A flash of anger jolts through me as I think about those damn reporters and their ambush at the meeting. To their credit, the national news focused on the hard news and didn’t air it. But those assholes at the local station did. She doesn’t deserve any of this. At some point soon, I’m going to have to agree to a press conference and set the record straight.
“Crystal, I know who Walter is.” She doesn’t hide the shock on her face. “It’s in my journals. He was a colleague of mine, a quantum physicist professor I’d been consulting with not long after I discovered Carter’s Drop.”
“What happened to him? He didn’t seem like he could still be practicing.”
“I’m not sure what happened to him to make him ill. He wasn’t like that when I knew him. From my notes, we were collaborating on a theory I was working on about the descendants of Atlantis. Apparently, I’d recently changed my hypothesis, and I didn’t believe that what I was looking for was based on the myth of Atlantis at all.”
At least not how the stories tell it.
“That’s what most people think, right? That it’s only a myth made up by Plato.”
“My journals don’t say. I just listed the academics I was consulting. My research brought me to Dr. Walter Stanley. And that’s not all.”
She waits for me to continue, her face lined with worry.
“Dr. Stanley and I both knew Finn…”
“And?”
“We didn’t trust him… or his colleagues.”
“Nathan—” She jumps in surprise. “When Maddie found your things, she found coded notes. Mark stole them, and they were taken into police custody for the investigation. But when they returned your belongings, they didn’t have the notes. They claimed they never did. Someone had to take it.”
“Finn.”
“He’s hiding something.”
“He is. And those notes are probably where I documented the details I didn’t want to keep in my journals.”
“We’ve got to confront him and find out what he knows. All this ties together, and it’s a threat to Natalie.”
“I’ll talk to him about this after tomorrow’s dive. We’ll figure out where he stands in all this.” I glance at my watch. “But, right now, you and I have a date with the sunrise.”
CHAPTER 31
The Widow
The coast is deceptively beautiful. Waves crash along the shoreline, and at high tide the ocean keeps its secrets—for now. Later this morning, when the waters recede, low tide will reveal the sickness and death hiding beneath.
Nathan and I aren’t supposed to be here on the beach, but there’s no one else around. No one to tell us not to. It’s still dark, though the lights from nearby houses, including ours, are enough to see the sand and water.
As I gaze outward across the sea, I let myself cry. I know some of the coral is dead now. And most of the reef at the zones closest to Carter’s Drop and Coral Fang—already sickly white—will soon follow. If water temperatures in those areas remain the same, it will happen before Christmas. My boss has gotten approval to begin salvage triage operations, focusing on genetically distinct lines. We’ll beginex situconservation immediately.
A crushing wall of sadness falls onto my heart. In my teenage years, I wandered lost and lonely, finding solace in the ethereal promise of the sea. It’s unimaginable to me that the ocean itself may not be eternal, that, like all of us, it will die one day.
But here we are, facing just that.
In my gut, I know this will expand beyond our shores.
I glance at Nathan. He’s spread out the beach blanket and is working on arranging our picnic.
“This may not be here for Natalie’s children,” I whisper sadly.
Nathan stops what he’s doing and moves next to me, pulling me onto his lap and folding his arms around me, closing me in a protective embrace. He shakes his head, adamant. “I don’t believe that.” He rests his chin on my shoulder and whispers into my ear. “Nature is mysterious and resilient. If we don’t get in its way, it’ll overcome.”
“I once told you that everything has a purpose, that nothing’s accidental or random. I’m not sure I believe that anymore.” Although I’ve felt this way for a while, saying it out loud leaves me feeling lost, as though the core of my identity has been an illusion. When Nathan returned, I allowed myself to hope that wasn’t true. But maybe it is, and maybe he’ll be gone soon, too.
“Don’t. Please don’t.” He lifts my chin and looks into my eyes. “You were right. We may not know why this is happening. And it seems grim right now… but it won’t stay that way.” He squeezes me tighter. “You and Natalie make this world worth fighting for. We’ll figure this out.”
