fine tune our plan.”

I told them what Tiffany’s sister told me, how we tracked Davy down and that he was willing to put up most of the money to rescue Tiffany. I was careful to include Tiffany’s knowledge that he had the money prior to her tearful request because something about it rankled me. Did she tell the kidnappers he was good for the money after Abigail didn’t give them enough? There was no other reason to contact him. He wasn’t a regular feature in Tiffany’s life, unlike the far wealthier Jonathan Brett. And now that I thought about it, wasn’t it strange that Jonathan was never contacted by these people? If anyone were likely to scrape up the money, surely it would be the person that was rumored to love the victim and desperately want her back. The idea that was niggling me came clear all at once: of course Jonathan wasn’t contacted. Tiffany knew he wouldn’t pay any ransom, but this chump, Davy would. And she’d asked for it before the kidnappers arranged the drop with Abigail.

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