Refuge for Flora by Deanndra Hall
Chapter 11
They layin Barrett’s big bed, him in his boxer briefs and Flora in one of his old tee shirts. Neither of them could even hold still. All they did was toss and turn until they were driving each other crazy, so they got up and sat in the living room to watch a movie.
The next morning, Barrett took Flora to Mrs. Murphy’s to shower and dress after he’d gotten ready for the day. They drove to the hospital to find that Mrs. Murphy was still in tests and wouldn’t be finished for a couple of hours, so they headed to the nearest pancake diner to have some breakfast. The day wore on, and Mrs. Murphy came out of surgery and went back to a room for the night, so Barrett took Flora back with him. At least that evening they got some sleep.
It was two more days before Mrs. Murphy got to go home, and by then, Flora really didn’t want to go back there. All she wanted to do was stay with Barrett, but she couldn’t. He brought Conor to pick up the Buick for his use in the plan they would be carrying out that weekend, a move that left Flora with nothing to drive. She knew he did it on purpose, but it was hard to be mad at him. Look what going to the hospital had done―almost gotten her caught by the crazies. She wouldn’t be doing that again.
* * *
“So you know where they went?”
The burly man with the jailhouse tattoos on his fingers nodded. “Yep. Saw ‘em with my own two eyes.”
“Okay. Me and Bradley got work to do today. First chance you get when you know that guy ain’t around, you grab her. Do whatever you want with her, as long as don’t nobody ever get to talk to her again. Once you bring me her ring finger, I’ll give you the money and you can get gone.”
“Sounds good, but you need to know … I’m pretty sure that guy is a wildlife officer. He had some kind of sticker on the side of his truck. You sure you wanna go that direction? ‘Cause if you take that woman, you’re gonna bring him down on you.”
“Not if’n he don’t know where we’s at. And he don’t. We’ll be fine. They ain’t found us yet, so they ain’t gonna.” Darryl grinned. “You go take care of her. And we’re gonna go make some money.”
* * *
They’d startedout looking to catch illegal breeders and smugglers of reptiles, but it had morphed into apprehending a murderer. For Barrett, it had turned into a lot more than that.
They met on Friday evening. Conor would be playing up the idea of going into a new business. Bud had met with one of the vendors, and he’d be working alongside the fellow at the expo, pretending to be a breeder of ball pythons, corn snakes, and red-tailed boas. The man had also begun to breed and sell tegus, although not in quantities similar to his snakes, so that made him look like a good candidate for some of the illegal reptiles. Kirby and Jonas would be nearby. Frankie and another officer would hang out in the hallway near the restrooms and when Darryl or Bradley left, they’d follow like they’d been inside shopping. They’d all be surprised if anyone suspected them.
Saturday morning was bright and clear. Barrett really wanted to go to the expo, but Conor wasn’t sure it was a good idea. They did, however, need someone to stay in the back of the building where there was a small office. Bud would be wearing a wire, as would Conor, Kirby, Jonas, Frankie, and LeeLee, and Barrett could monitor the conversations and communicate with them if necessary.
As Barrett watched out the little window in the door of the expo center’s office, he was surprised. The place was packed with people. Everywhere he looked there was someone handling a snake, people buying things he couldn’t identify, and kids ran back and forth all over the place. There were dozens of families buying all kinds of pets, some carrying hedgehogs, sugar gliders, or rabbits out. Rat breeders purchased more breeding stock to raise and sell live and frozen rats to reptile owners as food for their hungry snakes, and other vendors sold crickets, meal worms, and Dubia roaches for lizards of different kinds. There were vendors with reptile-themed shirts, stickers, hats, toys, jewelry, and everything else you could possibly imagine. Everyone seemed to be having a good time. He could see Bud, and Barrett’s older friend was in his element, talking to kids and showing them different animals his vendor was selling. It took him a while, but he finally spotted Conor at the far end of the room, chatting up a breeder of boas and large python species, so he tuned his receiver to Conor’s wire and listened.
“You can make money raising and selling these?”
“Oh, yeah. Absolutely.”
“So what would I need to get started?”
Barrett listened as the vendor talked to Conor about how to set up for a business to breed and sell snakes. As they talked, Barrett scanned the room and the front entrance from one of the security camera monitors in the office. He purposely hadn’t opened the microphone feed, but something caught his eye and he tapped in so Frankie, LeeLee, Bud, Kirby, and Jonas could hear him. “All ears, heads up. They’re walking in the door now.”
