Page 56 of Refuge for Flora

please, skeeter. ill come get you and bring money.

Before Barrett had a chance to say anything, Flora logged off the service and shut the lid on the computer. “Nope. That’s all she’s getting from me.”

“Good. That’s perfect. She’ll go running right back to Darryl. So now we know there’s nobody at his place, and folks know Velma’s missing.”

“And we know she’s lying because my mom and dad don’t give a shit about where I am or what’s happening to me or I wouldn’t be in this mess to start with.” Flora sighed. “Well, that’s that. My ties to PikeCounty are officially broken.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Eh. It is what it is.”

“So… How ‘bout I take you back to Mrs.Murphy’s and go pick up some pizza for all of us? Sound good?”

Flora smiled. “Yeah. Sounds great. I can get some laundry done and some picking up and straightening before you get back.”

“Sounds like a plan! Let’s go. The sooner we go, the sooner we can eat!”

Five minutes later, he’d dropped her off and was headed toward town, but when he got to the farm store near the mall, he whipped into the parking lot, slammed the truck into park, and pulled out his phone. The call he placed with the contact answered, “Paxton.”

“Conor. BarrettQuarles.”

“Yeah! Something up?”

“Yes. I need to tell you all of this. I didn’t want to before, but now I think you need to know. But I need you to sit on it until I can find out more and find a way to keep Flora safe.”

“Okay. I can promise you all of that.”

“Well, you might not want to when you hear it all.” Barrett started outlining the story and the longer he talked, the more alarmed he became. The whole situation had come to him in bits and pieces, but when it was all strung together that way, it sounded even worse than it had before. When he was finished, he said, “And I promised her I’d do whatever I have to so she’ll be safe.”

“That’s going to be a tall order. That sumbitch sounds like a real piece of work.”

“He is, apparently. So now she has nobody she can trust except me and Mrs.Murphy. I’m going to take her to my parents’ house so she gets to know them, and to my friend Zyan’s house too. Hey, I think you know somebody who knows him. Cruz, um…”

“Livingston? Oh! The firefighter? I know who you’re talking about! What’s his last name…”

“Martin.”

“Yeah. Has the wife who scoops dog poop! And quite successfully, from what I remember Cruz saying.”

Barrett was laughing. “Yes,verysuccessfully! She’s quite the lady. We’re really good friends. Zyan and I went to high school together, so we go way back. He knows Mrs.Murphy too. I think they’d be people Flora could go to if something went wrong or she needed help.”

“You absolutely need to get her set up with some folks like that. This is going to be long and hard fought, and she needs people she can trust. I mean, besides you.”

“Exactly. So I’m going to start digging a little more. If I learn anything else, I’ll give you a buzz.”

“Yeah, please do. And tell Flora that I said to do what you say. I want her to live long enough for me to meet her.”

“I do too. Thanks, Conor. Talk to you soon.” Barrett ended the call and sat back in the truck seats, tapping his phone on the steering wheel. There had to be a way to draw out whoever was doing the illegal animal dealing there, if he could just figure out how to do it. Then he remembered something.

There was someone who owed him a favor. Maybe it was time he cashed it in.

* * *

“Hey, Barrett! How’s it going?”

“Good! How are you guys doing?”

“Can’t complain. Grandkids are getting big,” Albert “Bud” Griffin answered. Barrett had met the Kentucky State Police detective while on search and recovery of the daughter of his then-girlfriend-later-wife Martina. Unfortunately, her body had been located by Conor, who’d been in the area doing an educational trip for his work. They’d all pitched in to search, and Barrett had been point man for organizing volunteers over and over as they looked for Renita, even though it had been two hours from home. He’d felt strongly that he had an obligation to help look for her, and he’d made a friend for life in Bud because of it. It hadn’t ended well, but Bud and Martina had married and had a good life, even though she’d been shot during the peak of the investigation and suffered lingering health issues.

---