“Probably to find his girlfriend,” Sammy replied. “Melanie Munu, yeah?”
“Where else, you think?”
Sammy thought a bit. “To meet his dealers?” he ventured. “Make peace, buy some time, score some shit? That what you’re thinking?”
“Yeah. I’m also thinking, if Peter thought they’d kill him, these could be the guys you want for Shark Cliff. Another reason to tail him.”
“Shit,” said Sammy, sounding a bit unnerved. “Shark Cliff. It’s possible, I guess. But there’s lots of drug gangs.”
“Just find him again, okay?” Kawika asked. “Melanie Munu too. Bring ’em in right away, bail or no bail. Please? And don’t let ’em go before I get there.”
“All right, we’ll find him. We know his lawyer, and I’ve got the license plate of the guys who paid his bail.”
“What guys?”
“Three young guys. Almost kids, really. They paid in cash. A bit strange, I thought. I was gonna run the plate today, see what I can learn.”
“Christ,” Kawika murmured.
“We did try to find you,” Sammy said defensively. “We left messages. Couldn’t track you down. Looked everywhere.”
“Yeah, well,” Kawika muttered. “My fault, I guess.”
“Hey, these things happen.”
Looked everywhere. Kawika knew who to call next.
“Aloha, Jarvis Wong speaking.”
“Dad, it’s Kawika.”
“Kawika. You call the station? They left messages with me yesterday, looking for you.”
“Yeah, I guessed that.”
“They said you were spending the night in South Kohala.”
“Yup.”
“They figured you’d be with me and Ku‘ulei.”
“Yup.”
“I was fishing with Terry. Ku‘ulei stayed with a friend. I got worried when I heard the messages.”
“Sorry. I really am.”
“So where did you spend the night?”
“Dad,” said Kawika, “I need to come talk with you.”
“Uh-oh,” Jarvis said. “Pilikia, yeah?”
“Yeah, Dad. Pilikia.”
Pilikia. Trouble.
34On the Queen K
Patience had promised she’d stop sleuthing. But she couldn’t quite. So after Kawika left that morning, she booted up her computer and began, with a sigh, to endure the Big Island’s slow connection speeds.
Initially, the work was tedious—article after article with no new information. Fortunato’s photograph, his grinning tanned face, appeared often. She didn’t recognize him. She’d seen him only once, from a distance, lying on his back with a spear through his chest.
She found articles on the heiau, HHH, and Fortunato’s death, along with one on KKL sponsoring a slack key guitar competition Kai Malo had won. Finally an entry popped up that intrigued her:
Kohala Kea Loa (search): Obituary … Thomas (“Tom-Tom”) Gray … fisherman of the Kona Coast … sold the land for Kohala Kea Loa Resort … [Puako Post, Hawaii, 6/30/2000]
Patience clicked on it, waiting—and reverting to Impatience—as the screen slowly filled with text.
OBITUARY
Thomas (“Tom-Tom”) Gray, Loved to Fish
PUAKO—Services were held Sunday, June 25, at Hokuloa United Church of Christ for kama‘āina Thomas (“Tom-Tom”) Gray, 58, a well-known fisherman of the Kona Coast, missing and presumed drowned after his 35-foot sportfisher, the Mahi Mia, was found adrift near the Mid-Channel buoy between Maui and Hawai‘i on Thursday, May 25.
Gray was born in Hilo on April 8, 1942, the son of William Gray, a Parker Ranch supervisor, and Leslie Mercer Gray, a homemaker. He was educated at Waimea schools and West Point, an appointee of former U.S. Senator Hiram Fong (R–HI). He served in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam as a first lieutenant and won promotion to captain in the U.S. Army. In 1965, he was decorated for bravery in combat. He received the Purple Heart in 1966.
After Vietnam, Gray returned home and started his Puako-based realty firm. In 1999, on behalf of the Gray Family Trust, he sold the land for Kohala Kea Loa to NOH, a Japanese consortium. He retired and realized a lifelong dream by buying the Mahi Mia, on which he set forth almost daily from Kawaihae Harbor in pursuit of his own “grander,” or thousand-pound marlin.
Gray never caught his “grander,” but he came close with a 904-pound monster in December 1999. He was well-known for sharing catches with neighbors in Puakō and Kawaihae. Friends nicknamed him “Tom-Tom” in reference to his frequent boast that he was one-quarter Cherokee.
Authorities believe Gray fell overboard while fighting a fish or attempting to retrieve a fishing rod or other object.
Gray’s children, son Kamehameha “Kam” Gray and daughter Emma Gray, returned from the mainland for the service. They remembered their father with stories of warm aloha. Gray’s wife, Leilani, preceded him in death in 1988. The family suggests donations to Kohala Kats, a feline rescue organization Thomas Gray founded in 1989.
OMG, Patience thought. Kohala Kats. Excited now, she started a new search for “Jason Hare.” Only one entry turned up:
Jason Hare (search) … George M. Aaron, et al. v. William V. Perry, in his capacity … Joseph W. Hamaukala, Jason Hare, Edward R. Hart … [Honolulu Advertiser, 10/19/95]
Patience waited a long time for the item to open. When it finally appeared, she recognized it as a complaint in an Agent Orange lawsuit filed on behalf of Hawaiian veterans. Patience checked: Jason Hare was a listed plaintiff, but Thomas Gray wasn’t. Still, Thomas Gray and Jason Hare were both Vietnam vets. And Kohala Kats also connected them. She knew she’d found something significant.
Patience slipped on her sandals and headed to her car. She wasn’t sleuthing, she told herself. She knew Kawika wanted to interview Jason Hare again, so she was just trying to determine Hare’s current location. If he happened to be walking along the Queen K, she’d just pass along that fact.
Patience reached the highway and turned north. North proved wrong; she drove to Kawaihae without seeing the half-naked, half-mad Jason Hare. Then she drove almost to Kona Village and Hualālai Resort before turning back. As she slowly lost the expectation of finding Hare, her thoughts began to drift. What was happening to her, this past week or so?
She felt regret over her impending divorce. The weight had rarely lifted until she met Kawika. Her husband had been a young doctor, just starting out, working exhausting hours and needing her home when he was. But after her own long hours at a downtown ad agency, not in the creative part either, just to help him through med school,
