by: WENN9366 (EnosIsMyHero)

Chapter 14: His Father’s Son

 

When the doctor finally let Enos out of the hospital two days later, Rosco insisted on picking him up and taking him to Jake’s so he could pick up his car. The sheriff was happier than anyone could remember seeing him – not only did Rosco get to flaunt it that he’d arrested a wanted fugitive, but Enos had apparently told whoever was in charge of those kind of things that Rosco, Bo, Luke, and Amos were the ones who were responsible for the capture of Andy Higgins. Turned out there was a sizable reward out for it and split four ways still left each of them with $5000. Rumor had it that Amos’s son had a nice new still set up somewhere in the hills. Bo and Luke donated most of theirs to the mortgage on the farm.

Jake had offered to let Enos stay in the loft above the garage free of charge while he was there, but Uncle Jesse had refused to hear of it.

“Ya’ ain’t packin’ up yer bags just so you can stay where ya’ got no one t’ talk to besides Rosco an’ Cletus,” he’d told him. “‘If ya’ think you’re bein’ a burden, you can always go out an’ do some chores in th’ mornin’ t’ set your mind at ease.”

So Enos had agreed to stay at the farm, at least until he had to go back to California. He’d never said when that was, some obscure date that floated out in the future. Daisy had decided to just forget about whenever that was for now and spend as much time around him as she could…without appearing to. She’d never had a problem hiding her feelings for him from anyone before, but whether it was the circumstances that had brought them both together again, or just that she’d missed him so terribly over the last four years, she couldn’t seem to stand to stay away from him.

 

Enos put on his coat, which Daisy had cleaned and mended for him, grabbed a cup of coffee and then headed out the door – purposefully letting the screen door bang shut behind him. He needed to go up Capitol City and pay off his ma’s mortgage this morning before he forgot and she lost the house. Walking slowly, he started counting to 10.

“1..2…3…4…5…6…”

“Hey Enos, where ya’ goin’?” called Daisy from the doorway.

He grinned and turned around. “I’ve gotta go up t’ Capitol City to pay my mom’s mortgage before she has t’ move in with you.”

She laughed. “Don’t let me stop ya’.”

He rested his arms on the roof of the car before getting in. “You wanna go with me? I sure could use th’ company.”

“Sure thing, I don’t have t’ go back in to work ’till Monday. Hold on an’ let me grab my coat.” She whisked back through the door and grabbed her coat from her room. As she was leaving, she passed Uncle Jesse sitting in the living room and back-tracked.

“Hey Uncle Jesse, I’ll be back after while, I’m gonna go with Enos up to Capitol City,” she said, kissing her uncle’s cheek.

“Uh…alright,” he said, surprised, but Daisy was already gone. He heard the ‘thunk’ of the front door as it closed behind her. “Somethin’ odd goin’ on with that girl lately,” he murmured to himself.

“Hey, thanks for comin’ with me, Daisy” said Enos after she’d gotten in. “I’m probably gonna need your help at th’ bank anyhow.”

Daisy couldn’t understand why he’d need her help. “At the bank? What for?”

“Oh…you’ll see. I’ve been sendin’ my ma’ money to pay th’ mortgage for three years now, and all she did with it was bury it in th’ backyard.”

“Oh no…” She was well accustomed to his mother’s eccentricities.

He shot her a sideways glance. “There’s 14 cannin’ jars in the trunk.”

The clock on the courthouse read shortly after ten o’clock when they finally pulled up in front of the Capitol City Savings & Loan. Enos and Daisy got out and went around to the trunk. He sighed and popped it open. There were 14 jars, all quart sized and stuffed with cash.

“You weren’t kiddin’,” said Daisy, incredulous. “How much you reckon there is?”

Enos shrugged. “I’m not sure, all I know is that I sent her enough over th’ last couple years to pay off what my pa’ owed.”

Daisy took off her coat and used it as a sling to carry some, and Enos did the same with his. Between the two of them, they managed to carry all 14 jars of money into the bank in one trip. The teller wasn’t too keen on counting it all by herself and called over two of the junior tellers to help her. It took three tellers over twenty minutes to count it all, but after all was said and sifted, the total came to $36, 451.42.

Daisy was floored. “Enos, that’s…that’s a lot of money.”

“Yeah, but that was over three years.”

“Still…”

He brushed it off. “Inflation’s higher in California, so ya’ get paid a lot, but it doesn’t go very far. Believe me, it wouldn’t look like much out there.”

“Mr. Strate,” said the teller, looking up from the logbook she had been searching through, “the mortgage on the property and house for Otis and Agnes Strate is only $13,450. Would you like to start an account with the rest?”

“Oh… No, I don’t live around here anymore. I guess ya’ can just put what ya’ don’t need back in th’ jars,” he said. “Um…maybe in bigger bills than one’s an’ five’s, though, if you’ve got ’em.”

“Are you sure you wouldn’t like a cashier’s check, sir?”

Enos shook his head. “My ma’s a little suspicious of checks. If you can just leave it in cash, I’d be mighty obliged.”

“What are ya’ gonna do with it?” whispered Daisy.

He shrugged. “I reckon I’ll give it back to my ma’. It’s her money, she can bury in th’ yard again for all I care.”

The teller handed him three of the jars back. “Here you go, sir, $23,001.42, and a receipt for the mortgage payment. They’ll have to mail the deed to your mother. Do you want the other jars back?”

“No, I reckon you can keep ’em. Thank you kindly, ma’am.” He turned to Daisy. “Come on, let’s grab an early lunch somewhere. My ma’s buyin’.”

 

“Where th’ heck did Daisy run off to?” complained Bo, as he searched through the fridge for lunch.

Uncle Jesse looked up from his sandwich. “What’s eat’n you? Daisy ain’t normally home this time o’ th’ day anyhow.”

“Yeah but she usually makes sandwiches ‘fore she heads off t’ work in th’ mornin’.” He took the leftover ham out from the night before.

“You know, son, it ain’t your cousin’s job t’ feed your face. She just does it outta th’ love of her heart. ‘Sides, she went off somewhere’s with Enos this mornin’.”

“Enos! You know, I swear she hadn’t let him outta her sight since he got back,” he griped. “It ain’t like he’s gonna fall apart or nothin’. Heck, his arm don’t even seem hurt no more.”

“Maybe that ain’t what she thinks needs fixin’,” answered Uncle Jesse, quietly.

Bo looked up from the bread he was slicing. “Now what’s that supposed t’ mean?”

Uncle Jesse shook his head. Bo wouldn’t understand, and even if it were true, he didn’t think Daisy would appreciate him explaining it to him. “Nothin’. Fix yer lunch, then you can help me with that gate over on the north end.”

Bo sighed. “Yes sir.”

 

Enos pulled the car off Highway 20 onto the unpaved Morgan Lane, which ran alongside the old airfield. He grinned as the tires spun and then caught on the loose gravel. It reminded him of all the Saturdays spent racing on the dirt-track when he was younger. He’d been a pretty decent driver, but his cars were never anything but old beaters…nothing like this car could be. Sure, it looked like a hunk of junk from the outside, but whoever had rebuilt the Javelin’s engine had known what they were doing. He glanced over at Daisy with a look in his eyes that reminded her of when they were kids, planning out some sort of mischief.

“Think I should see how fast she’ll go?”

She looked at him warily. “As much fun as that sounds, Rosco’s favorite speed trap’s right up where this meets Mill Road, an’ you know he’ll give you a ticket.”

“He’s gotta catch me first. Buckle up, Daisy, ”

She laughed and buckled her seat belt. “You’re somethin’ else, Enos, you know that?”

He gunned it all the way to Mill Road, but instead of stopping, he downshifted and swung around the corner. The car skidded and then took off. The road was nice and straight here and he was doing nearly 65 on the hardpack when when he passed the Sheriff. Rosco flipped on his lights and siren and pulled out behind him. Enos didn’t slow down, but led the patrol car through the turns on Mill Road, gradually pulling away.

“We’ll go around Stillson Canyon an’ loose him on th’ backside,” he told her.

The CB came to life with the Sheriff’s voice. “Enos? Enos I know that’s your mangy ol’ junk-heap I’m a-chasin’. You pull it over right now, boy, or I’m gonna cuff ya’ an’ stuff ya’!”

Daisy picked up the CB. “Hey there, Rosco'” she said, happily. “I always knew Enos was a better driver than you were.”

“Daisy Duke! Ooo…you…Enos, pull that car over or you’re in deep sheep-dip!”

Enos just laughed.

“Bye Rosco!” Daisy hung the CB back up and turned around to watch Rosco.

Enos hung a left at Stillson Road. “How far back is he?”

“Oh, a quarter mile easy. You’ve got plenty of time.”

“Okay, around the next corner, hold on,” he said. “Bo and Luke always used to disappear on me through here an’ it took me forever till I figured out where they went.”

He rounded the corner at the top of the canyon where the forest was deepest, and slammed on the brakes. Throwing it in reverse, he backed up onto an old road, obscured by the overgrowth. Ten seconds later, Rosco’s patrol car came speeding around the corner and kept on going as they laughed. Enos pulled out and went back the way he’d come until he reached Mill Road. He turned left in the direction of the Duke farm, but driving the speed limit.

“Daisy…are you in an awful hurry t’ get back? Would you mind if we took a detour first?”

“No, I don’t have t’ be back for a while before I start supper. That is unless you want t’ eat Luke’s cookin’,” she teased.

“Now come on, Daisy, he’s libel t’ make ya’ wish I was cookin’.”

“Enos, you can’t boil water.”

He scowled at her. “I’ll have you know I learned how t’ do that. I can also heat soup outta th’ can now.”

“Well, you’ve surpassed Bo’s culinary skills then,” she laughed.

She was about to ask where he wanted to go, but then he turned right onto the road that led to Hazzard Pond. It was the last place she would have expected him to go – a place that she knew held more memories for the both of them than she could count. If anywhere would feel like coming home for him, it would be here. Enos pulled the car up to the bank and cut the engine.

Like a typical Georgia February, the temperature which had hovered in the lower 40’s that morning was now in the 70’s. Small patches of ice at the base of the trees, sheltered in the shade and the cooler air near the water, were all that remained of the storm which had wreaked havoc the week before.

Enos threw his coat back in the car beside Daisy’s, and scooped up a handful of pebbles from the bank before joining her where she sat on the hood. He handed her half of them and they sat together, unspeaking, as one by one they tossed them out into the water.

If he closed his eyes, he could imagine they were kids again, sitting in the sun throwing rocks into Hazzard Pond, a ritual they’d once overlooked as nothing but wasting time. Just the two of them – before everything had gone to hell in a hand-basket.

“Why’d you do it?” she asked, breaking the silence of his daydream.

He frowned, not understanding. “Why’d I do what?”

“Why’d you want Rosco t’ chase you?”

“I don’t know, Daisy,” he said, shrugging. “Why not?” He threw the last of his pebbles as far out as he could.

“It’s just…you’ve always been such a stickler about the law, that’s all.”

He didn’t answer, but sat looking out over the pond, and minutes passed before he spoke again.

“Did I ever tell you ’bout th’ time Rosco almost caught me runnin’ shine on th’ way back to the Academy?”

“Yeah, I remember. With Dewey an’ some other guy. You were drivin’, though, it wasn’t like you had a choice except t’ run from him.”

Enos shook his head. “That’s the story…but that ain’t what really happened.”

She eyed him suspiciously. “What do you mean?”

