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Austin pondered the answer “If you don’t knohat, how about when?”

“That’s tough to pinpoint The initial exposure ht not have been instantly fatal The mammals could have become ill several days before their deaths but continued tothe coast The little ones would have been the sickest, and maybe the adults waited for them You’d have to factor in the time it would take for the body to decoases to bloat them up where they’d surface in the race course”

“So if you backtracked you ht be able to determine where they hen they died You’d have to consider traveling and feeding time and currents of course” He shook his head “Too bad the whales can’t tell us where they’ve been”

Witherell chuckled “Who says they can’t tell us? C’mon, I’ll show you”

The EPA man led the way past the flatbeds around the puddles of bloody water being hosed into drains The sehammer this close to the dead whales, but Witherell didn’t seem to be bothered

“This is theby the first carcass “You can see why they’re called gray whales The skin is naturally dark, but it’s blotched from barnacle scars and whale lice He’s a bit chopped up now When we first measured him he was forty-one feet” They walked to the next flatbed which held a miniaturized version of the first whale “This calf is also a o There were other calves so we don’t know if it belonged to the feer than the ns of any bruise or laceration that ht interest you” He borrowed a knife froue, climbed onto the flatbed, and bent over the whale’s fin After a minute he hopped down and handed Austin a flat square packet of metal and plastic

“A transponder?” Austin said

Witherell pointed up “This old girl’s everytracked by satellite Find out who’s been keeping an eye on her, and that person should be able to tell you where she has been and when”

“You’re a genius, Mr Witherell”

“Only a hu to do my job” He hefted the transponder “I’ll have to hold on to this thing, but there’s a number to call on the back”

Austin jotted the nuist for his help

As Witherell escorted him back to the door, Austin said, “By the way, how’d you choose these particular whales?”

“It was done pretty much by chance I asked the Navy to cut three representative aniuess there was somebody on board who actually listened to my request”

“Do you think you would have been more likely to find a cause of death if you had a chance to autopsy the other corpses?”

“I doubt it,” Witherell said flatly “What killed these whales killed the others that were toay It’s a bit late for that anyhow Froh with theh left of the other animals for a plate of sushi”