The Rectangle Frame

“He was not there. The cell was open,” said Vesso, one of the keepers.

“These are ID-protected, right? So someone must have had access to one of those,” inquired the police officer.

It was a Friday morning. Vesso had just arrived and was checking the cells, as he did every day. One of the apes was missing from his cell. Luos.

“You’ll check here and let me know if you find anything. Mr Vesso and I will go out to look for the missing ape,” ordered the chief.

Chief Mika took Vesso with her, and they went to look for Luos. Vesso had an idea where Luos might have gone: the Park of Monks.

It was a place of peace, like that in a monk’s heart. There were many statues of meditating monks, and monkeys lived there. So, that was their next stop.

“So, you liked Luos, didn’t you?” asked Mika.

“Yes,” he replied in a dry voice, looking out of the window with searching eyes. He continued, “I have known him ever since he was a baby. His mother didn’t make it after his birth. He was different from the other apes. It’s not that he was bullied or mistreated; he was well received by the others. But he didn’t cause much havoc like the others, though they were only being playful. He used to sit on a rock, as if he were meditating. He was smarter than the others too. He learned everything he was taught much faster.”

“Why do you think he might have gone to the park you mentioned?”

“I used to talk to him most nights. He listened to me patiently, sitting there close to the mirror, with a little smile. I didn’t know he was able to understand so much until he showed me a wooden rectangle. I used to show him a picture of my mother, in a small rectangular frame. I told him about the time when I was a kid and how I used to go to the park with my mother, the meditating monks, the playful monkeys.”

Chief Mika’s phone rang. It was an officer from the facility. She answered it.

“We checked the records of the cells,” said the voice on the call. “Luos’s cell was opened at 5 a.m. this morning. And the ID used to open it belongs to Vesso.”

She looked at Vesso. He was looking at her too, seemingly hoping to hear what was being said on the call.

“Your ID was used to open the cell.”

“That’s not possible. I have my ID with me. See-” He took his ID from his pocket. “No, it can't be. It... it is counterfeit.”

He had not noticed it until now. But someone had switched his ID.

They had reached their destination. A roar of monkeys could be heard.

“Maybe he is here,” said the chief.

They searched the park. It was quite large, but they didn’t find a trace of Luos. The monkeys had gone peaceful by now. They sat next to a meditating monk.

“It is quite peaceful,” said Mika.

“It is.”

After a moment of silence, he continued.

“You know, we are not so different, Luos and I. That’s why I was so attached to him. Like him, I lost my mother too. I mean, she would have been alive. If only, when I was younger, I had worked harder and had the money for her treatment. But she left me. I tried so hard to be a good son. But I failed.”

He paused.

“She said, ‘Don’t worry, son. I will always be there for you. I am not leaving you alone. I will be your angel.’”

He showed Mika the picture of his mother, a rectangular frame.

“This is my mother.”

“I am very sorry for your loss.” She patted him on the shoulder. “Let’s go.”

They went back to the animal sanctuary.

“Luos was not there. What about the other searching teams? Anything?” inquired the Chief.

“No, ma’am. No result. They are still searching.”

“And what about the ID? Found the original ID?”

“We are trying to locate it.”

“Do it faster. We don’t have much time. Gather everyone, every employee, and investigate each one of them.”

“Understood.”

“If you don’t mind, we need to investigate you too,” Mika said to Vesso.

“No. It’s okay.” He consented.

“We have a lead,” an officer said hurriedly.

“Good. What is it?”

“We were checking CCTV records in a neighbourhood. There’s a grocery shop there with a CCTV camera. The owner opens the shop early. While we were watching the tapes, he mentioned that there was a van, and unusual sounds were coming from it. The driver’s face was not clear; he was wearing a mask and a hat. The van went south of Triways.”

“Okay. Let’s find out more about this van,” the chief ordered the officer. “And you proceed with the interviews.”

---

“So, you live at Abbot?” an officer asked Vesso.

“Yes, sir. That’s right.”

“That’s south of Triways, isn’t it? You didn’t find anything unusual this morning?”

“No, sir. It was like any other morning in Abbot.”

---

“We need backup. We found him.”

“Backup arriving, Chief.”

---

“So, we found him at your house, Vesso,” said Mika. “Why did you take him?”

Vesso said nothing.

“What was your plan? Sell him to traffickers?”

“No!” Vesso shouted. “No. I was... I didn’t want to sell him to anyone.”

Tears rolled down his cheeks.

“I just wanted him to be free. He deserves it. You don’t know how they treat those animals. They wanted to experiment on Luos.”

Mika said nothing.

“They lied about his mother. They told everyone she died after giving birth to him. She didn’t.”

He wiped his face.

“She was sold to the Judge. For his mansion. A decoration, that’s all she was to them.”

“I overheard one of them talking on the phone about a month ago. He said they were going to run a ‘big experiment’ on Luos. Two months from then. I couldn’t let that happen. I couldn’t lose him too.”

“So you replaced your original ID with a counterfeit and made it appear as though someone had switched it,” said Mika.

Vesso lowered his eyes.

“Where is the original ID?”

For a moment, he didn’t answer.

Then he reached into his pocket.

He took out the picture of his mother, the rectangular frame.