Whisper of the Cat by Norma Johnston

**This blog contains adult language.**

Warning: Contains Spoilers!!! This is a recap blog which means I read the book and tell you everything that happens so you don't have to read it yourself.  Do NOT continue to read unless you want to know who the bad guy/girl/island legend is.

Tag Line: Who holds the key to the deadly secrets on Dorr Island?

From the Back of the Book: The islanders said the house was cursed...Tracy Fairbrother will never forget her first glimpse of the family mansion, Bonne Esperance, rising ghostlike from the haunting swamps and quicksand of Dorr Island.  But soon, inexplicable accidents and eerie premonitions convince Tracy that someone - or something - is trying to destroy Bonne Esperance and drive her family off the island.  Is it an ancient ancestor's ghost - or someone local?  Tracy wonders if the key lies with Mark, her stepmother's magnetic but troubled cousin.  His mixed attitude of admiration and antagonism draws Tracy in, even as she struggles to unravel the mystery swirling around the old house.  Then she discovers a body in the swamp.  Can Tracy expose the evil on the island before the true spirit of Bonne Esperance is lost forever?

Possible Trigger Warning: This recap will contain mention of a cat-o-nine-tails whip as well as a picture of the whip itself (not being used, obviously). I will try not to get too graphic, but if you are sensitive to this, please do yourself the kindness of not reading this recap.

This cover did not scan well.  I don't know if it's because it was so dark or because it is an ex-library book with a protective plastic cover.  I wish you could see it clearly because it's pretty ridiculous.  She's "running" with one hand clutching her own ass.  

Before I start the recap, I should issue a disclaimer. This is not our usual kind of book. I wanted to branch out a little once in awhile to keep myself from getting bored and burning out. A burned out blogger is a blogger who doesn't blog, after all. It does contain some possible supernatural activity so it isn't super far out of our usual realm but it isn't a resident of Point Horror Land so our usual rules don't apply.

 This book was written in 1987 and I've read it before but it's been 20 years at least. I don't really remember anything about it except that it contains a cat-o-nine-tails.  I didn't know what that was the first time I read the book and the internet wasn't actually a thing so I couldn't look it up.  I discovered later that the image in my head was WAY off so I always remember this book because of that.

We begin with our protagonist Tracy on a plane to Bonne Esperance to live with her father Kenneth (ex-spy and current author) and his new wife Catriona (archeologist). Tracy hasn't seen her father in years. After the divorce he was stationed in an area of Africa that wasn't safe for her to visit but now he's moved back to the states. Specifically, he's moved to a large plantation house on an island off the coast of Georgia. Tracy will be spending her summer and then her senior year there because her mother is being relocated to South America for her new job (oil....something).

Catriona picks her up from the airport, explaining that her dad had to dash to New York on an urgent matter. Catriona is vague about what that matter is, but Tracy assumes it has to do with the book her father is supposed to be writing. They take a taxi to the docks where a boat....and a boy....are waiting. The boat is sleek, arrogant and catlike. So is the boy. He's tall with dark hair and dark eyes and he gives Tracy a long, lazy look that gets her heart beating faster.

Mark is Catriona's cousin and just surly and brooding enough to remind me why this book was on my keeper shelf. I have a weakness for brooding. It's led me down many a dark literary path. Tracy feels electricity go through her when he takes her hand to help her into the boat and then gets annoyed when he proceeds to ignore her for the entire hour-long trip to the island. She attempts to talk to him once. She asks him why the boat is named Le Chat d'Argent which is French for The Silver Cat but he doesn't bother to answer her.

The island comes into view and Tracy tells us that it looks like some kind of dark, twisted fairy tale place. I'm not sure what that means to her exactly, but it puts a nice picture in my head. The house is enormous – a huge mansion in the middle of a swamp. There's a horse hitched to a wagon by the dock and Tracy is surprised to find out that's their transportation. Mark leaves them there. He's taking the boat to another island to have a jam session with someone named Cuffy.

