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“You mean after he kills this Weasel person?”
“Exactly.”
“El Tigre has killed three people here in Whispering Bay since this whole thing started.” I count them off with my fingers. “Ken Cameron in the city park. Mark Rinaldi at The Bistro. And Eddie O‘Leary at The Harbor House. But the feds have only been concentrating on The Bistro. According to Agent Billings, El Tigre always leaves a clue. It’s like a big gotcha to the feds. Which means there’s probably two clues still left to find. One in the city park and one at The Harbor House.”
“Maybe the feds already found them.”
“I don’t think so. They put all their resources into finding the clue at The Bistro. Their main focus is on keeping Joey alive. Catching El Tigre would have just been an added benefit.” I jump off the couch. “If we leave right now we’ll have time to check out the park before going to my parents for dinner.”
Will makes a face. “Do we have to?”
I make a face back.
He sighs. “Okay. I’m driving.”
Will leads the way through the city park, shining a flashlight on the grass. It’s just after six, but it’s already dark. The park lights provide adequate lighting for safety, but unlike a few nights ago when Paco found Ken Cameron’s body, the nearby soccer field lights are turned off. “Tell me why we’re doing this again?”
“Because it’s a loose end and I hate loose ends.”
Paco trots between Will and me sniffing at the ground and marking the shrubs along the way. When we get to just a few feet away from the sable palm where we found Ken Cameron, Paco stills, like he remembers.
Will shines his flashlight at the base of the tree. “What are we looking for exactly?”
“I don’t know. It could be anything, but it’s something El Tigre took off Ken Cameron’s body after he killed him.”
“Like a trophy?”
“Exactly, except he doesn’t keep it to commemorate his kill, he returns it to the scene of the crime to show the feds how much smarter he is than they are.”
“Sick bastard.”
“I’ll say.”
Will leans over and picks something up off the ground. “Here’s a bottle cap. Probably not what we’re looking for, huh?” He tosses it into a nearby trashcan.
The two of us along with Paco scour the area going a few feet off in each direction, then make our way back to the base of the tree again. We repeat the pattern until we’ve checked out the entire radius. Even with the park lights on it’s still not optimal. This would be so much easier during the daytime.
“Maybe you’re right,” I say, “Maybe the feds did come here and find the clue. After all, there’s no reason they’d share that with me.” I glance at my watch. “We only have about twenty minutes till we’re supposed to be at my parents.”
“You want to give up?” Will asks.
“Let’s give it one more try. If we don’t find anything, then I say we call it a night.”
We start back at the base of the tree and begin to work our way around the area when Paco sits and starts to stare up the sable palm. “Oh God, not another squirrel.”
Will whips around. “Did you say squirrel?”
More than anyone Will knows how I react to the horrible little creatures.
“What are you staring at, boy?” He aims his flashlight at the spot that Paco seems to be concentrating on so hard. “Lucy, I think there’s something sticking out of one of the palm boots.” Will reaches into the palm boot and pulls out what looks like a piece of white string. He turns it over in his hand. It’s a shoelace.
“This is from a running shoe,” he says quietly.
There’s no way a shoelace ends up tucked inside a palm tree unless someone placed it there on purpose.
I try to visualize Ken’s body the way it looked the night Paco and I found him. He was still wearing the same jogging outfit I’d seen him in earlier in the day. “I’d bet you anything Ken Cameron’s body went to the morgue missing a shoelace on one of his sneakers.”
“Should we call the cops?” Will asks.
