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LEI

The team meeting broke up when Captain Omura was called by the Governor of Hawaii and notified that the television stations and newspapers in the state had received emails tipping them off to the Warriors of Kamehameha website.

Omura held a quick, impromptu news conference after the Governor asked her to respond to the many calls from the media. Looking for a catchy headline phrase, the media hadn’t yet reached consensus between ‘The Kapu Killers’ or ‘Kamehameha’s Sacrificers.’ Lei and Pono were assigned to prioritize figuring out who The Warriors of Kamehameha were; Omura told them to reach out to the numerous groups that had been calling for sovereignty for the islands, through recognition, nationhood, or possibly even a restoration of the Hawaiian monarchy.

“But why isn’t anyone realizing the killer is a fake Hawaiian?” Pono growled as he and Lei headed for her cubicle after the Q and A, during which the Captain had fended off most of the questions. “Isn’t anyone else seeing that this ‘manifesto’ is bull crap? It’s a smoke screen.”

“Apparently you’re the only one who is sure of that,” Lei told her partner. “Today was one day of many I’ve been glad I didn’t have Captain Omura’s job.”

At their cubicles, Stevens met them and volunteered to help make calls, but their quick strategy session got off to a rocky start.

“Are these people serious?” Stevens asked. “Those demands from the Warriors of Kamehameha are crazy. The federal government will never agree to that.”

“I don’t think that’s even a question,” Lei said. “We don’t negotiate with terrorists—or murderers.”

“But wait, Stevens. You said ‘these people’?” Pono was fired up. “That attitude is part of the problem. ‘These people’ are Hawaiians, just like me. And the U.S. government is in control of our country. They don’t listen to us, the people of an illegally overthrown sovereign nation.”

“Why should they?” Stevens countered. “Isn’t this the same thing the Civil War was fought over?”

“Not even close,” Pono said. “The southern states joined the Union voluntarily, and then decided they wanted to secede. Hawaii is a country that was annexed by the U.S. after its Queen was deposed in an illegal coup.”

“I thought she stepped down voluntarily?” Stevens said. “I’m just trying to understand where this is coming from after all this time.”

“The overthrow was led by a small group of powerful white businessmen on Oahu. They marched to ‘Iolani Palace at the head of their private militia, backed by a couple hundred Marines from a U.S. ship in Honolulu Bay. They demanded that Queen Lili?uokalani abdicate the throne. Between their private soldiers and the Marines, the Queen’s guards were outnumbered nearly four to one. To keep anyone from getting killed, she agreed to step down, but it was hardly voluntary.”

“I was sketchy on the details,” Stevens said. “Sorry, man. And yeah, I get why the Hawaiian people are pissed.”

Pono looked away, drumming his fingers on the desk. “The Kingdom of Hawai‘i had treaties with the U.S., which means it had been recognized as a sovereign state. The Queen trusted the U.S. government to do the right thing. She sent messages to Washington, and when President Cleveland heard about it, he ordered the new ‘Provisional Government’ to stand down and give the country back. They ignored him. Four years later, when Cleveland was out of office and McKinley was elected President, he signed the act that annexed Hawaii.” Pono looked directly at Stevens. “Most Hawaiians believe our land was stolen from us, taken illegally. President Clinton signed an apology for the overthrow, but nothing changed. If someone took away something that was important to you and later said, ‘Sorry, what I did was wrong, but I’m not giving it back,’ how would you feel?”

Stevens and Lei exchanged glances. They’d both survived situations where someone had tried to take away everything. “We get it,” Stevens said.

Pono continued. “The sovereignty movement is lots of groups with different agendas. The radical ones believe that, because the annexation was illegal, the Kingdom of Hawai‘i still exists as a nation. They consider the U.S. to be an ‘occupying force’ with no legal authority, and they want it to leave.

“Others support working through the legal systems, trying to gain a foothold of recognition, and build on that toward self-determination. Hawaiians don’t even have the same rights as Native Americans or Native Alaskans. Currently, the state is supporting an initiative to establish a ‘roll’ of Native Hawaiians, as a first step towards empowering us in a nation-building process. There’s a lot going on.”