On the drive up to the house, Catriona tells Tracy that she's conducting an archaeological dig on the island and Mark is assisting her for the summer. The house has been passed down through her family who originally came over from France. Which explains the name of the boat I guess. When they go inside, Catriona asks Tracy if she wants to eat or sleep first and Tracy picks food. It's served by an elderly black woman named Zipporah who has served the family for generations.

Tracy goes up to bed after dinner and she sleeps for several hours. She wakes up in the middle of the night terrified without knowing why she's scared. She feels like she isn't alone in the room but no one is there when she looks around. She hears a boat horn from outside and goes to the window. She can see movement down by the dock and wonders if it's Mark coming home. She doesn't want him to see her looking out at him, so she sits down on the window seat. It's warm like someone has been sitting there for awhile.

The next morning, Catriona gives Tracy the big tour. The house is in disrepair, although Catriona assures her that the safety hazards have all been handled and it's cosmetic things at this point that need done. Tracy asks about Mark and Catriona divulges an alarming amount of information about him. He was orphaned at 10 and sent to live with his grandparents. In his teens he had a fight with them that led to him being sent away to school. While he was gone, his grandfather died and his grandmother scarpered. After graduation, he returned to the island and set up residence in the abandoned house. No one knew he was there until Catriona inherited the house and they found him living in one of the rooms. We also learn that his boat blew up in some kind of accident. Sounds sketchy.

They conclude their tour and then Catriona offers to tell Tracy about the history of the house and the island. Tracy loves history and is intrigued. The land was granted to her ancestor by King Louis for “unspecified favors”. Make of that what you will but it sounds kinky to me. At some point it was owned by a man named Pierre Dulane whose portrait hangs in one of the room and who Tracy has already noted looks a lot like Mark. Pierre was a horrible man and a sadist who enjoyed other people's pain. He was particularly brutal to women and slaves and I'll let you just fill in the blanks there. At one point he fell in love with a beautiful slave but she loved someone else. He had the man killed and then whipped the woman to death with a cat-o-nine-tails. As she lay dying, she cursed Pierre. A few days later he was found dead with only a few cat scratches on his body and no obvious cause of death.

A cat-o-nine-tails is a special kind of whip developed to flog prisoners and slaves.  It has multiple "tails" that are knotted at intervals down the strand.  So basically it's like nine whips all tied to one handle.  Pierre's particular whip had sharp silver tips at the end for maximum pain.  This is a basic cat-o-nine-tails whip.

Catriona mentions that Mark is supposed to be her assistant at the dig but he's also working as a fisherman and chartering the Silver Cat in order to put himself through college so she can't always depend on his help. She asks Tracy if she'd like to work as an assistant for the summer and Tracy jumps at the offer. Catriona asks her to start by filing all the paperwork on her desk.

Tracy is filing away, learning a lot more about the history of the island, when she comes across some papers marked “Dorr Island Superstitions: Ghosts”. She can't resist reading them. Most of it has to do with the practice of voodoo on the island among the slaves. It also mentions that ancient people believed that a person could send their spirit outside themselves to wander. An evil person might project a black cat. A silver cat might be an indicator of an avenging angel and warns of impending danger.

After lunch Catriona asks Tracy if she'd like to visit the dig site. Catriona is digging where the old slave quarters used to be. On the way she tells Tracy that Mark is going to take her to the mainland to experience the “nightlife”. Catriona mentions that she trusts Mark implicitly to take care of Tracy and then adds that she's just not sure Mark is taking very good care of himself lately. Tracy has no idea what this means.

Catriona talks about her childhood friend Bini who is Zipporah's granddaughter. Bini is a lawyer and wants to take a vacation to help Catriona with the dig because the two of them used to play around in the area as kids. Catriona mentions that Cuffy (Zipporah's grandson) isn't as successful as his cousin and will most likely end up in jail. She just hopes he won't take Mark down with him.

Tracy mentions exploring and Catriona puts the fear of God in her. She tells Tracy that there's quicksand and snakes and she should never go anywhere alone, or venture off the paths because it's dangerous. The work day is cut short when Zipporah falls ill and has to be taken to the mainland to see a doctor. Tracy now has the house completely to herself and decides to do some exploring.

