Chapter 6
Luke didn't understand why he was leaving with Bo but thankfully he didn't argue about it. Jesse didn't think that even J.D. Hogg would go so far as to try and frame Luke for Angie's murder. But Jesse wanted to make sure that Luke was safely hidden away until things got sorted out a bit.
Bo threw the suitcase with a few changes of clothes for both boys and some toiletries in it into the back of the pickup truck along with their sleeping bags and camping gear. Daisy brought out a cooler with food and drinks in it and handed to him to put in the truck with the other items Bo was taking with them. He didn't know how long they would have to hide out but he knew if they needed anything else Jesse or Daisy would bring it to them.
The boys often hid out at Jesse's old still sites when they didn't want to be found. Jesse had always chosen his hiding spots well for his stills and nobody had ever found them during the whole time Jesse had made his living making shine. The sites were skillfully hidden throughout the hills that surrounded the Duke farm. There were 8 sites in all. Still site number seven was hidden away deep in a hollow. You had to almost be half mountain goat to even get to it unless you knew where the hidden dirt road was that led to it. (Which of course Bo did)
Nothing was left of the old still that had once sat on the spot except for the fire pit and the drainage ditch. The still itself had been dismantled and destroyed when the boys were put on probation after having been caught running shine. Bo parked Jesse's truck next to the old site and the two boys began setting up camp. They worked in silence most of the time. Bo started a fire in the old fire pit, while Luke pitched the tent. When they had finished, they sat down on some rocks near the fire pit to rest.
“What used to be here anyway?” Luke asked, looking around the surrounding area with a faint frown on his face.
“One of Jesse's stills.” Bo reminded him
“A still?” Luke said in a mildly surprised voice “Jesse made moonshine?”
“Yes, he did….” Bo said “And so did we….till you and me got busted running a load one night.”
“We were ridge runners.” Luke said with a smirk “You and me?”
“Yeah, we were ridge runners.” Bo said letting a hint of sarcasm creep into his voice. He was getting really frustrated with Luke not remembering anything. “And we were good at it too.”
“If we were so good then how did we get caught?”
“We blew out a tire going about ninety miles an hour. We went off the road and rolled the car about four times.” Bo told him “You really don't remember any of this stuff, do ya?”
“No,” Luke said with a trace of irritation creeping into his voice “If I did I wouldn't be asking all these stupid questions.”
“I'm sorry, Luke….it's just I don't what to say to ya….ya know?”
“Yeah, I know. I don't know what to say to you either….” Luke told him with a deep sigh. “I wanna remember but no matter how hard I try…..I can't…..”
“But you ain't forgot everything…I mean ….ya still know what you like and don't like….right?”
“I guess….but what good is it gonna do me to know that I like my coffee black and I don't like buttermilk ….if I can't remember my name, where I live or who the hell you are?” Luke said with a sharp edge to his voice
“Okay….I get your point.” Bo said “I'm sorry…”
“So am I.” Luke said with another sigh. He looked at his younger cousin with slightly narrowed eyes “You wanna tell me why we're hiding out up here?”
“Cause Uncle Jesse told us to.” Bo said trying to evade the question. He didn't want to tell Luke about the girl's body or the investigation that seemed to trying to make Luke a suspect in her murder.
“Come on,” Luke said in an annoyed tone “I know there's more to it than that. Now are you gonna tell me or not?” Even if he couldn't remember anything, Luke still had the Duke stubbornness and Bo knew he wouldn't back down. But Bo was still reluctant to tell him what he knew. So he tried to find a way to pacify him with revealing too much.
“Because Jesse thinks you'll be better off up here until he figures out what's going on.”
“You expect me to buy that?” Luke asked stubbornly He looked at Bo closely “Is somebody after me?”
“I don't know.” Bo told him at least that much was true. “We don't know how you got hit on the head….but those marks on your wrists prove that somebody had you tied up.”
Startled, Luke looked at the red marks around both wrists where the skin was raw and scraped away as if noticing them for the first time. “I don't remember being tied up…” he said quietly
“That's why Jesse figured you'd be better off hiding out here ….if somebody is after ya then the farm is the first place they'd look.” Bo told him. That much was true too. Bo hoped that Luke would let it drop for now. “Hey, you wanna go fishing? The poles are in the back of the truck.”
