Read Online Fallen Mangrove (Jesse McDermitt Series Book 5) by Wayne Stinnett - Free Book Online Page B

head. I could hear the gentle whoosh of the tiny waves as they washed ashore just a few yards away. The smell of fresh rain, frangipani, and jasmine filled my nostrils with an intoxicating fragrance. A light, warm rain fell on my face, but that didn’t bother me. I opened my eyes to the sight of the fronds of a coconut palm being gently pushed by the breeze above my head. The sun was just showing through the trees to my left, silhouetting a woman in a white blouse and tight jeans. Her wet blouse was plastered to her body like a second skin, showing off her ample curves and the flatness of her belly. Her thick blond hair fell across her face and draped her shoulders, rainwater dripping from the ends.
    Her voice sounded like an angel. “Red sky in morn, Captain Sleepy Head.”
    I bolted upright in my bed. “Alex!”
    The only answer to my shout was the sound of a light rain on the metal roof of my little stilt house. I rose from our bed, went into the galley where the coffee was already brewing, and poured a cup. I started to sit down at the little table when I heard footsteps coming up the rear steps. I walked over and opened the door as Tony and Carl came across the deck. Both men were dressed in standard island attire, cargo pants and bare feet.
    “Thought I heard a shout,” Tony said with a worried look.
    “Spilled hot coffee on my hand,” I lied. “Want some?” It wasn’t the first time my late wife had come to me in a dream. It seemed to happen as a warning of something ahead. Red sky in morn? I thought.
    “Sure,” they both replied. I poured two more cups and we sat down.
    “Got the tilapia tank done,” Carl said. “It’s filling now. I’m going up to Homestead this afternoon in Skeeter’s flatbed to pick up the fry.”
    “Already?” I asked.
    “Yeah, Tony and I were up early and finished plumbing it just before the rain started. Doesn’t look like it’ll last long. It’s already light to the east.”
    “Doc was up late,” Tony said. “Filling Nikki in on what we’d learned. I think he’s leaning toward making the search public.”
    “I hope he does,” I said. “If that rock with the house on it is where the riddle is pointing, it won’t be much fun digging up someone’s yard in the middle of the night.”
    Tony laughed and said, “No, it could get downright troublesome, too.”
    “Let’s go check out what you guys got done,” I said.
    We walked down to the aquaculture setup on the southeast side of the clearing. My island’s pretty small and beginning to get crowded. At just over two acres, the clearing in the middle takes up the majority of it and it’s barely one hundred feet across at its narrowest. Still, it’s more than double the diameter of a helicopter’s rotor, and more than one competent chopper jock has landed here. The new fourth tank was filling fast. It and the tank with the crawfish were tucked back under the tree line for shading, but the two growing tanks were out in the sun. I noticed the plumbing was in a loop, from the new fish tank to the crawfish tank and from there to the first farm tank, then the second, before dumping back into the fish tank.
    “The intake from the new tank goes all the way to the bottom,” Carl said. “The bottom of the tank is covered with a raised screen to allow the fish waste to fall through.”
    “They’ll breed, right?” I asked. “What about the eggs?”
    “We’ll be raising Nile Tilapia, which are mouth brooders,” Carl said. “At the far end are a bunch of foot-long PVC pipes, all strapped together and anchored on the bottom. That’s where the males will build their nests and where the eggs are laid. Once the eggs are fertilized, the females will take them in their mouths and leave the nests. They hatch in the female’s mouth and she’ll release them when they’re ready to swim, usually a week to ten days after laying.”
    “So why is the intake at the bottom?” Tony asked.
    “It’ll help keep the water