Page 55 of Refuge for Flora

“All except you? All except us?”

“All except me, all except you, and all except us. Want me to come back down to Mrs.Murphy’s this evening?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Okay. I’ll do that. But you’ve got to finish the conversation with Rissa.”

Flora pulled back, wiped her eyes with the backs of her hands, and sniffled. “What should I tell her?”

“Hmmm… Tell her yeah, Velma’s here with you. Let’s see what happens. If she’s really concerned about you, she’ll let it drop. If she keeps pushing, that means she knows you’re lying, and she’ll get Darryl stirred up with wondering why you’d say that when you know what’s happened.”

“That’s a good idea.” She sat down in front of the computer and composed her reply.

Shes here with me. were fine. everybody else okay?

“There. That should do it.” The chair rolled back as she started to get up, but the computer pinged instantly. And it was Rissa.

Where r u? tell me where u r.

Flora sighed. “Oh, shit. What do I say now?”

“Tell her Darryl would be mad if you told her where you are.”

“Okay.” She typed a little bit and pointed at the screen. “Whaddya think?”

U know he gonna be mad if i tell you so i cant. its better if you don’t know anyway.

“Yeah. Send it.” Barrett stood there for a minute, thinking. “Flora, she knows.”

“Knows what?”

“She knows you’re not with Darryl. She’s planning to tell him that she heard from you.”

“You really think… Rissa wouldn’t do that.” She hesitated just before she asked, “Would she?”

“I think so. I don’t think you can trust her. Wait. Let me rephrase that. I’m afraid for you to trust her. If I’m right, and I hope I’m not, but if I am, telling her anything could be very dangerous.” Then, as much to himself as to her, he mumbled, “Shit, I’m glad I logged you in through that proxy server.”

“So they can’t find me, right?”

“No. They can’t. And I’d say this is probably the last time you should chat with Rissa. I don’t trust her now, and you shouldn’t either. I just have this creepy feeling… Just don’t. Please.”

“I won’t. I promise.” Something pinged and she turned back to the screen.

Just tell me where u at.

Flora typed like crazy, then leaned to the left so Barrett could see the screen.

Gotta go. darryls yelling for me and i gotta help Velma with dinner. take care of yourself. bye.

“Think that’ll work?”

Barrett laid a hand on her shoulder and squeezed. “Perfect.” The computer pinged again and he pointed at the screen. “Look.”

where you at skeeter? im worried. where you at?

really where u at? ur mom n dad kinda worried about you.

skeeter, i need to know you okay.