“It’s a little like shutting the barn door after the horse is gone,” Stevens said as he leaned against the wall of the cubicle. “But justice should be served in whatever form it can be. On that note, I’ll reach out to the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and see if they know anything about these Warriors of Kamehameha.”

“Thanks, hon,” Lei said as he walked off. She turned to her partner. “You done with your rant, bro? That right after you told me these Warriors of Kamehameha are fake.”

“Rant over. I’m done.” Pono rubbed his mustache. “At least no one at that media conference had found the secret link to the videos. Still feeling sick from seeing those. Worst part is the killer was careful not to be identifiable.”

“I’m sending that secret link to Sophie for analysis,” Lei said, typing rapidly as she composed an email to her hacker friend on Oahu. “I don’t want Katie to have to spend any more time watching those videos, but after five years as an FBI agent and even more in online security, Sophie has a strong stomach. She can tear the recordings apart for any clues.”

“Good idea. Meanwhile, I’ll call Mrs. Steinbrenner and Mrs. Kleftes with follow-up questions based on the website. See if they know of any Warriors of Kamehameha threats or info.” Pono reached for his desk phone.

Lei finished emailing Sophie that she was sending a website for priority analysis in a murder case, then picked up her own phone. Her next call was to the FBI. A former agent herself, she was the local liaison on Maui with the agency. She had a couple of long conversations with colleagues on Oahu, digging for links to the murders.

She had to tread lightly when her compatriots started asking about domestic terrorism. Though the ‘Warriors of Kamehameha’ sounded like a political group, Lei, like Pono, didn’t believe the manifesto on the website was anything more than the ramblings of the killer and a possible accomplice or two. If the FBI determined this was domestic terrorism, a whole planeload of federal law enforcement would descend on Maui and take over their investigation.

After speaking with the widows, who had no additional information, Pono went on to call some of his friends and relatives on the island to see if there was any chatter on the ‘coconut wireless’ about the Warriors of Kamehameha. Lei smiled occasionally as Pono switched in and out of pidgin depending on whom he was speaking to. Pono seemed to be related to every third local resident of the island.

After a couple of hours of canvassing, Stevens reappeared to report in. “I never realized there were so many different groups,” he said, voice tinged with frustration as he ran a hand through his hair, leaving the brown locks tufty and disordered. “Every time I talk to someone, they ask if I’ve talked to so-and-so. It’s like a telephone game that doesn’t connect anywhere.”

“You’ve got to remember, the sovereignty movement has been building since the 1970s,” Pono said, tilting his chair back and interlacing his fingers. “There’s always resentment among native Hawaiians about the overthrow. That has been compounded by misguided U.S. policies since the late 1890s.”

“Not to mention the missionaries, the plantation masters, the military boot on the neck of the Islands . . . yeah, we understand the frustration of the people,” Lei said.

“And when did the Navy finally stop using Kaho‘olawe for bombing practice?” Pono asked. “1990?”

“That’s all true,” Stevens said, “but after a lot of reading and listening, I don’t hear consensus between the various groups in favor of sovereignty. If the people are ever allowed to form a recognized government, it could be a free-for-all.”

“Let’s get back to this case,” Lei said. “So far, the FBI has nothing similar in the ViCAP database, and I’m worried they’ll decide the Warriors are domestic terrorists and yank the case from us entirely.”

“Meanwhile, everyone I’ve talked to has no idea who the Warriors of Kamehameha are and denies knowing anyone who has anything to do with them,” Pono said. “And many of these folks know each other, so for them to say they haven’t heard of this group tells me something.”

“I’ve been getting that same thing from OHA folks in the know,” said Stevens. “This must be a completely new group. Maybe they just want to make a splash and intimidate everyone else.”

“Or maybe they want to get the other groups riled up and kick-start some action,” Lei suggested.

“I’m pretty sure this group is a splinter organization. The rep I spoke to at OHA was furious that they made those demands. She called the manifesto completely counterproductive.” Stevens glanced over at Lei and asked, “Have you checked on Katie lately?”

