Page 49 of Mastermind

A recorded message from a young-sounding woman answers: “This is Hailey. You better have a damn good reason to call my private number or I’ll have you murdered.”

Aware that Jack is probably listening, I continue the charade, “Uh, hey, um, I’m with Theo Cray, and he appears to have been pricked by a syringe that was used to inject a chimp with a tranquilizer. Uh-huh. Typical Theo. The syringe? Stainless steel. About three weeks old. Is he okay?” I glance at Theo for an answer, because god knows I have no clue.

Theo doesn’t pick up on what I’m asking.

“Yeah, that’s right, three weeks ago. Does Theo need to go to the hospital?” He still doesn’t get it. How can a man this smart be this dumb? “What? You want to talk to him? Okay.” I shove the phone into Theo’s hands.

“Hello?” Theo looks confused for a second, then he gets it. “No. Not deep. Yeah. I shouldn’t be worried? Uh-huh, I’ve had my tetanus shot. Okay. Thanks.” He hands the phone back to me.

“Hey, thanks.” I hand Jack his phone back. “Looks like we’re okay.”

Okay, except I need to give Theo some lessons on improvising with a partner. Well, that and we’ve got to get Jack to a police station or somewhere we can interrogate him before he takes off and we can’t find out whom he sold the chimpanzees to.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

NEW LOGISTICS

Jack refused to talk at first. The Thai police captain screamed and yelled in his face, and then his mother came into the interrogation room and started slapping her son. This startled him even more than the threats of the captain.

Even then, he held fast. That is until, at my suggestion, the police took the two zoo workers Jack had recently called from his phone and walked them past the open door to the interrogation room. Also at my suggestion? Neither was handcuffed.

This convinced Jack that they’d reached some kind of plea deal, and suddenly he was ready to try to bargain his way out of the situation. Which ultimately, depending upon his relationship with his parents and their willingness to bribe the whole affair away, could mean him walking.

But I don’t want him thinking that now. I want him thinking he’s going to be locked into his own cage with no hope of daylight.

While Jack was being yelled at, Theo and I read the police report, using Google Lens to translate it into English.

When the chimps first went missing, suspicion immediately fell upon park employees, specifically the two men that Jack used. Because Jack was considered a victim and had an alibi for them, they were released and the case only lived on in the news.

“Who did you sell the chimpanzees to?” I ask when the Thai police let me take my turn asking questions.

Jack glares at me. “I thought we were friends.”

“I thought you weren’t a thief and a liar,” I reply. “Who did you sell them to?”

“I’m not saying anything.”

“Your chance of getting out of this will increase considerably if you can tell us. We’re after the people that bought them, not you. I can make sure the cops go easier on you if you help us.”

“Why should I believe you?”

“Let me put it this way: if those chimps are being used for what we think, you’d do well to cooperate now . . . or be charged with murder later.”

“Murder?” he scoffs.

“You realize that if any one of those chimps harmed somebody, you’d be accountable. If one of those people is an American, we can have you extradited to the United States. You think you love animals—wait until we get you in front of a California jury.”

“He said they were going to private zoos,” Jack says defensively. “Good places. My parents put on a show, but the chimps were getting expensive. People only like them when they’re babies. We have thirty. Who needs thirty chimps?”

“Who was this man?” I ask.

“Some American. I met him at a club. He asked me about the chimps. I complained about how expensive they were. We came to an arrangement.”

“And he said they were going to America?”

“He didn’t say that. He said private zoos. I was curious if he was double-crossing me or selling them to the Chinese for more money. After they loaded the chimpanzees, I followed the trucks all the way to the port.”

“So where do you think they were bound?”