“Thank goodness! I’ll put this down as an isolated attack, then.”

“Has the Coast Guard come up with any leads?” Austin asked.

“They surveyed the area around the ship, and will continue to keep an eye out. I suspect that the boat carrying the men who attacked your ship is long gone. I’d like full statements from you gentlemen and every crew member on board. Any way I can reach Dr. Kane?”

“We don’t know his present whereabouts,” Gannon said. “We can try to contact him.”

“Please do that, Captain. Could you also prepare a list of everyone on board?”

“I’ll get right to it, Detective-Superintendent. You can conduct your interviews in the mess hall.”

“Thank you very much for your cooperation, Captain.”

As Gannon hurried off to carry out Randolph’s request, Randolph said, “Now, gentlemen, since you were so intimately acquainted with the events of last night, perhaps you wouldn’t mind being interviewed first.”

“We’d be happy to tell you the whole story,” Austin said.

They shook hands all around. As Randolph walked off to supervise his team, he snorted like a horse.

“Engineers,” he muttered.

Austin suggested that Zavala take the first interview while he tried to reach Kane. He walked a short distance from the activity on the aft deck, and called directory assistance on his cell phone, asking for the number of Bonefish Key Marine Center. A computer-generated voice informed him that the lab was not open to the public and referred callers to the center’s website.

After a moment’s thought, he punched in another number from his phone list.

A low, cool female voice answered his call.

“Hi, Kurt,” said Gamay Morgan-Trout, “congratulations. Paul and I watched the bathysphere dive on TV until the transmission got cut off. How was the briny deep?”

“Briny and deep. I’ll tell you about it later. Sorry to interrupt your sabbatical at Scripps, but I need a favor. I’d like you or Paul to wrangle an invitation to the Bonefish Key marine lab in Florida. They discourage visitors, but if anyone can get in it’s you.”

“Didn’t the director of Bonefish Key make the B3 dive with Joe?”

“His name is Max Kane. But don’t expect any help from him.”

“I’ll give it a try, Kurt. What exactly should I be looking for?”

“I don’t know. Just keep your eyes open for anything that strikes you as funny.”

Gamay responded with a soft chuckle.

“I love the crisp specificity of your directive, Kurt.”

“It’s a management course they teach called Cover Your Ass 101. The first lesson in CYA is that if anything goes wrong, it’s not your fault. Call me when you or Paul get to Bonefish Key. Joe and I will be on the Beebe for another day or two.”