Sure enough, the big glass doors to the convention hall opened and Darryl stepped inside, followed by Bradley. Conor had turned to move to another table, and from the monitor, Barrett saw Bud signal Conor by laying his right index finger against the right side of his nose. Conor mirrored the movement back to Bud, and Barrett knew he understood.
The next table had some large lizards. “So what are these?” he heard Conor ask.
“This is an Argentinian black and white tegu. They come from South America.” Barrett could see the vendor pick up the large lizard and hold it affectionately. “They look ferocious, but they’re really pretty docile.”
“Interesting. How much is that one?”
“It’s five hundred.”
“Are they hard to breed?”
“Not too. Are you looking to start a breeding program?”
Conor shrugged. “Maybe. I inherited some money and I’m looking to multiply it. How long would it take me to make my money back, do you think?”
“Depends on how well they breed and how good your husbandry is.”
Conor pointed to something Barrett couldn’t see. “What’s that one there?”
“Oh, that’s a special morph. He’s twelve thousand.”
“Twelve thousand dollars?” Conor almost yelled.
“Oh, yeah. Some of these can be very valuable if you get some nice color morphs from breeding. Wanna hold it?”
“Not that one! I might drop it, and if I break it, I buy it!” Conor answered, laughing.
“You can hold this big fella. He’s pretty friendly.”
Conor took the lizard and kept talking to the breeder. Barrett watched the video feed as Darryl and Bradley walked around, and the minute they rounded the corner of the displays and saw Conor with the tegu, they headed that direction. Barrett picked up his radio. “All ears, they’re headed for the target.” Then he sat back to listen.
The first words out of Darryl’s mouth told Barrett they were definitely on the right track. “Nice lookin’ lizard. You buyin’ him?”
Conor shrugged his shoulders. “Dunno. Just looking for something that could make me some money.”
“You got money to spend?”
“Yeah. Got an inheritance. I mean, it’s not a lot of money, but I could set myself up in some kind of business with it.”
The vendor who owned the tegu turned his back to grab something and Darryl leaned toward Conor. “Catch up with me later. Got a business proposition for you.”
Conor’s eyebrows shot up, the corners of his lips turned down in a doubtful frown, and he nodded. “Uh, okay. Will do.” Then he went back to stroking the tegu while Darryl and Bradley wandered away. Jesus, this guy is fucking perfect at this, Barrett thought as he watched. In a couple of minutes, Conor handed the tegu back to its owner and strolled away, stopping to talk to some other vendors.
By the time he got to the booth where Bud was stationed, Darryl and Bradley were actively following him at a distance, and Barrett was thrilled. The guys were playing right into their trap. Conor stopped to talk to Bud, who handed him a ball python, and Barrett watched while he looked at the snake and asked Bud questions the older officer couldn’t possibly answer but could bullshit his way through. Conor was still standing there when Darryl and Bradley walked up again. “He’s a beauty,” Darryl said to Bud and pointed at the snake.
“Yeah, really pretty. Hey, Rex, what morph did you say this one is?” Bud called out to the other guy in the booth.
The man looked up and over at the snake. “That one is a banana enchi.”
“So there ya go. And he’s three hundred dollars.”
“Not bad,” Conor said, and even on camera, Barrett could see Darryl’s expression as he leaned in.
“I can get you set up way cheaper than that.”
Conor turned and gave him the side eye. “Yeah? With these?”
“No. Something even better.” Bud had turned away, so Darryl was even more brazen than before. “Want to talk about it?”
“Sure. When and where?”
“There’s a table out front. Picnic table. Meet us out there when you’re finished.”
Conor nodded. “Okay. I’m gonna look around a little bit more and then I’ll come find you.” Darryl said nothing, just nodded, and Conor went back to handling the snake.
As Darryl and Bradley ambled away, Bud turned back to Conor and stepped to the front of the booth. The older law enforcement officer was expressionless when he asked Conor, “They bite?”
“Hell yeah. Sank ‘em in deep. I think we’ve got ‘em. All we’ve got to do is find the property and I can almost promise you we’ll get what we’re looking for.”
“Good deal.” Conor held the snake out and Bud took it from him. “I’ll stay the rest of the day so it looks legit if they come back in.”
“Yeah. That’s best. Okay. I’m gonna mingle a bit more and then go out front. We’ll see what happens.” Conor took one of the business cards from the vendor’s table before he walked away.
Barrett watched Conor wander on through the crowd, then switched the camera view. Sure enough, there was a table out front, and Darryl and Bradley had taken seats there. “We’ve got eyes,” LeeLee said so Barrett could hear her.
