Page 86 of Refuge for Flora

“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?”

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