It's all pretty boring and uneventful.  I'll spare you most of it.  Tracy imagines herself back in the old days. Then she hears music coming from one of the rooms. She tracks it down and discovers an old music box playing in what must have been a nursery at one time.

Mark comes in and is angry at her for snooping around and touching things that don't belong to her. It doesn't stop Tracy from noticing how long his fingers are or how strong his hands look. I get it. I'm a sucker for hands too.

Mark is supposed to “pick her up” at 6:30 for their night out. Tracy isn't sure why she's actually going, but she's dressed up and ready on time. He's still not there at 7:00 and she's getting angry. She decides to walk down to the dock to wait for him there. The boat is tied to the dock but he's nowhere to be seen. She decides to get in the boat on her own and almost falls in the ocean. Luckily, Mark appears to save the day. He catches her, swings her up and deposits her in the boat with a grin. She's pissed, of course because that's the natural reaction to having someone save you from a cold dunk in the ocean.

A couple of things happen while they're out for the night. First, as soon as they dock, a young black man catches Mark's eye and Mark wanders off to speak to him. When he returns, they have dinner and then go on a carriage ride. Tracy is surprised Mark has that kind of money from his charter business. She keeps feeling as if they're being followed but Mark dismisses the idea. They go to a jazz club and while Mark is at the bar getting them root beers, the second weird thing happens. A man with dark blonde hair sitting at the bar starts staring at Tracy with an intensity that makes her extremely uncomfortable. She's alarmed when he slides off his barstool and begins to head her away.

Suddenly Mark appears and takes her elbow, ushering her out of the club. She doesn't question why. She's just relieved to be getting out of there. It's misting and Mark warns her to be careful because things are probably slippery. He tells her to go below in the cabin and stay dry. I've been picturing this as a little motorboat for some reason but I guess it's much bigger. Tracy goes downstairs and then hears Mark arguing with someone.

She can't hear much of the conversation but she hears Mark saying he's done with something and the other guy saying it won't be that easy. She poke her head out and realizes it's the blonde guy from the club. He leaves and Mark comes down in the cabin. He grabs a poncho and tells Tracy that there's a storm coming and she should stay below deck. She is scared and wants to be near him, so she grabs a poncho and goes up with him. She asks him who the man is and he says that he has no idea. He's never seen that man before in his life. She doesn't believe him.

The next morning, Tracy meets Catriona downstairs for breakfast. Catriona tells her that she thinks there was a prowler in the house the night before. Nothing was stolen or damaged, but she knows she heard someone moving around before Tracy and Mark came home. Catriona and Tracy do a thorough search of the house but find nothing amiss. They're standing in the foyer when something catches Tracy's attention. She screams “Look out” just before the massive crystal chandelier begins to fall. Tracy pushes Catriona out of the way seconds before she's crushed.

Tracy's ankle is throbbing and Catriona is cut deeply by one of the crystals but otherwise they're okay. Tracy screams Mark's name and he comes running in from outside. He carries Catriona to the couch and tells her she needs stitches. She refuses and asks the two teens to carefully store the chandelier and all the broken pieces in the cellar so it can be restored later. While packing it up, Mark gasps. When Tracy asks what's wrong he says he cut his finger on the steel cable but she can't see any blood.

Tracy finds a way to sneak into the cellar later to inspect the cable on the chandelier. It's half cut and half frayed. Someone cut halfway through the cable at some point and then just waited for the weight of the chandelier to take care of the rest.

Mark and Tracy head out to the dig to do a few hours work since Catriona isn't going anywhere at the moment. Tracy is surprised by the gentleness and dexterity of Mark's hands as he works. The fact he's shirtless and showing a lot of bronzed muscles doesn't hurt either. As they work, a young black girl steps out from the trees and speaks to Mark in Gullah. The only words Tracy recognizes are Zipporah and Cuffy. Mark turns to tell Tracy that he has to go see someone on the island but he'll be right back. He asks if she'll be okay alone and she says she will.