“Rosco wasn’t anywhere near us. We could’a gotten t’ ol’ man Tillson’s easy. But, well…I wanted t’ know what it felt like – to do what my pa’ had done. Just once.”

“You mean…you picked up Rosco on purpose?” That was so far removed from the Enos she’d always known, she didn’t even know what to think.

“The other guy’s didn’t know hide from hair up there in them parts, they never knew I back-tracked.”

Daisy was dumbfounded. “You never told me that.”

He looked down at his hands, fidgeting nervously. “I never told anyone…mostly ’cause of how much it scared me.”

“Being chased by the police?”

Enos looked back up at her. “No…it scared me ’cause I loved it.”

There was no doubt in Daisy’s mind that he was telling the truth. His eyes took on a far away look as he relived the memory. Gradually, they focused again, though not on her face, but on an errant strand of her hair. Unthinkingly he brushed it back from her face, his fingers slowly following the length of it.

“You know what Bo an’ Luke used t’ say to me when I got hired on as a deputy? They used t’ ask me how come I was on th’ wrong side of th’ law when I knew good an’ well my daddy’d been a moonshiner like every one else up in th’ hills.”

“Oh, now, Enos, you know they they didn’t mean any harm by it. They were just joshin’ you was all.”

“I know that, Daisy. Thing is,” he said, “there is a part of me that’s on that other side. I’m th’ son of a ridge-runner, and as much as I used to want to believe it, no badge is ever gonna take that part away.” His hand moved from where it absently toyed with her hair, to gently cup the side of her face. “No matter how far away I run, there are some things that will always be a part of me…”

He pulled her closer to him, and her breath caught as she realized he was going to kiss her. As the thought raced through her mind, he stopped – only an inch away, and snatched his hand away from her face. He sat back, obviously surprised by what he’d almost done.

“Gosh, I’m…I’m sorry, Daisy.” He shook his head slightly, as if clearing away the remainder of whatever had possessed him, and jumped down off the car. “Come on, we’d better get back unless we wanna eat Luke’s cookin’.”

He shot her a grin, but Daisy could only stare back. She slid down from the hood, shell-shocked and confused. The ghost of a memory from long ago swirled around her – of 17 year old Enos, looking up at her from from the shore as she climbed the bank, with eyes full of confused passion. As she got into the car, she thought she knew how he must have felt that day.

Five minutes later, they pulled up in front of the farmhouse. Enos hopped out, greeting Bo who was working on something under the hood of the General, as though nothing in the world had almost happened. It was nearly enough to make Daisy question her sanity and wonder if she’d just imagined the whole thing.

She was so distracted, she nearly ruined supper. It was saved only by Uncle Jesse’s quick hands taking the skillet from her and moving it off the burner.

“Daisy, you alright?” he asked. “You’re actin’ like ya’ ain’t here at all.”

“I’m sorry, Uncle Jesse,” she said. “I’m fine, just tired, I guess.”

He narrowed his eyes at her, knowing well enough an excuse when he heard one. “You sure? You ain’t been yourself since ya’ got back.”

“No, I’m okay. Would ya’ call th’ guys for supper for me?”

“Yeah, I’ll hunt ’em up.”

“Thanks, Uncle Jesse.”

It was the strangest meal she could ever remember sitting through. Enos, Bo, and Luke were talking about the Hazzard dirt-track, laughing and reminiscing over races and wrecks they’d had growing up. Uncle Jesse even joined in, reminding them that he’d won more races there than any of them had ever run…back when he was young and stupid, to which Bo commented he didn’t know they had cars back then.

Daisy felt like the odd duck. She had no heart to join in and instead sat, watching Enos out of the corner of her eye, wondering how he act so all-fired normal. As dinner wound down to a close, it suddenly struck her that their roles had somehow reversed. He was the one who was supposed to be sitting shyly at the table while she rattled on about something. An idea, one that threatened to shed light on everything that had ever happened between them, began to take shape in her mind.

“Ain’t that right, Daisy?”

Her eyes snapped up to meet Enos’s and she realized she hadn’t heard a word of what he’d been saying to her.

“Sorry, what?” she asked him.

Bo whistled at her. “Yoo hoo, hello… Daisy, if I didn’t see ya’ sittin’ here, I’d swear you’d gotten lost somewhere’s out yonder,” he said, gesturing at the door.

“I’m sorry, y’all. I think I’m gonna turn in.” She got up and left the table. The sound of her bedroom door closing echoed through the house.

“Wonder what’s gotten into her?” asked Luke.

Bo shrugged. “Darned if I know. Prob’ly just one o’ those woman things.”

Enos said nothing. Today it had all seemed so clear again, almost as though the day itself had been drenched in sepia tones of the past. He’d gotten caught up in his own reminiscing, though, and in real life he’d played out his dream unawares, coming to his senses only just in time. His fingers ached with the memory of touching her, and it had taken all the will he could muster to let her go and walk away. If there were to be a second time, he didn’t trust himself to stop again. He knew the time had come to make a decision. It had to be done sooner or later, and sooner would be infinitely easier than later.

 

Long after everyone else had gone to bed, Daisy sat at her window, looking out over the barren winter field. What had started off as a flicker of insight at supper had grown to an astral, and the clarity of that light illuminated everything that had ever happened between the two of them. If he’d been anyone else, any other guy, she would have put his actions down as designed to teach her a well deserved and cruel lesson. It was Enos, though, and Enos had never had a vengeful bone in his whole body – except when someone had threatened her safety, her conscience duly noted.
Unintended or not, Daisy finally understood how he must have felt all those years she’d played with his heart, never acting like any of it meant anything to her. Still, he’d come back – time and time again, a glutton for more punishment at her hands.

His actions today had shown her something else as well. When he hadn’t been thinking about what he was doing, there had been no hesitation in his touch, none of the former insecurity he had always shown around her. After 20 years, she finally realized that his reticence towards her was not because he was innately shy about such things… he just had no earthly idea what she was playing at. Yet, ever since that morning he’d slept in her arms at the cabin, something had changed. There was a bond between them that she thought had once been lost forever. She’d caught him watching her a couple of times, not in the same manner that most of the guys down at the Boar’s Nest watched her, but with a perceptiveness that made her uneasy. She couldn’t shake the feeling that at times Enos saw right through her, down to her very soul.

She’d never known anyone like him, and never would again. Even after she’d left him without a word and married L.D (and the magnitude of that she couldn’t bear to think about), he’d come across the country to rescue her.

He still loved her.

“He still loves me…,” she whispered, incredulous, into the night.

And yet, she was about to let him go, about to let him leave her again, and she knew the next time he’d never come back.

“He loves me…and I love him.”

Tomorrow, come hell or high water, rain, sleet, snow, ice, or any other disaster she could think of, she would tell him. After 20 years of her breaking his heart, Enos Strate would finally know that Daisy Duke loved him.

 

by: WENN9366 (EnosIsMyHero)

Chapter 13: Elephant in the Room

 

Daisy rested on a bed behind a curtain in what she assumed was some sort of low priority area of the emergency room since no one had come to check on her in at least an hour. She was stuck here, at least until they figured out what to do with her. After a quick check up and blood draw, the doctor on staff had insisted that she have an I.V. to rehydrate her after her ordeal. That’s what he’d called it…”her ordeal”.

Apparently she was some odd sort of minor celebrity here – the one who got away from the Tri-County Strangler, she’d overheard a nurse say to someone outside the curtain. The forced isolation gave her more than enough time to think about what had happened versus what might have happened. From Enos’s telling of the story, him finding her was nothing short of a miraculous shot in the dark, like some avenging angel coming to her rescue. She wished she’d been allowed to stay with him when they’d taken him away.

A nurse finally came through the curtain and removed the I.V., telling her that the doctor wanted to keep her overnight for observation since her iron levels were low. “We’ll take another reading after you eat breakfast and lunch tomorrow,” she said, bringing a wheelchair up to the side of the bed. “Now, I know you’re probably feeling just fine, especially after that glucose drip, but I have to take you up to your room in this anyway.”

Daisy slid off the bed. “That’s okay,” she said as she took a seat.

The nurse took in Daisy’s oversized shirt and mud-stained pants. “Would you like me to find you something to change into?”

“Oh, that would be wonderful,” said Daisy.

“I’m going to take you up past the maternity ward first. We always have some plain scrubs that we keep around for the moms who forget their bags. I’m sure we can find you something.”

They made the rounds up through the hospital, stopping in the maternity ward where they found Daisy a set of pink scrubs for her to take with her, and then eventually to her room.

“I’ll leave you here then,” said the nurse, “but if you need anything, just hit the call button on the bed.”

“There’s one thing, ma’am.”

“What’s that, Ms. Duke?”

“Is there any chance you could find out how the person they brought in with me is doing? Detective Enos Strate? ”

The nurse smiled, knowingly. “I’ll check for you. I won’t be able to tell you much because of the privacy issues, but I’ll see what I can do.” She left, closing the door behind her.

As much as Daisy longed for a shower and clean clothes, there was one thing she had to do first. She picked up the phone, took a deep breath, and dialed home.

“Hello?” Uncle Jesse answered.

Her tears surprised her, but hearing her uncle’s voice on the line suddenly made the reality of everything come crashing down on her. “Uncle Jesse?” Her voice cracked. “Uncle Jesse, it’s Daisy.”

“Daisy… ” There was nothing for a moment, then she heard him clear his throat, and she knew his eyes weren’t dry either. “Thank th’ Lord. I ain’t never heard a sweeter voice in all my days, girl.”

“I’m sorry, Uncle Jesse,” she cried, “I never meant t’ worry y’all so. I should’a been more careful, I should’a let Luke go with me, I…”

“…Daisy, Daisy, Daisy,” he soothed. “Ain’t nothin’ that you ought t’ be apologizin’ for. You’re safe an’ sound now, an’ that’s all that’s important.”

“I almost wasn’t, Uncle Jesse. If Enos’d gotten there a minute later, I wouldn’t have been, an’ I just can’t bear thinkin’ about that.”

“Well then, we just won’t think about it. He did get there in time. An’ I’m sorry, Daisy. I’d like nothin’ better than t’ be there right now, but we’ve got t’ wait ’till the sun’s up. It’s s’posed to be in th’ 40’s come mornin’ and we’ll be able to get through on th’ roads.”

“Oh no, I don’t want y’all drivin’ here at night. Atlanta’s so darn big, and it’d just be too dangerous. They’ve got me in a room here anyhow, and I promised Enos I’d find him in th’ mornin’.”

“Okay, well, that’s good. We’ll leave first thing then.”

“I love ya’, Uncle Jesse. Send Bo an’ Luke my love, too.”

“I will. We love you, too, Daisy. We’ll see ya’ tomorrow.”

“Okay. Bye then.”

“Bye, honey.”

 

Two hours later, Daisy had showered, changed, eaten, and given up on finding anything decent to watch on television. The nurse came in again and told her all that had been going on with Enos. Apparently the doctor thought his fever had been exacerbated by being run down and not having slept well in quite a while, and the infection with the gunshot wound wasn’t bad. They’d given him a sedative to help him sleep and put him on antibiotics.

The nurse gave her a confused look. “If you don’t mind me asking, are you and Detective Strate…close, Ms. Duke?”

Daisy wasn’t sure why she was asking, or exactly what she meant by close. “We grew up together. He’s always been close to my family. Why?”

“Well, I wouldn’t been able to tell you anything about him, but he put your name down as having permission to access his medical records. Guess he thinks you’re close.”

