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CHAPTER 044

Gail Bondfell into a routine. She would spend the night with Yoshi, then come home at six in the morning to wake up Evan, give him breakfast, and see him off to school. One morning, as soon as she unlocked the door, she saw that Gerard was gone. His cage stood uncovered in the hallway, his perch unoccupied. Gail swore. She went into the bedroom, where Richard was still sleeping. She shook him awake.

“Richard. Where’s Gerard?”

He yawned. “What?”

“Gerard. Where’s Gerard?”

“I’m afraid there’s been an accident.”

“What accident? What have you done?”

“The cage was being cleaned in the kitchen, and the window was open. He flew out.”

“He did not. His wings were clipped.”

“I know that,” Richard said, yawning again.

“He did not fly out.”

“All I can tell you is that I heard Nadezhda shriek, and when I came to the kitchen, she was pointing out the window, and when I looked, the bird was fluttering awkwardly to the ground. Of course I ran downstairs to the street at once, but he was gone.”

The bastard was trying not to smile.

“Richard, this is very serious. That is a transgenic animal. If he escapes he may transmit his genes to other parrots.”

“I am telling you, it was an accident.”

“Where is Nadezhda?”

“She comes in at noon now. I thought I would cut back.”

“Does she have a cell?”

“You hired her, pet.”

“Don’t call me pet. I don’t know what you have done with that grey, but this is extremely serious, Richard.”

He shrugged. “I don’t know what to tell you.”

Of course it ruinedall her plans. They had intended to publish online the following month, and inevitably there would be cries from around the world that their claim was untrue. Scientists would call it the Clever Hans effect, mere mimicry, God knows what else. Everyone would demand to see the bird. And now the bird was gone.

“I could kill Richard,” she said to Maurice, the head of the lab.

“And I will hire the bestavocat for your defense,” he said, not smiling. “Do you think he knows where the bird is?”

“Probably. But he’ll never tell me. He hated Gerard.”

“You’re having a custody fight over a bird.”

“I’ll talk to Nadezhda. But he has probably paid her off.”

“Did the bird know your name? The name of the lab? Phone numbers?”

“No, but he memorized the tones for my cellular phone. He used to make them as a sequence of sounds.”

“Then perhaps he will call us, one day.”

Gail sighed. “Perhaps.”