Camino Ghosts

In March, Judge Salazar calls for a hearing on Lovely’s case. A lunch follows, and then the judge invites Steven to coffee. She discusses Lovely’s case with him, an illegal act for a judge, known as “earwigging.” She remarks on the inconsistencies in Lovely’s memoir, implying that money might motivate her to pursue the case after so many years. Steven intended to discuss sending a team of experts in Dark Isle to find the cemetery and take DNA samples. However, he realizes that the judge doesn’t believe Lovely’s story and has already decided on the case.

Steven mentions his discussion with the judge to Bruce. Bruce wonders if Steven can ask her to resign. He knows from a neighbor that Judge Salazar’s son works in the Old Dunes, a new condo complex. He tells Steven they must find out who owns Old Dunes.

Diane investigates Old Dunes, trailing its developments, and discovers that it was recently sold to a company based on a Caribbean island, a “haven” for “shady corporations and tax evaders” (189). Diane also learns that Tidal Breeze has had “tax troubles” and that the clues connect to investigations offshore. She finds that two other companies owned by Tidal Breeze are registered to the same address. Steven suspects that Tidal Breeze bought Old Dunes to influence the judge through her son. Suing the company is the only way to reveal its owner, but they must find a plaintiff.

Bruce devises a plan to find Old Dune’s owner with Gifford’s help. Gifford and his wife speak with the salesman at Old Dunes, expressing interest in buying a home. They survey a home, and Gifford falls down a staircase, pretending it was an accident. He’s transported to the hospital with a head injury and leaves the next day. He returns to Bruce’s house, and they laugh at the situation. A week later, Gifford files a lawsuit against Old Dunes regarding safety issues. During his meeting with Bruce and Diane, Steven remarks that if Tidal Breeze owns Old Dunes, Judge Salazar will confront a “conflict of interest” and they could press her to “recuse herself” (196).

Wilson Larney is concerned about the company amassing lawsuits. He expected that developing Panther Cay would be easier. He raises the monetary offer to Lovely to $1 million, but Lovely again rejects the offer.

Diane becomes friends with Lovely and spends time at her house, listening to her stories and taking notes, which she always reports to Mercer. Lovely tells more about her life after leaving Dark Isle. She moved to Santa Rosa with her mother and attended school. They struggled financially, and both had to work in the canneries. At 20, Lovely worked as a housekeeper, a common job for Black women at the time. She became friends with one of her employers, a widow, who left her some money when she died. The dates Lovely uses in her stories are “flexible.”

Mercer returns to Camino Island for spring break and reunites with Diane while Thomas is away for work. During dinner at Bruce’s house, she learns the news on the case and is “enthralled” with the “twists.” Mercer is reluctant to show her drafts to Bruce, but Diane says that her book reads “like a crime thriller” (202). Meanwhile, Steven traces the owner of Old Dunes to a subsidiary of Tidal Breeze.

Steven meets with Judge Salazar, revealing that Tidal Breeze owns Old Dunes, her son’s business partner. The judge is shocked but defends her son and understands her mistake of “earwigging.” Steven knows that neither the judge nor her son knew the real owner but asks her to “step aside,” claiming that if she doesn’t recuse herself, they’ll file a motion and she’ll be “embarrassed” by an “ethics complaint.” She’s surprised and attempts to counter Steven but resigns from the case the next day.

Retired Judge Clifton Burch is appointed in Lovely’s case to replace Salazar as an “unbiased” and “effective” judge who knows nothing about Dark Isle.

Visiting Dark Isle to locate the cemetery and conduct DNA tests was originally Diane’s idea. After discovering the African Burial Project, an organization that locates and preserves burial sites of enslaved Africans to “memorialize their lives, struggles and contributions” (210), Diane contacted its executive director, a law professor named Marlo Wagner. In addition, she visited Florida State University to meet Dr. Gilfoy (the chairman of the Anthropology department) and a group of archaeologists who might be interested in a trip to Dark Isle. First, though, Diane must ask for Lovely’s cooperation.

At Bruce’s bookstore, Diane meets Lovely, who explains that visiting the island is impossible because of Nalla’s curse. Bruce and Steven doubt the curse, but Lovely makes it sound “plausible.” Since Lovely claims that she inherited the ability of a “priestess” from her ancestors, Diane asks her if she can “lift the curse” (213). Lovely replies that she’ll ask the spirits. Diane warns the expert team about the curse, and even though Professor Wagner doesn’t believe it, they start looking for Black archaeologists.

Lovely asks Diane to meet, and Diane visits her house. Lovely says things will be fine if she accompanies the team to Dark Isle. Only she knows the cemetery’s location, and if she goes, she can undo Nalla’s curse.

A team of three Black Archaeologists from the African Burial Project arrives in Camino Island, led by Professor Wagner. Dr. Gilfoy leads the white team. They spend a night at Bruce’s, sharing stories of discoveries and burial sites. The next day, Lovely and Diane are ready for the trip. Mercer also joins the team. The expedition starts at night, and the team lands on the Dark Isle beach. Lovely thinks of her childhood and Nalla, who landed on the island “naked” and “traumatized.”

Lovely asks the team to stay behind and goes onto the beach alone. She approaches the dunes and performs a ritual, shoving two tiki torches into the sand and lighting cotton wicks. Raising her hands, she evokes Nalla’s spirit, then her maternal grandmothers’, and finally her mother’s. With the spirits close, she starts lifting the curse. Despite their skepticism, Mercer and Diane feel that the moment is real.

The island is now safe, and Lovely calls the archaeologists. The team sets up camp, and Lovely stays in a tent with Mercer and Diane. Heavy rain falls overnight, but the camp remains safe. The next morning, the team starts on a pontoon for the mainland. The archaeologists set off for the woods but can’t find the trail Lovely described. However, they return safely. On the second night, panthers appear close to the camp, scaring the group. Lovely, though, remains calm.

Finding no evidence of a human settlement, the team starts to lose hope, but they start anew in the morning. They head for the woods, while Lovely, Diane, and Mercer await at the camp. Diane asks Lovely how often she thinks about Nalla. Lovely says she’s always in her mind, adding that Nalla was lucky to find Dark Isle, a place where she and her family were free.

Meanwhile, in the woods, the archaeologists hear rattlesnakes around them but soon find a clue: something metal glinting on the ground. They discover that it’s a hinge for a door and start digging there. They believe that they found the cemetery but stop for the day. The team returns to camp in the evening, certain that they’ll find the cemetery the next day.

In the morning, Lovely joins the archaeologists with Diane and Mercer in the woods. Lovely is stunned by the destruction that Hurricane Leo caused. Nevertheless, she finds the right direction. The team starts digging again and soon finds bones, while Lovely says a prayer. She indicates where her ancestors are. The archaeologists realize that the graves would be a “mess.” The caskets are rotten, and the bones are scattered. The team examines and photographs the site for three days, and the expedition ends after they have enough samples.

The DNA samples prove insufficient to compare to Lovely’s blood. Therefore, they have no “biological proof” to provide in court.