One - I had been staying with Tiffany in Stamford but had left to go to Charlotte for Hunter's first Birthday. I had planned to return to stay with Tiffany and I know that's what she wanted me to do but work interfered. At any other time, when there were layoffs, the exit interviews were done on the last day of the month. But in June of 2011, they were skewed and had to be done on June 24. So I had to return home so that I could be in the office to get the checks and forms to send out to the employees. But that was okay because she was going to come home the following Tuesday so that we could make the final arrangements on leasing a car.
Two - Because I wasn't in Stamford, I went to dinner at a friend's. Around 10:30 pm, Tiffany called me sobbing. We talked about her anguish regarding a text exchange with Kelly and then she just hung up the phone. When I tried to call her back, she didn't answer. I was so distraught that I sent her the last text I was ever to send her, telling her "I love you more than life itself". But to my great sorrow, she never picked up that text.
I sat there at my friend's, sobbing, a fear like no other taking hold of me, telling my friend that I couldn't bear it, couldn't live, couldn't go on if something happened to Tiffany, not knowing what to do. Wanting to just race out of there and drive down to CT like a bat out of hell but letting myself be convinced that it wasn't a wise move and that everything would be all right. Mother to the rescue wouldn't go over very well again.
Shortly after that, I exchanged text messages with her former boyfriend and good friend, Ryan. He had talked to her...oh my goodness, what a relief! He had calmed her down and was going to talk to her later...in an hour or so. She had promised she would be fine and she had never broken a promise to him. Based on that promise, I would wait to hear back from him and we decided there was no need to call the police, which would cause Tiffany embarrassment.
Three - Next thing I knew, Ryan was texting me that he was unable to reach her at the agreed-upon time and that both her phones, personal and business, were off. Now we didn't know what to do or think. It was close to midnight so should I drive down there? But then, a ray of hope, her business phone was turned back on although she wasn't answering it. She turned it back on, so that was a good sign, right?
Four - Unknown to us at the time, sometime during that night, Tiffany called another person in CT asking for drugs to help her kill herself. It was probably Oxycodone but she didn't get any. The person didn't call anyone or the police because they thought that she was probably in contact with someone who knew her state of mind at the time. The problem was that nobody knew any of this was going on at all. This is a horror of all horrors.
Five - Kelly usually always told Troy when she talked to Tiffany but this particular night she didn't mention that they had had a text exchange so when I called the next morning to inquire if Troy knew anything about what had been said, he had no clue. That whole exchange was a bit odd and unlike Tiffany...she often called, causing speculation that if they had spoken with her, maybe they would have picked up something wrong in her voice.
When I look at all of these things together, it seems so clear that if only one course of action had taken a different path, the outcome of that night might have been completely different. We often say that it was as if she had no chance at all, the odds were against her. And there were forces working against all of the rest of us, as well, to prevent us from helping her, saving her...she was in the eye of the hurricane, lost in the "perfect storm".
Last picture taken of Tiffany on June 17
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