Derek called Cas, but it went to voicemail. Several hours passed before Cas returned the call.

“I saw your article called ‘Out of Africa,’” Derek said. “I mean, it was your article, right?”

“Yes, that’s correct,” Cas said. “What did you think?”

Derek was tempted to say “not much” but he refrained. “I’m confused,” he said instead. “When did we discuss writing a piece about my father in Ghana? Had you planned this beforehand?”

“Your father and I talked about it and we decided to collaborate on a piece. My editor approved, so we went ahead with it.”

“When was this?”

“Last month sometime.”

Why was his tone so vague? “Last month?” Derek said. “And neither of you mentioned it to me?”

“I assumed Gordon had discussed it with you,” Cas said. “He said he would. He might just have been too preoccupied.”

“When did he tell you he would talk to me about it?” Derek questioned, trying to nail this down.

“Look, I don’t remember exactly, Derek,” Cas said with some impatience. “Hey, I’m an old man. I can’t keep all these dates in my head.”

He was trying to pass it off as a joke, but Derek was far from amused. “Sorry, but something just doesn’t add up. What’s going on? Just level with me. Did the two of you plan this from the very beginning and decide to keep me out of it?”

“It’s not like that at all,” Cas protested. “Please don’t think of it that way. We felt this would be an opportunity to explore the Internet scam phenomenon.”

“So, he’s staying in Ghana to carry out some kind of investigation? This is ludicrous.”

“Look, Derek,” Cas said, his voice tightening, “your father wants to get to the bottom of who did this to him, and I don’t blame him. Why should he lie down and take it? Why should these conmen assholes get away with this kind of shit?”

Derek swore under his breath. He was angry and bewildered. Why hadn’t his father shared this crazy plan to remain in Ghana to investigate who had defrauded him? Derek found himself grimly answering his own question: because it’s crazy, that’s why. Crazy enough to make Derek smell a rat. And Cas was the rat.

Derek took in a good breath and let it out quickly in a mixture of weariness and frustration. And now something else was troubling him. “Has Dad communicated with you in the past couple of days?” he asked Cas. “He hasn’t been answering any of my messages.”

“If I recall, he emailed me at the end of March sometime. I expect he’ll drop you a line soon.”

Cas said he had to go and ended the call. Derek returned to the Observer article and stared at it until the text and images blurred and his mind was brimming with suspicion. Had Cas manipulated Gordon into staying in Ghana in order to get a write-up in the Observer out of it? And an even starker, more cynical thought struck Derek and left him cold. Had Cas engineered this entire situation from the start?