Daisy shrugged. “He’s only got his mom left for immediate family, but I don’t think she’d bother comin’ down. He’s closer to my uncle than he is her anyhow.”

“Oh, okay…well, I know it’s probably not very professional and none of my business, but I just wondered. You know how gossip goes around, safer to ask instead of believing everything you hear.”

“Gossip?” Daisy frowned. “What kind of gossip?”

“Uh…”

“Oh, good gracious!” complained Daisy. “Ya’ already asked me about him, the least you can do is finish th’ story.”

“It’s nothing really, just one of nurses on staff, her sister works for the State Patrol. She said that he called in a favor to get assigned to your case even though he’s a detective in California. It’s just making people wonder, that’s all.”

“Not many people know the area I was in better than himself. Enos knew that. I wouldn’t read too much into it.”

“Well, you’re one lucky woman, that’s all I can say. Wish I had a guardian angel looking out for me somewhere. Listen, I’ve got to finish my rounds, but page the nurse’s station if you need anything.”

“Thanks,” said Daisy, absently, as the nurse shut the door behind her.

She didn’t have time to think about what the nurse had told her. As soon as she’d gone there was another knock on the door.

“Come in,” called Daisy.

The door opened to reveal a middle-aged, blond haired, woman in a khaki dress suit. “Ms. Duke, hi. I’m Detective Shaw. Would it be okay if I asked you a couple questions right now?”

“Oh, sure, no problem.”

The woman closed the door behind her, pulled a chair over to where Daisy sat on the bed. “I won’t take too much of your time, Ms. Duke, I just need to get a few facts from you and then I’ll leave you alone.”

“Please, call me Daisy.”

“Well, Daisy, why don’t you just tell me what happened starting from when you left the bank.”

“Okay, well, I went in to pay th’ mortgage money before th’ bank closed up for th’ weekend, so I’d say it was about 4:00. I got back in my Jeep and headed home up Mill Road when a truck came up behind me and ran off th’ road.”

“The truck, did you see what it looked like?”

“It was white, I didn’t have time t’ notice much else about it.”

“Okay, you said he ran you off the road, what happened then?”

“Well, I tried to back up, but I was in a ditch and I was just spinnin’ my wheels. I thought he was just a crazy drunk until I saw him comin’ down the bank towards me. I didn’t know him, an’…well… he gave me creeps.”

“How so?”

“His face…no…I don’t know. He just seemed…out of place, and he kept mumblin’ somethin’. I didn’t give him a chance to say anything to me. I figured if he was just comin’ down there to apologize, I’d rather just take a raincheck on it, if ya’ know what I mean. There was a trail that led back through the brush and I figured I’d just hide in there ’till he left, but he started running after me. I was almost to th’ bank goin’ back up to Snake Trail Road, but I tripped. That’s about all I remember before I woke up at the bottom of the well.”

“He never took you out until yesterday?”

Daisy shook her head. “No. he’d come by an’ look down at me every couple hours or so, but he never let me out.”

“Did you ever hear him say his name or where he was from?”

“No, when he’d throw food in to me he’d never talk. En…Detective Strate probably remembers more than I do from that point.”

Detective Shaw finished jotting down a few more notes and then looked back up at Daisy and smiled. “Well, I think that’s about all I need for right now, so I’ll let you rest. Someone will probably be in touch with you in the next few days to have you sign a statement,” she said, standing up and placing the chair back against the wall. “If you remember anything else that you think might be important, this is my name and my extension at this number.” She handed a card to Daisy. “Thank you for your time, Ms. Duke.”

Daisy nodded to her as she left, and then got up and closed the door again. It was dark outside, so she turned the lights off and went over to the window. Downtown Atlanta was crowded with traffic, mostly people going home from work she guessed. She watched the lights change from red to green, then back to yellow and then red. Pattern upon pattern, on and on and on forever, and long after she stopped paying attention to them, nothing would change.

Enos had changed – she’d seen glimpses of it over the last 24 hours. He had gone out into that big world without a safety net, to sink or swim, and he’d learned to survive. Beyond that, she could only guess at.

 

The clock in the room said 6:10 am when Daisy woke, a force of habit from living all her life on a farm. Even when she was sick she couldn’t seem to sleep past seven. Last night, she had looked forward to the morning, but as day broke, she realized she still needed to say something to Enos about what had happened four years ago. She couldn’t just let him go forever wondering why she’d done what she’d done. The problem was, the reasons she gave everyone else were nothing but excuses, and the real reason sounded about as phony as a three dollar bill.

That aside, she’d promised him she’d look in on him this morning…she’d also promised him buttermilk, which oddly enough turned out to be a bigger chore than she’d thought. Apparently it wasn’t in high demand from patients so it wasn’t on the menu. The nurse on the morning shift didn’t even know what it was. She took the meal card the night shift nurse had given her in case she wanted to go down to the cafeteria, signed out at the nurses station, and went in search of it. It took a bit of charm to convince the head cook, but she finally ended up with some.

She took a deep breath before knocking on the door of room 317, then turned the handle and peeked in.

“Hey, Daisy!” Enos called. “You can stop hidin’ behind th’ door now.”

She opened the door and came in, shutting it behind her. “How did you know it was me?”

“‘Cause nurses don’t generally crack open people’s doors t’ make sure they’re decent first.”

“I was only bein’ polite,” she laughed. “Hey, I got ya’ somethin'” She sat the Styrofoam drink cup down in front of him.

“Tell me this is what I hope it is.” He lifted the lid and took a sip. “How in th’ world did ya’ manage t’ find buttermilk? They acted like I was a couple marbles short when I asked for some.”

“Now Enos,” she chided him, “you’ve just gotta know who t’ talk to. I got it from the head cook in th’ cafeteria.”

He took a drink and set the cup on the table beside the bed out of his way. “You sure do have a way with people, Daisy,” he said good naturedly.

She frowned at his comment and changed the subject. “So how’s your shoulder?” It was bandaged and his arm held in place by a sling.

“It’ll be fine. Only problem is they done trussed me up in one o’ these ding-dang hospital gowns first an’ now I can’t escape until they give me m’ clothes back.”

“I know where you can get some nice pretty scrubs like mine.”

“Pretty is as pretty makes,” he teased. “Don’t think they’d look quite th’ same on me. Hunt me up some blue ones an’ I’ll take ’em.”

“I’ll let you know if I find some.”

Daisy went over to the window and opened the heavy drapes that covered it, letting the light spill into the room. She turned away from him, watching the street down below for several minutes while he finished his buttermilk.

“I don’t know how anyone could stand to live in a big city,” she said. As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she couldn’t believe she’d said them. She turned around to find Enos watching her solemnly. “Enos…I didn’t mean…I didn’t think about…”

“It’s okay, Daisy,” he said, casually, in a voice that his eyes didn’t quite mirror. “It just takes time to get used to is all.”

Daisy knew it was now or never to bring up what she’d dreaded talking about. If she didn’t say something, she’d loose her nerve. She left the window and went over and took a seat on the side of his bed. “Enos,” she began, “I..I really need t’ talk to…”

“Daisy…”

“…you about what…”

“Daisy!”

“…happ…”

Enos leaned forward and put his fingers over her lips. “Stop, Daisy,” he said, gently, noticing her blush at his touch. “I know you probably want t’ talk about that about as much as I want t’ hear about it.” He took his hand down and she started to turn away, but he caught her arm. “Wait now, I didn’t say I didn’t want to talk to ya’. Just…can we talk about somethin’ else?”

She turned back to him. “What do ya’ want t’ talk about?”

“Well, how about you tell me all th’ gossip I’ve missed about everyone in Hazzard…‘cept for you an’ me?”

She flashed him a radiant smile. “Gosh, where do ya’ want me t’ start?”

“Well, start with Bo an’ Luke. We were all too worried ’bout findin’ you t’ talk about what they’ve been doin’. Are they still tryin’ for the NASCAR curcuit?”

“Oh, goodness no,” she said, rolling her eyes. “They finally came to their senses about that. Ain’t no use wastin’ time waitin’ around for that t’ happen. ‘Sides, they started th’ races back up again at th’ Hazzard dirt track on Saturday nights.”

“Possum on a gum-bush! I sure remember them days. Ain’t nobody raced there for fifteen years.”

“Yeah, well, I think they needed somethin’ t’ take their minds off of gettin’ older. Otherwise, Luke’s got him a job part-time with th’ Central City Fire Department three days a week. It’s not much, but it’s a foot in th’ door.”

“That’s great! Wow…Luke a firefighter, huh? What about Bo? What’s he been up to?”

“Now Bo’s th’ surprisin’ one,” she said. “Who would’a thought he’d decide he actually likes farmin’? He’s been takin’ over a lot of Uncle Jesse’s work, and I think he’s pretty serious about keepin’ up the place.”

Enos laughed. “Farmin’? Bo? Well, I guess ya’ never can say never, ‘course I think Cooter goin’ to Washington pretty much takes th’ cake on that account.”

“I know! Can you believe it? Cooter wearin’ a suit everyday, hob-nobbin’ with all th’ rich and powerful?”

The day stretched on past lunch time as they sat and talked about everyone they could think of to talk about…except themselves. As much as both had craved the attention of the other, and their banter honest and friendly, the unspoken still stretched out between them like a giant chasm. There was something behind Enos’s eyes, a depth of emotion that Daisy couldn’t quite decipher, and it bothered her that she couldn’t put her finger on what it was.

“Hey, Daisy. It’s been swell talkin’ to ya’ an all,” he said, finally, “but you’d better get on back to your room before someone comes lookin’ for ya’.”

“Enos Strate, are you tryin’ t’ get rid of me?” she teased.

Instead of laughing as she thought he would, he eyes met hers. “Never,” he answered simply.

Her heart skipped a beat, but before she had a chance to think of a reply there was a knock at the door.

“Come in,” they said in unison.

The door opened and Uncle Jesse, Bo, and Luke walked in.

“Uncle Jesse!” Daisy hopped up and ran to him.

He hugged her to him. “Daisy, you sure are a sight for sore eyes, girl.” He held her back at arms length. “Let me look at ya’…are ya’ okay?”

“I’m fine, Uncle Jesse, ‘specially now that all of y’all are here.” She turned and gave Luke and Bo each a bear hug in turn.

“We’re mighty glad t’ have you back safe an’ sound,” said Luke.

“Yeah,” said Bo, “Luke ’bout poisoned us with his cookin’.”

She hit him playfully on the arm. “Bo Duke, you’re awful.”

“We went t’ your room first,” said Jesse, “but th’ nurses said they hadn’t see ya’ since breakfast. We figured we might find ya’ here.” He walked over to Enos. “We heard what ya’ did, son. I reckon we wouldn’t be standing here with Daisy if it warn’t for you.”

Bo and Luke came over beside their uncle. “He ain’t kiddin’,” said Luke. “I don’t rightly know what t’ say ‘cept we’ve got your back if ya’ ever need it.”

“Thanks Luke, Uncle Jesse.”

“Enos,” said Bo, “I sure do owe you an apology.”

He held out his hand and Enos shook it. “If I recall, Bo, I owe you one, too. How’s your jaw?”

“Just a little sore,” he said, rubbing at it.

“Okay, y’all,” complained Daisy, “I’m obviously outta th’ loop here. What happened between you two?”

“It wasn’t nothin’, just a misunderstandin’,” Enos said. Daisy didn’t miss the look he shot to Bo, though. Clearly it was something he didn’t want to talk about. She made a mental note to ask her cousin about it later.

