Chapter 13 The Press #2
Nalu was waiting for her out in the hallway, shivering. “Did you hear what Lum said about a Shark Task Force?” she asked him.
“News to me.”
“Me, too, especially since I’m apparently on it.”
“There was a shark task force a few years back, maybe 1992? Woody might know more,” Nalu said.
“Or Joe. But I don’t want to bother him.”
According to Nalu, there had been complications with the birth, so Joe would be on O?ahu at least another week.
She added, “I’ll call Lum after we’re done with Angela.”
The guard at the door to her room looked at Minnow and said, “Just you.”
Nalu stopped. “I’m with her.”
“Not in there, you aren’t. Ms. Crawford was clear—only Dr. Gray.”
Minnow shot Nalu a sympathetic look before he turned and headed to the waiting room. As she walked through the door, she noticed
Angela seemed to have more color this morning. But there was a sweet, almost fleshy smell hiding behind the antiseptic hanging
in the room.
“Hey,” Angela said with a smile.
“How are you doing?” Minnow asked.
“Hanging in there. My mom came last night, so that helps. Moms are the best that way, aren’t they?”
Minnow sidestepped the question. “Where did she fly in from?”
“London. A beast of a trip to get here.”
“Must be hard to be halfway around the world and get that call.”
“She fainted, poor thing. I’m still just her wee baby girl,” Angela said with a hitch in her voice. “So, Zach should be here
any minute with the tooth. I mean, if he can manage to sneak past the cameras, which I’m sure he can because he gets off on
that kind of thing.”
“I suppose you’d have to if you want any kind of privacy.”
What a crazy way to live.
“I hear the media is piling up outside. Bloody paparazzi soon to follow, I’m sure. I don’t have the energy for it, so let
them speculate. But while I have you all to myself, I want to hear about your father,” Angela said.
Minnow winced, and Angela caught it.
“Please?” the actress said.
It was hard to say no to a woman who had just lost her arm to a shark. So Minnow told her what she knew about the day she
lost her father, at least what she’d been told. And when she finished unspooling her story, she thought about the fragment
of memory that surfaced yesterday. Maybe talking about it would jar something else loose, perhaps provide an answer to the
question at the center of her being. What really happened that cold, foggy morning?
“What a thing for a child to go through. Hell, I wish I could hug you right now.” She nodded down at her arm with its IV lines
and her bandaged body. “But you know, these things that happen to us, they aren’t accidents.”
A sentiment Minnow had mixed feelings about. “I’m not so sure.”
“I am. The answers may not be clear right now, but I am meant to be in this hospital bed for a reason. That shark and I were
destined to cross paths.”
“So you think it was my dad’s fate to meet that shark too?”
Angela paused for a moment. “Pain and loss are the best teachers. So, whether you realized it or not, you were learning from
the best at a young age.”
In real life Angela was even more beautiful than on film.
Maybe it was because up close Minnow noticed her small imperfections—a scar running through her right eyebrow, hair as messy as her own, chapped lips, a small murmur in her heart, audible in the breaks between words.
She felt like the most real person Minnow had met in a while.
“By no means do I have anything figured out,” Minnow said.
“You most certainly do, or why else would you be here?”
“I know sharks.”
Angela stared at her. “It’s not just that. You’re intuitive. Perceptive. I recognize it in you because that’s how I used to
be.”
“Not anymore?”
She shook her head. “Before I became an actress, I was into birds. I even majored in biology. If you can believe it, I was
going to be an ornithologist—gulls, in particular. That all got derailed. I often wonder how my life would have turned out.”
It was hard to imagine her being anything other than a superstar. But all famous people had a life before they were famous,
with hopes and dreams like everyone else. The innate striving of the human species.
“It’s never too late,” Minnow said.
Angela laughed.
The door burst open without even a knock and a tall guy in a UPS outfit and shades came in, holding a big bouquet of red roses.
“Delivery for Angie C.”
Angela beamed. “What a delight.”
He walked straight over to Angela, lifted his shades and kissed her long on the lips. When he pulled away, he glanced at Minnow
as if noticing her for the first time.
“Zach, this is Minnow—Dr. Gray. The one who wants the tooth.”
“Right. You’re on the task force?” he asked, setting the flowers down on the counter where there was already a full garden.
Minnow stuttered. “Yes. Yes, I am.”
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a ziplock bag. “Here you go. Weapon of mass destruction.”
“Hon, don’t call it that, please.”
“Well, that’s what it is, isn’t it?”
His arrogance gave Minnow a bad taste in her mouth. “Technically, no,” she said.
She opened the bag and held the tooth in her hand. Triangle. Serrated. Close to three inches. The possibility that the same
shark attacked both Stu and Angela had now become a probability, and a high one at that.
“Don’t mind him, he’s just protective of me. So what does the tooth tell you?”
“Definitely a white shark. I can compare it with the bite marks in Stu Callahan’s board, and I’ll know if it was the same
animal.”
A long moment passed and Zach said, “You could be Angie’s little sister. Has anyone ever told you that?”
“The doctor—” Minnow said.
At the same time, Angela said, “Dr. Giovanni.”
“Weird. Anyway, Dr. Gray, as you can guess, Angie and I want our privacy, so mum to the press, okay? I mean, I know you have
to tell them about the shark, but not one word about me being here, and no mention of Angela Crawford. Just say you can confirm
a woman was bit and she’s alive and being treated. Got it?”
She understood the need for privacy, especially because Angela needed to focus one hundred percent on healing. But she did
not like taking orders from this guy. “As a rule, I would never give out a patient’s identity, ever, so you don’t need to
worry about that.”
“The press already knows it was me, Zach. I’d rather just give them a statement and keep them satisfied so they don’t go digging
around even more. Dr. Gray, if I write something down, would you read it to them?”
“Right now?” Minnow asked.
Zach shifted around on his feet, running his hand through his hair. “C’mon, babe, just let them wait. Those assholes never get enough, so just take care of yourself. They can wait.”
Angela tried to lean forward, then yelped. “No, I want to do this. For the shark.”
“Oh hell. I can’t believe you just said that.”
Minnow wished she could tiptoe backward out of the room and leave them to it, yet she was buoyed by Angela’s words.
For the shark.
“I saw the news this morning. People are demanding they catch the shark that did this, and I want to let them know that I
do not fault the shark.”
Minnow could see that Angela’s breaths were shallow, and red spots appeared on her cheeks.
“Tell me what to say and I’ll say it,” she said, reaching into her bag and pulling out her notebook, ready to seize the opportunity.
Zach picked up her hand. “This is stressing you out. Just do it later.”
“I’ll say more later but for now say this: ‘Thank you for your concern and well wishes. I was bit by what authorities believe
to be a great white shark here in Hawai?i. I’m healing well and expect a full recovery. From what I’m told, I was doing something
I probably shouldn’t have been doing, and I only have myself to blame.’”
By the time she finished, her eyes were closed and her voice trailed away. Minnow finished scribbling, then closed her notebook.
Zach stood up, ready to usher her out. “They have her pretty doped up, so maybe just hang on to that until next time you see
her. She likes you, so I’m sure you’ll be back. Angie’s real picky about who she talks to, so consider yourself lucky.”
Minnow stared him straight in the eyes. “I think I’ll just do what she asked, but thank you. I’ll check on her tomorrow. Good
night, Mr. Santopolo.”