“Yeah….sure.” Luke said with a shrug of his shoulders. Bo shoved himself to his feet and walked over to the truck to get the fishing poles from the bed of the truck. He grabbed some sandwiches out of the cooler and a couple of cokes. He figured they could use some of the bread from the sandwiches for bait. He handed Luke his pole and the two boys walked to the mountain stream nearby. They found a comfortable place to sit on the bank and cast their lines into the water. Fishing was one of their favorite pastimes and they often spent hours doing it. At least there wasn't much need to talk while they were fishing so the silence between them wasn't so uncomfortable.
Luke stretched out, visibly relaxing for the first time in the past two days as he did something that he enjoyed. He grinned when he caught the first fish, a 3 pound trout. By the time the boys decided to quit for the day, they had caught enough fish to cook up a good meal that night. Carrying their catch back to camp, they started cleaning and filleting the fish. For a few hours anyway, it was easy to overlook the fact that Luke couldn't remember anything and act normally as they worked together doing something they had done since they were children. Bo let Luke fry up the fish for supper since he'd always been better at that sort of thing than Bo had. There was nothing quite as delicious as fresh fish cooked over an open camp fire. As darkness fell, the boys laid out their sleeping bags inside the tent and got ready to turn in. It wasn't long before they were both sleeping soundly.
Sometime during the early morning hours, Bo was awakened by Luke mumbling and tossing restlessly beside him. Leaning up on one arm, Bo glanced at his older cousin worriedly. Luke seemed to be dreaming and it didn't seem like it was a very pleasant dream. Gently, Bo reached out to shake his shoulder to awaken him. “Luke? Hey, Luke…” he said quietly “Come on, Luke….wake up.” With a start, Luke opened his eyes and looked at Bo with fear showing clearly in the depths of those sapphire eyes. “It's okay, cousin…” Bo told him quietly “You were having a bad dream….that's all.”
“A dream?” Luke repeated in a confused voice, still not quite awake. He sat up and shook his head to try and clear away the cobwebs in his mind.
“You okay?”
“Yeah…..I guess so….just one hell of a headache that's all.” Luke told him
“Do you remember what you were dreaming about?”
“Something about a girl….a young girl.” Luke told him trying to remember the fragments of the dream “She was in some kind of trouble…..”
“Do you remember anything else?” Bo asked anxiously, thinking that the girl Luke was referring to might be Angie Baker. Maybe Luke's dream meant that he was starting to remember what happened.
“No….” Luke told him, shaking his head. He lay back on the ground and threw his arm up over his eyes. Bo looked at him for a moment in exasperation, then lay back down himself and tried to go back to sleep. Maybe Luke would remember something in the morning.
Chapter 7
Roscoe patrolled the back roads around the Duke farm. He knew that Bo and Luke were hiding out somewhere and he was determined to find them. He knew about Luke's alleged amnesia but he still needed to talk to the older Duke Cousin. The autopsy report on Angie Baker showed that she had indeed been raped by at least two different men. And a search of the General Lee had uncovered evidence that she had been raped at least once in the back seat of the car.
Roscoe had known Bo and Luke since they were children and even though they got into trouble now and then and liked to raise hell, Roscoe knew that Luke wasn't capable of the kind of violence that had taken Angie Baker's life. But he had been there so he had to know something. Roscoe felt certain that Luke could identify the real killers and that alone could put the entire Duke family at risk. He believed that the killers had intended to kill Luke too but had screwed up and hadn't finished him off by hitting him in the head. So far, Roscoe had managed to keep it quiet about Luke's connection to the murder and about the General Lee having been found at the scene. But his instincts told him that the real killers were out there somewhere and they were probably looking for Luke too so they could finish him off.
Roscoe might be involved with Boss in his crooked schemes to bilk folks out of their hard earned money but at one time he had been an honest lawman. And at times like this he tended to shift back into that role and remember what it meant to be a sworn officer of the law. Even though he worked with Boss to try and frame the Dukes and get them thrown into jail, he didn't want to see Luke get hurt or killed. And he wouldn't even think about trying to frame Luke for anything as serious as murder. That was a capital offense and carried the death penalty.
