Page 85 of Talk Birdie to Me

His expression was one of helplessness. Cody figured it was killing Anthony to be stuck inside that place with no way to help find Gary. And he genuinely cared about Gary.

“If you think of anyone, will you let me know?”

Anthony blinked a few times, returning from wherever his mind had wandered. “Yeah. Yeah, yeah, of course.”

“I don’t have a business card.” Although Cody didn’t have any way of giving a card to Anthony through their video connection.

“Your name is on the call log now,” Anthony said. “I can request a call if I think of anything.”

Cody pressed his lips into a strained smile. “We’re going to do everything we can to find him.”

Not that Cody had any other leads. He’d been betting all his hopes on whatever information Anthony might have.

Turned out, that equaled a whole lot of nothing.

Anthony nodded, his face etched with worry. “Just find my bird.”

Geena held up a large carrier filled with what was left of the Memorial Day puppies. “Where are these guys going?”

Taylor slipped a leash around the neck of a dark brown pit bull mix and turned toward her sister. “Back of Austin’s SUV. He should be out there.”

“Got it.”

Geena hadn’t seen Taylor’s boyfriend’s vehicle when she got there, so he must have arrived recently to help load the animals during a rare break in the rain.

The word “rain” didn’t quite cover what had been covering the area over the past few days. After the scattered showers that had caught her and Cody at the zoo Sunday, the precipitation became relentless over the next three days. So much water fell from the sky that the nearby bayou was overflowing and threatening to cover the entire property around the shelter.

The building itself was a raised Acadian-style home, built to allow for water to build up beneath it and wash away once a nasty storm passed through. But this wasn’t just a nasty storm. This was endless sheets of torrential downpours. The water wouldn’t be receding any time soon.

That meant difficulty for the staff getting to the shelter to care for the animals without the aid of volunteers with large trucks or jeeps. It also meant that pretty soon they wouldn’t be able to walk the dogs at all.

Geena struggled to get the awkwardly balanced carrier out the door, while the puppies squirmed inside. Austin rushed to meet her at the steps, wearing a dark green poncho over his shorts and cap from practice, where he coached the local high school baseball team.

“Here, let me take that.”

“Thanks,” Geena said, handing over the carrier and letting Austin take the puppies to load them in the back of his vehicle. “I’ll go grab some more.”

“I think I can fit three, maybe four more carriers back here.”

“I’ll let them know.”

Geena headed inside to relay the information. There were definitely more than three or four carriers left to evacuate. If necessary, they could take the cats out tomorrow. If it was still raining after that, they’d have a hard time getting to the shelter in the flood waters, even with larger vehicles.

Liz placed another big carrier by the door. “How much space does he have left?”

“Three or four,” Geena said. “But I saw some cars waiting at the end of the driveway.”

They’d put out a call for emergency fosters yesterday and received a huge response from the community. They were asked to wait near the road where the water wasn’t as deep. The plan was to load up Liz's and Austin’s vehicles and drive them to meet up with the waiting fosters.

Good thing, because kitten season was in full swing, and the shelter was overrun with nursing cats and kittens. Fostering those would be easy since the momma cats did all the hard work. They just needed a safe, quiet place to care for their litters until they were large enough and old enough to be spayed or neutered and separated from their moms.

“I’ll bring some dogs to them down the driveway in a second,” Liz said. “I don’t want you sloshing out in flood waters in those shoes.”

Geena was still wearing her favorite flats and gray slacks since she’d rushed to help at the shelter right after work. “I’ll help bring more out onto the porch, at least.”

“Have at it,” Liz said, disappearing out the front door where the rain sounded like it was getting worse.

Geena’s phone buzzed with a text. It was Cody.

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