Tracy works for awhile and then is enchanted when a peacock comes into the clearing. He doesn't seem concerned with her presence as he eats some of the grubs unearthed by the dig. He unfurls his tail for her and then walks away. For some reason, she follows him. She ends up in a little clearing with ruins similar to the slave quarters where she's been working. She sees a door behind a rosebush and clears branches away so she can see it better. There's a cat carved on it and the words “Wake not the Silver Cat” inscribed in French.

She decides to head back to the dig but loses her way fairly quickly. The sun begins to go down and she finds herself in the swamp area of the island. One turned ankle later and she's stuck in the “slime” of the swamp. I don't know if this is actually supposed to be quicksand or not, but whatever it is, she can't get out. She screams Mark's name over and over and suddenly he's there, plunging into the muck beside her and wrapping his arms around her. She says the process of getting out is long and difficult but finally they're lying on the bank. She wraps her arms around his neck and holds on for dear life. He begins to kiss her and soon they're passionately making out covered in swamp goo. Sounds super sexy.

Weeks pass. Tracy's dad is still in New York or Washington DC or both. Mark and Tracy are awkward with each other and Catriona pretends not to notice. Tracy meets more of the local people but they don't really talk to her much because she's an outsider. They do a lot of digging. At one point Catriona suggests to Tracy that she ride the horse that pulls the wagon to go exploring. The horse is familiar with the area and knows where to step and where to stay away from and he can always find his way home which is more than we can say for Tracy.

Tracy takes Shadow out for a ride, wanting to back to the ruins she found the day of the quicksand. She turns him in that direction and he seems to know where he's going (HOW exactly??) so she just sits back and lets him go where he wants to go. To her great surprise, Shadow can't actually read her mind and they don't end up where she wanted to go. Imagine that. They end up outside of a small cottage with elaborate gardens.

There's a girl picking flowers and Tracy originally assumes they're about the same age. The girl is petite with long white-blonde hair wearing a Laura Ashley dress that Tracy covets. When the girl turns her way, Tracy is shocked to discover it's actually a VERY old woman. It turns out she's the “herb lady” of the island and, no, that's not a clever way of saying she grows marijuana.  At least I don't think it is.  She actually grows medicinal herbs and other flora. Her name is Amalie and she invites Tracy to come in for dinner. Tracy accepts because Amalie seems chatty and she thinks she can get info out of her.

Tracy has lots of tea and cake and ends up spilling her guts to Amalie – mostly about Mark. Amalie tells her that she'll be good for Mark as long as she pulls him into her world and he doesn't pull her into his. Tracy doesn't know what to make of that. They discuss how Tracy has “gifts” and can see into the spirit world more easily. Which we haven't actually seen and we've spent WAY more time with Tracy than Amalie has.

Telling us a character possesses an attribute that they've never actually exhibited any sign of? Check.

Amalie tells Tracy it's time to go because the sun is “dying” but asks her to come back soon. Tracy gets on Shadow and tells him to go home because that's how riding works. She feels woozy and odd and thinks she's spent too much time in the sun. Instead of going home, Shadow takes her to the ruins she was trying to reach in the first place. He's just a little delayed, that's all. Tracy is irritated because it's almost dark and she tries to order him home again since that worked SO WELL the last time.

Shadow heads down a path but he's acting skittish and unsure. At one point, he trips over something in the path and then rears up and Tracy goes flying from the saddle. Shadow takes off, leaving Tracy alone in the dark. She heads down the path after him and trips over the same damn thing. To her horror, it's the young black man that she saw Mark talking to the night they went into town. And he's very, very dead.

She takes off running down the path. None of us have any idea if she's headed in the right direction or not. She feels a presence guiding her and she just follows it. You know, because suddenly she has this gift. Before long she feels a second presence and she isn't sure this one is so benevolent. Hands reach out to grab her arm and she screams, running faster into the darkness.

Another set of hands grab her and this time they belong to her father. She tells him that there's a body down the path but when they go to look, no one is there. He takes her back to the house and questions her a bit. When she mentions eating a lot of Tansy cakes, Catriona informs her that Tansy in high doses can really make a person loopy. The islanders have eaten so much of it that they've developed a tolerance but Tracy has not.

