“I was afraid the manager was still here,” Esmeralda said. “He and the security man had come up earlier to say you were coming home and that you would not be able to leave the house.”
“That’s what they told me, too,” Kevin said.
“I’ve made food for you,” Esmeralda said. “Are you hungry?”
“Very much,” Kevin said. “But there are two guests.”
“I know,” Esmeralda said. “The manager told me that as well.”
“Can we eat in a half hour?” Kevin asked.
“Certainly.”
Kevin nodded. He was lucky to have Esmeralda. He turned to leave, but Esmeralda called out to him. He hesitated, holding the door ajar.
“There are many bad things happening in the town,” she said. “Not only for you and your friends, but also for strangers. I have a cousin who works at the hospital. She told me that four Americans came from New York and went into the hospital. They talked with the patient who got the liver from the bonobo.”
“Oh?” Kevin questioned. Strangers coming from New York to talk to one of the transplant patients was a thoroughly unanticipated development.
“They just walked in,” Esmeralda continued. “They were not supposed to be there. They said they were doctors. Security was called, and the army and the guards came to take them away. They are in the jail.”
“My word,” Kevin commented, while his mind veered off on a tangent. New York reminded him of the surprising call he’d gotten a week previously in the middle of the night from the GenSys CEO, Taylor Cabot. It had been about the patient Carlo Franconi, who’d been killed in New York. Taylor Cabot had asked if someone could figure out what had happened to Carlo from an autopsy.
“My cousin knows some of the soldiers who were there,” Esmeralda continued. “They said that the Americans will be given to the Ministers. If they are, they will be killed. I thought you should know.”
Kevin felt a chill descend his spine. He knew such a fate was what Siegfried had in mind for him, Melanie, and Candace. But who were these Americans? Had they been involved with the autopsy on Carlo Franconi?
“It is all very serious,” Esmeralda said. “And I am afraid for you. I know you went to the forbidden island.”
“How do you know that?” Kevin questioned with amazement.
“In our town people talk,” Esmeralda said. “When I said you were gone unexpectedly and that the manager was looking for you, Alphonse Kimba told my husband that you had gone to the island. He was sure.”
“I appreciate your concern,” Kevin said evasively and preoccupied with his thoughts. “Thank you for what you have told me.”
Kevin went back to his own room. When he looked at himself in the mirror, he was surprised how exhausted and filthy he appeared. Running a hand over his beginning beard, he noticed something more disturbing. He was beginning to look a lot like his double!
After a shave, shower, and clean clothes, Kevin felt revived. The entire time, he mused about the Americans in the jail under the town hall. He was very curious and would have liked nothing better than to go and talk with them.
Kevin found the two women were equally refreshed. The shower had transformed Melanie into her irrepressible self, and she complained bitterly about the selection of clothes she’d been offered. “Nothing goes with anything,” she complained.
They settled in the dining room, and Esmeralda began serving the meal. Melanie laughed, after looking around at the surroundings. “You know, I find it almost funny that a few hours ago we were living like Neanderthals. Then, presto, we’re in the lap of luxury. It’s like a time machine.”
“If only we didn’t have to worry about what tomorrow will bring,” Candace said.
“Let’s at least enjoy our last supper,” Melanie said with her typical wry humor. “Besides, the more I think about it, the less likely I think it is that they can just foist us off on the Equatoguineans. I mean, they wouldn’t be able to get away with it. This is almost the beginning of the third millennium. The world is too small.”
“But I’m worried…” Candace began.
“Excuse me,” Kevin interrupted. “Esmeralda told me something curious that I’d like to share with you.” Kevin started by mentioning the phone call he got in the middle of the night from Taylor Cabot. Then he told the story about the arrival and subsequent incarceration of the New Yorkers in the town’s jail.
“Well, this’s just what I’m talking about,” Melanie said. “A couple of smart people do an autopsy in New York, and they end up here in Cogo. And we thought we were so isolated. I tell you the world’s getting smaller every day.”
“So you think these Americans came here following a trail that started with Franconi?” Kevin asked. His intuition was telling him the same thing, but he wanted reinforcement.
“What else could it be?” Melanie questioned. “There’s no question in my mind.”
“Candace, what do you think?” Kevin asked.
“I agree with Melanie,” Candace said. “Otherwise, it’s too much of a coincidence.”
“Thank you, Candace!” Melanie said. While twirling her empty wineglass, she looked menacingly at Kevin. “I hate to interrupt this fascinating conversation, but where’s some of that great wine of yours, bucko?”
“Gosh, I totally forgot,” Kevin said. “Sorry!” He pushed back from the table and went into the butler’s pantry that he’d filled with his mostly untouched wine allocation. As he was looking through the labels, which held little meaning for him, he was suddenly struck by how much wine he had. Counting the bottles in a small area and extrapolating it to allow for the entire room, he realized he had more than three hundred bottles.
“My word,” Kevin said as a plan began to form in his head. He grabbed an armload of bottles and pushed through the swinging door into the kitchen.
Esmeralda got up from where she was sitting having her own dinner.
“I have a favor to ask,” Kevin said. “Would you take these bottles of wine and a corkscrew down to the soldiers at the foot of the stairs?”
“So many?” she questioned.
“Yes, and I’d like you to take even more to the soldiers in the town hall. If they ask what the occasion is, tell them that I’m going away, and I wanted them to enjoy the wine, not the manager.”
A smile spread across Esmeralda’s face. She looked at Kevin. “I think I understand.” From a cupboard she got the canvas bag that she used for shopping and loaded it with wine bottles. A moment later, she disappeared through the butler’s pantry, heading for the front hall.
Kevin made several trips back and forth from his wine collection to the kitchen table. Soon he had several dozen bottles lined up, including a couple bottles of port.
“What’s going on?” Melanie enquired after sticking her head into the kitchen. “We’re waiting and where’s the wine?”
Kevin handed her one of the bottles. He said he’d be a few minutes more and they should start eating without him. Melanie rolled the bottle over to look at the label.
“Oh, my, Château Latour!” she said. She flashed Kevin an appreciative grin, before ducking back into the dining room.
Esmeralda returned to say that the soldiers were very pleased. “But I thought I’d take them some bread,” she added. “It will stimulate their thirst.”
“Marvelous idea,” Kevin said. He filled the canvas bag with wine and tested its weight. It was heavy, but he thought Esmeralda could handle it.
“Let me know how many soldiers are at the town hall,” Kevin said as he handed her the bag. “We want to make sure there is plenty for everyone.”
“There are usually four at night,” Esmeralda said.
“Then ten bottles should be fine,” Kevin said. “At least for starters.” He smiled, and Esmeralda smiled back.
Taking a deep breath, Kevin pushed through the door into the dining room. He wanted to see what the women thought of his idea.
Kevin rolled over and looked at the clock. It was just before midnight, so he sat up and put his feet over the side of the bed. He turned off the alarm clock that had been set to go off at twelve p.m. sharp. Then he stretched.