“What exactly did you do back on the mainland?” she asked.
Across the table, Mayor Lum tapped a fork against his glass. “Aloha, everyone. Thank you for coming. I’d like to get started with quick introductions, and then we’ll get into the meat of our purpose for being here.” Though he didn’t speak pidgin per se, he had this inflection that so many of the local people had. Almost old-fashioned.
They went around the table. Aside from the firemen and lifeguards, there was Tommy Warren from DLWA; Dave Morrow, head of the Kiawe Roughwater Swim; the district rep Tim Richmond; a police officer who called himself Dragon; Sam Callahan, who kept looking at her; and two local fishermen who both had been fishing this coast their whole lives. It made her wonder where Luke Greenwood fit in all this.
Woody went last. “My name is Woody Kaupiko, and I was born next door at Hale Niuhi. I could swim before I could walk, and my family used to be the caretakers of this ?ili, this area. And I have opinions about this whole thing, so I appreciate being on your roster.”
Mayor Lum nodded in acknowledgment, then took over again. He spoke slowly, swinging his gaze around the table and making eye contact with each person. “You all are here because you have a stake in these shark attacks or have experience or knowledge about sharks. You all know what’s gone down, but we also have Minnow Gray with us to give us an update on what she and her intern have found out since her arrival. We’ll do this roundtable style, each person gets a chance to speak, and then we’ll open it up to questions. So Minnow, why don’t we start with you.”
The sun had gone behind a bank of clouds, dimming her light. She’d been hoping to go last, once she’d had a chance to hear what the others had to say, and she knew what she’d be up against, but all eyes were on her.
She smiled and took a deep breath. “Thank you, Mayor Lum, I’m honored to be here. Why don’t I first present you with our findings and then go from there,” she said, pulling out the photographs Joehad given her, as well as the ones Nalu had picked up from Longs drugstore just before the meeting. The tooth. The surfboard. The fin. Angela Crawford’s wounds.
When she asked if anyone knew anything about Hank Johnson, one of the lifeguards said, “I remember his wife saying he was wearing fins.”
“Did she say what kind?”
“No, but red. Easy to spot.”
Damn.
“Okay, we’re still waiting on confirmation from the wife, but I’ll note it here,” she said. “And though we can safely say the same shark that bit Stuart also bit Angela, that’s really all we know. The incidents were a week apart and four miles away from each other, but as the shark swims, four miles is nothing. I know it’s rare in Hawai?i for two shark incidents like this so close together, but it’s happened elsewhere—Florida, South Africa, Australia. And the odds of another incident are close to zero.”
She went on, outlining basic white shark behavior for those unfamiliar with the animals. From everything she’d seen all shark research in the islands centered on reef sharks and tiger sharks. The majority of people living in the islands probably didn’t even know white sharks frequented their waters. When she was done with that, she launched into shark breeding patterns and how with white sharks, it can be thirty years until they reach maturity, and then they only give birth every few years.
“What I can’t stress enough is that the role of these animals is critical to the entire ocean ecosystem. Sharks are great equalizers. And it doesn’t take killing too many to upset their population for decades to come. Plus, evidence points to one animal causing the incidents, so a widespread hunt will have too much collateral damage while most likely not yielding the culprit, who is probably on her way back to the West Coast. My position, and that of my colleagues, is a hard no to any shark hunt, organized or—”
The older fireman cut in. “Girl, why does any of this matter? This shark, that shark. Bottom line, people are dying on our watch.”
“Let her finish,” Woody said.
“Organized or unorganized was what I was going to say. That’s it.”
Woody gave her a nod. The rest of the men, though, remained quiet. Even Luke.
“Any questions for the young lady?” Mayor Lum finally said.
Young lady?What a dickwad.
Sawyer held up a hand. “What about catch and release? Anything other than a giant white shark is let go. That way we’d ensure people feel safe enough to swim around here and enter the race, but we’re not upsetting any natural balance.”
She shook her head. “You still run the risk of badly injuring the sharks. There are all kinds of things to consider. The stress alone can sometimes kill them or leave them maimed with dislocated jaws. Leaving the hook in their mouths is cruel and can lead to infection and eventually death.”
Woody jumped in, “Like the doc said, the shark in question is probably long gone, and what, you gonna go out there and just catch any kine shark? Waste of time. We hardly got any beaches over here, not too many people in the water like up north or in Kona. We need to just accept that when we go in the water we might meet a shark, and move on, no offense to any of the victims.”
Minnow could feel the red spreading across Sam Callahan’s cheeks. She avoided looking his way. Whoever had invited him had not been thinking clearly.
“So we know how you two feel about this. Let’s hear from the rest. How about Ocean Safety, what is your recommendation?” Lum asked.
“When we see sharks, we put the signs up, and beyond that it’s the individual’s choice to go out,” said Johnny Angel, a bearded man with tattoos up both arms. “In the case of the roughwater swim, we can beef up our escorts and do some scouting ahead of time. But I tend to agree with Dr. Gray—a shark hunt is wrong.”
Minnow wanted to reach out and hug him. She was feeling like maybe things were going to go her way until Tommy Warren folded his arms on his chest and said in a slow, booming voice, “You know, the community is outraged, people are dying and we have a killer shark on the loose. Calls to our office of shark sightings have gone through the roof. We all know that Hank did not just drown out there and now you have a fin to prove it. The only way to nip this in the bud, especially now with national eyes on us, is to do a targeted hunt between Keahole Point and Kiholo. I have experienced guys lined up ready to go, and I don’t think some chick from the mainland should be rolling in here and telling us what to do.”
He caught her eyeing him and gave her a cold, hard stare. Minnow glanced down at the table in front of her, uncomfortable.
The district rep agreed with him. “My office is getting calls too. Hundreds of them. People want action. And this isn’t just a matter of catching sharks; this is a matter of assuaging the fears of every single person on the mainland and around the world who is watching the news and shitting their pants. Even if the press is blowing it out of proportion, if we don’t do something, all those happy tourists are going to take their dollars elsewhere.”
What was wrong with these people? Had they not heard anything she said?