“Oh, hey Daisy, we brought you some clothes,” said Luke. “Unless you’re partial to pink scrubs now.”

“Not on your life,” she laughed.

Both cousins threw an arm around her shoulders and wheeled her out the door before she had even had a chance to say good-bye to Enos. Uncle Jesse stayed back with him after they left.

“How’s th’ arm, son?”

“Not as bad as they’ve got it all gussied up for. It was just a .22, didn’t hit nothin’ important.”

Jesse nodded. “I wanted t’ thank ya, too, without them t’ hear,” he motioned towards the empty doorway, “for doin’…what ya’ had t’ do.”

Enos looked down from Jesse’s gaze. “I was just doin’ my job, Uncle Jesse,” he said, quietly. “I didn’t set out for it to end that way.”

“Even so,” said the older man, setting his hand on Enos’s uninjured shoulder, “we’re in your debt. An’ Dukes have long memories. There’s ever anything you need, Enos…”

“Thank you kindly, Uncle Jesse.”

Uncle Jesse patted his shoulder. “You take care of yourself, son,” he told him, before walking out the door to find the others.

 

by: WENN9366 (EnosIsMyHero)

Chapter 12: One Step Forward

 

Hours after Daisy had finally drifted off to sleep, Enos got up and lit the oil lamp that had been stored on the mantle. Something wasn’t right. His head felt like there were huge boulders rolling around inside of it and his shoulder throbbed and burned like hot coals. He took the lamp into the bathroom, hoping to find aspirin in the medicine cabinet, but it was empty, and the kitchen didn’t have any either. There was no water to drink, only watered down moonshine. He sat the lamp down, found a small glass, and poured some from the jug. He took a drink and grimaced, not because it had a bite, but because it had the distinct flavor of pond water that tasted like it might have been stored in an old rubber tire.

“Gosh, that’s bad,” he whispered. It was just as well that it wasn’t a higher proof anyway, he’d never trusted himself to drink much around Daisy, even if it was for medicinal purposes. He might say something he didn’t intend to say.

Enos finished the glass and went back into the living room, frowning when he noticed Daisy sleeping on the floor. He knelt down beside her and watched her for a moment.

“Sweet dreams, Daisy Duke,” he whispered before returning to the couch. His headache was worse since standing up and walking around, almost blinding in it’s intensity, and his ears rang slightly. It was a long time before he slept.

 

Across the mountains, a solitary lamp burned in the window of the Duke farmhouse off Mill Road. After they’d found Andy and brought him, Rosco, and Amos back to town, Bo and Luke had made the slow, treacherous drive back through the country roads of Hazzard county. It was late, but no one felt like sleeping, and a feeling of dread hung like a black shroud over the family.

There had been no word from Enos. He’d disappeared into the storm without another word other than his last cryptic transmission, and every attempt to contact him had been met with static. Rosco, more subdued than either of the cousins had ever seen him, had even managed to keep his insults to a minimum, promising them that he would keep trying to reach Enos and that he would stay at the station overnight – just in case the power went out since the courthouse had a generator.

For now the electricity and phones were still on, though the lights had flickered a time or two. Uncle Jesse had done all the prayin’ he could think of to do on that behalf as well as the others. They could rig the CB up to a car battery, but as far as they knew, Enos was somewhere up in the hills and most of that area was out of range of the radios anyway.

Eventually Bo and Luke fell asleep where they’d been sitting, but Jesse stayed awake. Visions of Daisy as a child filled his mind. He and her late Aunt Lavinia were the only family she could remember, her parents passing away in a car accident when she was only six months old. It had taken some getting used to at first, raising a girl, but Daisy had a way of capturing everyone’s heart who knew her, and his broke to think of his little girl out there somewhere in danger.

 

The sun streaming through the window filled the tiny cabin with light and woke Daisy, and she got up and looked out the window over the frozen lake. Everything exposed to the elements was encased in ice. The branches of the pine trees, burdened with the extra weight, dipped to the ground and several larger ones from the tops had snapped off and lay scattered underneath. Just looking at the cold outside made her shiver and she threw another log on the fire for good measure.

She turned towards the couch where Enos was still sleeping and frowned. His hair was drenched with sweat. She went over to him and put her hand on his forehead. He was burning up.

She shook him gently. “Enos, Enos wake up.”

He opened his eyes and squinted up at her. “I don’t feel so good,” he whispered. “It’s freezing in here.”

“It’s not cold in here, Enos, you’ve got a fever.” She looked at the bandage on his arm. “You want me t’ see how it is?”

He nodded and she gently untied the knot she’d made in the bandage and unwrapped it. He didn’t need to ask how it looked, her eyes told him enough.

“Guess weak moonshine ain’t a very good disinfectant,” he murmured before closing his eyes again.

“Hey, I don’t think you should go t’ sleep.” Daisy shook him gently again, but got no response. “Enos? Please wake up.”

“I’m awake,” he mumbled, without opening his eyes.

She tried to think about what to do. The roads were impassible and she’d never be able to get them back to Hazzard right now. They were out of CB range to Hazzard here in the mountains as well, so she wouldn’t be able to get through to anyone she knew. Lake Chickamahony was in Choctaw County anyway, so…

“Choctaw County,” she whispered to herself. She was out of range for Hazzard, but Choctaw was half that distance away.

“Enos, where are your keys?”

“Hmm um, can’t leave…too slick. I’m fine, Daisy, just tired.”

“You’re not fine! I’m not leavin’, I’m just gonna see if I can get a hold of anyone in Choctaw. I need your keys, though.”

“In my coat.”

Daisy picked up his coat and felt in the pockets until she found them.

“I’ll be right back,” she said as she put on her coat and opened the door. She walked slowly to the car, nearly slipping twice despite the fact she only had about 20 feet to cover. The door was frozen shut on the driver’s side where the wind had blown the worst of the rain, but she was able to open the passenger’s side after beating around the door frame to loosen the ice. She slipped across to the driver’s seat, started the car, and turned the CB on.

“Breaker, breaker, this is Daisy Duke calling th’ Choctaw County Sheriff’s Department. Anyone out there? Over.”

There was only static on the line. She waited for a minute, and tried again.

“This is Daisy Duke calling Choctaw County Sheriff’s Department. Please, if anyone’s out there, pickup. Over.”

Again, there was nothing. She was about to turn off the car and go back inside when the CB came to life and a faint voice broke the silence.

“This is Choctaw County Sheriff Dewey Wilkes. Daisy, can ya’ hear me? We’ve been lookin’ all over for you, girl! Are you okay? Over,”

“Dewey! It sure is good t’ hear your voice. Listen, I’m fine, but me an’ Enos are stuck up here at Lake Chickamahony, and we need t’ get out. He got shot in the arm and he doesn’t look real good.”

“I read you loud n’ clear, Daisy. Don’t you worry, you two just sit tight an’ I’ll get hold of th’ State Patrol. We’ll have ya’ outta there in a jiffy. What about the guy who had ya’? Over.”

“Thanks Dewey. I won’t be around th’ radio, but I’ll keep my eyes out. The guy who took me’s dead, Enos shot him. Over.”

“Roger that. Over an’ out.”

She turned off the car and went back inside.

“I got hold of Dewey, Enos. He said he’s gonna get in touch with the State Patrol and they’d…”

Enos was sitting up on the couch, his head in his hands. Daisy sat down beside him. It worried her, seeing how run down and defeated he looked, unlike the perpetually happy man she remembered. She wanted more than anything to throw her arms around him and tell him everything would be okay, but she dared not. She was still lost in her thoughts when he spoke, and what he said was so unexpected, she nearly asked him to say it again.

“Daisy,” he said, wearily looking up at her, “I know it sounds terribly improper of me, but would you mind if I borrowed your shoulder?”

Her heart nearly lept out of her chest. “No, that’s… that’s fine, Enos. Here, wait…,” she backed up into the corner of the couch and put the pillow in her lap. “Turn around and lean back against me.”

He did as she told him, leaning back, resting half on her and half on the pillow. She had nowhere to put her arm other than around him. “I’m sorry, Daisy. Thank you, kindly,” he mumbled and closed his eyes.

“You just rest. Someone’s gonna be here for us soon.” He didn’t answer and she felt him gradually relax and fall back asleep. The heat from his fever radiated through her, and she wished she’d left that extra log off the fire. His uncharacteristic physical closeness, though not unwelcome, concerned her. He must be worse off than she’d originally thought, or else the fever had addled his brains – she wasn’t sure which she should be hoping for. Daisy rested her head against the back of the couch and, lulled by the warmth, fell asleep.

 

Dewey Wilkes hung up the CB, smiled, and shook his head. Somehow, through the worst storm these parts had seen in thirty years, Enos Strate had managed to save Daisy Duke. He picked up the phone and dialed the Georgia State Patrol, letting them know that their detective had been wounded while taking down the Tri-County Strangler. They were more than happy to provide assistance. His next call was to the switchboard in Hazzard County.

 

The phone ringing woke Bo and Luke with a start, and they both struggled to their feet, but Uncle Jesse motioned for them to wait.

“Now, just calm down you two,an’ let me get it. Our luck it’s prob’ly a wrong number.” He got up and went to the phone and picked it up. Bo and Luke followed behind him, hoping to decipher what it was about from the one sided conversation.

“Hello?”

“Mornin’ t’ you, too, Sheriff Wilkes. What can I do for ya’?”

There was a long pause before Jesse spoke again. “How bad?”

“Okay.”

“Well thank ya’ for calling, Dewey, much obliged. You have yourself a good day, ya’ hear?”

“Alright then…Bye.” He turned to the cousins, a bewildered expression on his face.

“Well?” asked Bo. “What goin’ on?”

Luke was silent. A phone call from the Choctaw County Sheriff either meant really bad news or really good news. By the expression on his Uncle’s face, he was hoping for the good news.

“He found her,” he said simply. He stared into space for a moment, unable to process the news he’d just heard.

“Who, Enos?” Luke asked. His uncle seemed to not hear him, so Luke shook him gently by the shoulder. “Uncle Jesse, are you alright?”

His Uncle snapped out of his reverie and looked over at his nephews, laughing with relief. “What d’ ya know? He did it. That boy followed some guy up into th’ mountains in th’ middle of a storm and found her.”

Bo let out a ‘whoop’ of happiness. “Luke, remind me t’ never doubt Enos again.”

Luke shook his head in amazement. “You got that right, cuz.”

Uncle Jesse’s face clouded. “Well, now, you boys better still be doing some prayin’. I guess th’ guy got off a shot at him. Don’t know where he was hit, but Dewey said th’ State Patrol was gonna air lift him t’ Atlanta.”

“Atlanta? Luke wouldn’t they just take him t’ Capitol City if it weren’t serious?” asked Bo.

“Not necessarily with th’ weather,” answered Luke. “Uncle Jesse, did Dewey happen t’ say anything about th’ other guy?”

“He did,” Jesse replied, gravely. “Enos shot him dead.”

 

A sound invaded Daisy’s dreamless sleep, and she woke with a start, confused at first by the weight resting against her. Enos was still sleeping, and still overly warm, but his fever wasn’t as alarmingly high as it had been before. An unnatural throbbing noise seemed to vibrate gently through the cabin. As she sat listening, trying to pinpoint what it could be, the sound grew louder and the vibrations more apparent until she realized that she was hearing a helicopter – and that it was landing just outside the cabin. Shortly afterwards there was a knock on the door.

