Page 55 of Tango
“Take another look at that video and focus on him. I know it’ll hurt, but?—”
“I’ll do it.” He ends the call, so I shove the phone back into my pocket.
“Ramiro didn’t have any tattoos,” Alice says. “He always wanted one—we’d even talked about getting one together but never did.”
“Tucker?” Dylan calls out as he opens the front door. Tango jumps up off his bed to greet him and Delta.
“In my office,” I call back.
Seconds later, Dylan walks into the room.
“What do you see here?” I ask him. I don’t want to give him any more details than that because I want his impression without my influence.
My twin leans in toward the screen to get a closer look, careful to stay out of the way of the image. “A tattoo,” he replies. “Partially hidden by the collar of the shirt. How did we miss that?”
“Because we weren’t looking for it. We’d already assumed it was him in this video. But Ramiro had no tattoos,” I tell him. “If we had a body, we could confirm it with the coroner.” As of now, Ramiro’s body has yet to be recovered. Another anomaly. Why leave Logan’s body in his apartment but keep Ramiro’s hidden?
“Does that mean someone else died too?” Alice asks.
“Not necessarily,” Dylan replies.
The wheels in my mind are turning a million miles a minute. “That’s why we couldn’t prove it’s a fake. It’s not.” I stare at the screen. Even as I narrow in on the grainy face of the woman on the screen—she looks strikingly like Alice. But if that’s not Ramiro on the floor, then we know that’s not Alice.
“Someone staged this.” Dylan crosses his arms. “Because they knew you’d debunk a fake.”
“But that person really looks like me,” Alice says. “Even looking at her now—it’s blurry, but the size, build, hair length—it’s all the same. Aside from the braid and her choice of wardrobe, that could be me.”
“They went through a lot of trouble to frame you for this murder.” I turn to Alice. “I need to know who could have played those parts. Anyone else at Web Safe who looked similar enough to you to pull it off? Anyone at work who wouldn’t have an issue doing something that would get you locked up?”
“You think it’s someone who works for them?” Dylan asks.
“Yeah. They wouldn’t have trusted anyone else enough to bring them in. They would’ve wanted these two to remain close.”
Alice considers, chewing on her bottom lip as she does. I have to look away as desire hits me out of nowhere. Get it together, Tucker Hunt. You’re not a lovestruck teenager. You’re a grown man trying to keep her out of prison for murder and treason.
“I don’t—wait.” She tilts her head to the side, even as her gaze is distant. “Maybe one. But her hair is blonde, not black.”
“It could be a wig,” Dylan replies.
“Oh, good point! Kara Beverly. She’s had it out for me since I took the promotion she was hoping for. But we’re the same size. Even shared a few outfits before she decided she hated me.”
I shift my attention back to the screen, feeling a bit more hope than I have since receiving this video. Our first actual lead. Now all we can do is pray it’ll lead somewhere. “I guess it’s time to see what we can get out of good old Kara Beverly then.”
Chapter 20
Alice
“Here you go,” Dylan says as he climbs back into the car with a tray of coffees.
“You might be my favorite twin at the moment,” I tell him, sending a side-eye to Tucker, who glances back at me through the rearview mirror. Ever since I came clean to him, Dylan’s been a lot friendlier with me. Something that came in handy first thing this morning when Tucker tried to leave me behind.
“I told you it was safer on the ranch.”
“And I told you that you’re going to need me if you want any actual answers.”
He’d been adamant that leaving me behind was the best option. Honestly, the only reason I’m here is because he was worried I’d find my way here despite their warnings. That, and Dylan came to bat for me and said it was better for them to keep an eye on me anyway.
So here I am. Sitting in the backseat of Tucker’s rented truck outside Kara’s apartment, waiting for her to get home from work.
