“Sorry to abandon you in there. You’d think I could stomach that stuff by now.”
“I’m glad you had sense enough to walk out,” Marissa said.
“I’m sorry to have put you through it. But we found Tristan Williams.”
“Eureka!” Wendy said.
“Is he close?”
“Everything is relative,” Marissa said.
“He’s not in Perth, but he’s someplace out in the Australian outback. Apparently he’s abandoned pathology, or pathology has abandoned him. He’s working as a GP flying around to isolated locations like cattle ranches.”
“Sounds like a romantic do-gooder job for someone who falsified data for a journal article.”
Marissa nodded.
“His home base is a town called Charleville, which is about four hundred miles from here. But he’s away for weeks at a time. I think it would be pretty tough to track him down. What do you think?”
“Sounds like a lot of effort for a questionable payoff. But let’s think about it. Meanwhile, we deserve a break from all this effort.
Let’s go diving. After that maybe we’ll have more enthusiasm.”
“Okay,” Marissa said, getting to her feet.
“You’ve been patient.
Let’s go see how great this Barrier Reef really is!”
They caught a cab at the administration building and returned to their hotel. There they picked up their traveler’s checks and walked over to the travel agent Wendy had visited the day before.
There was no problem arranging for jet transportation for the following day even though it was the weekend. They were able to reserve a room at the Hamilton Island Resort. The agent even called to be sure to get them a seaside room.
“What’s the best way to arrange for a day’s diving?” Wendy asked when the agent had finished the call.
“You can allow the hotel to make the arrangements,” the agent said.
“That certainly is the easiest. But to tell you the truth, if I were you I’d wait until I got there and find your own charter.
It’s a good-sized marina, there are a lot of dive and fishing boats.
It’s their slow time and you’ll be able to bargain. You’d find a much better deal.”
Wendy picked up the tickets and brochures.
“That sounds terrific. We’ll follow your suggestion,” she said.
“Thanks for your help.”
“Glad to be of service,” the agent said.
“But there is something I should warn you about.”
Marissa felt her heart skip a beat. She was already concerned about diving in exotic depths.
“What?” Wendy asked.
“The sun,” the agent said.
“Make sure you use a lot of block.”
Marissa laughed.
“Thanks for the tip,” Wendy said. She grabbed Marissa’s arm and headed for the door.
“Can I help you?” the agent asked, turning to her next customer.
He was a leathery Australian man. The agent guessed he was from the outback. He’d been browsing through a rack of European tour brochures to the right of the agent’s desk while the American women made their plans. When they’d first arrived, the agent had thought all three were together.
“As a matter of fact, you can,” the man said.
“I need two return air tickets for Hamilton Island. The names are Edmund Stewart and Willy Tong.”
“Will you be needing accommodations?” the agent asked.
“No, thanks,” Ned said.
“We’ll take care of that when we get there.
April 7,1990
1:40 PM
Pressing her nose against the window of the Ansett jet, Marissa could see the broad expanse of ocean thousands of feet below. From the moment they’d taken off at 12:40 P.m.” they’d been over water. At first the ocean had been a dark, sapphire blue. But as they traveled on, the color changed. It had become a brilliant turquoise. Already they could see a patchwork of underwater coral. Their journey was taking them over a tapestry of shoals, atolls, coral cays, and true continental islands.
Wendy was beside herself with anticipation. She had bought a travel guide at the airport and was reading sections to Marissa.
Marissa didn’t have the heart to tell her that she couldn’t concentrate.
Marissa was wondering what the hell she was doing flying off the coast of Australia.
Having made no progress whatsoever in their quest for information that might help them explain the origins of their infertility,