Page 23 of Barron

Barron blinked. It took him a second to process the strange-looking item. He walked closer. The thing had been made of some kind of rough cloth, then twisted and sewn to give it a human shape with arms and legs. Yoanni had a rack of copper pots and pans, mostly decorative, above her kitchen island. Attached to a pan, the object, the string wrapped around the supposed neck, dangled over the center of the island. He moved even closer and winced back with disgust. Blood stained the cloth.

“Imagine how I felt when I came from work and found this thing,” she murmured behind him.

“Shit, I don’t know what to say. This figure reminds me of…”

“A Voodoo doll. Caribbean black magic. Palo. Santería.”

Barron pulled her back to the living room in a hurry. “I’veheard of Voodoo and black magic, but the other words mean nothing. I need context here. A little definition helps.”

Sighing, Yoanni gestured at her sofa. “Why don’t you take a seat?”

“Hold that thought. I’ll sit and listen, but first, I’m taking that fucking thing out of the house. Sorry, excuse the language.” He frowned, pointing back to the kitchen. “I don’t believe in magic and all that other crap, but I know hate and evil are real. And that thing is loaded. It made my skin crawl when I saw it. Do you keep your trash bags in the same place?”

“Nothing’s changed. You’ll find everything where you saw them last.”

“Sit down, Nugget. Be right back.”

Yoanni watched Barron disappear into the kitchen, feeling like she’d entered a dream or a different dimension. Of all the difficult moments in her existence, the love of her life, the man she couldn’t stop thinking about, had come to her when she was alone and scared out of her wits.

But why? What did he want with her? What should she do, accept or reject him? Her heart answered a resounding yes to the first. But her wounded ego wasn’t ready to open the door and let bygones be bygones. She needed space and time to think about this. Barron had to open his heart and tell her what he wanted. After all, the gift of a stuffie didn’t explain a thing. She smiled at the teddy bear pressed to her chest. Lord, but he knew how to melt her heart.

The sounds of cabinets opening and closing, pots and pans moving around, and the distinct sound of her kitchen door opening reached her.

Yoanni giggled.

Evidently, he hadn’t picked up the tone of sarcasm when she’d said, “Nothing’s changed.” Not quite a true statement. Her kitchen had remained the same. Not her. In her loneliness, a twinge of bitterness had hardened her soul a bit. Naive Yoanni, who’d accepted people’s statements and honesty as facts, was gone. She’d grown hesitant and careful.

Can anyone blame me?And that was another change. She’d stopped caring about other people’s opinions.

“All done.” Drying his hands with the dishrag, Barron appeared at the doorway. He tossed the rag toward the sink and returned to the living room. “You were going to explain.”

“I am.” She inhaled. “When I came back from family leave… Did you know I was in Miami?”

Barron’s face twitched, and Yoanni swallowed. This wasn’t the way she wanted to start.

“Forget that comment.” She waved a hand. Please sit. Nodding, he took the chair in front of her.

“When I returned to the office, I found my desk empty.”

“Empty? All of it?”

“Everything was gone. Pens, pads, pencils, notes, paperclips. I mean, every single doodah, including the silly junk I kept, was gone. That included the desktop calculator Papi gave me to celebrate my first day at the station.”

“That’s weird.” He pressed his lips into a line. “Go on.”

“For obvious reasons, the locked drawer was left intact. I told the captain. He explained that during my absence, he’d tested people to work in an assistant capacity. The city and the station were growing, and he needed a bigger staff. The captain wanted to pull the office surveillance tapes. I insisted that it wasn’t necessary. He didn’t like it, but we dropped the matter.” She paused, letting out a long breath.

“Are you okay?”

“Yes. Today was a bad day. Just after lunch hour, the jewelrystore on Main Street was robbed at gunpoint. A store clerk died, and the owner is in ICU.”

“Sorry to hear that.”

“The activity at the station was nonstop. Betty and I worked late, helping Captain Weaver deal with the situation.”

Barron leaned forward. “Betty?”

“She’s new. The captain hired her a few weeks before I came back. She’s nice enough.”

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