He wondered if he could convince Jesse that he was on their side this time so that he could talk to Luke. Somehow he doubted it. Being in Boss Hogg's pocket meant not being trusted by most of the county. And he couldn't really blame any of the Dukes for not trusting him after all the times he'd arrested Bo and Luke on trumped up charges or tried to frame them for something. But right now, Rosco had a job to do and he was going to do it and do it the right way.
He wanted to find the men who had so viciously killed that innocent child and see them put away before they could hurt anyone else. This was still his county and he was responsible for the people who lived here. He had Enos and Cletus looking for Bo and Luke too but he doubted if they would have any better luck at it then he was. Those boys knew the county like the back of their hand and they knew how to disappear into the hills and hollers so that they'd never be found unless they wanted to be.
Meanwhile, at their hidden campsite, the boys were starting to get a little bored with their forced confinement. Jesse had been there the night before with Daisy to bring them some more supplies and Jesse had taken the truck, so they were stuck without any wheels until Jesse or Daisy came back and got them. They had a portable CB to keep in touch in case of an emergency and if they needed to reach Daisy or Jesse, they were all on the alternate channel that they used when they wanted to talk privately with each other.
Jesse had finally told Luke about finding the General Lee at the scene of Angie Baker's murder but Luke still couldn't remember anything about what had happened to him that night. Bo had told Jesse about Luke's dream and how the only thing Luke could remember about it was that it had something to do with a young girl in some kind of trouble. Jesse took that as an encouraging sign that Luke was trying to remember the events of that night, at least subconsciously.
As for Luke, even though he couldn't remember anything, he seemed to be more relaxed and comfortable with Bo. That unique bond between them was still holding them together in spite of the present circumstances. They could talk and laugh again without feeling so awkward with each other, except when Luke had to ask Bo to clarify something he said because Luke couldn't remember the inside joke between them that led to Bo saying it. Bo was just relieved to have that much of Luke back again. And Jesse knew that if anyone could help Luke remember it would be Bo. And the sooner the better. Jesse's big toe had been hurting like crazy and that always meant trouble.
Bo and Luke had their bow and arrows with them so to pass time, they decided to go hunting. They walked through the woods using the skills they had learned from Uncle Jesse as children to track and to follow the trails. Before heading back to camp, they managed to shoot a couple of rabbits that they would fix that night for supper. As they sat around the campfire after eating, Bo noticed that Luke seemed preoccupied, lost in his own thoughts. Bo was used to Luke's moods and periods of silence so he didn't try to push him into talking. Luke had always been that way, only sharing his thoughts or feelings when he wanted to not because someone else wanted him to.
Bo had almost dozed off lying there on his back looking up at the stars so when Luke spoke, it startled him for a moment. “What?” Bo said with a sheepish smile, realizing that he hadn't heard what Luke had said.
“I said I think I remember something….” Luke told him
“What?” Bo asked, instantly giving Luke all of his attention
“There was a girl in the road…..she flagged me down….”
“Angie?”
“I don't know….But I remember stopping to help her.”
“At least that's a start.” Bo said encouragingly
Luke covered his face with his hands, holding his head as if it hurt. But the truth was he was trying to make sense of the images that suddenly started flashing through his mind. He hunched forward with his elbows on his knees and took several long slow breathes and then looked up at his cousin.
“They'll be looking for me because they thought I was dead that's why they left me there….” He said quietly
“Who?” Bo asked anxiously, staring at his cousin and not wanting to break the spell if he was actually starting to remember.
“I don't know.” Luke said in a frustrated voice. He groaned and buried his head in his hands again “God, my head hurts….”
“Don't try to force it.” Bo said “Why don't you just try to get some rest? Maybe you'll remember more in the morning.”
“Yeah….” Luke said “Maybe you're right.” He stood up, swaying unsteadily on his feet for a moment. Concerned, Bo jumped to his feet and took his arm, gently leading him over to the tent and helping him inside. Once he was settled comfortably in his sleeping bag, Bo went back out by the fire, taking the portable CB with him.
Hitting the transmit button, he said “Lost sheep to Shepard. Lost Sheep to Shepard. You got your ears on Shepard?”
“This is Shepard. Go ahead, Bo.” Jesse's voice said over the CB
“Yeah, Uncle Jesse….I think Luke's starting to remember things. He said a girl flagged him down and he stopped to help her. He also said they thought he was dead so that's why they left him there….”
