“Not quite the Four Seasons,” Jack said.

Laurie smiled. “It’s charming. I’m happy. There’s not a bug in my room. That had been my main worry.”

The proprietors, Esteban’s brother-in-law, Florenico, and his wife, Celestina, had prepared a huge feast. The main course was a local fish served with a turniplike plant called “malanga.” For dessert there was a type of pudding along with exotic fruit. An ample supply of ice-cold Cameroonean beer helped wash it all down.

The combination of plentiful food and beer took a toll on the exhausted travelers. It wasn’t long before all of them were fighting drooping eyelids. With some effort, they dragged themselves upstairs to their separate rooms, full of plans to rise early and head south in the morning.

Bertram climbed the stairs to Siegfried’s office. He was exhausted. It was almost eight-thirty at night, and he’d been up since five-thirty that morning to accompany the animal handlers out to Isla Francesca to help get the mass retrieval under way. They’d worked all day and only returned to the animal center an hour earlier.

Aurielo had long since gone home, so Bertram walked directly into the manager’s office. Siegfried was by the window facing the square with a glass in his hand. He was staring over at the hospital. The only light in the room was from the candle in the skull, just as it had been three nights before. Its flame flickered from the action of the overhead fan, sending shadows dancing across the stuffed animal tro-phies.

“Make yourself a drink,” Siegfried said, without turning around. He knew it was Bertram, since they’d talked on the phone a half an hour earlier and made plans to meet.

Bertram was more of a wine drinker than an imbiber of hard alcohol, but under the circumstances he poured himself a double scotch. He sipped the fiery fluid as he joined Siegfried at the window. The lights of the hospital lab complex glowed warmly in the moist tropical night.

“Did you know Taylor Cabot was coming?” Bertram asked.

“I hadn’t the faintest idea,” Siegfried said.

“What did you do with him?” Bertram asked.

Siegfried gestured toward the hospital. “He’s at the Inn. I had the chief surgeon move out of what we call the presidential suite. Of course, he was none too happy. You know how these egotistical doctors are. But what was I supposed to do? It’s not like I’m running a hotel here.”

“Do you know why Cabot came?” Bertram asked.

“Raymond said that he came specifically to evaluate the bonobo program,” Siegfried said.

“I was afraid of that,” Bertram said.

“It’s just our luck,” Siegfried complained. “The program has been running like a Swiss clock for years on end, and just when we have a problem, he shows up.”

“What did you do with Raymond?” Bertram asked.

“He’s over there, too,” Siegfried said. “He’s a pain in the ass. He wanted to be away from Cabot, but where was I supposed to put him: in my house? No thank you!”