Page 26 of Refuge for Flora

“Good. Because that would be really, really bad for me.”

“Why? You already in trouble?”

He shook his head. “No. Because I’m law enforcement.” Flora felt her heart start to slam. “Kentucky Department of Fish & Wildlife Resources.”

The room seemed to tilt and she was having trouble breathing. “You’re a game warden?”

“Yeah. Technically, I’m called a conservation officer. I couldn’t tell you what was going on last night because we participated in a bust. Sheriff’s department got a meth cooker, but they had coyotes and dogs out back. Trying to breed coydogs. Can you believe it?”

“No. That’s… No.”Dear god, not fish and wildlife. No-no-no. That can’t be. It just can’t.She could feel the panic rising in her gut and her face felt like it was on fire.

“Yeah. Stupid. I know. But you’ll never guess what the guys said.” She tried to answer him, but she couldn’t. Her lips wouldn’t move to form words. “One of them mentioned alligators.”

Flora jumped so hard that her arm bounced and she knocked over her glass of tea. “Oh, shit! I’m so sorry!” she almost yelled, and she could feel the eyes of all the other diners on her, staring at her awkwardness.

“You okay?”

“No. No, I’m not. I’m sorry. I’m…” She jumped up and bolted for the restroom, then locked herself in a stall and sat down. The room was spinning and she felt sick as the stall walls seemed to squeeze her. Alligators. Dear god. What if… No. It couldn’t be. It was a coincidence. Hands folded on her lap, she bent over and pressed her forehead into them, trying to calm her breathing.

There was the sound of the door opening and a male voice quietly said, “Flora?” When she didn’t answer, he said, “Flora? You okay? Can I come in?”

Guess it’s time to face the music.“Yeah. I’m sorry.” She rose and opened the stall door to find him standing there, his face bathed in bewilderment.

“Want to tell me what happened out there?”

Flora sighed. She was fucked?royally and completely fucked. But maybe it was time she told someone. Barrett had done nothing to make her believe he’d betray her trust. She needed to trust someone, and he seemed like a straight-up kinda guy. “I’ll tell you. Just let me get back to the table and calm down, okay?”

“Yeah, okay. No problem. Come on.” To her amazement, as she took one step forward, he reached his hand out and waited.

Flora put her hand in his and instantly felt better. Without another word, he led her from the bathroom and back out into the dining room. When they reached the table, he pulled out her chair and helped her into it, then helped her scoot up to the table before he took his seat again. Then he waited. Her voice seemed tiny and foreign to her when she said, “I suppose I should explain.”

“I hope I’ve made you feel comfortable enough that you can talk to me, because it sure seems like you need somebody to talk to.”

“So I’m married.”

“Okay.”

“And he beat the crap out of me all the time.”

“I kinda figured that.”

“He’s a criminal. Drugs, stealing, all kinds of shit. But his latest scheme was… the illegal animal trade.”

“What kinds of animals?”

“All kinds. But mostly caimans and…” She stopped. It was impossible to form the words.

Instead, Barrett filled in the blanks. “Alligators.”

“Yeah. About three weeks before I left, I got up one morning and they were all gone. All the alligators, monkeys, big cats?”

“Big cats?”

“Yeah. Tigers.”

“Holy shit.”

“Yeah. Holy shit. Anyway, they were all gone. I had to get out of there. I’d seen him…” And she stopped.