“Does he remember who they are?”
“No, that's one thing he doesn't remember yet.”
“That's a good start…..stay with him. Is he alright?”
“He's lying down….he said his head hurt….” Bo told him
“Keep an eye on him and don't try to force him to remember. We don't want him doing himself more harm than good….” Jesse told him
“Yes, sir.”
“I'll get hold of Enos and tell him what Luke said. Maybe it'll help.”
“Okay, Shepard. This lost Sheep. I'm gone.”
Chapter 8
Daisy pasted a smile on her face as she waited on her customers. Business was busy as usual at the Boars Nest. The main topic on everyone's mind was the murder of Angie Baker. Everyone had their own opinion about what had happened. Most folks seem to think she was murdered by a drifter just passing through, no one wanted to consider the fact that it could have been a local who had done the killing. Parents were keeping their children close to home, especially the young girls, and more shotguns were showing up on the gun racks in the back of pickups.
There was a noticeable tension in the air that hadn't been there before the murder. Things like this just didn't happen in Hazzard. So far nobody knew that Luke had been there and may actually know something about the murder. When any of her customers asked about the boys and wanted to know why they hadn't been around, Daisy simply told them that they were on a hunting trip for a few days.
Rusty Harrison, a local roughneck with a bad reputation, grabbed her wrist as she sat a beer down on the table in front of him. “Hey, Daisy….” He said “How about joining me and Jamie for a little drink?”
“Let go of me, Rusty…” Daisy said with a smile but a definite warning tone in her voice. She tried to pull her hand away but Rusty just tightened his grip and grinned at her suggestively. When he reached out with his other hand and tried to fondle her breast, she stomped her high heel down on his foot as hard as she could. With a howl of pain, he let her go, shoving her backwards. She hit her hip on the edge of the table behind her and would have lost her balance if Cooter hadn't seen what happened and jumped up to come to her aide.
Grabbing her arm to help her regain her balance, he glared at Rusty and his brother, Jamie and said in a cold, threatening voice “I think you two best get out of here while you can still walk out on your own.”
Rusty looked at Cooter with a smirk on his face and slowly shoved himself to his feet. His brother Jamie did the same. For a moment, he seemed to be considering challenging Cooter, then he merely shrugged and threw some money on the table for their beers. Turning to his brother, he said “Come on, Jamie…let's git out of this dump.” As he walked away, he muttered loudly enough for Daisy and Cooter to hear him “She's probably not that good a piece anyway….”
Cooter's eyes flashed with anger and he took a step towards the Harrison brothers, but Daisy put her hand on his arm stopping him “It's okay, Coot.” She said quietly “Let ‘em go…”
“He had no right to talk about you like that, Daisy!” Cooter said angrily, still debating about going after Rusty and punching him out to teach him some manners.
“Just let ‘em go…..they don't come in here that often…they won't be back….”
“Somebody needs to teach them some manners.” Cooter growled, still angry but deciding to let the Harrisons leave without going after them.
“Come on” Daisy said with a smile “I'll buy you a beer for defending my honor.”
Cooter walked over to the bar with Daisy and stood there while she poured him a mug of beer and sat it down in front of him. “Thanks, Daisy.” He said, taking a long swallow “Say, where's Bo and Luke been keeping themselves lately? I ain't seen ‘em for the last couple of days.”
“Oh, they went hunting up in the mountains.” Daisy told him, giving him the same cover story she and Jesse had agreed on to explain the boys absence.
“Well, I hope they catch something.”
“So do I, Cooter. So do I.”
“Too bad about the little Baker girl, huh?” Cooter said, not noticing the flash of pain that flickered in Daisy's eyes.
“Yeah…..real bad….” Daisy said
“Makes ya wonder what kind of animal could do something like that to a little girl.” Cooter said grimly “Rosco better find whoever's responsible before some of the daddies around here do.....or there's gonna be some old fashioned justice carried out mountain style.”
Daisy lowered her eyes uneasily. Cooter was a close friend of the family and she hated not being able to tell him the truth about what she knew concerning the whole incident. But a slip of the tongue to anyone could put Luke and Bo both in danger. Anyone who was capable of murdering a 13 year old girl like that wouldn't have any second thoughts about killing Luke if they found him, especially if Luke could identify them once he regained his memory. So Daisy knew that she had to keep silent, even to Cooter. She finished her shift without any further problems and then went home. Jesse was cooking supper when she arrived back at the farm.
