This seemed to take the edge off. Cohen shrugged casually. “Well, I’m only looking at teeth here, Lisa. I can’t really comment on ‘implications.’” His eyes shifted to the door, and she realized she’d been keeping him.
She stood. It was late in the day now, and she suddenly wanted to get going herself. “I’ll let you go. Thank you very much.” They hugged.
“No problem. I’m glad you came in. I’ll assume all of this is strictly confidential unless I hear from you otherwise. In the meantime, if you don’t mind, I’ll write up a formal report.”
“Would you mind e-mailing me a copy?”
A nod. “A draft might even be done later today.” They walked to the door.
“Any closing comments?”
“Just a word of advice.” He eyed her ominously. “Lisa, if you actually find whatever these teeth came from… Be very, very careful with it.”
“THAT’S… RIDICULOUS.”
It was sunset, and Lisa had just returned to the now-quiet San Francisco marina. After her talk with Cohen, she’d been feeling good, anxious to relay to the others what he’d said. In the back of the Expedition, she’d done so, methodically and precisely. Then Jason had belted her with the “ridiculous” comment. She didn’t respond audibly, but her blood was suddenly boiling. The man had the sensitivity of a stampeding elephant. Lisa didn’t care about the others. She was going to have it out right now with Jason Aldridge if he didn’t apologize, and fast.
“What do you mean, ridiculous?”
“I mean it’s too much. It’s just not realistic.”
“It explains why these rays are surviving despite the plankton depletion. It’s because they don’t eat plankton. Not with teeth like that.”
“That may be, but I’d still like to speak with this Mike Cohen myself.”
“Forget it.”
“What’s the big deal, Lisa? I just want to check what he said.”
“Check what he said? Why? Because I got it wrong?”
“Of course not. I just want to go over it.”
“Absolutely not. I won’t have you embarrass me in front of a colleague like that.”
“Come on, just give me his number.”
“I said no!! Jesus, will you just trust somebody else for a change?!”
This was a neutron bomb. In the silence that followed, everyone looked embarrassed. Darryl, Monique, Craig, and Phil all turned away. Even Jason looked disturbed. Besides Lisa’s visible anger, he thought she somehow looked… sad.
No one said anything. They all just stood there, stunned.
Then Monique cleared her throat. Whatever the problem was, these two had to work it out by themselves. “Jason, Lisa. Excuse me. The rest of us are going to start dinner downstairs. Guys?”
Darryl turned to follow her, but Phil and Craig didn’t budge; they wanted to see a brawl. Then Darryl smacked them, and they all shuffled downstairs.
Alone, Jason and Lisa stood silently. Neither said anything. They noticed a nearby yacht, barbecuers talking quietly over their food. A few seconds ticked past.
“Sorry I upset you,” Jason said after a moment.
Lisa shook her head. “Whatever.”
“Really, Lisa, I’m sorry. It’s just that—” He stopped talking.
“What?”
“Can I just see a few of those teeth?”
“You’ll give them back?”
A smile. “Yeah.”
She handed him a few, and he raised one, studying it against the sunset. “Baby teeth. It just doesn’t make sense that these came from those rays. I mean, you know as well as I do that mantas can’t swim nearly fast enough to catch anything. If this species is their deep-sea cousin, why on earth would they need teeth like this? It doesn’t add up. You disagree?”
“No, Jason, I don’t. I’m as confused by this as you are, but Mike Cohen is an expert in the field, and I’m telling you what he said. I wish you could accept that.”
He exhaled. “I can. I’m sorry again.”
“He’s e-mailing us a written copy of his analysis. It might be on Phil’s computer already.”
Jason hesitated. “Well, why didn’t you tell me that in the first place?”
“Because I talked to the guy. Got the real color, the stuff he might not actually write up. Jason, you’ve got to learn to trust somebody other than yourself.” She exhaled, visibly fatigued. “I’m just so tired of fighting with you. It wears me out.”
“You really think we fight a lot?”
“You’re joking.”
He smiled. “Yeah.”
“Look, Jason, the truth is… I admire you.”
He looked down at the deck. “Sure you do.”
“I do, I really do. That whole manta aquarium was such a disaster, such an unmitigated disaster….”
“Thanks for reminding me.”
“I didn’t mean it like that. It would have destroyed anybody else, absolutely destroyed them—their career, their psyche, everything. But not you, you just kept plugging. Even with Darryl and Craig shooting skeet and drinking, Monique and me doing next to nothing, and Phil doing… whatever Phil does… You never gave up, not for a second. Anyway, I really think you’re impressive.”
He looked at her. “Thank you very much.”
“And now, finally, you’re being rewarded.”
“How am I being rewarded exactly?”
“Jason, we are beyond speculation now. We have physical proof. These teeth are real, and the number three expert in the world has no idea what they’re from. Call Ackerman and tell him. We are trailing a new species. You are definitely onto something here.”
He was staring at her now. “Yeah, maybe I am.”
She stared at him too, if only for a moment. Then thought, God, what am I doing? “Anyway… we’ll see what happens.” She looked at the sky, suddenly aware of how drained she was. “It was a long day. I’m going to change, then help them out with dinner.” She turned to go.
“Lisa.”
“Yeah?”
“I forgot to mention it… you looked really nice today.”
She paused. “Thank you.”
“I mean it, really nice. Of course my only basis for comparison is Craig.”
“Not to mention yourself.”
He looked down at his own white tank top. “The pinnacle of haute couture.”
She smiled. “Thanks for noticing, Giorgio.”
His intense eyes returned. “We are onto a new species here, aren’t we?”
“We have to be.”
She left and he looked up at the sky. Lisa was exactly right. The teeth proved it beyond a shadow of a doubt: they were tracking a new species! He didn’t feel different, but he supposed his life had just changed; perhaps all of theirs had. He smiled wide. A new species!
His smile faded. He still didn’t understand. How could the manta’s deep-sea cousin have teeth like this? He suddenly thought of the repairman who’d gone missing in the waters off Los Padres National Forest. Was there any way the rays had attacked him? But no, that wasn’t possible. Like elephants on land, mantas were incapable, literally physically incapable, of being anything other than docile. So didn’t their deep-sea cousin have to be docile as well? Jason couldn’t help but wonder. Because if they actually did have teeth like this, there was no ambiguity at all about what they had to be. Predators. Real, survival-of-the-fittest predators—nothing like manta rays at all. Jason still didn’t understand. How on earth could that be true?
PART II
CHAPTER 20
IT WAS quiet at the ocean’s surface. With a full moon shining down, the only sounds came from the breaking waves and blowing wind.