Mark doesn't come home that night. The boat is gone as well. The next day, the boat is back but Mark is nowhere to be seen. Tracy thinks she hears him at some point walking around upstairs but she doesn't go to look. Her dad explores the island in the daylight and still finds no sign of a dead body. Tracy begins to wonder if she imagined the whole thing in her Tansy-influenced state.

Mark doesn't appear until the second morning. When he does, they fill him in on Tracy's misadventures. Later he pulls her aside and questions her about the body and where she was. He seems tense and agitated. She asks him where he's been and he says he had a job to do but it's done now and nothing she needs to worry about.

I don't know about you, but when someone tells me there's nothing to worry about, there's DEFINITELY something to worry about.

Later that day, they find out Cuffy is dead. The “official” report is that he was drunk and fell in the swamp. Catriona goes to hug Zipporah who is understandably upset at the loss of her grandson. Tracy turns to Mark and sees him staring at the picture of Pierre Dulane with tears in his eyes. Before she can say anything to him, he tells Zipporah that he'll hitch Shadow to the wagon and drive her to her daughter's house. He leaves and Catriona takes Zipporah to change her clothes. Tracy's dad tells her to give them all space. The islanders stick together in bad times and she and her dad are outsiders.

Catriona comes back in and tells Tracy that there will be rituals and ceremonies conducted for Cuffy until his burial services. She doubts Mark will be home until that point. Tracy goes up to bed and sleeps until a storm blows up. Her windows are wide open, so she races to close them and then remembers that Zipporah usually closes the windows downstairs. As she's closing those windows, she glances outside and sees Mark unhitching Shadow from the wagon.

Um.

BULLSHIT.

We're told she turns every light in the house on as she goes downstairs, including multiple lights in the room she's currently standing in. It's dark outside. AND storming.  And there are no outside lights.  Have you ever stood in a bright room and looked outside into the night? Of course you have. And what, gentle reader did you see when you did that?

I'll wait.

Damn, right you did.

You saw yourself. You didn't see a damn thing outside because it's pitch black out there and brightly lit where you are and all you're seeing is your own damn reflection.

SCIENCE, bitch.

Tracy decides to sit on the porch and wait for him. When he approaches from behind her, she remains still and silent so he knows he doesn't have to acknowledge her presence unless he wants to. He wants to. I suspect this is the only reason he came home at all. He needed someone to hold him while he cried. He steps into her arms and she holds him tight as he sobs. Eventually she sits back down in the chair and he lands on his knees, putting his head against her chest and then in her lap until there are no more tears.

She leads him inside and makes him some coffee. They make small talk about things that don't matter because he needs that too. After awhile, he kisses her softly, thanks her for everything and goes up to bed.

He's gone again the next morning. Catriona packs some things for Zipporah and drives them over, leaving Tracy and her dad alone. He goes down in the cellar to get a couple of large bells and a ladder. When she asks him what he's doing, he tells her that they're warning bells. The smaller one is used to call all the family members back to the house. The larger one tells everyone on the island to come running.

Seriously. Do y'all smell that? I think we have a big steaming pile of foreshadowing stinking up the place.

I'm sure it won't be important at all.

The next day, Catriona is with the islanders preparing for Cuffy's funeral, so Tracy does a little work for her dad instead. She is filing some papers when she comes across a set of instructions for picking locks. She decides to practice on Mark's locked bedroom door. It works – eventually – and she finds herself inside. She finds two remarkable things in there: something that sounds like either a bong or a crack pipe to me and a picture of her that she'd sent to her father and Catriona. She doesn't recognize the drug thing for what it is, but the fact he has her picture tacked up in his room makes her a little swoony.

Later she goes with her family to the funeral. As she views the body she's shocked to realize it's the one she tripped over in a place it shouldn't have been if he indeed drunkenly drowned in the swamp.

She's JUST NOW putting this together? Holy smokes, we have a smart one here, y'all.

There is something to note, though. When she found the body, the face was unmarked. Now the body bears scratch marks across the face.