“Figured we take supper with us and go see the boys.” Jesse told her as she came into the kitchen. “Make sure they don't need nothing and see if Luke remembers anything else.”
“Did you tell Enos what Luke said about Angie flagging him down for help?”
“Yeah…..and Enos said he figures something like that must have happened and that's how Luke got caught up in this whole mess. He said it looked like there'd been some kind of struggle down by the main road. He found a necklace in the ditch that Angie's daddy identified as belonging to her.”
“So it sounds like somebody must have grabbed her and she got loose from them somehow.” Daisy said trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together.
“And Luke just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.” Jesse said “And tried to help her.”
Daisy got down a picnic basket from the shelf in the storage closet and started helping Jesse pack up the supper for themselves and the boys. Fifteen minutes, they climbed into Jesse's truck and headed for the hideout where the boys were camping. Neither of them noticed the two men standing on the ridge behind the house watching them with a pair of binoculars.
________________
“There goes the old man and Daisy.” One of the men said “Are we gonna follow ‘em?”
“Naw, we'll never catch up with ‘em…but if we keep watching ‘em, sooner or later they lead us to Luke and then we can get rid of him before he identifies us.”
“What about Bo?”
“Wherever Luke is Bo is gonna be with him. You can count on it. So we'll have to get rid of him too.”
“I don't like this….of all the people to show up at the wrong time, why'd it have to be one the Duke boys?”
“Yeah, well if you hadn't been stupid enough to let that little bitch get loose, we wouldn't be in this mess.”
“Hey, how was I suppose to know she'd make it to the road and that Luke would be driving by right then and decide to stop.”
“We should've put a bullet in his head like I wanted to instead of just hitting him in the head with that rock.” The older man glanced at his partner “Come on, let's get out of here.”
Chapter 9
Bo and Luke were both pleased to see Jesse and Daisy. Daisy spread a tablecloth out on the ground and unpacked the home cooked meal they had brought with them. When she'd finished setting everything up, they all sat down to eat. Jesse slapped Bo's hand when he started to reach for a roll before Jesse had said grace. Sheepishly, Bo withdrew his hand and bowed his head, as Luke and Daisy did the same. After grace, they began to eat the mashed potatoes, meatloaf, rolls, and salad that Jesse had prepared.
As they ate they tried to figure out what to do next. Luke's memory seemed to be coming back but he still couldn't remember anymore than what he had already told Bo. With his memory returning, Luke was in better spirits. Even though things were still cloudy in his mind he could feel the bond with the rest of his family again, especially with Bo.
“Well,” Jesse said “According to Enos it looks like somebody grabbed Angie and she got away from ‘em and tried to flag somebody down for help…”
“And Luke just happened to be coming along and stopped….” Bo said “And got caught right in the middle of things…”
“Looks that way.” Jesse said “You remember anything like that happening, Luke?”
“Yeah…..kinda…” Luke said with a frown as he tried to force his contrary memories to the surface. He rubbed his fingers against his left temple in a slow circular motion. His head had been hurting all morning. He wasn't sure if it was because he'd been hit in the head with something or if it was because he was trying to so hard to make his memories resurface. Bits and pieces kept slipping in and out of his mind but nothing he could grab hold of long enough to make sense out of it.
“Well, I'm sure it'll come to you.” Jesse told him. Unable to do anything more until Luke remembered a little bit more, Jesse and Daisy prepared to leave. They said their goodbyes to the boys and headed back to the farm. When they arrived, they were surprised to see Rosco's car parked in the barnyard, apparently waiting for them to return.
As Jesse climbed out of the pickup, Rosco climbed out of his car and walked over to the Duke patriarch. “Now Jesse, I need to talk to Luke.” He said firmly “You're gonna have to tell me where he is.”
“I ain't telling you nothing, Rosco.” Jesse said gruffly “And you ain't talking to that boy until he can remember what happened.”
“Then I'm gonna have to arrest you, Jesse Duke.” Rosco blustered
“Rosco!” Daisy exclaimed in an alarmed voice “You can't arrest Uncle Jesse!”
“Oh yes I can.” Rosco said with trademark giggle “He's interfering with an official investigation.”