“Ms. Duke, are you in there?” called a voice from behind the door.

She lifted Enos and the pillow up enough that she could slip out from under them and went and opened the door to the police officer who waited there.

He removed his hat and nodded a greeting to her. “Howdy, ma’am. I’m Sergeant Collins with the Georgia State Patrol. I’m t’ transport you and Detective Strate to th’ hospital in Atlanta.”

“Oh..,” her attention was on the helicopter instead of him and she almost missed what he said “Oh! Of course. Come in. I’ll try t’ wake him up.”

“I’m sorry, we’re kinda unprepared for a medical rescue. They called for Life-Flight from Grady, but they’re stretched pretty thin with all the accidents on th’ ice. I can help ya’ if you need, ma’am.”

“Thanks, his fever’s not as high as it was. He’s been out for a while, so hopefully he’ll feel better.” She knelt by Enos, reminding herself not to shake him by the shoulder, and patted his cheek lightly. “Enos…Enos, wake up. ”

“Cow,” he mumbled. “C…O…W…”

Daisy grinned, wondering what in the world he could be dreaming of. “Enos, wake up.”

He opened his eyes, and looked around, confused until they focused on her. “Oh, hey Daisy!” he said dreamily. “Say… did you know that there are more cows in the state of Wisconsin than there are people?”

She laughed and shook her head “How are ya’ feeling?”

“Well…other than feelin’ like someone shot me in th’ shoulder and then pounded my head in with a meat tenderizer, I guess I feel just fine.” He grinned weakly back at her and sat up.

“This here’s Sergeant Collins. He’s gonna take us to th’ hospital in Atlanta. They’ll get you fixed up good as new in no time.”

He stood up slowly and between leaning on Daisy and Sergeant Collins, they made their way out across the ice to the helicopter. Enos and Daisy climbed into the back seat and the sergeant climbed into the front passenger’s seat.

Enos looked around with wide eyes while they took off, the cold helping to clear his head. “Wow,” he said, with a nervous laugh. “I always wanted to ride th’ copter with SWAT, but never got to. Guess I never thought I’d ride in th’ Georgia Patrol one.”

“This here’s Chester,” the Sergeant told them, beating his fist affectionately on the wall of the chopper. “He’s our pot-watcher.”

“It’s a what?” asked Daisy.

“We call him a pot-watcher. From the air, you can tell a plot of marijuana by it’s blueish-green color so we take th’ chopper out in the summers and survey th’ more rural parts of th’ state. Cover quite a large area like that… Oh, I almost forgot. Did you have your keys, Detective? I’ll send someone to come and pick up your car. Where would you like them to take it?”

“I’m much obliged, sir.” He felt in his coat pocket for them.

“I still have them, Enos.” Daisy fished them out of her coat pocket and handed them to Collins.

“I guess, if you don’t mind, sir, just take it to Jake’s on th’ square in Hazzard.”

“No problem, we’ll get it taken care of. An’ if you’re th’ one who found th’ Tri-County killer we’ve been lookin’ for, you can just call me Fred.”

He stuck his hand out and Enos shook it. “Enos.”

“Now, I know you’re not really feelin’ up t’ yer peak, Enos, but I’m gonna have to ask you some questions ’bout that,” he said, pulling out a small pocket notebook and flipping it open.

“That’s okay,” he replied. “I know how it works. He’s dead, by th’ way. Up off Cedar Point Road about fifteen miles and to th’ right. It’s the ol’ Johnson place, but there ain’t no road names, so you’ll have t’ get Sheriff Coltrane to take ya’ there.”

“Did you see what kind of gun he had?”

“It was a .22 caliber revolver, I didn’t see th’ make.”

“And yours?”

“A 9mm Smith and Wesson. Shoot! It’s on the table in the cabin.”

“That’s okay, when they pick up your car I’ll have them pick that up as well. We’ll have t’ do ballistics on it anyway, just to cross our ‘t’s” an’ dot our “i’s”. If you could just run down how ya’ found him, I’ll put it in my report, though you’ll probably get sick an’ tired of tellin’ your story by th’ time everyone who thinks they’ve gotta know it is satisfied.”

Enos ran through a short explanation of how they’d seen a truck on the surveillance tape matching the suspect’s and of how they ran down a wrong trail for a while chasing Andy.

“Higgin’s is his name?” asked the Sergeant. He flipped to a different page in his notebook, and read for a minute before continuing. “He jumped bail down in Calhoun County. Went home again, huh? Feds’ll be happy t’ see him again. So how did ya’ end up findin’ this other guy?”

“Well, that was purely Providence, I reckon,” said Enos. “If m’ tires hadn’t of been so dang worn down, I would’ve taken Mill Road into Hazzard instead of Highway 20. There was a truck parked at Silas’s General Store when I passed that matched the description so I turned around an’ checked it out. I followed that guy and radioed to th’ Sheriff t’ go ahead and have th’ informant show him where Andy was.”

The Sergeant was impressed. “Nice work, detective. Two wanted men in one day, sure wish you were on our regular payroll.”

“Shucks,” said Enos, brushing the praise aside, “I can’t hardly take credit for either of ’em. Th’ Sheriff went after Andy, an’ I just got lucky findin’ the real killer.”

Daisy couldn’t sit by and be silent any longer. “Enos Strate, that’s not true! Why you followed that man up th’ mountains through an’ ice storm, and if you hadn’t, I wouldn’t be here! You saved my life, and I won’t sit here an’ let you not take credit for it.”

“I was just doin’ my job, Daisy,” he said, solemnly. His eyes met hers for a moment, though, and in them she saw the trace of pride that he couldn’t quite conceal.

Enos explained the rest of what had happened to Sergeant Collins from the time the man had turned off towards the Johnson place until they’d arrived at the cabin.

“You’re lucky you had someplace close to go,” said Collins. “We’ve got people everywhere in th’ ditches. You’d of never made it down th’ mountain. ‘Course it’s s’posed to warm up in th’ morning. They’re sayin’ 60’s and 70’s by th’ middle of next week. Go figure…if ya’ don’t like th’ weather in Georgia, wait five minutes and it’ll change.”

“That’ll be nice,” said Enos, “I guess I’ve gotten soft livin’ in California. I sure don’t miss th’ winters here.”

“Speakin’ of California, what division you in out there? I had a friend who was with the Valley Bureau, out in North Hollywood.”

“Never worked with Valley. I was on the Metro squad with the SWAT team for almost two years, an’ I’ve been two years with the Robbery/Homicide division as a detective.”

“Wow. Bet that looks good on a resume’. Say, that must’ve been a big move – Hazzard County t’ Los Angeles. What made ya’ go there?”

Daisy held her breath, waiting for his reply, but he answered easily.

“Oh, I don’t know…things just changed, I guess.”

Collins didn’t miss the way Daisy paled and looked away. There was a long history between these two, he surmised, and he wouldn’t be surprised if she’d had something to do with the detective’s departure from her actions. They seemed to be drawn together, like magnets, each leaning from their seats towards each other until their shoulders were nearly touching.

Enos’s quick eyes didn’t miss the glance the man shot between himself and Daisy. He sat back into his seat, nonchalantly widening the distance between them.

“Time t’ move on, huh?” asked the officer. “I hear ya’. I was with Camden County as a deputy for ten years ‘fore I got tired of sittin’ out in th’ woods waitin’ for a speeder t’ come through.”

“No kiddin?” Enos laughed. “Yeah, I remember them days. Seems like another life-time ago.”

They were approaching the greater Atlanta area now, and miles upon miles of sprawling suburbia stretched out around them. Daisy could never imagine herself living in such a place – of course she couldn’t imagine Enos living there either, and Los Angeles was over twice the size of Atlanta.

The pilot communicated something to someone via the radio and in a couple minutes they circled a huge building which read ‘Grady Memorial Hospital’.

“When we set down, the staff’ll come and get you,” said Sergeant Collins. “Ms. Duke, they’ll need to run some tests on you as well, make sure you’re okay. We’ll need you t’ give your side of the story, but that can wait until you’re settled. Th’ state’s pickin’ up th’ tab for you, too, so order th’ good food.”

The chopper set down on the helipad where a number of people in white coats waited nearby.

Enos leaned over towards Daisy. “They’re gonna stick me fulla them ding-dang needles. I can see it in their beady little eyes already,” he whispered, nervously fidgeting with his hands.

“Oh Enos, you’ll be fine.”

“You’ll check in on me in th’ mornin’ and make sure, won’t ya’?”

She grinned. “I’ll sneak you in some buttermilk.”

He laughed and flashed her a smile before the door opened and organized chaos descended on them both as the medical staff whisked them away in separate directions.

 

by: WENN9366 (EnosIsMyHero)

Chapter 11: Avenging Angel

The first, a .22 caliber bullet, tore through Enos Strate’s left shoulder. The second, a 9mm, caught Steven Wayne Fortner between the eyes. The man dropped the gun and Daisy and fell to the ground.

Enos didn’t give the man a second glance, but holstered his weapon and ran to where Daisy knelt on the ground, a bewildered expression on her face.

“Daisy…”

He reached out gingerly and touched her shoulder, half afraid that she was only a dream that would vanish into the air, but needing to make sure she was alright. She said nothing, but turned to Enos and threw her arms around him, holding on for dear life. He could feel her shaking and held her to him, thanking God that he’d found her alive. The minutes slipped by until finally she began calm.

He would have gladly stayed there as long as she needed to, save for two things. First, he didn’t want her to have to see the man he’d shot, whose pale eyes now stared up at heaven (though Enos figured he was knockin’ on a different door right about now), and second, they were gonna freeze to death if they didn’t get out of the weather. He was relieved that she still had her coat, he reckoned she wouldn’t have lasted through last night if she hadn’t.

The rain continued to fall, making a strange and eerie sound as it struck the trees and ground and froze, slowly building layer upon layer of ice. If it had been under different circumstances, he would have thought it beautiful as the woods evolved from the muddy, decaying leaves and stark branches of winter into a glittering crystal wonderland. As it was, it would be a beautiful way to die if they didn’t get out of it.

He pulled back slightly, “Daisy, we’ve gotta get you outta here. Can you stand?”

“I think so.”

Enos stood slowly, helping her up, but she swayed and lost her balance. He caught her before she could fall and picked her up in his arms, wincing at the strain on his injured shoulder.

“My car’s not far. Just through the woods. Hold on okay, I promise I won’t drop ya’.”

She simply nodded and it struck him that this might have been the first time he’d ever seen her speechless. He had no way of knowing what had happened to her over the last six days, but he tried to keep his mind focused on putting one step in front of the other instead of the possibilities.

They reached his car and he let her down by the passenger’s side door, then opened it for her and waited for her to climb in. He shut it and went around to the driver’s side, noticing the ice on the windshield as he got in. It wasn’t as thick as on the rest of the car since the windows had been warm when he’d parked, but it was still going to take a couple minutes to melt. He started the car and fiddled with the knobs until he found the defrost and turned up the heat as far as it would go.

“We’ll have t’ wait until the windshield clears off a bit.” He turned to face her, concern etched on his face. “Daisy, he…did he…hurt you?”

She saw him flush slightly and caught the meaning behind his simple words. “No,” she said, softly. “He just left me down there ’till today. I’m fine, just cold and hungry.”

Enos, remembering his visit to the General Store, reached in his pocket and took out the peanuts he’d bought. “Sorry, it’s all I’ve got, but you’re welcome to them,” he said, handing them to her.

