Page 93 of Refuge for Flora

“Oh, yeah. Sure, sure. Bradley, get that dog crate over there and load them bastards up in it.” It only took Bradley a couple of minutes to catch and crate six of the gators, and he loaded them in the back of the truck. “Okay. It’s payday, so pay up.”

Conor pulled out his wallet and took out a wad of hundred-dollar bills. “One, two, three…” He counted until he finally said, “Fifteen. We square?”

“Yessir, we square. Want a beer afore we take you back to?”

From seemingly nowhere, a voice called out, “Ballard County Sheriff’s Department! Hands in the air! All of you! Get ‘em up!” Men with guns moved in from every direction. Conor saw Kirby and Jonas, but he didn’t dare do anything to single himself out. Just as Darryl and Bradley did, Conor sank to his knees on the ground, his hands behind his head. “DarrylStevens and BradleyNolan, you’re hereby under arrest for dealing in illegal animals in violation of Kentucky Revised Statutes one fifty. Do you want to waive your Miranda rights?’

“Sure. Ain’t like I never heard ‘em before,” Darryl answered with a snort.

“Yeah. What he said,” Bradley echoed.

“Conor Parsons,” the deputy announced, using Conor’s agreed-upon alias, “you’re under arrest for receiving contraband property. Do you wish to waive your Miranda rights?”

“Yeah. Whatever,” he answered.

“If there is anyone else on the property, you need to tell us now. Anybody? Have anything to say?” the deputy asked loudly.

Darryl’s voice was pure acid. “Ain’t nobody else here.”

“We understood you had an associate who was looking for FloraStevens. Is that correct?”

“Yeah, well, that sorry sumbitch failed, so he’s gone.”

The deputy poked him with a baton. “Where is he now?”

Darryl laughed. “You ain’t never gonna find him.”

Conor watched as the deputies talked among themselves, and then a truck rolled into view. Kirby was in the passenger seat, but Barrett was at the wheel. “Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources conservation officers. We need to take possession of the reptiles on the property,” Barrett announced.

“Go right ahead. I’m not fool enough to stand in your way,” the deputy responded with a smirk, and Conor wanted to punch him.

Ten minutes later, Darryl and Bradley were gone. Conor was being loaded into another vehicle but once the other two were out of sight, the deputy brought him back to the officers waiting at Darryl’s place. He’d no more than stepped out of the car when Barrett turned to him. “Where’s Flora?”

“They said they had an associate who was supposed to get her, but he failed. They also said we’d never find him. You know what that means.”

“Yeah. It means we’ve got to destroy every one of these animals and open them up to see if there are any human remains in them,” Kirby offered.

Conor’s tone left no room for doubt. “Absolutely. Barrett, you should go to the jail and talk to Bradley.”

“Why?”

“Because if he finds out what Darryl did with his girlfriend, we’re going to get a lot more information out of him.”

Barrett gestured toward his truck. “Mind if I…”

“No. Go right ahead. We’ve got this.” But before he could get into the car, Conor stepped up and put a hand firmly on Barrett’s shoulder. “Keep your cool, but wring that sumbitch out like a wet rag.”

“I will. Thanks.” The deputies and KDFWR officers watched Barrett go, along with one lone TPWD officer. His work was done. But for poor Barrett, the hardest part was coming.

* * *

“Where is she?”

“I told you, man, I have no idea!” Bradley was getting a little frustrated, so Barrett decided it was time.

“Bradley, where’s Velma?”

The man stopped dead and stared at Barrett. “How do you know about Velma?”

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