by: Marty Chrisman
Luke was in the barn helping Bo clean out stalls when Daisy opened the back screen door and called his name. When he looked up to acknowledge that he’d heard her, she said “Telephone. It’s your friend, Norm, from Atlanta.”
“Tell him I’ll be right there.” Luke called back. He leaned his shovel up against the side of the one of the stalls and grabbed his shirt, slipping it on and buttoning it up as he headed for the house.
Inside the house, he went into the living room and picked up the phone
“Hi, Norm.”
“Sorry, it took me so long to get back to you but it don’t seem like anybody wants to talk much about this case.” Norm told Luke. It had been almost a week since Luke had called him asking for help finding out more information about the article in the newspaper.
“What did you find out?”
“Not a whole lot. The girl’s being held in the Atlanta jail on charges of making and selling moonshine and her brother is being held in Savannah on the drug charges.”
“You mean she’s not charged with anything to do with the drugs?” Luke asked in a surprised voice “That’s not what the paper said.”
“I know….my gut feeling is that they don’t have enough to tie her in to the drug operation…so the moonshine charge is just a smoke screen to hold her until they see if they can dig up enough to charge her with anything else.”
“Were you able to find out anything about the drug operation itself?”
“No….they’re being real hush hush about that. I think the brother was in pretty deep though.”
“Anything else?”
“For what it’s worth, they set bail for the girl at $500.00 cash bond.”
“Thanks, Norm. I owe ya one.”
“Yeah, well just remember we’re going hunting real soon.”
“I will.” Luke told him with a laugh. He hung up and looked at Jesse and Daisy who had been standing in the kitchen listening to Luke’s side of the conversation. “Norm couldn’t find out much but he did find out that Shelby’s being held in the Atlanta jail on charges of making and selling moonshine, not drugs. And her bond has been set at $500.00 cash. Cory’s in jail in Savannah and they do have him on drug charges.”
“That isn’t what the paper said.” Daisy said “They said Shelby was arrested in connection with the drug case too.”
“Yeah, I know. Norm thinks that the moonshining charges might just be a way to hold her till they see if they can find something else to charge her with.” Luke explained
“Still sounds like she’s in a whole lot of trouble.” Jesse said “I don’t like this. I don’t like it one bit. I think them federal boys are up to no good and that little girl is stuck right in the middle.”
“But what can we do about it?” Daisy asked
“Well….” Jesse said with a smile “We could start by bonding her out. I got the mortgage money and that should cover a pretty good chunk.”
“And I got $75.00 saved up from my tips.” Daisy volunteered
“And my share of that prize money Bo and I won in that race last week should cover the rest.” Luke said with a grin
“Then it looks like it’s settled.” Jesse said in a satisfied voice. He walked over to the kitchen cabinet and reached up on top. He took down a tin can and pulled off the lid. He took out a handful of crumbled bills and handed them to Luke. “Go git that little girl outta there. And you bring her back here. She can stay with us till this thing’s straightened out. She don’t need up there on that mountain by herself.”
“Yes, sir” Luke said. He took the bills and stuffed them into his jeans pocket. Then he went upstairs to get his share of the prize money, while Daisy went to her room to get her tip money. After making sure he had all the money, Luke went back out to the barn to tell Bo what was going on.
“Good…” Bo said. He scowled as he remembered what it had been like in the Atlanta jail. He’d only been there once, when him and Luke had been busted on a moonshine run. They’d been in there for almost a week before Jesse got them out. Neither one of them ever wanted to go back there again. It was bad enough for a man it was no place for a woman. “She don’t need to be in a place like that.”
“Sorry I can’t finish helping ya with them stalls.” Luke said apologetically
“Don’t worry about that just go get Shelby.” Bo told him with a grin “I can handle things here.”
Luke walked over to the General Lee and climbed in under the wheel. The powerful engine roared to life as he turned on the ignition. He pulled out of the drive and turned left heading for the main highway and then the interstate. It was a two hour drive to Atlanta which meant it would be around two o’clock when he got there. That should give him enough time to go to the courthouse and post the bond, then go to the jail to get Shelby released into his custody. With luck, they should be back home by seven o’clock that evening.