“Trey?” he said. “Change of plans. I’ve just got a few things up at the house to load and then—No, I’ve got them tied up.”

Who was he talking with, I wondered. And then I remembered that Trey was one of the names on the message slips on Karen’s desk.

Of course, so was Jasper. And the slips were dated Monday or Tuesday, when Jasper was already dead, which meant someone had been trying to reach Karen and pretending to be Jasper. Why?

“Dude,” Freddy was saying on the phone, “that’s way over the top. We can just leave them tied up here, no problem. And if—”

That’s all I caught before he slammed the door behind him.

We all looked at each other.

“What’s he up to?” Aubrey asked.

From outside, I heard the sound of a car door slamming.

“This is what Dad and Dr. Blake have been investigating lately, isn’t it?” I asked, looking at Rob.

“Probably,” he said. “I haven’t been involved in it for months.”

“But you were involved?”

“They sent me out to find out whatever I could about the Belle Glade Bird Farm,” he said. “That’s how I got started doing the doggie dancing. Sorry,” he added, turning to Aubrey.

“And I thought you were interested in learning,” she said.

“I was—I am!” Rob protested. “When they sent me, I didn’t realize how cool it was going to be. They were annoyed when you went to Maine and there was no reason for me to come out here for the rest of the summer, but I was relieved. I figured by the time you came back, they’d have finished their raid, and it would be okay again, and I could keep working on the dancing without them expecting me to spy on anyone. I mean, I felt pretty guilty, spying on Aubrey’s cousin.”

“Why should you feel guilty about spying on a major drug and wildlife smuggler?” I asked.

“Major?” Arroyo said, with a laugh. “That’s rich. Freddy isn’t a major anything. Except maybe a major idiot.”

“How do you know?” I asked. “And for that matter, who are you, Mr. Arroyo, and what are you doing here, anyway?”

“Carlos Arroyo,” he said. “U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. I’d show you my ID, but . . . ”

“You can do that when we get loose,” I said. “Are you one of the guys who interrogated Henry and Phyllis Blanke?”

“Blanke? Who are they?”

“Never mind,” I said. He sounded puzzled, so maybe Fish and Wildlife wasn’t the only federal or state agency snooping around Caerphilly. “So you don’t think Freddy’s a major player in the smuggling game.”

“He’s chum,” Arroyo said. “We were hoping to follow him to the big sharks.”

“The drug suppliers,” Rob said, nodding wisely.

“Well, I’m sure the DEA would be interested in them,” Arroyo said. “We’d bring them in once we had enough evidence to make our move. But we mainly want the guys who’ve been doing the finch laundering.”