“Minnow Gray, I presume?” he said.
She’d purposely worn her Greenpeace T-shirt.
“Dr. Eversole, a pleasure to meet you.”
He held out a hand. “Please, call me Joe.”
In real life, Joe seemed much smaller than he’d looked on television, but when he shook her hand, his grip was as firm as steel.
“I’m so damn glad you pulled this off. Things are heating up even as we speak.”
“How do you mean?”
“Let’s get you loaded and on the way, and I’ll fill you in on everything.”
He led her to an old Toyota truck covered in patches of rust, its back window lined with faded and peeling stickers.Big Island Love. FBI. Live Aloha. Surfing Sucks, Don’t Try It.The back was full of crumpled wet towels, a mask and snorkel, swim fins, a cooler. All of it dusted in black sand.
“Who else is here with you?” she asked.
“My intern Nalu came over from O?ahu with me. He’s back at the harbor, rinsing off the boat and meeting a friend for lunch.”
“Is anyone else coming?”
He shut the tailgate and opened her door without answering. Minnow climbed in, a funny feeling swirling in her gut.
“No.”
She waited for him to get in and slam the door, then said, “So it’s just us two?”
He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. “Us two and Nalu.” He swallowed hard, then said, “And damn, I hate to do this to you, but there’s been an emergency and I’m flying back to O?ahu on the six-thirty flight. My wife went into premature labor and I need to get to the hospital.”
Minnow turned to him and for the first time noticed the puffiness under his eyes. This was most unexpected and not good news, but she mustered, “I’m sorry, I hope everything is okay.”
“I think so. It’s just a few weeks early, but this is Christina’s first, and they may have to do a C-section, so I need to be with her.”
“When will you be back?”
“As soon as I can, but it’s hard to say. I’ll connect you with Tommy Warren, head of Department of Land and Water Assets, better known as DLWA, and Mayor Lum. You can update them both until I return. Tommy’s actually Lum’s nephew.” He handed her a flimsy ID card with her photo glued on. “Use this if anyone questions you.”
She felt a strange sense of weightlessness. “So what is it exactly that you want me to do in the meantime? I have no authority here. No one even knows who I am,” she said, second-guessing her split-second decision to hop a plane over here without a plan. But the allure of a white shark in Hawaiian waters had been too enticing to pass up.
Joe hung a right onto a two-lane road surrounded by old lava flows, the black surface shimmering in the midday sun. “Like I said last night, the state is under a lot of pressure to do something about these attacks. First and foremost, we need to maintain a presence and look like we are on top of the situation. Hell, just look like we’re doing something—anything. Having a white shark expert on the island will help in that department. But this is new territory for all of us. We’ve never had a cluster of attacks like this. And I know tiger behavior but not white. Not like you do.”
Minnow squinted out into the glaring sun and felt the backs of her thighs melting onto the car seat. The last thing she wanted to be was a pawn. “Am I here just so you can check a box?”
“Look, none of us want this to end up with another shark-culling event, which is a real possibility. So first of all, I’m hoping you can get a read on what’s happening to cause these attacks, and then also help sway the powers that be to prevent a culling event. Maybe talk to the press, too, as a voice of reason. Mass hysteria is not something we need.”
That, she understood. “I’ll do what I can and collect as much information as I can, but you know sharks are unpredictable. What if we find no reason?”
“Just do the best you can. I’ve already done a preliminary report on the first attack, and I can show you what I have back at the hotel. Yesterday the fire department and navy divers gave up the search for Hank Johnson, the missing swimmer, but I want to keep looking for any sign of him. As for yesterday’s attack, the victim is still in and out of consciousness, so you’ll want to interview her when she comes to. Or maybe I should sayif.”
So the victim was a woman. For some reason Minnow had expected a man. She had seen the dramatic headline in the paper this morning—Man-Eater Still on the Loose in Hawai‘i—along with a few facts from the article. Less than two miles from where the first attack happened. Critical injury. No other details. The headline was wrong, though. White sharks did not discriminate between men and women.
“What can you tell me about the sharks? I know you believe the first one was a great white, but is there any reason to believe yesterday’s was also one?”
“Yes. There have been several sightings this last week, so you can talk to those guys too.”
“Haven’t you already spoken to them?”
