Melanie put her hands on either side of her face and squeezed. “I’ve got to get ahold of myself,” she said.

“I feel numb again,” Candace admitted. “We’ve gone from one form of captivity to another.”

Kevin sighed. “At least they didn’t put us in the jail.”

Outside they heard multiple car engines start and vehicles pull away. Kevin went out onto the veranda and saw all the cars leaving except for Cameron’s. Glancing up into the sky, he noted that twilight was deepening into night. A few stars were visible.

Turning back into the house, Kevin went directly to the phone. Picking it up, he heard what he’d expected to hear: nothing.

“Is there a dial tone?” Melanie asked from behind him.

Kevin replaced the receiver. He shook his head. “I’m afraid not.”

“I didn’t expect so,” Melanie said.

“Let’s take showers,” Candace suggested.

“Good idea,” Melanie said, making an effort to sound positive.

After agreeing to meet in a half hour, Kevin walked back through the dining room and pushed open the kitchen door. As dirty as he was, he didn’t want to enter. The smell of roast chicken teased his nose.

Esmeralda had leaped to her feet the moment the door opened.

“Hello, Esmeralda,” Kevin said.

“Welcome, Mr. Marshall,” Esmeralda said.

“You didn’t come out to greet us like you always do,” Kevin said.

“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.