“Poor kid ran off after she showed us the video link. I’ll go find her. I need a leg stretch anyway.” Lei stood up and walked with her husband through the bullpen. She gave him a quick hug before he headed to his third-floor office. “Thanks for tackling OHA for us.”

“I learned a lot today, mostly from Pono. And I’m happy to get in on an active case these days,” Stevens said. “See you at home.” He trotted up the stairs.

“Now where would Katie be? Probably in her Cave, but I’ll grab some coffee first,” Lei muttered, hands on her hips. “I need a pickup to get through this day from hell.”

She found the young investigator in the break room, stretched out on the Naugahyde sofa. The shades were drawn, and a damp dish towel covered her forehead and eyes. Gentle snores issued from Katie’s mouth. “Hey kiddo. Wake up.” Lei pulled a chair over and sat beside her intern. “How are you feeling?”

“God, Lei, that was so horrible.” Katie pushed the dish towel aside and sat up. “I didn’t mean to lose my shit and run out of the room.”

“You just did what the rest of us were thinking about doing. I’ve never seen anything like that in my life and hope I never do again.”

“How could someone . . .” Katie asked in a near whisper. “Those poor people . . .”

“We had to see it,” Lei said, “or, at least, someone in MPD had to. How did you figure out the video was there? It’s not visible on the manifesto page.”

“It was hidden, embedded on the website,” Katie said.

“At least none of the media saw it, as far as we can tell. But how did you know where to look?”

“Something about the photos of the victims’ faces on their drivers’ licenses kept bugging me. I finally figured out that the eyes weren’t right. They didn’t look like a dead person’s eyes—well, on the first two anyway. I kept thinking, what is it about those eyes? And then it hit me: someone had layered in different eyes, like from when they were alive. And in the very center of the pupil, it wasn’t round, it was square.” Katie patted her pale cheeks with the dish towel. Her hair was a disordered mess; she still looked a little green. “Mū from the Warriors of Kamehameha wanted us to ‘see’ something. That was the hint. Maybe they wanted to find out if we were smart enough to figure it out. When I moved the cursor up to the eyes it went active, so I knew that if I clicked, something would happen. Maybe he did it that way so the media wouldn’t find it.” Katie took a couple of deep breaths in through the nose, blowing out through the mouth. “I’m feeling a little better. Whew.”

“The videos show what the crime scene team and autopsy confirmed about the cause of death and murder weapons. I forwarded the link to my friend Sophie on Oahu. She has mad computer skills, and maybe she can tease out enough detail to help us determine more about the killer—though he seems to have been very careful so far not to give us anything.” Lei stood up. “You ready to get up? Come to the bullpen with me so we can fill you in. Maybe it will trigger an idea in that brain of yours.”

“Sure.”

Back at the cubicle, Pono stood up to give Katie a hug. “Eh, sistah . You did good finding that site and the hidden videos. The Captain just called and asked if you can find a way to hide that site?”

“I can try. I agree it shouldn’t be up where anyone can see it.” Katie patted her pale cheeks. “I wish I could bleach my eyeballs.”

“Me too.” Pono threw an arm around Katie’s slim shoulders; the kid’s bones crackled as he squeezed. “You’ll be okay. But I won’t say you’ll get used to it. Mahalo ke Akua , we don’t have murders like this every day.”

“Or ever before, thank God. As you said, Pono,” Lei added. “Here’s where we are with tracking the Warriors of Kamehameha.” She summarized their efforts for Katie’s benefit. “Got a big fat nothing on the group so far.”

“Which is interesting in itself.” Katie had a gleam in her eyes again; she tapped a foot clad in a shiny rubber Mary Jane on the floor. “Let me go do some research of my own. I’ll call you down to the Cave if I find anything. Meanwhile, I’ll try to disappear that website.”

“Good luck,” Lei called as her protégée spun on a loud, squeaky heel and headed for the door to the basement.

Once Katie was gone, Lei flopped into her chair. “Now, let’s hope she gets further with her computer than we have with phone calls.”

“Back at it,” Pono said, and reached for his phone once more.