Daisy, now over the worse of her fright, was watching him with keen eyes. “Enos,” she said, quietly, “what are you doin’ here?”

He cast her a quick glance, and then looked away. “I reckon I’m trying t’ take ya’ back home. I’m just here temporary, with the Georgia State Police. I was the only one who knew the area.” If he’d been looking at her, he might have caught the flash of disappointment that crossed her face, but he wasn’t.

“Oh,” she said, simply. Neither said anything for a minute, until she spoke again. “Well I’m mighty glad you found me. Thank you.”

He nodded, still not looking at her. “You’re welcome, Daisy.” He turned on the windshield wipers. A large sheet of partially melted ice caught on the blades and slid off the glass, giving them a view of the road. He started the car and drove slowly to the end of the trail but then stopped the car, got out and walked into the intersection with Cedar Point Road. Daisy could see him muttering something to himself as he stood looking down the road.

Enos turned around and got back in the car, not looking pleased.

“What’s wrong? Is that Cedar Point? Cedar Point runs into Mill Creek Road.”

“I know the way, Daisy,” he said, more sharply than he meant to. “That’s not the problem.”

“So…what’s the problem?”

The road was impassible – at least in his car. They were fifteen miles into the mountains and there was no way they’d get down safely until the ice melted some. If they hit a ditch on the way down, there wasn’t enough gas in the car to keep it warm until someone found them. There was only one place he could think to go, but as much as he wanted to make sure Daisy was safe and warm… he didn’t want to be alone with her.

Daisy was one of those people who always felt the need to ‘set things straight’. If she thought she’d done or said something to hurt someone, she wouldn’t rest until she’d talked to them about it. Talking to Daisy about what had happened four years ago ranked somewhere below getting his wisdom teeth cut out and moving in with his ma’ on Enos’s lists of things he wanted to do. It was one thing to know she had never really loved him, but it was quite another to actually hear it coming from her lips. If he could get out of this and back to L.A. without having to have his heart re-broken, he’d be content to just know she was safe.

Daisy waited for him to answer, but he seemed to be lost in his thoughts, staring out the window. She touched his arm and he flinched, then shook his head.

“Sorry, did you say something?”

“Enos, what’s…,” a drop of dark liquid fell from the cuff of his coat sleeve and landed on the leg of his jeans where an alarmingly large stain had begun to form. “Enos, you’re bleeding!

“Yeah, I know. It’ll be fine for a little while. Small caliber, probably went right through.”

“But..we’ve got to get you to the hospital!”

He turned to look at her. “Daisy, we’re not goin’ t’ be able to get back t’ Hazzard right now, th’ road’s too bad.”

She rubbed at the fog on the window, trying to see outside. “We can’t just stay here.”

He closed his eyes and sighed. “I know a place we can go. Lake Chickamahony’s about five miles up th’ road. As far as I know, Lulu still owns th’ cabin that Mr. Hogg had there.”

“Well, let’s go check it out then.”

He pulled the car out, turning right, towards the border of Choctaw County and the lake.

Five miles might have been twenty-five at the pace Enos had to set to get there safely. Daisy had been mercifully quiet as he concentrated on the road, barely crawling around the curves. It was afternoon by the time they pulled up in front of the small cabin, nestled on the southern bank of Lake Chickamahony. Daisy got out and ran up to the porch and tried the door, but it was locked. Enos followed her up.

“Now, there used t’ be a key around here somewhere’s. I had t’ bring Mr. Hogg out here once t’ get some papers.” Lord only knew what kind of scheme he’d been unknowingly helping with at the time. Enos tipped back both of the dead potted plants that flanked the door and then the mat, but nothing.

“This what you’re lookin’ for?’ asked Daisy. She held one of the decorative knobs from the porch railing in one hand, and in the other hand she held up a key.

“Yeah, that’s looks like it.” She handed it to him, and he unlocked the door and swung it open.

The cabin was nothing special, certainly not on the scale usually befitting Jefferson Davis Hogg, but as far as Enos knew he’d never actually stayed there. Boss kept it mainly as a bribe for other county officials, and he doubted if it had been used since the man had passed away two years ago. The electricity had been shut off, but it had a rock fireplace that warmed the main living area, small bedroom, and bath, and a tiny kitchen with a propane cook stove. There would be no running water since the pump for the well wouldn’t work without electricity, but there was a hand pump outside to the rear of the cabin.

“We’d best try t’ start a fire,” said Enos. There was luckily a large stack of firewood next to the fireplace and a box of strike-anywhere matches and an oil lamp sat on the mantle.

“I’ll see if I can find any kindling,” said Daisy. “Though that wood looks about old and dry enough t’ burn itself.”

Enos had already stacked a couple of logs in the fireplace when she came back with her hands full of paper towels.

“All I could find,” she said, handing them to him.

“Those’ll work fine, Daisy, thanks.”

In no time they had a roaring fire and the cabin was nice and cozy. Daisy took off her coat and threw it over the back of the couch that sat in front of the fireplace. Enos tried to take his off as well, but the sleeve hooked his shoulder and he hissed in pain.

“Here,” Daisy pulled the right sleeve of his coat off and then eased the left one off. Her breath caught as she saw that his entire left sleeve was soaked in blood.

“It’s not as bad as it looks,” he assured her.

She helped him with his shoulder holster next, setting it carefully down on the end table by the couch, then moved in front of him and started to unbutton his shirt, but he stepped back, out of her reach. “I’m not an invalid, Daisy.” He turned away from her to hide his blush and began to unbutton his shirt. “There might be some alcohol or a First Aid kit here somewhere. It’ll be better than nothin’.”

She checked everywhere in vain for a First Aid kit, and had to settle with the only acceptable substitute she could find – a clean, white, cotton shirt and a jug of moonshine she found stashed under the bed. She carried them, as well as a pair of scissors she’d found to cut the shirt, back into the living room and found Enos sitting on the couch in front of the fireplace, staring into the flames. His sleeveless undershirt had managed to escape most of the blood from his arm and he held his stained shirt to his shoulder to put pressure on it.

“Well, I found alcohol…sort of,” she said, holding up the jug. “Uncle Jesse always said it could be used for medicinal purposes.”

“Well, I guess it’ll do,” he laughed nervously. “I never figured a little hole could bleed so dang much.”

“Um, this’ll probably be easier if you lie down.”

He looked apprehensively at the moonshine. “I don’t reckon easy’s gonna factor much in t’ this, Daisy,” he said uncomfortably. “I think I need a drink o’ that.”

She passed him the shine. He opened the jug and raised it to his mouth, and took a sip. He frowned and took another, then closed the bottle and shook it watching the bubbles dissipate immediately. “Wouldn’t that just figure..,” he said, disgusted.

“What?” Daisy couldn’t imagine what the problem was.

“Mr. Hogg stocked his cabin with backin’s.”

“What’re backins?”

“It’s the stuff left in th’ thump keg after th’ second run. Might as well be water than shine.”

“Sorry… I didn’t see anything else.”

He shrugged. “That’s okay, Daisy, I don’t s’pose it’s gonna hurt nothin. Just use it t’ clean the wound first.” He lay down on the floor so she could bind his shoulder.

She knelt down on the rug beside him, but her eyes were drawn to his right shoulder instead where a ugly white scar ran from underneath his shirt nearly the entire length of his arm. He knew what she was looking at and he closed his eyes and willed himself not to feel her touching him as her fingers gently traced the line.

“What happened?” she asked, quietly.

He frowned and looked back up at her. “I learned a lesson…”

The double meaning of his words wasn’t’ lost on her and she glanced away from him, not knowing what to say.

“Ya’ know, on second thought, hand me that pillow.”

She grabbed the pillow from the couch and handed it to him. Instead of putting it under his head, though, he covered his face with it. “Okay,” he said in a muffled voice, “go ahead.”

Daisy poured the whiskey over the gunshot wound in his deltoid. Muffled yelling came from under the pillow as he clutched it to his face and some backwoods words that would pass as cursing, at least coming from Enos.

“I’m sorry! Gosh, I’m sorry, Enos…”

He threw the pillow aside and looked up at her, red faced and watery eyed. “That’s alright. Just get it over with.”

She cut several long strips off the shirt and tied them together before wrapping them around his shoulder and upper arm as best she could. “Well, I’m no Florence Nightingale, but I think it’ll be okay.”

He sat up and inspected her handiwork. “Better than I could do, I’m much obliged.”

She was quiet, and he looked up to find her watching him intently. “We need to talk,” she said, quietly.

Enos, hoping to keep his sanity for at least one more day, wasn’t about to delve into that snake hole right now. Just in the little time they’d been together, the last four years seemed like a bad dream he was finally waking up from, and he felt himself falling into the same old trap that he’d worked so unsuccessfully to pull himself out of.

“I don’t want t’ talk, Daisy,” he said. “I’m tired, I ain’t slept in a week it feels like. Why don’t you look around, see if there’s anything else we might need.”

She hesitated, stalled by her conscience which had been screaming at her since he’d left Hazzard nearly four years ago to set things right. “Okay,” she said, finally. “You get some rest then. I’ll see what I can come up with.” Of course he wouldn’t want to talk to her. He probably hated her – and who would blame him after what she’d done? She couldn’t imagine how hard it must have been for him to have to come back to Georgia to look for her, the last person he’d probably ever want to see.

Wandering back into the bedroom, she found another white button-up shirt, which she exchanged for the shirt she’d been wearing for nearly a week, but she was stuck with the jeans she had on. The cabinets in the kitchen contained a box of raw spaghetti noodles, a stack of saltines which she grabbed, and a couple of cans of Pork n’ Beans.

Daisy went back in the living room to find Enos fast asleep on the couch, and she went over and knelt beside him.

“I don’t blame you for not wantin’ to talk to me,” she said, gently, “but I really am sorry.”

She pressed a soft kiss to his temple, and he stirred and rolled over onto his right side, facing towards her. Instead of getting up, she propped her head up on her elbow on the couch beside him, watching him sleep as the firelight danced across his face.

“I don’t even know what I’d tell you anyway. It’s like one of those horrible ‘B’ movies Boss used to buy cheap and show in his theater. The ones where you feel like askin’ for your money back afterwards ’cause nothing ended up like it should’ve. After everything’s said and done, all it comes down to is that I married a man I didn’t love ’cause I could never figure out how to say it to the one I did.”

She brushed his hair lightly back from his forehead.

“I can’t stop thinkin’ that none of this would’ve happened if I’d told you the truth – and I don’t mean four years ago. I should’ve told you twenty years ago, when you were at the Academy. But havin’ you around was always more important to me than you knowing how much I loved you. I know I made a terrible mistake, and that you think you never meant anything to me, but you’d be wrong. I do love you, Enos Strate, and all I’ve wanted since you left was for you to come back home again.”

She could have slept in the bedroom, but instead Daisy brought a pillow and quilt in and lay down on the rug, half convinced Enos would be gone in the morning if she didn’t. It was ridiculous, they were just as stuck here as they’d been before, but she’d spent too many sleepless nights wondering where he was and what he was doing to let him out of her sight. The rain had stopped some time since, but now the wind howled across the frozen landscape and keened softly through the cracks in the window casings.

A thousand moments, each bittersweet in the fact that they were from a time that was forever lost to her, ran through her mind as she lay staring up at the ceiling. Memories of nothing more than being together – her rambling on and on, and him content to just listen. He always had something to say, but unlike her, he seemed to be able to say in one sentence what it would take her an hour to explain, and she’d lay in bed at night deciphering his hidden meanings – because there always seemed to be one.