“Roger that,” Barrett answered without even thinking. Then he settled down to wait for Conor to join the two men. After about fifteen minutes, he broke into the feed. “They’re getting antsy. Might want to get on out there.”
“Roger that,” Conor answered and headed out the front doors.
Barrett could see Frankie and LeeLee watching out the front window of the building as Conor sat down at the picnic table. “Took your good ol’ sweet time, din’cha?” Darryl asked.
Conor shrugged. “I was looking around. Got some good ideas for a business from some of the breeders.”
Darryl snorted. “Yeah, well, we’ve got something better than their shit. You want something that’ll really make you some money?”
“Sure. Whatcha got in mind?”
“It’s what we’ve got for you. We can set you up to breed alligators.”
Barrett heard Conor say, “Aren’t those illegal here?”
“So’s a lot of other things, but they’re still here. You interested?”
“I dunno. They’re really large and―”
“Okay, what about caimans?”
“What’s a caiman? I didn’t see any of those in there.”
“That’s because they’re illegal too. They’re smaller alligator-kinda lizards.”
“Why would I want to get involved in something like that?”
Barrett could hear Darryl laugh. “Because there’s a lot of money in it. Folks want them big lizards. Makes people look at ‘em. They feel special ‘cause they’ve got a big secret. Or maybe they’ve got somebody they want to get rid of. Those things will eat about anything that’s meat.” The idea made Barrett feel a little nauseous as he thought about what Flora had told him.
“Hmmm. So how much would it cost me to get started?”
“We’ve got some juveniles. We could sell ‘em for, I dunno, two fifty apiece? Then when you breed ‘em, you’ll have more. And we’ve got more, so if you help us move ‘em, you’ll make some money too. Think you might be interested?”
“Could I see them?”
“Sure. How ‘bout we get together tomorrow and talk about it?”
“Sounds good.” There were handshakes and, to his surprise, Barrett watched and listened as Darryl gave Conor his phone number. In seconds, Frankie and LeeLee came out of the building, arguing aloud, and all three men watched them. “Wow, I wouldn’t want to be him,” Conor said as Frankie and LeeLee climbed into Frankie’s truck.
“Yeah, I don’t put up with that shit. I ain’t got no time for women who ain’t got no sense. So we’ll hear from you tomorrow?”
“Yeah. I’ll think it over tonight and give you a call.”
“Sounds good. Jump in and you won’t be sorry. Later, gator,” Darryl called as he headed to the truck, laughing at his own joke.
Conor walked toward his truck and watched as they pulled out of the lot. They’d no more than rolled out of the parking lot when Frankie and LeeLee pulled out. “Hey, Barrett, you there?”
“Yeah.”
“Frankie and LeeLee just rolled out. We’ve got ‘em unless he loses them.”
“Good. Now all we can do is sit back and wait.” That was going to be hard to do. If he could get by with it, he’d snap Darryl in two with his bare hands.
* * *
Flora lookedout the back door of the little house at the weeds and brush. There was a path, but who knew where it went? It had been a yard at one time, but it had become a thicket. It was doubtful that Mrs. Murphy had been out there in the previous ten years, much less taken care of it. Gazing farther back, she could see a field and behind it, a tree line. She’d never paid much attention so she hadn’t asked what was back there. It was behind Barrett’s house too, and being a conservation officer, she bet he knew the area like the back of his hand.
Mrs. Murphy was fussing about something, so Flora cut her gawking off and headed back toward the front of the house. “What did you say?” she asked when she cleared the doorway.
“I said, there’s a truck out there. I ain’t never seen it afore. Dunno whose it is.” She pointed out the front window, so Flora stooped to look. There was someone in it, but they weren’t getting out, just sitting there.
“How long have they been sitting there?”
“I dunno. Maybe two hours?”
“Two hours? Why didn’t you say something before then? Shit.” Flora pulled out her phone and hit Barrett’s contact.
“Hey, babe.”
“Hi. Listen, there’s somebody out front in a truck. Mrs. Murphy says they’ve been sitting there for two hours.”
“What?”
“Yeah. What do I do?”
“You call 9-1-1 and tell them to send a deputy. And you tell them I told you to do that. Okay? Right now.”
“Okay. I will. Thanks. Wish you were here.”
“I wish I was there too. I’ll be done in a little while, but everything is going to plan. It’ll all be over soon.”
“Good.” Why didn’t that make her feel the least bit better? “Please hurry.”
“I will. Driving as fast as I can. See you in a bit. Bye, babe.”
