Who is Dr. Meral Johnson from Season of the Machete and what is their importance?

Meral is the police chief of San Dominica. He realizes that he doesn't look the part and admits to working hard to create an air of confidence during the first of the machete murders. Meral early on connects several actions that might have seemed unrelated - the bombing of the plane, murder of Leon Hatchet and machete murders - but dismisses Peter Macdonald's eyewitness account of the man responsible. Instead, Meral focuses all his attention on Dassie "Monkey" Dred, an island revolutionary. Meral does come back to Peter, locates him as he's trying to leave the island, and spends time with him working on the case. It's important to note that the book ends with Meral and Peter seated in a Parisian cafe and looking for Carrie Rose - the Carrie Rose believed by most to have been shot months earlier.