Tracy feels sick and leaves the church quickly. After she throws up, she kneels in yard, unwilling to go back in but not feeling steady enough to walk home. Mark appears beside her. He holds her and rocks her and tells her everything is going to be okay. This makes her furious and she yells at him that he has no right to say that to her. She asks him what's really going on and he says he can't tell her. She points out that Cuffy's body was moved and he didn't drown like everyone said and Mark damn well knows all that and she wants to know why. He repeats that he can't tell her. He warns her not to go anywhere alone, especially at night.

Tracy goes home with her dad and Catriona after the funeral. They eat lunch and Catriona expresses worry over where Mark is. Tracy doesn't give a damn where Mark is but she wants to visit Amalie without anyone knowing, so she says she'll go out looking for him. She rides Shadow to Amalie's cottage and tries to get the old woman to talk about Mark. Amalie dances around the subject, saying cryptic things that Tracy can't make sense of. She offers Tracy some tea and then Mark appears. He kindly but strongly tells Amalie that Tracy can't have any tea because of allergies and then he takes Tracy away to talk.

Tracy doesn't want to go with him. She's angry at his interference and says he had no right to tell her she couldn't drink the tea. Amalie is respected by the people of the island and even Catriona thinks she's harmless. Mark remarks that Catriona has been gone for a long time and she has no idea.....but then he leaves the sentence unfinished. Clearly he thinks Amalie is doing something she shouldn't but he doesn't clue any of us in. He repeats that he wants to talk to her but not on the island because he can't be sure who is listening. He's arranged with her father to take her to dinner on the mainland and Tracy is curious enough to agree to go.

When they get to the docks, the blonde mystery man is waiting there in his own boat. Mark introduces him as Lon a guy he used to hang around when he was young and too stupid to know better. Lon tells Mark they have unfinished business and looks at Tracy as if evaluating what kind of leverage she might be. Mark asks her to wait below deck on the Silver Cat and she complies. The conversation ends and she joins Mark topside. He says he changed his mind about going to the mainland but he's packed a picnic just in case so they'll just anchor somewhere out in open water and eat there.

Why would be pack a picnic “just in case”? This makes no sense to me at all.

They eat and then Tracy tells him it's time to get to the point. She asks about Cuffy. Mark tells her that Cuffy has been running moonshine (made from Zipporah's husband's recipe) for a long time now. It's a dangerous combination of intoxicants but the people in the area love it. Mark thinks a batch of it killed Cuffy. He discovered Cuffy's body on the path right after Tracy that night and moved it to make it look like Cuffy drowned instead. He says he did it because Zipporah would be crushed to find out her husband's hooch recipe had killed her grandson.

Mark tells her that he's been helping Cuffy make his deliveries because when Mark first came to the island broke and hungry, Cuffy took care of him. They'd been “blood brothers” as kids and Cuffy helped him rebuild his fishing boat and go him a job so he could survive. So when Cuffy asked him to help transport the moonshine, Mark felt like he owed him.

Tracy asks him why he put the scratch marks on Cuffy's face to make it look like the curse was involved and Mark adamantly says that he did no such thing. They talk briefly about Amalie and Tracy realizes that no one seems to actually know that Amalie is currently on the island except for Mark and she asks him if he moved Cuffy because he was on the path to Amalie's cottage and a body being discovered there would lead to her discovery as well.

This seems like a huge intuitive leap to me. We've been told that Zipporah knows and respects Amalie and Amalie has talked repeatedly about visits from other island people.  Plus Tracy just made that comment about Catriona thinking Amalie is harmless.  Why would Tracy assume that no one knows she's there? I mean....it's a semi-accurate conclusion but one she shouldn't have been able to reach with the knowledge she had. Another example of telling rather than showing.

Mark confirms her assumptions. Amalie had been his nanny growing up and he is extremely attached to her. When she began showing signs of dementia after his parents died, his grandparents tricked her into a nursing home by telling her she was going on vacation. When Mark protested, they shipped him off to military school telling everyone in the family that he was a troubled sociopath. When he graduated at 18 he busted Amalie out and brought her back to the island. But Tracy is wrong about one thing. The rest of the island knows she's there. Catriona and Kenneth are the only ones who don't. Mark is afraid they'd send her back if they found out.

