Page 90 of Refuge for Flora

“I don’t know. I just got here, remember?”

Mrs.Murphy’s eyes squinted in confusion. “Oh, yeah. Okay. She’s not here? Good. She got away.”

“Who did this?”

“Big guy. Tattoos all over him. He knew her name. He was yelling for her.”

A million things ran through Barrett’s head, but the worst one was the fact that Flora wasn’t there. What if the guy found her after she ran? He was definitely part of Darryl’s little crew. All Barrett really wanted to do was go out and look for her, but he couldn’t, at least not until the ambulance showed up for Mrs.Murphy. He could hear sirens in the distance, but the people he wanted most to talk to weren’t on the radio. They had no idea what was going on. And Frankie and LeeLee couldn’t respond. They were following Darryl and Bradley, and that would probably turn out to be an important part of finding Flora, so he couldn’t bother them.

The ambulance had no more than pulled up when a truck barreled into the driveway. “What the hell happened?” Frankie yelled as they darted toward the house.

“Flora’s gone. Mrs.Murphy’s been shot. I don’t?”

“Flora shot Mrs.Murphy?” LeeLee asked, her jaw slack.

“No, no. Somebody came looking for Flora. I don’t know if they got her or if she ran. Mrs.Murphy got off a shot, but I don’t know if the guy was hit or not. She said he was still yelling for Flora after he shot her. For all I know…” And he stopped.

Frankie stared at him. “What?”

“For all I know, she could be hit too. Jesus, what the hell do I do?” Panic was building in his chest and he felt like he might explode.

“Just take a deep breath. Conor’s supposed to be meeting with them tomorrow, right?”

“Yeah, but that’s tomorrow! She’s out there somewhere tonight!” Frankie and LeeLee just didn’t understand. Somewhere out there was the woman he loved. She was afraid, and she was either hurt, or scared, or being held hostage. “I haven’t even had a chance to call her.” He looked up her contact, touched it, and his heart fell.

He could hear the phone ringing inside the house. She’d left it behind, either dropped as she was being dragged away or ran out in such a hurry that she didn’t take it. No matter what the reason, she didn’t have it, and that terrified him. Frankie was speaking, and Barrett couldn’t understand what he was saying. “What?”

“Call Conor. He needs to know what’s going on.”

“Yeah. He does.” The phone only rang once on Barrett’s end before the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department officer answered. When Barrett had finished telling him everything that he knew, he stopped and took a deep breath. It sounded worse every time he said it.

But something in Conor’s voice gave him hope. “We’ll find her, Barrett. I promise you that. Tomorrow will be a game changer. Just try to hang on, okay? I’m calling them as early as I can to get on the property quickly. Once I’m there, I’ll be sending a signal as soon as I can see that we’ll have the evidence we need and from there, we’ll find Flora. I know it’s hard, but try to hold it together.”

“Yeah, okay. I’m trying. I really am.” But he wasn’t sure how long he could manage. His heart was breaking and there was absolutely nothing he could do about it.

Chapter 12

The night wascool and she had nothing?no sweater, no blanket, not even a plastic bag. Balling up on herself, Flora cried silently and prayed for morning. At least then she’d have some light. Under the tree canopy, the darkness was so deep that she couldn’t even see her hand. Something ran across her several times and she didn’t know what it was. It could’ve been a bug, a mouse, a snake, a possum, anything. She had no idea. And she didn’t dare scream. If he was out there somewhere, looking for her, he’d hear her and be on top of her in seconds, so that couldn’t happen. At least once she heard something moving around, but each time, she heard a snuffling sound, and she knew it was a deer somewhere nearby. Were there wild hogs in those woods? She didn’t know, but she was terrified of them. They were vicious, and running into one would be almost as bad as running into Darryl, Bradley, or whoever the other guy was.

No, she’d lie there, curled up and trying to stay warm, and wait. Barrett would eventually find her. It might take him a little while, but he would. She had to believe that.

Anything else was too terrible to imagine.

* * *

He got up extra early,had a cup of coffee and a Danish, and took a shower. When he stepped into the living room, he felt horrible for Barrett. The poor guy obviously hadn’t slept all night, and he was wound up incredibly tight. “Hey, did you manage to sleep for even a minute?”

Barrett’s eyes were so sad that they pierced Conor’s heart. He knew that feeling, and he hated that anyone else had to. “No. I couldn’t. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw her smile, her hair, those beautiful green eyes. Conor, what if I never see?”

“Stop it, man. Just stop. We’re gonna find her and she’ll be fine. You’ve got to stay positive. Now, stop that pendulum on that clock over there, put your phone on silent and leave it on your dresser, and come back in here. I’m going to call them and set this up, and there can’t be a single sound in the background if I’m going to have them on speaker.” Seconds later, Barrett had done exactly as Conor said. Once the Kentucky officer was seated, Conor took out his phone and hit the contact, then turned the speaker on.

“Hello?”

“Yeah, hey, is this Darryl?”

“Who wants to know?”

“This is Conor from yesterday at the reptile expo.”

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