All tingly from adrenaline, she let her body and mind settle as the animal disappeared and sank into the deep. She somehow felt sure that it wouldn’t be coming back.
Journal Entry
From the journal of Minnow Gray
Guadalupe Island, August 2, 1994
Being out on the boat has always been my favorite place, with its freedom and adventure and seductiveness of the unknown. We humans must be hardwired for it to a certain degree in order for our species to survive. It’s the dreamers and the risk takers and those who persevere who make history, isn’t it?
There’s also something about the space and silence out here that makes room for things to bubble up from my unconscious mind. Tonight I was lying on deck under the stars when I was hit with flashes from my childhood. The white of my mother’s teeth when she smiled at me. My father singing along to his Neil Diamond record using a bottle for a microphone and making me laugh. Me tucked between the two of them on the bed during a thunderstorm, warm and cozy. I was so young when they died that every memory is something I guard with my life. My absolute worst fear is to stop remembering, because then they would really be dead.
Chapter 17
The Interview
Niu: the coconut (Cocos nucifera), a commom palm on tropical islands
Woody was out mending a throw net when she got back and didn’t seem too surprised about Minnow’s tall-finned follower in the water.
“You were in the ono lane, that’s why. Big sharks cruise there,” he said, not taking his eyes off the knot in his hands.
“The ono lane?”
“Where theono run. Forty to sixty fathoms, more so in Kona, but we get them up here too. You probably know ono as wahoo,” he said.
Ah, yes. “Probably right where I was. How come you didn’t warn me?”
“I was asleep.”
Minnow told him about Josh Brown and the media stacking up outside the Kiawe, and that didn’t surprise him at all either. Then he let her take his truck to see Sam Callahan at Kohola.
The wealthy enclave of Kohola was close as the?iwabird flew, but she first had to drive out to the highway and then back toward the airporta few miles. From the main road everything looked so desolate, but there were signs of green as she drove down the smooth and winding road. There had been no sign to show her where to go, no indication of anything, really. But as with the Kiawe, and around Hale Niuhi, coconut trees surrounded water sources.
She stopped at a small gatehouse, gave her name and was directed to the Callahans’ home down near the water. Everything on this island was on a slope, she realized, which lent itself well to sweeping views of the ocean and all the surrounding volcanoes. The house was surrounded by a tall lava rock wall with a wide burnished wood gate that swung open as soon as she pulled up. Giant smooth stones paved the drive and the yard was golf course green and just as manicured.
Mr. Callahan met her at the front door. He was tall, broad shouldered and built like he might have been a football player at one time.
“Dr. Gray, thank you for coming all the way out here to do this work. It’s important,” he said, shaking her hand.
The loss had already carved itself into his face, and his eyes were almost bleeding red.
“Mr. Callahan, I am so sorry about Stuart. I know how hard this probably is, so thank you for seeing me.”
“Anything to help. My wife still can’t talk about it, so pardon her absence.”
“Understandable. It’s really you I need to speak to anyway.”
Over the course of her last few investigations, Minnow had learned she had to balance care and sympathy with a certain amount of getting to the point. They went outside and sat at a giant wood table, granite cool against her bare feet.
“Can I get you something to drink?” he asked, himself clutching a coffee mug that saidPupuleon it.
“No, thank you.” This was not going to be easy, and she wanted to be fully present.
“You know I talked to Joe Eversole already, but fire away.”
“I mainly want to know about the water conditions, what you witnessed and any description of the animal. You probably know there is speculation that the same shark is responsible for all the recent incidents.”
His chin quivered. “I wouldn’t call what happened to Stuart an ‘incident.’ It was undoubtedly a premeditated attack.”