Tracy makes another huge leap and declares that Lon obviously knows about Amalie and he's using her as leverage to manipulate Mark into doing illegal activities.

SHE HAS NO WAY OF KNOWING THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I will admit that it's not too hard to put together the fact that Cuffy and Mark have obviously been running the moonshine for Lon in some capacity and that Mark clearly wants out of the arrangement. I figured all that out a long time ago although I thought they might be running drugs instead of moonshine. That was all obvious. What isn't obvious is the Amalie blackmail. There are no cognitive trails here. There is no way Tracy should have reached this conclusion with the information she had.

Mark tells her the less she knows the better. It's all almost over. He's not making anymore runs for Lon and things will be done in a few days. She doesn't know what that means but she KNOWS that he's wrong and things are about to get much, much worse.  Because she has a gift, yo.

The chapter ends with the implication that Tracy and Mark have sex on the boat. It's not said outright, but the writing seems to imply it. Unlike Tracy's fantastical leaps, this one isn't so hard to make.

Three days later, Zipporah dies. Mark and Tracy go to the mainland to bring a doctor back. Mark tells her to wait on the boat but she's restless and wanders around the waterfront instead. When she returns to the boat, Lon is there. They have an altercation. She tells him that she knows “everything” and she's going to go to the police and turn him in if he doesn't leave Mark alone. Lon grabs her arm and twists it painfully behind her back. He tells her that Mark is in too deep and if he makes trouble for Lon, Mark's loved ones are going to be hurt. He takes off before Mark and the doctor return.

Zipporah's death is ruled heart failure. Her granddaughter Bini refuses to accept this explanation. She demands to know why autopsies weren't done. The doctor says he was trying to protect the family's dignity. Cuffy clearly died from the moonshine and he thinks Zipporah might have committed suicide. She had inoperable cancer and wasn't expected to live much longer. He thinks the pain finally got to her and she met her death on her own terms. Bini lets it drop but Tracy can tell she still isn't satisfied.

Later she tells Mark about her run in with Lon and he panics. She realizes that she doesn't know the whole story but now Lon thinks she does because she told him she knew everything. She decides the only solution is to go to her father and tell him the entire story. He knows they can't go to the authorities until they have proof, so they search Zipporah's room and the kitchen. They find some strange herbs and the same drug paraphernalia item that Tracy found in Mark's room. Kenneth locks them in his desk drawer for safe keeping.

Catriona doesn't want to go to the dig that day so she asks Tracy to help her sort through one of the storerooms for an old map. During the search, Tracy comes across a picture of a young Amalie. She asks Catriona who it is and Catriona replies that it's a picture of her grandmother who died in a nursing home several years ago.

Dun dun dun.

When Mark gets back with the boat, Kenneth takes off for the mainland with the herbs and other items they thought might eventually be evidence. When Mark finds out he is frantic. He tells Tracy that she has to get the herbs back. They have to get rid of them. He's terrified that Amalie might have poisoned Zipporah on accident and he doesn't want her to be in trouble for that. Lan is threatening to turn her in and Mark needs to be sure there's no way for her to be proven responsible. His goal is to get Amalie off the island somewhere safe and then cut all ties with Lon.

That night the silver cat visits Tracy's room again. It's acting spacey and Tracy sees that it has something in it's mouth. She manages to get it out and it's a small white rock-like substance. Tracy assumes it's candy and for some unfathomable reason, she licks the thing that was just in a cat's mouth.

Excuse me while I die.

The rock isn't candy and Tracy knows it's crack cocaine. Um......how? I don't know about you, gentle reader, and I try not to judge, but I wouldn't begin to know what crack cocaine tasted like. I think Tracy has some habits she hasn't bothered to tell us about.

From that leap she makes another. Clearly Cuffy was an addict and he died from the crack!

This book is killing me with this crap.