“You ain't taking Uncle Jesse anywhere!” Daisy cried, grabbing Jessie's arm anxiously.
“Now, Daisy…” Jesse said calmly, gently patting her hand. “Just settle down. I'll go with the pea brain. He ain't got nothing to hold me on anyhow.”
“Uncle Jesse….” Daisy said, looking at her Uncle in alarm. She looked at Rosco beseechingly and pleaded “Rosco….”
“I'm sorry, Daisy.” Rosco said taking Jesse by the arm “Jesse's gonna have to come with me until he decides to cooperate..”
“You're just trying to find a way to railroad us Dukes for something!” Daisy cried angrily, watching with tears in her eyes as Rosco led Uncle Jesse to the patrol car and put him in the back seat. As the patrol car pulled out of the drive, Daisy reached into the truck and grabbed the CB “Bo Peep to lost sheep. You boys got your ears on?” she said into the mike.
“You got the lost sheep, Bo Peep.” Bo's voice said over the radio “What's up?”
“Rosco just arrested Uncle Jesse.”
“What! What for?” Bo said sharply with a trace of anger creeping into his voice.
“Because Uncle Jesse won't let him talk to Luke.” Daisy told him. She could hear Luke saying something in the background and then her older cousin's voice came over the radio “Daisy, this is Luke. Come back out here and get me and Bo. I ain't gonna let Rosco railroad Uncle Jesse. If he wants to talk to me, I'll talk to him.”
“Uncle Jesse don't want you talking to him until you can remember what happened!” Daisy said
“I don't care!” Luke said in a determined voice “I'm gonna talk to him but not until he lets Uncle Jesse go. Now come on back and get us.”
“Alright. I'll be there in a few minutes.” Daisy said, climbing into the cab of the truck and starting the engine. She knew better than to argue with Luke when he had his mind made up about something. Fifteen minutes later, she pulled back up at the camp site. The boys already had the camp broken down and everything packed. It didn't take them long to throw everything in the back of the truck. The boys climbed into the cab with Bo behind the wheel and Luke riding shotgun.
When he reached the main road, he turned north towards town instead of heading back to the farm. They were about five miles outside of Hazzard when Bo saw a blue late model sedan coming up behind the truck at a high rate of speed. He didn't pay much attention because that was just how everybody in Hazzard drove. At least, he didn't pay attention until whoever was in the car started shooting at them.
Chapter 10
“Bo, I get the feeling this guy ain't very friendly!” Luke said unnecessarily, as Bo tried to take evasive action to avoid getting hit by a stray bullet.
“Tell me something I don't know!” Bo said anxiously, as he tried to keep the truck on the road, keep from getting shot, and keep the other car in sight all at the same time. He twisted the wheel sharply to the left just as the car pulled up behind them and rammed the back of the truck.
“Bo! Do something!” Luke yelled, glancing over his shoulder at the other car which seemed determined to either shot them or run them off the road, or maybe both.
“Dang it, I'm trying!” Bo said sharply, as he kept twisting the wheel to right and then to the left, keeping the truck swerving from side to side in the road to try and keep the other car from hitting them again. Suddenly, without warning, the other car backed off and turned off onto a side road, disappearing in a cloud of dust.
The three Duke cousins let out a collective breath and looked at each other anxiously. “You think those were the guys that killed Angie?” Daisy asked breathlessly
“I'd bet on it…..” Bo said angrily “And I think we were right….they're after Luke now.”
“What are we gonna do?” Daisy said trying to keep her nervousness from showing in her voice.
“I'm still gonna talk to Rosco.” Luke said in a determined voice “At least now we can give him a description of that car.”
“But we still couldn't see who was driving it.” Bo reminded him in a frustrated voice.
“No, but there was two of ‘em.” Luke said his own voice sounding frustrated “It's not much to go on but it's all we've got right now.”
“Dang it, Luke…I wish that memory of yours would kick in so we at least knew who we should be worrying about.” Bo said glumly
“Alright, you two.” Daisy said “Let's just get to town and tell Rosco what happened.”
Ten minutes later, they pulled up in front of the Hazzard County Court House. The three cousins climbed out of the truck and hurried into the building. Roscoe looked up as they burst into the Sheriff's office.
