

Eventually, he escapes with the help of Dr. He is drugged and suffers more nightmares and hallucinations, including visits from an otherworldly voice that seems to be directing certain events. He awakens in the basement of the Riverside Institute, a suspiciously large mental hospital, under the care of Dr. Pierce barely escapes, but passes out when he is trapped in the collapsing cave. Hawkins is horrifically mutated now and kills Bradley with a tentacled arm. Bradley recognizes the leader as Charles Hawkins, thought dead in the fire. There, they discover the thief and other cultists performing a ritual. Pierce and Bradley give chase and soon discover a hidden door that leads to secret caves and tunnels beneath the island. Shortly after, he is accosted by a robed man who is stealing something from the attic. Pierce determines that the fire may not have been an accident, and furthermore, someone may have survived. Sarah was a famous painter known for her macabre style, but also rumoured to have been mentally unstable.

While exploring the Hawkins' mansion with Bradley, Pierce learns more about the Hawkins family. He also sees a beached killer whale, killed by ghastly wounds, being dragged back into the sea by the police, much to the locals' chagrin. The detective meets Captain Fitzroy, who provides him with a few details of the Hawkins family Officer Bradley, who handled the case and Cat Baker, a successful bootlegger and feared gang leader. The islanders are superstitious and suspicious of outsiders like Pierce. That year, the island's last ship, the Scylla, returned with a legendary "Miraculous Catch", that saved the island. Darkwater was home to a booming whaling industry until a sudden scarcity in 1847. Upon arriving in Darkwater, Pierce is steeped in the strange local culture. As the only clue is a strange picture painted by the wife, Sarah, shortly before her death, Edward has to set out to Darkwater Island off the coast to find out more about the matter. He is soon contacted to look into the case of the Hawkins family, who mysteriously died in a fire. In 1924 Boston, private investigator and war veteran Edward Pierce suffers from increasingly bizarre nightmares and self-medicates with sleeping pills and alcohol. ( December 2019) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message) Please help improve it by removing unnecessary details and making it more concise. This article's plot summary may be too long or excessively detailed.