The next morning Tracy wakes up in an empty house. Mark has taken Kenneth and Catriona to the mainland to do some errands. He leaves a note for her telling her to lock herself in the house and be safe. She does neither of those things. After slipping a small kitchen knife in her bra (WTF? That seems extremely dangerous!) she decides to go to the other side of the island to question some of the Gullah people about Cuffy's still.

What the actual fuck?

This damn author has spent the entire book telling us that the island people do NOT trust or confide in outsiders. And now we're just supposed to believe that they welcome Tracy to story time with open arms?

Bullshit.

One of the men tells her that the still is in the ruins with the engraved door. She knows nothing was out there, though. One of the women tells her that Zipporah entrusted something to her care right before she died. She pulls it out to give to Tracy. It's Pierre's cat-o-nine-tails. Zipporah thought it was used to make the marks on Cuffy's face. 

Tracy takes it back home. She pulls out the old map of the island and pours over it, searching for mention of caves or tunnels. There's nothing. She wanders out into the hall and notices that the jewel-inlaid table has some water rings from when people gathered at the house after Zipporah's funeral and set their cups down. She grabs a paper towel to dry it off and notices that the jewels seem to form a pattern. On closer inspection, it's a map with different jewels meaning different things. There's no key or anything but Tracy is able to decode the colors and know exactly what each and every one represents. (Bullshit)  Instantly she finds the caves and, grabbing the whip and a box of matches, she sets out.

She reaches the secret location and finds the crack lab. She also finds Lon who isn't happy to see her. He pulls a gun on her and drags her outside. She drops the matchbook as a clue to anyone who follows that she's been there. No, I don't know how it's a clue either. It's not like she wrote “Tracy's matches” on them or something. She also tells Shadow to go home and the horse gallops off.

Lon makes her get on his motorcycle in front of him and then he drives with one hand while keeping the gun pointed at her with the other. I find this improbable but not impossible. As he drives her to the docks, she can hear the trouble bell ringing in the distance. Lon forces her onto the Silver Cat and just as he's stepping on himself, Mark springs out of nowhere and attacks him. They struggle but Lon has a gun and the odds are stacked against Mark.

Lon orders Mark to drive the boat. He's going to blow up the Silver Cat with both Mark and Tracy onboard. How is he planning to get away exactly? Is he going to jump overboard and swim? Because an explosion big enough to blow up a boat that big would definitely affect the surrounding water. Wouldn't it? It would have to, I'd think. This seems like a very poorly thought out plan.

Tracy remembers she has the whip. I don't know where she's carrying it. Maybe in her bra with the knife? Mark creates a diversion by swerving the boat hard and Lon shoots him in the shoulder. Tracy lashes out with the whip and Lon goes overboard. He isn't dead, though and Tracy remembers he has a motorboat tied to the dock. She asks Mark if he can drive but he's losing an alarming amount of blood. He tells her he thinks the bullet “hit something”. She moves him out of the seat and drives the boat toward the mainland herself.

The Silver Cat is faster than the motorboat but Tracy is an inexperienced driver. Lon begins to gain on them and he shoots at the boat. The phone rings on the boat and it's Tracy's dad. She tells him the situation and then just prays the coast guard will arrive to save the day. They do. A helicopter arrives just before they reach shore.

The last chapter wraps everything up in a nice bow. Lon and his goons are arrested. Which is a surprise to me because I didn't even know he had any goons. SHOW DON'T TELL! Mark survives and will likely be cleared of all charges because he didn't know what he was transporting at first and then he was blackmailed to continue. Plus, he'll testify against Lon which is more important to the authorities. The crack lab is dismantled. Amalie is taken to a private hospital on the mainland for evaluation and she'll go home to the island to live with Catriona and Kenneth if she's found stable enough. Tracy and Mark are madly in love.

The End.

I know this book was a departure for us but I hope you enjoyed the recap anyway. I enjoyed re-reading it. Well, mostly. There were a lot of issues with this book that I didn't remember from my first reading years ago. All I really remembered was Mark. A brooding guy with dark hair and good hands who always appears in the nick of time to save the day? Yeah, that's my crack.