Kaniola said, “Community food patch, cooperation, working together.”
The old man continued on, unstoppable. “A'ohe launa ka make 'u…”
“ No fear, friendly, sociable, yet there's no limit to the fear that is no fear,” explained Kaniola.
“… Keiki lawehala… lawe kahili…”
“ What's he saying?”
“ Sin, no… sinner, evil sinner, delinquent son of'-Kaniola hesitated-”of bearer of the feather standard.”
“ What does that mean?”
“ Royalty…”
The old man seemed in another realm now, his eyes rolled back in his head so that all she could see were the whites. His speech was being taped by Kaniola, and for the first time she realized this fact.
“ Can you be more specific?” she asked, wondering how she could possibly use what the old man had had to say so far. His glazed-eye trance routine had been perfected over time.
“ Lawehana,” he continued.
Kaniola engaged the old man in their native tongue. “Lawehana? “
“ A me lawe hanai, eia ho 'i lawehana.”
“ Both?”
“ What?” asked Jessica.
'The killer, he says, is both a grown man and a child, a common laborer and an adopted child.”
“ Adopted?” she asked.
“ Halfway so, yes.”
How was someone halfway adopted? she wanted to scream. Still, she patiently listened as the old man continued.
Over the old man's head hung an ancient set of leis, one a lei palaoa, ivory pendents from whale's teeth suspended by two coils of braided human hair the texture and color of which matched the alleged killer's. Alongside this was a lei of rosary beads, known as a lei korona for the crown of England. A dog-tooth necklace, called a niho'ilio, dangled nearby as well. As she stared at these museum pieces in wonder, the old man spoke as if in her brain, saying, “Killer fashions cords from human hair,” but it was Kaniola, translating, breaking into her thoughts.
“ Lehe luhe, lehelehe.” The old man's mouth creased in a smile over his own words.
Kaniola remained grim, saying, “The killer's lips are fat like those of the vagina, pouting lips.”
“ Lei palaoa, niho 'illo mahine. “
Kaniola visibly stiffened.
Jessica pressed him to translate the words.
“ He… the killer makes leis from their teeth and hair. He has them in his house. He knows the ancient ways and he knows the modem ways.”
“ I lawa no a pau ka hana Ku, ho 7 ho 7 kaua, “ continued the old man.
“ He says that as soon as the work is finished for Ku, the ancient god, then the killer will leave.”
“ Will leave for where?”
“ To be with Ku.”
“ Aelo, aewa,” continued the old man.
“ Says your killer has no backbone, weaves back and forth like seaweed, that he is like the infertile egg that smells of rot from within.”
The old man continued rambling. “ 'A'ohe Ahahui Mamakakaua.”
“ He says this man is no son or daughter of Hawaiian warriors.”
“ What, now we're back to it's a white man?”
“… ahiwa, ahewa… 'aihue kanaka, ai kanaka, aikane, 'ai kapu, ai kepa, 'ai noa, ai pa 'a, aiwa…”
“ What's he saying?”
“ He's not making much sense, I'm afraid.”
“ Tell me.” She was impatient.
“ Well, I'll try. He says the kidnapper is a man who seeks to find guilt and administer scorn, and that he is a cannibal, a man-eater, yet friendly or a friend…”
“ Ahonui!” shouted the old man.
“ That he has infinite patience.”
“ He's a stalker,” she agreed, “and he knew those he killed, and it's possible they were cannibalized to some degree.”
“ Says he eats by using cutting blades and sometimes tears with teeth, and that he eats under taboo, yet he eats freely, ignoring taboo, without observing them.”
The old man muttered in his native tongue.
“ What else is he saying?” Jessica asked.
“ Either that Great Uncle wants a present of cooked taro in ti-leaf bundles, or that you face a difficult problem, a mystery.”
“ He's got that right.”
“ Aka' ula… akiu ala kai…” continued the old man in a monotone.
“ He is speaking now of you,” said Kaniola.
She exchanged a look with Joe Kaniola, who said, “You search for answers, seek, probe, a medical person, but what you seek is a red shadow like the sunset. You can not touch it though you see it before you.”
“… alaula ala'ula… aloalo. 'ale'ale ho'i alelo.”
“ He says a canoe will take you to a flaming road in a land filled with hibiscus where no one will know your tongue-a land of kings.”
Was he describing the Rainbow Tower where I'm staying? Jessica wondered, surprised at her own jaded and suspicious nature. Still, she'd become captivated by the old man's “second sight,” predictions and native charms such as they were.
Kaniola listened intently for his great-granduncle's next words. There was a long silence and the old man looked faint, about to give in to his fatigue when he bellowed out yet another stream of words.
“ 'Au ho'au. Doctor… 'auamo, 'au'a.”
Kaniola was reluctant to translate, but Jessica insisted he do so.
“ He asks you a direct question, about your cane.” Kaniola indicated the cane at her side.
“ What about it?” She feared he was asking after it as an offering, a gift for his services. She hadn't seen a basket to toss folding money into.
“ He says you are a strong swimmer in the sea, that you need no handle or staff or stem, that it is a burden to you, but you are stingy and won't part with it.”
She gripped her cane tighter and asked Kaniola to ask the old man one question.
“ Yes?”
“ Ask him how many times will the red shadow kill?”
“ Ehia. Great Uncle, ehiaV
“ 'Ehiku,” came the quick answer.
“ Don't tell me,” she said, raising a hand, “seven?”
Kaniola nodded. The old man said, “ 'Ehu, 'eho kino, nuinui kino.”
“ What's that?”
“ He says all the bodies are below the spray, stacked like stone markers, many, many bodies.”
“ How many years has the killer stalked victims?”
“ 'Ehiku.”
“ Seven again.”
The old man then told a tale of a chief whose son was bom with many problems, from asthma to diseases that left the child crippled and deformed. The child looked like an old man who'd had a stroke. The chief adopted a foster child, a well-formed child, and had this child take the place of his only male child. With the new child in place, the chief brooded and feared that the evil-looking, obviously cursed son would infect his new son. When the sickly boy grew ill in a new bout of suffering, the chief drunkenly took hold of him and carried him out in a storm into the forest, where he destroyed the child, using a ceremonial blade. Later, telling his people that the boy had wandered