And in everything, there was regret. She missed the easy banter they used to share growing up. He had been her confidant, her best friend – but all that had ended right before her 16th birthday…

He’d come home from the Academy to get away from Atlanta, and they’d spent the day fishing with her cousins. Luke and Bo had given up early, leaving her and Enos alone by Hazzard Pond. She couldn’t even remember what they’d been talking about, all she knew was that he was leaving in the morning, going back to the Academy and in all likelihood it would be another month, maybe two before he could catch another ride up to Hazzard. As they talked, she came up with a plan…

“Enos, have you ever kissed a girl?”

Daisy closed her eyes, remembering. She’d played it off as nothing, never giving a second thought to the consequences of that day, but in return for a stolen kiss, she’d lost her best friend. He’d never been comfortable around her after that, and though they’d made up some of the ground they’d lost in the years after he came back from California, the closeness they’d shared growing up was always just out of reach.

She’d passed her flirting off as nothing, afraid (regardless of how Enos thought he felt towards her) that it would scare him away again. The day they almost got married, she’d hidden her feelings so well that no one had believed it was what she really wanted, least of all Uncle Jesse, Bo, and Luke.

She had a feeling Enos had snookered her with the hives excuse, and a sneaking suspicion that he was just trying to give himself an out and had finally come to his senses. After all, what man would want to marry a woman who had never even said she loved him?

So she’d married L.D., thinking for some crazy reason that the best thing would be to make Enos give up on her. No one told her he’d left Hazzard until the damage had already been done, and she found herself married to a man she didn’t love and hardly knew, while the one she did walked out of her life forever…or so she’d thought.

by: WENN9366 (EnosIsMyHero)

Chapter 10: The Choice

A/N: Warning: This chapter is rated “T” and it ain’t for fluff…sorry. This might be a good time to warn you that I majored in Abnormal Psychology and one of my favorite shows is Forensic Files.

Also, those of you who aren’t familiar with an ice storm – it’s beautiful, amazing, and scary all at the same time.

Rosco pulled Hazzard #1 up to the Courthouse at 6:00 the next morning. He didn’t know if he’d slept a wink the night before, and he knew he surely hadn’t been the only one. He’d tried to radio Enos several times but had gotten no response, and he was worried about the man. Despite him having moved to California, Rosco knew enough about Enos to know his heart hadn’t left with him. If they lost Daisy, Lord knew what he might do.

He climbed out of his car and looked up at the sky. It had spent the night changing back and forth between sleet and rain, and now it was drizzling. The dirt roads, though frozen, weren’t bad yet, but the weatherman on the Atlanta station had predicted the mix to change completely over to freezing rain over the course of the day.

He opened the rear door, took out Flash, and walked gingerly up the already slick steps to the Sheriff’s office. He was trying to balance Flash with one hand and fish his keys out of his pocket with the other and in doing nearly knocked over Amos Petersdorf who was standing outside the door.

“Amos, what in tarnation! You just about made me fall an’ scuff Flash. Ain’t you got better things t’ do than stand outside the door?”

“Oh shut up, Rosco. If you can figure out how t’ get th’ door open, I got something t’ tell you.”

“What on earth would an’ ol’ ridge-runner like you need t’ tell me at 6:30 in th’ mornin’?” Rosco found his key and stuck it into the lock.

“I heard you were lookin’ fer Andy Higgins…I know where you can find ‘im.”

“This is Rosco P. Coltrane calling the Duke farm, over. Jesse, Luke, Bo…anyone there? Over.”

Jesse picked up the CB that sat on the kitchen counter. “This is Jesse, Rosco. What’s goin’ on?”

“Uh, Jesse, have you seen Enos by chance this mornin’? I can’t reach him.”

“No, we reckoned he’d stayed th’ night over there. Th’ boys ain’t seen nor heard from him since yesterday.”

“Well, if you see him, tell him him t’ get his rear end over here, an’ I mean yesterday. Someone here wants t’ talk to him.”

“Uh…sure Rosco, we’ll see if we can hunt him up. Over an’ out.”

Jesse hurried out to the barn where Bo and Luke were working on getting the animals under shelter before the weather turned worse.

“Boys!” called Uncle Jesse. “Bo! Luke!”

The cousins ran out from the barn to see what the matter was. “What’s wrong, Uncle Jesse?” asked Bo.

“You boys got any clue where Enos’d hole hisself up?”

Bo and Luke looked at each other and then back at their uncle, confused. “We figured Enos went back to th’ Sheriff’s office last night since we didn’t see him.”

“He ain’t there. Rosco just called here lookin’ for him. Says there’s somebody wants t’ talk to him.”

Luke frowned. “Somethin’ about Daisy, you reckon?”

Jesse shook his head. “I don’t know, Luke, but you boys better see if you can find him, quick as you can.”

Bo turned to Luke. “You think he’d have gone up to his ma’s?”

“Naw, he’d rather sleep in his car than go there.”

“You don’t suppose…”

“It’s the only place I can figure he’d go…”

The cousins hopped into the General Lee, spinning the wheels on the loose gravel of the farmyard.

It was just a short drive to Hazzard pond and Luke breathed a sigh of relief when Enos’s Javelin came into view, resting above the muddy bank.

“Dang, Luke, it had t’ get down to near 30 degrees last night. You mean t’ tell me he slept out here?”

“Well, you did a mighty fine job o’ runnin’ him off, Bo.”

“Look, I’m sorry, alright? I ain’t used t’ Enos takin’ things so personally.”

“He’s always taken’ Daisy personally, Cuz.” Luke pulled the General up behind Enos’s car.

They climbed out and walked over to it. Luke opened the driver’s side door, pushed the front seat forward, and gave the sleeping man’s shoulder a shake. “Enos…Hey Enos, wake up!”

Enos sat up, disoriented. “Wha… where am I?” His memory slowly flooded back. He vaguely remembered climbing into the backseat of the car, listening to the rain on the roof. Surely he hadn’t slept long, it had already been light in the sky last he knew.

“Take it easy, Enos,” said Luke. “It’s alright. Rosco’s been tryin’ t’ get hold of you, though. Say’s he’s got someone down at the station who needs t’ talk to ya’.”

“Who is it, Luke?”

“I don’t know, he didn’t say. He just told Uncle Jesse he needed t’ see ya right away.”

Enos pulled himself into the front seat, picked up the CB, and turned it on. “Sheriff, this is Enos. Come in.”

“Enos, you knuckle-head!” Rosco yelled. “Where in th’ blue blazes have you been?”

“Sorry, Sheriff, I forgot t’ turn the radio back on. What’s goin on?”

“Amos Petersdorf’s over here. He says he knows where Andy Higgins is.”

“Possum on a gumbush! I’m on my way!”

The red clay of Hazzard’s dirt roads didn’t make for easy travel on rain, but they were even worse with the thin crust of ice that had already formed on top of the frozen ruts. It was all Enos could do to keep it between the ditches on the car’s bald tires . It was a painfully slow pace, during which his heart and mind both seemed to be racing more than enough to make up for it. Amos Petersdorf was the elderly fire-chief of Hazzard, but more than that he was one of the Ridge Raiders. In his younger days, before he’d moved into the retirement home in town, he’d known most everything there was to know up in those hills.

The car’s front tires lost traction again and he just managed to keep from loosing it. He picked up the CB. “Luke, Bo, this is Enos. Come in.”

“We read ya’, Enos,” said Luke.

“Th’ tires on this car ain’t gonna get me there on Mill Road. I’m gonna cut down Sand Creek to Highway 20. I’ll meet you in town.”

“Roger that..”

Enos turned left at the next road. It was a couple miles out of the way to go south to Highway 20, but it should have already been sanded by the county, and he reckoned it was quicker than waiting for Jake to pull him out of a ditch.

He was nearly to the Sweetwater overpass when he passed the tiny General Store just outside of Hazzard. He did a double take behind him and skidded to a stop on the shoulder. Carefully he turned the car around and pulled into the store’s gravel parking lot – right next to an early 80’s white Chevy pickup. On the side of the truck was a sign for Rapahoe Telephone & Line Company and there was a steel frame of sorts rigged above the bed. A pole stretched across the frame, holding a myriad of spools of different wires and a huge roll of standard 24 gauge phone cord.

Enos felt as though he were moving through a dream, slowly, like his feet and hands were sunk in molasses as he opened his door and got out. He went to the back of the pickup and checked the license plate. NYR 476. He’d memorized the plate number of Andy’s truck. Andy’s was CGW 963, and this guy was a hell of a long way from home if he was supposed to be fixing lines in Rapahoe County.

He circled the vehicle, keeping an eye on the store in case anyone came out. The frame was easily removable, held in place by only six bolts, one at each corner, two in the middle. There were fresh scrape marks on several where they’d been tightened…or removed. The tires, supported by heavy duty leaf springs, were new – the heavy lugs coated with the area’s red clay. He stopped by the door and peeled back the corner of the magnetic sign. The underneath was just as dirty as the rest of the truck.

The truck was the only vehicle parked there other than his and the owner, Silas’s, truck around back, so he walked around to the front of the store and went in. A man he didn’t recognize, in his mid 30’s perhaps, tall, broad shouldered, with dark brown hair, was walking to the front to check out. Enos grabbed the quickest thing he could find, a packet of peanuts, and stepped to the register right before the other man.

He turned towards the stranger. “Probably have your work cut out for you later with the storm comin’,” he said.

The man looked up at him blankly.

“With the telephone lines comin’ down,” Enos explained. He cast a glance at what the man was buying and saw it was a tarp and a roll of duct tape.

“Oh…yeah,” the man answered thickly. His accent wasn’t from anywhere in north Georgia.

Enos stuck his hand out. “I’m Enos.”

The man grudgingly shook his hand. “Uh…Steve.” Enos noted his hand was smooth, unused to the wear and tear of a telephone repairman.

“Pleased t’ meet ya’. I used t’ live around here, there sure are a lot o’ new faces since then.” He passed Silas a five dollar bill. “Thank ya’ kindly, Silas, keep th’ change,” he said. He left and went back to his car before Steve could finish paying.

Enos’s heart pounded as he waited for the man to return to his truck and tried to decide what he should do. On one hand there was Andy, the illusive pot grower who’s truck Cooter had identified as the one on the surveillance tape. On the other was this stranger – a stranger who everything about screamed at Enos as being “off”, with a nearly identical white pickup.

There was no way he’d be able to track down both before the storm hit. He had to make a choice, and he had to make it now and quickly. If he let this man drive off, he might never see him again, and if he’d been barking up the wrong tree with Andy, it could mean the difference between life and death for Daisy. Likewise, if he was reading more into this Steve guy than he should – he could just be passing through town on his way home, or a rookie at his job – and Andy was the killer, someone needed to go with Amos and check him out.

There was only one thing he could do. As the man climbed in his truck and pulled out of the lot back onto Highway 20, heading east away from Hazzard, Enos pulled out after him and picked up his CB.

“Breaker, breaker…this is Georgia State Patrol calling Sheriff Coltrane. Don’t say my name. Come in, over.”

“This is Ros—co P. Coltrane. What’d’ya’ do, ya’ dipstick? Run off th’ road or forget where you were going? Over.”

“Sheriff… I need you to have Amos show you where Andy is. There’s somethin’ else I’ve gotta check out.”

“What th’ heck are you talkin’ about? Where are you?”

