Chapter 19 The Statement #2
“First, it’s not a man-eater. Shark bites are most commonly a case of mistaken identity.
But also, a woman was bit, so the term is misleading at best. But more than that, it is extremely damaging to an animal that is greatly misunderstood.
To answer your question, we are still investigating, but shark hunts are outdated and do more harm than good. Science now tells us this.”
“What kind of science?”
“Shark tagging and tracking, mainly, which shows us how migratory these animals are. But also, we’ve learned about how important
sharks are to the entire balance of the ocean.”
“Would removing one predatory shark, who seems to have acquired a taste for human flesh, really make that much of a difference?”
She felt her whole body tensing and willed herself to relax. “Neither of these victims were consumed by the shark, so that
tells us the opposite story. They were bitten and released. As soon as the shark realized they weren’t seals, it moved on.
Trust me, if this shark had a hankering for humans, there would have been nothing left of them.”
“Maybe that’s what happened to Hank, the swimmer.”
“I don’t operate on speculation.”
A smile crept onto his face, and she could tell he was enjoying getting a rise out of her.
“Okay, so you mentioned a woman. Can you confirm for CNN that the woman attacked was actress Angela Crawford?” he asked.
She nodded, holding the folded note in her hand. “I can.”
“Our sources tell us she’s still in the hospital and was critically injured. Is she going to survive?”
“I have a statement from Angela here. I’ll just read it to you.”
“Brilliant.”
Something moved in the shadows behind Josh and she caught a glimpse of Luke standing with his arms crossed next to the cameraman.
When their eyes met, he gave her a thumbs-up. Her voice was a little shaky as she read, but she was so dang thankful for that
last line.
From what I’m told, I was doing something I probably shouldn’t have been doing, and I only have myself to blame.
Josh looked directly into the camera and smiled his famous prep-boy smile. “You heard that here first, folks. Angela Crawford has been attacked by a great white shark in Hawaiian waters, but she’s alive and expected to recover. Dr. Gray, have you examined her yourself?”
“I have, as part of our investigation.”
“Can you tell us anything more? Did she lose any limbs?”
“Patient confidentiality, Josh. Sorry, I can’t.”
“What a miracle she lived to tell.”
“It is.”
He smirked. “One last question. Your resemblance to Angela is striking. Have you ever thought about giving up sharks for Hollywood?”
What a douchebag.
“Never.”
“Thank you, Dr. Gray, you’ve been illuminating,” he said, then turned back to the camera. “Stay tuned for more live coverage
tomorrow as this tragic and harrowing story unfolds. Back to you, Greta.”
Once Danny turned off the light, Minnow went blind for a few seconds, unsteady on her feet. She felt a hand squeeze her shoulder
and thought it was Josh, but it was Luke.
Josh was still there, though, and moved in a little too close. “I’d love to catch up with you tomorrow, Dr. Gray. Get a little
more background on you and your work.”
“It’ll depend on how the day goes.”
“I’ll be here at five. Meet me then if you can?”
“No promises but maybe.”
He handed her a card. “In case anything new comes up, call me anytime.”
Still disoriented, she stepped out onto the beach and into the darkness. Luke came and walked alongside her and she could
feel the heat coming off him.
“Now I know how the turtles must feel,” she said.
“Yeah, that light could probably be seen from outer space.”
It suddenly felt like the longest day on record, and all she wanted to do was climb into her saggy bed, rest her head on the hundred-year-old pillow and check out for a while.
“Well done, though,” Luke said, walking toward the water.
“You think?”
“You kept your cool, which is probably more than I would have done. The guy seems like a slime.”
“He rubs me the wrong way too. I don’t know what it is about him.”
“His smile is fake. It never reaches the eyes, which means you can’t trust him.”
Her vision had begun to adjust to the dark, and she could see the outlines of the boats on the water. “At least I got to make
a few points. All that sensational jargon he uses, it’s hogwash.”
Luke laughed. “Hogwash? You sound like my grandmother.”
“Yeah? Tell me about her, I could use a distraction.” She dropped down onto the cool sand.
