The Mangrove Coast by Randy Wayne White Read Free Book Online Page A

moths fluttering around, writing. I’d probably been there when he’d put it on paper. Yeah, I probably had. Now his words created a voice that resonated as if it came from his own mouth:
    … Gail, darling, there’s something else that’s been on my mind. I don’t know why, but it’s something I’ve been thinking about. I’ve mentioned my buddy Doc a couple of times in these crazy letters of mine, but what I want you to have is his whole name and how to get in touch with him just in case. I’ve been asking him for a week, but the stubborn bastard only just now told me where he can be contacted back there in the world. Here it is, I think it’s the phone number and address of some relative—
    What followed was the address of Tucker Gatrell, Mango, Florida, just south of Marco.
    I looked up from the letter and turned to Amanda, who was staring at me, watching me read. “I remember your father bugging me about it now. He wanted a permanent address. A hometown address, he called it. So he couldalways get in touch. I’d completely forgotten that he’d asked. This is really weird.”
    “Keep reading,” she said. “It’ll seem weirder.”
    … Don’t go getting superstitious on me, babe. That’s not why I’m telling you about Doc. I’m not going to die over here. I don’t know why I’m so sure, but I am.
    But what I’m thinking is what happens if you or Mandy ever get in trouble when I’m not around? Like you always say, I’m a worrier. But that’s why I want you to know about Doc. This letter makes it official. You get in trouble, Doc’s the guy to call. I’m talking about the kind of trouble where the police or a lawyer can’t or won’t get involved. Like a spot where someone’s giving you problems or scaring you or taking advantage of you—something I’d normally handle. Or maybe someone’s trying to take advantage of Mandy, like some asshole boy. That’s when I want you to contact Doc.
    Maybe I’m being silly, but you two are the only girls I got, and I always want someone nearby you can count on. So no screwing around, you talk to him. You can trust him, take my word for it. Let’s just say the man has special skills. If he can’t handle it, then he’ll know someone who can. And when Little Miss Mandy’s old enough, I want you to tell her the same thing. It doesn’t matter how many years have passed, not to guys like Doc and me. After what we’ve been through, a couple of decades or so don’t mean a damn thing….
    I removed my glasses, cleaned them with a paper napkin, then fitted them back over my nose. “I see what you mean,” I said.
    She was leaning toward me, voice lower, intense. “It’s like he knows. Like he’s talking to us. I found these lettersnot quite two weeks ago, and that’s just the way it seemed.
    Like he knew exactly what was going on.”
    “He called you Mandy. A nickname.”
    “I guess. I don’t know. I don’t remember anything about him. I used to pretend I did; made stuff up, but it’s because I wanted to believe I’d known him at least for a little bit. Daddy.”
    “It’s been nearly two decades,” I said.
    “That’s why it’s so weird.”
    “Because he mentions it in the letter—that time won’t make any difference to me? Or because you’re in some kind of trouble?”
    Amanda thought for a moment, not looking at me before she said, “All of the above.”
    “The problem is, I think something’s happened to my mother. She took off with a guy and now she’s disappeared.”
    I said, “What?”
    “Gail, the woman in my father’s letters, my mom. She’s been gone for nearly three months.”
    “Do you mean that she went away on a trip and you haven’t heard from her? Or do you mean she’s vanished?”
    “I’m not sure. That’s why I came looking for you. Maybe both.”
    “Then you should be talking to police, not me. Or the FBI.”
    “I already have.”
    “Then you
are
serious.”
    “Of course I’m serious. Why would I say