“I can’t talk right now, Sheriff, this is an open channel. I’m sorry, I’ve gotta go. I’m turning my radio off, but I’ll get back with you later. Over and out.”

“What th’ heck was that all about, you suppose?” asked Bo, confused.

Rosco shook his head. “That boy’s done cracked his head or somethin’.”

“I don’t know,” said Luke. “It doesn’t make any sense that Enos’d just bail when he finally knows where Andy is. Unless… Unless he knows somethin’ we don’t know. Almost sounds like he’s followin’ somebody, not sayin’ his name or where he is.”

“What should we do?” Bo wasn’t one to set around doing nothing.

“I guess we go find Andy,” answered Luke. “Rosco, Amos, if ya’ don’t mind, we’d probably have better luck in sneakin’ up on him in the General than in a patrol car.”
“Well,” said Rosco, “Come on ya’ lug-nuts, let’s go cuff him an’ stuff him!”

Amos directed them north through town down to where Ridge-Runner Road took off from Highway 20 to the east. This was an area that neither Bo nor Luke traveled often. Sure, they’d run up here a couple of times ahead of Rosco and Cletus, probably even Enos a time or two, but that was the extent of of their familiarity with it. They turned right off of Ridge Road, then right again and left, down roads that were hardly more than trails through the woods. Uncle Jesse was right, they didn’t know half the roads up here in the hills, and the way Amos was leading them they’d already be lost for sure.

Everyone was silent, save for Amos telling them now and again where to turn, each haunted by their separate anxieties. If this was the man they were looking for, the one who had Daisy, her life could be riding on their shoulders.

The truck stayed on Highway 20 for a couple miles and then turned left up a dirt road. Enos followed it, far enough back so that he wasn’t visible in the man’s rear-view mirror around the curves. Luckily he didn’t seem to be in much of a hurry and Enos was able to keep up while still keeping his car from sliding off the road. The truck crossed over the intersection at Mill Creek Road and continued straight, up Cedar Point Road into the mountains. Just about that time, the sky opened up and the freezing rain began to fall.

Enos cranked the heat up, aiming the blowers up at the windshield as the supercooled drops froze against the glass. For a heart stopping moment, he thought he’d lost the man until he saw the flash of brake lights in front of him. He turned off his headlights and sped up as much as he dared until he could see the faint outline of the truck. His gray, primer colored car would be nearly invisible in the downpour, but he’d have to stay close to keep up.

The longer he followed the man though, the more paranoia began to gnaw at him. What if he was following some poor, innocent guy to his home, all the while putting Daisy’s fate in the others’ hands? What if the man had spotted him and was just leading him on a wild goose chase through the mountains? If he went much further, he wouldn’t be able to keep up. The roads were getting slicker by the minute as the ice began to build up on the roads. Dark thoughts spun through his mind, and he began to feel more and more as though he’d made a horrible mistake when the taillights flashed again in front of him, and the truck turned off to the right.

He stopped the car. The windows were so fogged he could barely tell where the road was, much less how far up in the mountains he was. He stepped out of the car into the downpour and looked around, trying to get his bearings. He recognized the landmarks and knew the road the man had taken was a dead end. There was only the old Johnson place up there – abandoned for a decade or more.

“I’ve got ya’ now, Buddy Roe,” he whispered triumphantly.

Enos climbed back into the car and threw it into reverse. He turned a quarter mile back where there was another trail that paralleled the one the pickup had followed. When he felt he was far enough down the road to be close to the old homestead, he pulled over. From here he could walk through the woods without anyone the wiser. He took his 9mm Smith and Wesson out of the glove compartment and strapped it on, feeling more secure with the handgun at his disposal than the less accurate shotgun which he was only a so-so shot with anyway. He put his coat back on and started through the woods.

Bo pulled the General Lee over where Amos had shown him. They were at the end of a long driveway of sorts, though the wilderness had caught an upper hand in devouring it. As it was, there was a muddy path made by tire treads through the dead grass which stood easily five feet tall to the sides of it. The rain pounding on the roof of the car made the surroundings seem all that much more desolate.

“We’d best go on foot from here boys,” said Amos. “An there’s bound t’ be a few snares along th’ way so stay close. Single file, down the path.”

One by one they followed him down the trail. The rain had mixed with sleet and pelted them like tiny BB’s as they made their way through the undergrowth, but the adrenaline pumping through each of them made it hardly noticeable. Rosco held his gun shakily out in front of him, and Luke carried the bow and arrows from the trunk of the General.

“Rosco,” complained Bo, “would ya’ put that dang pee-shooter down! Your libel t’ hurt us before we even see hide or hair of anyone else. I can’t imagine anyone in their right mind would be out in this dang weather anyway.”

“Would you just hush? You Dukes ain’t got brains as big as a speck o’ dust between ya’. Just stay outta my way an’ you won’t get hurt.”

“Will you two pipe down,” said Luke. “Rosco, Bo’s right. Put that thing away before it goes off.”

“Fine,” complained the Sheriff, returning his gun to his holster, “you two can be cavalier and take th’ lead. Better you get scuffed than me.”

All their worry was for not, however, when they finally got to the end of the trail and the run down farmhouse that sat there. Rosco knocked several times on the door, but no one answered.

Luke peered into the window that looked in off the porch. “Rosco,” he said, “try th’ door.”

“Now, Luke, that would be breaking and enterin’.”

“Not if ya’ have probable ’cause for doin’ so.”

Rosco turned the knob. It was unlocked, and he swung the door open to find Andy Higgins, asleep on a dirty cot with several beer cans scattered around him.

“Rosco, even I think ya’ might be able to take him on and win,” snickered Bo.

“Ooo, why you…” Rosco held up his fists. “I’ll have you know that these were once considered deadly weapons.”

“Thirty years ago…”

“Cut it out you two. Rosco, if you can wake Sleepin’ Beauty up there and cuff him, me an’ Bo are gonna have a look around.” Luke motioned for Bo to follow him. The rest of the house was empty, but outside around the back was another story. Here an enormous greenhouse stood, protecting it’s valuable commodity from the nasty winter of northern Georgia.

“Well,” said Luke, “he’s definitely growin’ weed, but I don’t see any signs of Daisy.”

“Daisy!” yelled Bo. “Daisy!”

Luke shook his head. “She ain’t here, Bo. We’ve got the wrong guy.”

The white pick-up stopped by the old farmhouse. It’s driver got out, leaving the door partially open despite the weather. His mind was elsewhere and not even the cold nor the pelting of freezing rain infringed upon his senses. His was one focus, though skewed and broken in it’s relationship to reality.

Her.

It was time. This time would be better, it would take the voices away. The others had not been perfect, he reasoned, though he could not remember that he’d felt the same with each new girl he had taken. No, they were flawed…that was why the voices were still there, all night, every night, telling him that he must find another. That one had been too tall, this one too short, that one’s hair too dark, this one had died too quickly. It had only been six days since he’d taken this woman, but in a distant part of his mind that still reasoned somewhat normally, Steven Wayne Fortner realized that if he did not kill her today, the weather would.

He went to the rear of the pickup and cut off a length of phone cord from the roll in the back. Never able to hold down a job for very long, the telephone repairman stint had lasted less than a week before he’d been fired. They were after him – jealous of his superior mind he’d supposed. He’d stolen the truck, though he hadn’t thought much about it at the time.
Eventually, spurred by the voices that had whispered in his mind since he was fourteen, an idea had gradually taken shape. His momma could make the voices stop. A woman who’d been dead some twenty years since, with her green eyes and brown hair. If he could find another to trade for his momma, she’d come back. A sacrifice – a life for a life – the voices had promised. He need only find the right one.
He brought the extension ladder from around the side of the house. It was already the correct height, no need to fuss with it anymore. He dragged it over to the old well that stood in the clearing beyond the house.

The first few times it had been hard to get them out. Like an olive, he imagined, stuck at the bottom of the jar that wouldn’t come out, that rolled around…and around… The first one he’d taken to throwing bricks at until she would agree to climb the ladder, but he’d hit her in the head and killed her instead before she’d ever given in. He hadn’t dumped her body like he had the others, but kept it in his closet, wrapped in a tarp, as a reminder to be more careful. The next one he’d shown a hose and threatened to fill up the well. She’d come up willingly enough, but he’d taken it into his head to slice the hose in half since then, and now it wouldn’t reach.

He’d bought another tarp for this one…just in case she was perfect…

He lowered the ladder down into the well where the woman looked up at him without saying a word.

“Climb the ladder,” he told her. “Climb up backwards.” He took the gun from the waistband of his pants and aimed it down and her.

“Okay, mister,” she said calmly. “I will, just…put the gun away, please.”

“Start climbing.”

Daisy turned around and put her foot slowly on the bottom rung, leaning back against it for support.

“Faster.”

One foot and then another, she climbed backwards up the ladder. When she was halfway up, the man stuck the gun back in his waistband and picked up the phone cord. Daisy had every intention of turning and trying to run when she got to the top, but as she came up over the side of the well the man looped the phone cord around her neck, effectively ending her escape plans. She was able to scream once before the cord tightened and cut off the sound.

For the rest of his life, Enos would be haunted by that moment and the memory of Daisy’s scream ringing in his ears. He was nearly to the edge of the woods when he heard her and ran the rest of the way, stopping only when he reached the clearing. In slow motion, the scene played out in front of him, a nightmare that if he didn’t act fast would turn into a reality from which he would never wake.

The man held Daisy in front of him, walking backwards, pulling her close against him by something around her neck. There was no time left for stealth, and even with the rain he knew the man would see him. Enos ran out from the cover of the trees, the rain stinging his eyes, and ducked behind the well. He drew his gun, and, using the well as cover, raised himself up just over the top of the stones, and trained it on the man.

“Let her go! Let her go or I’ll shoot ya’, an’ ya’ better believe I will, too!” Truth be told, Enos might have shot the man in the first place if he hadn’t been holding Daisy in front of him. He’d never had any patience with those who put her in danger.

Daisy had been trying to pull the cord away, with little success. At the sound of Enos’s voice, she looked up in surprise, her eyes wide with fright. “Enos…” she merely mouthed the word, unable to speak.

“You followed me,” Steven said dully, stating it as a fact. He seemed unsurprised. “You need to leave now.” The man transferred the cord to his left hand and with his right, pulled out a .22 caliber revolver from behind Daisy and aimed it at Enos.

When Enos had been on the SWAT team in L.A., they’d always tried to talk the person down first and use force as a last resort, but he knew, even if he’d wanted to, he didn’t have time for that. Daisy could hardly breathe and if the man happened to pull the cord any tighter, she’d be in even worse trouble. The problem was he didn’t have a shot, the man was using her as a shield. Enos needed him to turn or to move Daisy, one or the other.

He picked up a medium sized stone that lay on the ground beside him. The ground sloped down slightly on his side of the well, making him at a lower angle that he needed to be. He would have to stand up to have any chance at all of hitting him without hurting Daisy. It would make him vulnerable and give the man a clear shot at himself, but that was a risk he would just have to take. He only hoped this guy wasn’t as good a shot as he was.

“Lord, please let this work…”

He chucked the rock as hard as he could behind and to the right of the man, into the woods. As it ricocheted through the leaves, the man’s concentration faltered and he turned slightly, moving Daisy out of Enos’s line of fire. He stood and took aim, but in doing so caught the man’s attention and Steven swung his gun back up towards Enos.

Two shots rang out through the hills…