At first she thought he wouldn’t answer, since he seemed so reticent to talk about himself, but he sat down next to her. “Granny
June makes the meanest apple pie this side of the Rockies. She raised four boys who all went on to become national park rangers,
and she sews all her own clothing. Still to this day. She lives in a cabin on the slopes of Mount Rainier and is friends with
all the black bears in the area. Does anything in there sound familiar?” he asked.
She could hear the smile in his voice. “She sounds like a firecracker.”
“Tough and sassy, all while being the kindest woman I know. She taught my brother and me how to shoot a gun and fly-fish when
we were five, but she also fed foxes and raccoons out of her hand, nursed every injured animal that came onto her property,
so much so that people would come to her before they’d go to the local veterinarian.”
“Sounds like my kind of gal.”
“You would love her. Everyone does.”
They sat there quietly and the space between them crackled with electricity.
Minnow could taste it on her tongue, the way she could taste a storm coming.
Luke Greenwood was rubbing off on her, sure as the pull of the moon.
So what if she had sworn off men for a while?
Maybe she should make an exception in his case.
“Which park was your father at?” she asked.
“San Juan Island Historic.”
“So your family lived out there?”
“We did. Friday Harbor.”
“What a place to grow up.”
“Have you been?”
“No, but it’s on my bucket list,” she said. “To swim with the orcas, that would be a dream.”
Just thinking about the frigid water of the West Coast made her shiver. There was a different kind of beauty there. Cold and
fog, giant beds of kelp, towering evergreen forests edging up against placid inlets or lashing, angry seas. For a moment she
thought of Max on the Farallones but quickly squashed that. Max was past, and she wanted to live only in the present. Luke
sat quietly, staring out at the warm Pacific just beyond their toes.
“There’s something about islands, isn’t there?” Minnow finally said.
“They are magic, for sure.”
“I grew up on Catalina Island––until I was seven. I loved it there.”
“Tell me about it. I’ve never been.”
And so she did. All of it. Luke slowly drew closer to her, the way a plant tilts toward the sun, until she could feel his
shoulder against hers. His touch somehow made it feel safe to let her past unspool into the evening. There was no expectation
in it either.
“Will you ever go back?” he asked. “To live, I mean.”
“No. Too much sadness.”
“Makes sense. And I’m sorry for what happened. No one should have to live through that.”
She shook her head. “No one.”
“You didn’t let it defeat you, though. Look at what you’ve made of your life.”
“Oh, I don’t know about that.”
He leaned in. “Aside from all those letters behind your name, it looks like you’ve found your place in this world and you’re
willing to fight for it. I’d own that if I were you.”
She nudged him. “Thanks for the advice. I’ll work on it. But back to you and the orca . . . Now your tattoo makes sense. I’m
guessing you’ve been in the water with them?”
“Hard not to up there. The resident pods you kind of get to know.”
“Top of the food chain,” she said.
“Yes and a whole lot more. Did you know the SRKW population is matrilineal, and they have their own dialect?”
His tone reminded her of herself when talking sharks. Confident, knowledgeable, enamored.
“SRKW?” she asked.
“Southern resident killer whale.”
“Ah, right. No, I didn’t. And is that a genetically distinct population?”
“Yep, and they feed on Chinook, mainly. Smartest animals in the ocean, hands down. I’d reckon they’re smarter than a lot of
humans I’ve met.”
“So how come the son of a ranger who obviously loves the ocean didn’t become a ranger himself?”
Minnow listened and could tell his lungs were big by how long and slow his breaths were. She also knew they had reached the
end of this line of conversation and that a wall had gone back up.
“Long story, one I don’t feel like getting into right now.” He shifted uncomfortably. “What about you? How much longer do
you plan on staying in Hawai?i?”
Once again, his evasiveness put her off. “As long as I need to.” Which reminded her, there was one more question she needed
to ask. “It didn’t slip by me that you were the only one we never heard from in the meeting. Are you for having a shark hunt
or against it?” A cool breeze skimmed across her skin as she waited for an answer.
“It’s complicated,” he said.