“Bye, sweetie.” Flora ended the call and sat there, wondering what to do, when there was a banging on the front door, and she took a look out the window again. The truck was empty. Her eyes swept toward Mrs. Murphy. “What do I do?” she hissed.
Mrs. Murphy’s reply was a whisper. “Ask ‘em through the door what they want.” Flora could feel herself shaking when she saw Mrs. Murphy lift the ancient shotgun. “Go on. Ask ‘em. But stay the fuck outta my way.”
Flora’s throat was tight with fear and almost came out as a squeak. “Who is it?”
“I’m looking for Flora Stevens.”
“Ain’t no Flora Stevens in here,” Mrs. Murphy called back.
“Didn’t know there was somebody with ya. Might as well come out. I’m comin’ in to get ya, and if you come on out, nobody’ll get hurt.”
Mrs. Murphy shook her head. “No,” she whispered. “Out the back. I’ll stall.”
Flora didn’t know what to do. She was responsible for Mrs. Murphy, but in that moment, fear was all she could feel. She ran to the back door, turned the knob slowly, and opened it a crack. “You comin’ out?” the man called out.
“She ain’t comin’ out. You’ll have to bring yore sorry ass in here,” Mrs. Murphy yelled.
“Well, if that’s the way you want it.” Flora could hear him banging on the door, most likely throwing his weight against it, and the noise was so loud that she slipped out the door and down the steps, knowing he’d never hear her. She’d passed through the brush and was headed toward the perimeter of the field when she heard them―gunshots. In that split second, her foot caught something and she went down, but she scrambled to her feet and kept running. She was closing on the rough side of the field―one hundred feet, seventy-five feet, fifty feet, twenty-five feet. If she could make it into that thicket …
The greenery closed around her just as she heard a voice yell, “Flora! Get yore ass back here! You ain’t gonna get far, girl. Might as well come on back.” But she kept running, darting to her left where the brush turned into woods, and sprinted. What if the guy had a dog? He’d find her in no time. But she hadn’t seen one in the truck, so maybe he didn’t.
She didn’t know where she was, and she didn’t care. She couldn’t go back there. Worse yet, she felt her back pocket as she ran―she didn’t have her phone. I’m fucked, she told herself as she ran, her lungs burning and feet aching. The thin athletic shoes she was wearing were no match for the terrain, and yet she kept going. Those years and years of living in Appalachia, climbing ridges and hills along the back of her grandpa’s property in Hurricane Branch southeast of Pikeville, helped. She channeled that adolescent girl as she ran, praying she’d get far enough away that he couldn’t possibly catch up to her.
She didn’t know how long she’d been running when she finally collapsed. Her legs were scratched and cut by briars she’d darted through, and her hair was a tangled mess, sticks and leaves caught in it from low-hanging branches and tall bushes. Flora listened intently, but it was silent―too silent. She was a long way from the house. How far, she wasn’t sure, but it was a long way. And it had started to get dark.
When she finally caught her breath, she got up and started walking again. The farther she got from the house, the more comfortable she grew. Of course, in that instance, comfortable was a relative term. She had numerous bug bites and all the scratches were starting to itch too. Some of them had most certainly been poison ivy, oak, or sumac, and she’d have a raging rash for sure, but that beat death. She’d just keep walking. Maybe Barrett would figure out what she’d done, climb on his four-wheeler, and come looking for her. But how would she know it was him? What if it was asshole Darryl or the man who’d just broken into the house?
And what of Mrs. Murphy? Was she okay? She obviously hadn’t shot him or he couldn’t have yelled for her. That could only mean one thing …
As she stumbled along, Flora cried. Mrs. Murphy’s house was the first home she’d had in years. Now her elderly charge was most certainly dead, and it was all Flora’s fault. There were no sounds behind her, but she kept moving, afraid to turn back. The sun was setting in her face, so she knew she was going farther and farther away from the house, and that was what she wanted. She didn’t hear sounds of cars, so she was nowhere near a road.
When it was almost too dark to see, she found a small cluster of short evergreens and sat down in its circle. Anyone who walked by would be unable to see her. She was hungry and cold, and she’d cried until her eyes were swollen. She only had one hope left.
Barrett. If he realized she was gone, maybe he’d come looking for her. Or maybe he’d be so damn mad about Mrs. Murphy that he’d just let her be. And that would be okay. Flora just wanted to die. Nothing had gone right in her life since Darryl Stevens had walked into it.
And she was pretty sure it never would again.