“What do you Dukes want?” he demanded
“We wanna report somebody taking shots at us just outside of town.” Bo told him “Two men in a late model Blue Sedan.”
“And if you wanna talk to me so bad, I'll talk to you.” Luke said “But not until you let Uncle Jesse go.”
“Now hold on, you Dukes….” Rosco spluttered “One thing at a time…how do you know these guys in this car was shooting at you?”
“Oh, come on, Rosco!” Bo said in an annoyed voice “You wanna go look at the bullet holes in Uncle Jesse's truck?”
“They were shooting at us, Rosco!” Daisy said “And we figure they have to be the same guys that killed Angie and now they're after Luke.”
“Now why would they be after Luke?”
“To keep him from remembering who they are and identifying them you idiot!” Bo said starting to lose patience with Rosco and his incompetence.
“Well does Luke remember who they are?” Rosco asked
“No….” Luke said starting to lose patience with Rosco himself “But I don't think they care much about that right now.” He took a deep breath to calm down “Look, Rosco….I can't tell you anything because I don't remember anything. Now would you please let Uncle Jesse out of jail? He was just trying to protect me because I can't remember anything.”
“Well, if somebody's taking shots at you, then I'm arresting you for your own protection.” Rosco said, taking a step towards Luke and reaching out as if he were going to take his arm.
“Rosco, that's not gonna solve anything!” Daisy exclaimed, suddenly stepping sideways between Rosco and Luke “Go for it, boys!” she yelled, blocking Rosco and giving the boys time to turn and run out the door. The boys ran back outside and jumped into the truck speeding away.
“Dang it!” Bo said as he sped out of town “What are we gonna do now?”
“Head back to the farm.” Luke told him
“What for? That's the first place anybody is gonna look for you.”
“That's what I'm counting on.”
“Now, why don't I like the sound of that?”
“Look…we have to get these guys out in the open….either that or I have to remember who they are so we know who we're fighting…..and the easiest way to do that is make it easy for them to find me.”
“I still don't like that idea.” Bo said “Uncle Jesse will kill me if anything goes wrong and you get hurt.”
“Then I guess you'll have to make sure nothing goes wrong.”
“Thanks a lot, cuz…”
“Hey, I got faith in ya.” Luke told him with a crooked smile “Even if I can't remember why….”
Bo shot his cousin a dirty look as he pulled the truck into the driveway to the Duke farm. Parking the truck close to the back door, they climbed out and went into the house.
“Now what?” Bo asked as they sat down at the kitchen table
“We wait for them to make their next move.” Luke said. He leaned his elbow on the table and rubbed his fingers across his forehead with a slight grimace.
“Another headache?” Bo asked
“Yeah…..” Luke admitted “I'm gonna get some aspirin.” He shoved himself to his feet and headed for the stairs to go to the bathroom. Bo poured himself a cup of coffee and stood by the sink drinking it. He glanced out the window when he heard a vehicle pulling up out back. He grinned when he saw Cooter's tow truck. His grin grew even wider when he saw Daisy and Uncle Jesse climbing out of the cab along with Cooter.
“Hey,” Bo said greeting his Uncle enthusiastically as they came into the kitchen “Rosco let you out after all.”
“Oh, that ninny knew he didn't have nothing to hold me on.” Jesse said dismissing his short time in jail curtly. “Where's Luke?”
“He had another headache. He went upstairs to get some aspirin.” Bo told him
“Uncle Jesse, Luke's been getting a lot of them headaches.” Daisy said in a concerned voice
“I know, Daisy girl…” Jesse said “But don't forget he got hit pretty hard on the head and he's trying awful hard to remember…it ain't no wonder he's been getting headaches.” He looked at Bo “What did you two come back here for?”
“It was Luke's idea.” Bo told him “He figured the only way to catch them guys was to draw ‘em out in the open…”
“And to make it easy for ‘em by coming back to the farm.” Jesse growled “I'm not sure I like that idea.”
“You got a better one?” Luke asked coming through the archway into the kitchen
“No, I guess not.” Jesse said gruffly “But I want you boys to be careful.” He looked at his oldest nephew sternly “Especially you Luke.”
“Yes, sir.” The boys said in unison.
Thanks for all the wonderful reviews! Keep it up and I'll keep writing. LOL. Glad you're enjoying the story. Now push that little button!