“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 todo 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.”