* * *
Once he knewDarryl and Bradley were long gone and Frankie had reported that he and LeeLee were still on their tail, Barrett headed out to Bud. Kirby and Jonas had waited until everyone had cleared the parking lot, then left to meet up with Conor and talk about the things that had transpired. Bud assured Barrett that he’d been glad to help, and they agreed to meet for coffee when the whole mess was over.
Once he got in the truck, Barrett turned on the radio. He could hear the chatter, and through it came LeeLee’s voice. “Central dispatch, this is MCDS unit twelve forty-nine, repeat, unit twelve forty-nine. Location, highway sixty and Olivet Church Road. Operation Handbag is deployed. Repeat, Operation Handbag is deployed. Over.”
“Copy that, MCDS unit twelve forty-nine.”
It wouldn’t be long and Frankie and LeeLee would be crossing the line between McCracken and Ballard counties. Past that, they’d be unable to do anything. That wasn’t the point. They weren’t going to arrest anyone. They were just following to get a location, nothing more, and they weren’t in a department vehicle, so there was really nothing anyone could say or do. The old guy at the vegetable stand had said the men were from Barlow, so that was definitely outside the two deputies’ jurisdiction. Once they crossed that line, they’d maintain radio silence until they came back across the county line into McCracken County.
As he drove, Barrett thought about what the success of their endeavor would mean for Flora. She’d be able to go where she wanted to go, do what she wanted to do. Would she want to stay with him? Or go back to Pikeville? He didn’t know, and right at that moment, it didn’t matter. He’d do whatever he had to in order to keep her safe. And that was just about the time his phone rang. “Hey, babe.”
“Hi. Listen, there’s somebody out front in a truck. Mrs. Murphy says they’ve been sitting there for two hours.” He could hear the fear in Flora’s voice.
“What?”
“Yeah. What do I do?”
An almost blinding panic set in. “You call 9-1-1 and tell them to send a deputy. And you tell them I told you to do that. Okay? Right now.”
“Okay. I will. Thanks. Wish you were here.”
“I wish I was there too. I’ll be done in a little while, but everything is going to plan. It’ll all be over soon.” Try not to let her hear you panic, he told himself. Everyone had to keep a level head.
“Good. Please hurry.”
“I will. Driving as fast as I can. See you in a bit. Bye, babe.”
He spun around the corner onto his road, tires squealing. It was almost dark when he pulled in Mrs. Murphy’s driveway, and the hair on the back of his neck began to rise as he took a look around. There were no lights on in the house. Not a single one. And the front door was standing open.
Barrett slammed the gearshift into park and hit the ground running. The silence inside the house was eerie as he stepped inside, and then he stepped on something―and it grunted. As soon as he hit the light switch, he saw her there. “Mrs. Murphy! Oh, god! What happened?”
The old woman lay on the floor, blood all around her. “I … She run, Barrett.”
“Flora?”
Mrs. Murphy nodded. “Yeah. Out the back. He … He come lookin’ for her, but I weren’t lettin’ him take her without a fight. I think I shot him, but he got me too afore he tried to track her down.”
“You hang on, okay?” Barrett yanked his phone from his pocket and hit the contact.
“9-1-1, what is your emergency?”
“This is KDFWR unit four twelve. Need immediate assistance at eight forty-two Magruder Road. I have a gunshot victim, female, approximately ninety years old. She’s also a cardiac patient. I don’t know how long she’s been lying here, but I need help now. Over.”
“Roger that, KDFWR unit four twelve. All emergency responders en route. Is she breathing?”
“Roger. She’s been talking to me a little. I’m not sure where she’s shot. Mrs. Murphy, where does it hurt?”
“In my damn leg.”
“She reports it’s her leg. Over.”
“Unit four twelve, can you ask her if she knows how long she’s been there?”
“I been here since five forty-five!” Mrs. Murphy bellowed toward the phone.
“Roger that, unit four twelve. Not a femoral nick or she would’ve already bled out. Apply pressure to the wound until EMTs arrive. Repeat, apply pressure to the wound until EMTs arrive. Over.”
“Roger, dispatch.” He tried to get a look at Mrs. Murphy’s wound. “Let’s roll you a little bit, okay? Ah. There it is. Let me grab a towel and―”
“Don’t you go ruinin’ one-a my bath towels!”
“I don’t want you to bleed to death, so for once, hush!” Barrett grabbed a towel from the bar in the bathroom and ran back. “Let’s press this right here, okay? You feel okay?”
“Yeah. Just kinda weak. Is Flora okay?”
“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.