by: Marty Chrisman

Shelby looked at her reflection in the mirror. She had already changed clothes twice unsure what to wear. Finally, she settled for jeans and a blue denim shirt with her hair pulled back into a braid that hung down the middle of her back. Today was the day she met with the attorney in Atlanta about her case. Luke had volunteered to drive her and to stay with her for moral support. At the moment, she needed all of that she could get. She was scared to death.

Jesse and the rest of the family was gathered in the living room when Shelby came out of her bedroom. Daisy smiled encouragingly and gave Shelby a big hug,

“Good luck, sugar.” She said

“Yeah, good luck.” Bo said giving her a big hug of his own “It’s all gonna be okay. I know it.”

“I know it too” Jesse told her with a smile “Now you two best git going, you don’t wanna be late.”

“Thank you all for everything…” Shelby said as Luke waited patiently for her come with him. She gave Jesse a kiss on the cheek then turned to follow Luke outside to the General.

“Nervous?” Luke asked as they climbed into the General.

“As nervous as a long tailed cat in a room full of rockers.” She told him with a grin

“That’s nervous.” Luke agreed with a wide grin, as he turned on the engine and pulled out of the drive. To keep her from getting too anxious, Luke did his best to keep up a light conversation on the way to Atlanta. But he could tell that Shelby was distracted and wrapped up in her own thoughts.

Luke found the building where the Public Defender’s office was located in downtown Atlanta and parked in a lot across the street. Helping Shelby out of the car, they crossed the street and entered the lobby of the building. They found the elevators and took one to the fourth floor. The public defenders office took up the entire fourth floor. They walked down the hall until they found the office for Charlie Barnes. Luke opened the door and they stepped inside.

A pretty redhead was sitting behind a desk working on a computer. She glanced up at them and smiled warmly “May I help you?” she said

“I have a two o’clock appointment with Mr. Barnes.” Shelby told her

The secretary looked at the appointment book lying open on the desk in front of her and then looked back at Shelby and said with a smile, “Shelby Lynn?”

“Yes.”

“Please have a seat. I’ll let Mr Barnes know that you’re here.”

Luke and Shelby sat on one of the comfortable sofas sitting along one wall. They didn’t have to wait along. A few minutes later, the secretary smiled brightly and said,

“Mr Barnes will see you now. Please go on in.”

Luke and Shelby went into the inner office. Charlie Barnes was a handsome man in his late thirties with sandy colored hair, warm blue eyes and a friendly smile. He stood up as Shelby came through the door. “Miss Lynn?” he said, holding out his hand to shake her hand and then Lukes. “I’m Charlie Barnes.”

“Nice to meet you.” Shelby told him “This is a friend of mine. Luke Duke.”

“Nice to meet you, Luke.” Charlie said acknowledging the introduction “Please, have a seat.”

Shelby and Luke sat down in the two chairs facing the young attorney’s desk. Charlie opened a file lying on the desk in front of him and scanned the papers inside briefly. Looking back at Shelby with a faint smile, he said

“First of all, they’ll never make the charges stick against you for moonshining. They don’t have any evidence to back it up.”

“Then how could they arrest her for it in the first place?” Luke asked

“I think it was probably just a smoke screen….a way to pick her up and get her out of the way while they tried to find some evidence to hold her on….either on the moonshining charges or connect her to the drug operation.” He looked at Shelby and smiled thinly “And you didn’t hear this from me…but if you do have any stills operating or shine stashed anywhere on your property….you might wanna get rid of the evidence before somebody does find it.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Shelby said with a grin

“Now, I need to ask you a couple of questions and I need for you to be honest with me. Did you know anything about the drug operation?”

“Only what Cory told me about 6 months ago and that wasn’t much.”

“Unfortunately, if the Federal boys wanna get picky, they could still charge you with obstructing justice just for knowing anything about it.” He paused then added “But I don’t think that’s what they’re after…or they would have done that by now.”

“Then what are they after?” Shelby demanded in an irritated voice

“I’m not sure….we may just have to wait for them to make their next move so we can find out.”

“Can I go get my car and some clothes?” Shelby asked

“Yes, but that’s all you can get for now. The feds have put a lien against your property.”

“What does that mean?” Shelby asked slowly

“It means if Cory is found guilty of the drug charges, even if you aren’t, the Feds can still take your property.”

“That land has been in my family for five generations!” Shelby cried out, her voice rising angrily “How can the feds just step in and take it away from me?”

“I’m sorry but that’s the law. If a property has been used to make or distribute drugs, the feds can take the land and the property.”

“So I could still end up getting screwed even if they don’t charge me with anything.”

“I’m afraid so.”

“Isn’t there anything she can do about it?” Luke asked “Especially since she owns half that property?”

“No, I’m afraid now. The feds have the resources to keep it tied up in court for years if you try to fight ‘em.”

Shelby’s eyes darkened and she muttered a curse under her breath. Luke couldn’t help smiling, she had spirit and a temper. All wrapped up in one very attractive package.

“So, I’m going to file a petition with the court requesting that all charges against you in connection with the moonshining be dropped based on lack of evidence.” Charlie told her. He smiled shrewdly “In the meantime, you make sure there’s no evidence for them to find.”

“You can count on that.” Luke answered for her.

“And I’ll be in touch if I find out anything else.”

“Thank you.” Shelby said, rising to her feet, Luke and Shelby left his office and walked back down the hallway to the elevator. As they rode down to the lobby, Shelby looked at Luke and said glumly, “You think it’s really gonna be that easy?”

“Well, I’d say you’re about due for a break.” Luke told her “And he seems to know what he’s doing.”

“Yeah, but no matter how it turns out…it looks like I’m gonna lose the land.”

“Hey, don’t worry about that right now. You can stay with us as long as you need to.” Luke told her “I’ll talk to Jesse when we get home. Looks like we need to make another trip up the mountain tomorrow.”