by: Marty Chrisman

Luke was sleeping when he heard Uncle Jesse say his name “Luke?” He opened his eyes, still groggy with sleep, and looked at the clock on the nightstand between his bed and Bo’s bed.  It was three in the morning. “Luke?” Jesse’s voice said again with an urgency in his voice that woke Luke up instantly. He leaned up on one arm and saw his Uncle standing in the doorway of the bedroom that Luke had shared with Bo since their childhood.

“Yes, Sir?” Luke said wondering what was wrong.

“Did you go out with Mindy Carson tonight?” Jesse asked

“Yeah, I was with her earlier at the Boar’s Nest.” He admitted “What’s wrong?”

“Her father is on the phone. She never came home. What time did you drop her off?” Jesse asked

“I didn’t.” Luke admitted “We got into a fight because I told her I wanted to break up. She took off and said she was gonna call her brother to pick her up.”

“Where’s the last place you saw her?”

“Hazzard Pond.”

Jesse disappeared from the doorway, apparently going back to the phone to tell Mindy’s father what Luke had told him. Wide awake now and worried, Luke shoved himself to his feet and went downstairs to the first floor of the old farmhouse where he had been raised since he was three years old. Uncle Jesse was just hanging up the phone as Luke reached the bottom of the stairs.

Jesse was a big man with a snowy white beard and hair. He had the same blue eyes as his nephews, eyes that now looked concerned. In his early sixties, Jesse had the stamina and endurance of a much younger man. Underneath his rough exterior beat a kind, gentle heart. He had taken in the three cousins when their parents were killed raising them as if they were his own. He was the only father that Luke could remember.

“Uncle Jesse, maybe I should go out and help look for her.” Luke suggested, feeling guilty because he hadn’t insisted on taking Mindy home even if she had been the one to refuse to let him do that.

“No,” Jesse said “You best stay right here. Her father’s calling Rosco and I’m sure they’ll find her.”

“I told her I’d take her home but she wouldn’t let me.” Luke said “She ran off before I could stop her.”

“That’s not your fault.” Jesse said. He looked at his nephew closely “You said the two of you got into a fight because you broke up with her?”

“Yes, Sir.”

“Well, maybe she’s just upset and decided to spend the night with a girlfriend. I’m sure they’ll find her in no time.” He started to go back up stairs to his bedroom, he paused and looked back over his shoulder at Luke “You coming back to bed?”

“In a little while.” Luke told him “Think I’ll have a glass of milk first.”

Jesse nodded and headed on back up the stairs to his bedroom. Luke went into the kitchen and got a glass out of the cabinet. Pouring himself a glass of milk, he sat down at the table to drink it. He was worried about Mindy but like Jesse said she probably just decided to spend the night with a girlfriend instead of going home. At least Luke hoped that was all it was. Finishing his milk, he went back upstairs and went to bed.

The boys had just finished their chores the next morning when a Hazzard County police car pulled into the barnyard. Bo and Luke walked over to the car just as Deputy Enos Strate climbed out of the cruisier. Enos was a childhood friend of the boys and had a huge crush on Daisy. He was also rumored to be the oldest virgin in Hazzard County, a fact that the boys good naturedly teased him about.

“Hey, Enos…” Luke said

“Hey, Bo. Hey, Luke.” Enos said with a silly grin “Luke, I need to ask you a couple of questions about Mindy Carson.”

“Didn’t she come home yet?” Luke asked in a surprised voice

“No and her daddy is fit to be tied. You had a date with her last night right?”

“It wasn’t exactly a date.” Luke told him “I met her at the Boar’s Nest and we went for a drive up to Hazzard Pond.”

“What happened when you got there?”

“We had a fight because I told her I wanted to break up.”

“What happened then?”

“She got mad and took off before I could stop her. I offered to give her a ride home but she said she’d have her brother come and pick her up.”

“Do you have any idea where she might have went if she didn’t go home?”

“Not unless she went to Mary Kay or Susie’s house.” Luke said naming two of Mindy’s closest friends

“Mary Kay Hudson and Susie Marshall?” Enos asked, rapidly taking notes on his notepad.

“Yeah.”

“Luke, I hate to ask this but I gotta know for the report…” Enos said obviously embarrassed “But you didn’t hit her or nothing like that, did ya?”

“No, she slapped me.” Luke told him flushing slightly at the memory “But I didn’t hit her.”

“What time were the two of you at Hazzard Pond?”

“Around midnight.”

“Where did you go after you left Mindy at the pond?”

“I went back to the Boar’s Nest to pick up Bo and we came home around one-thirty.” Luke told him “Then Uncle Jesse woke me up at three and said Mindy’s father was looking for her because she hadn’t come home yet.”

“And that’s it?”

“That’s it.”

“Okay, buddyroo. Give me a call if you think of anything else that might help us find her.”

“I’ll do that.” Luke said. The boys watched as Enos climbed back into his car and drove away, then they went on into the house for breakfast. Mindy’s strange disappearance was the main topic of conversation.

“She ran away a couple of years ago and was gone for almost a week.” Daisy said “Maybe that’s what she did again.”

“Maybe.” Jesse said “Let’s just hope they find her soon. Safe and sound.”

“I hope so.” Luke said “I should have made her let me take her home.”

“Now, don’t go beating yourself up for that. You said she took off before you could stop her.” Jesse told him “You offered to take her home and she refused to let you. That’s not your fault.”

“I still feel like it’s my fault that she’s missing.”

“It’s not your fault, sugar.” Daisy told him “I’m sure she’ll turn up.”

“So am I.” said Bo “It ain’t like Mindy to worry her daddy too much. She knows he’ll tan her hide.”

They were just finishing up breakfast when the telephone rang. Jesse excused himself to answer it. He spoke briefly to whoever was on the line, then came back into the kitchen. He looked at his niece and two nephews somberly and said,

“That was Rosco. They found Mindy.”

“Is she okay?” Luke asked, his stomach churning uneasily at the expression on Jesse’s face. He had the feeling that something was wrong. Very wrong.

“She was at the bottom of Widow’s Peak. It looks like she jumped.”

Luke looked at his Uncle with a stunned, disbelieving expression on his face. Local legend had it that Widow’s Peak had gotten it’s name after a young widow took her newborn infant and jumped to her death after her husband was killed in the civil war. Over the past fifty years, at least three other women and one man had jumped to their deaths on the jagged rocks below.