“Yes, all scientists seek knowledge and truth. All scientists are curious. What I’m saying is that not all of them are passionate. I used to be passionate. Now…not so much. I suppose that is what I meant when I said I envy you. I envy your passion.”

“Thank you, Dr. Montero. That is kind of you, and I appreciate your candor.”

“Let’s quit being so stuffy. Elsa is fine.”

“As is Marty.”

“Did we just agree on something?”

“Indeed we did,” he said. Then, “Now that we’re on more cordial terms, I’d like to ask you a few questions about the necropsy video, if I may? You discovered a whale vertebra in the shark’s stomach.”

“Two, in fact,” she said, going to the steel shelves and retrieving another cardboard box. “Though the second one was post-video, after all the ruckus over the skull died down.” She set the box on the necropsy table and opened the flaps.

Marty lifted out one of the irregular-shaped bones. It was large and unremarkable and clearly belonged to a whale. He returned it to the box. “Did you find any other bones post-video?”

“Those were it, I’m afraid. If it matters, during the morphometric assessment my colleague and I retrieved three stingray barbs from the great white’s throat.”

Marty raised an eyebrow. “Three?”

“That’s not unusual. Great whites have a particular gastronomic preference for rays.”

“But this particular great white also had a gastronomic preference for merfolk, which makes the three stingray barbs in its throat very interesting indeed.”

“I’m afraid you’ve lost me.”

“May I take a look at the barbs, Elsa?”

Elsa retrieved yet another box from the shelves, this one more closely resembling a shoebox. She set it before him and removed the lid.

The three stingray barbs rested on an old rag to prevent them from rolling around. He examined each one carefully and said, “Did you notice that they’re all nearly identical in width and length?”

“You find that significant because…?”

“May I use that for a moment?” He indicated the microscope on the desk where he had watched the necropsy video.

She went to the desk, moved the laptop aside, and set the high-powered trinocular microscope in its place. Marty flicked it on and placed the stingray barb on the stage, arranging it so the base was beneath the objective lens. He pressed his eyes to the binocular eyepiece, twisted one knob, then another, bringing the specimen into focus. He magnified it with a higher objective and adjusted the diaphragm below the stage, reducing the light.

He sucked back a short, sharp breath.

Chapter 9

ELSA

Elsa watched Dr. Martin Murdoch as he studied each stingray barb under the microscope with growing excitement. When he glanced up at her, he was grinning like he’d won the lottery.

“You’ve got me curious,” she admitted.

“Have a look for yourself.”

He stood and gestured for Elsa to take the vacated seat. She sat and pressed her eyes to the microscope’s eyepiece. After several long seconds she said, “What am I looking for?”