Page 38 of Refuge for Flora

“Sure is. I can help you with that. There’s this thing called DMail. Short for Direct Mail. They have a browser and everything. We can set up an email account for you with them and no one will be able to track your emails to your location.”

“That’s exactly what I need.”

“They’re going to ask for some kind of location though.”

“I’ll just use Pikeville. That’s where they are, so that’ll completely throw them off. I mean, I don’t think they’re computer savvy enough to know how to track me down anyway, but it doesn’t hurt to be careful.”

“No, it does not. So let’s get on this and see what we can do. Come on.” Flora followed Janet to the den in the house and they sat down at the computer there. “Know what you’d like to use as your I.D.?”

“Yep.” Flora tore a piece off a notepad lying there and wroteFlora_the_Explorer.

“Very cute! Okay. We’ll set it up, and then we’ll turn off the location.”

Thirty minutes later, there was an account set up for her, and she had notes on how to log on, how to send an email, how to reset her password?which wasgatorbait8?and she was in business. She thanked Janet and headed to the car, then decided to stop on the way and get a milkshake.

As soon as she’d finished the milkshake in the parking lot of the public library, she headed inside. If someone managed to find a way to track her, she didn’t want to lead them to the women’s shelter. But the public library would be an okay space. After she’d put in a request to use a computer, she wandered in the stacks. It occurred to her that she might be able to get a library card, so she visited the front desk. She stood for a minute, thinking about how she really didn’t want anyone to see her driver’s license. “All I’ve got is my Social Security card,” she told the woman working there.

“That’ll work.” The lady took her card and her information, and in seconds, she had a library card. She still had twenty minutes before her allotted time to use the computer, so she headed back toward the stacks. There was a rack of new releases and one of current best-sellers, and she browsed them until she found two that sounded promising. One of the windows in the building had an upholstered chair sitting in front of it, so she took a seat and thumbed through the books.

When it was time to use the computer, she checked in at the desk and they gave her the information to let her log in. Once she was in, she brought up the browser from the company that did DMail and wandered around in cyberland until she found the website she was looking for. She took their email address, then logged into her email account. There was a place to click “Compose,” so she did and got a new email form. With the email address she’d gotten from the website, she typed in the subject line, “Family,” and then went on to the body copy.

Dear Mr.Banks or whoever gets this,

I’m looking for RissaAllen. I’m her cousin, and I’ve always called her Wavy. I’ve moved away and lost her number and email address. Could you please have her contact me at this email address? I’d really appreciate it.

Skeeter

Using the old nicknames they’d given each other made her smile. She could still see Rissa sitting on the curb at their grandparents’ house, eating a popsicle she’d gotten from the ice cream truck that came by on sunny summer afternoons. She, Rissa, Ronnie, Paula, and Rissa’s older brother, Jake, had gone to the public pool down by the park during the summer too. She’d given Rissa the nickname Wavy because the girl worked for hours to straighten her hair, but the minute it got the least bit damp, it kinked up like a nylon pot scrubber. She knew Mr.Banks who owned the grocery store, and Rissa had worked there since she was in high school. If she was still working there, and she had been a few months earlier, then maybe he’d give her the message and she’d check in with Flora. It was the only hope she had of finding out what was going on in Pikeville, if anything.

The worst part was that once she left the library, she’d have no way to monitor the account. Her phone wasn’t a smartphone, and she couldn’t afford one. She might be able to in a few months, but not right then. With only thirty minutes to use the computer, the likelihood that Rissa would contact her before she had to leave was very slim. And when they came around to tell her she had to log off, she was sad. It wasn’t like she could come there every day.

Flora carried the two books she’d borrowed to the car and headed back to Mrs.Murphy’s. Was there a chance the old woman would put in an internet connection? She couldn’t imagine Mrs.Murphy doing that, but she planned to ask anyway. There was nowhere else for her to check on it.

Except Barrett’s. She could go down there. He’d told her that he’d be home every night that week, so that could work. If he hadn’t wanted her company, he wouldn’t have told her that, right? She remembered that he’d said he could fix them dinner if he knew ahead of time, but with Mrs.Murphy to watch after, she’d just have to wait until she got a spare minute to get away. At that very moment, she needed to get back and get dinner started. She’d just set the account up that afternoon, so she didn’t think she’d need to check it until at least the next evening. Or possibly the next. But one thing was for sure.

She needed to know where that asshole was. If Rissa didn’t know, she could find out, and she’d never give Flora up. There were few people she felt she could trust, but Rissa was one of them. And Barrett was another.

* * *

He kept hopingFlora would call or send him a text and tell him she was on her way down to his house, but she hadn’t. It had been a couple of days, and he really wanted to see her. He’d called her every night and they’d chatted, but nothing else. It would’ve been nice if she’d said she missed him or wanted to see him, but so far, that hadn’t happened either. The conversation had been benign, and he was trying to figure out a way to move things forward without seeming pushy.

Thursday had been particularly brutal?animal control had called them to open an investigation on seventeen raccoons that appeared to have been poisoned?and he was just glad to be home. He’d no more than showered and put on some lounge pants and a tee when the front door opened. “Hey! Brought burgers!” Jesse sang out.

Jesus. I really don’t want to do this tonight, Barrett’s brain whined. “That’s really nice. Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.”

Try to be human, he told himself. “So, how’s work?”

“Good. Getting a raise next week. Boss called me in and says he likes my work. But damn, it’s starting to get really hot in the shop.”

“One of the downfalls of working in a machine shop, I suppose.”

“Yeah, I guess.” Jesse bit into a burger and chewed thoughtfully. “Although it beats bringing work home with me every night or having to work over. We never work over.”

“True. I kinda live my job.”

“That’s the kind of job you have. But I know you. You love it, and you wouldn’t be happy doing anything else.”

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