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“After today? They’d probably hang up on me.”
“Travis won’t.”
Maybe. Maybe not. He was pretty mad at me. Or disappointed. I’m not sure which is worse.
“Pretty clever of El Tigre to hide the clue in the actual tree,” Will says.
I shine my flashlight back to the spot where Will pulled out the shoelace. It’s just a bit above my head, so I don’t have to reach up very high. “Maybe he left something else in there too.” I feel around, but there’s nothing. Then I spot a brightly colored thread. I ease it out. It’s about six inches long and pink.
Will examines it. “Do you think this came from Ken Cameron’s clothing?”
“No. He was wearing dark colored jogging pants and a blue hoodie. No pink.”
I rub the thread between my fingers. “Will…this isn’t a fiber or any kind of material.”
“Was is it then?”
“It’s a hair.”
Chapter Twenty
My brain starts doing this weird sorting thing, pushing facts and bits of info all around until everything lines up and makes sense.
Holy wow.
I know who El Tigre is. All this time it was right there in front of me, staring me straight in the face.
Will examines the strand closer. “How did a pink hair get inside a palm boot?”
“It was put there. Alongside the shoestring.”
“By El Tigre?”
“She just couldn’t help herself. Think, Will. Who do you know that has pink hair? Or at least had pink hair the day of the murder.”
Will laughs nervously. “Lucy, you’re not suggesting—”
“Sally Reynolds is El Tigre.”
Will is quiet for a few seconds. Then he begins to pace around the tree. The pacing is something that I normally do while Will watches on, but I suppose the idea that a notorious hitman…er, hitwoman? Let’s go with hit person, has been under his nose this whole time is a lot to take in.
“I can’t believe I’m going to encourage this but tell me your reasoning here.”
“Number one, Sally conveniently came to town just a couple of weeks before Joey and the feds showed up. Where did she come from?”
Will thinks on this a second. “Miami? Yeah, she worked at one of the Dade County library branches.”
“I bet her references were excellent.”
“They were the best I’ve ever seen.”
“I also bet they’re not real.”
“She got to town before the whole FBI thing happened. Explain that one.”
“The feds didn’t just hop on a plane and take Joey somewhere random. They had that safe house in place for weeks before they pulled Joey out of the mob. I already told you, El Tigre has to be working with one of the FBI agents. Maybe it’s even Billings herself.”
&nb
