by: Kristy Duke
Exhaustion and sadness rushes heavily within me as Shawn’s story mixed with what Luke and Jesse had to say seems to echo heavily within me to build vivid images of the youngest Duke boy lying beaten and bruised upon the barn’s ground. Beaten and bruised within his own barn, upon his own ground. Beaten and bruised at the one place you should feel safe and protected from the violence and hatred that seems to plague today’s world; at your home. Anger swells heavily within me as my mind draws vivid pictures of all that had happened to Bo, based on the information we had gotten from Shawn and the rest of the Dukes. Vivid pictures of a violent man filled with hatred running loose and free in Hazzard to do as he pleases, to hurt more innocent citizens of Hazzard; running free while Bo lies trapped within the hospital.
Feeling my heart sink within me with the harsh emotions that races within me, emotions that are fed upon by the vivid scenes my imagination draws, I slowly glance up from staring down at the dirty tiled floor at my feet. Across the room, Luke’s tense body remains standing silent and still in front of the tall and long window, his muscular arms folded across his thick chest. Several feet away from him, Cooter, Shawn, and Daisy sit upon the old blue bench seats that line the far wall; Cooter stares blankly into a well used car magazine that he holds open in his greasy hands while Daisy rests her head upon Shawn’s muscular shoulder, silently talking to him with tears staining her tan cheeks. Time seems to come to a halt as my eyes falls upon Shawn sitting in his seat, slowly taking in his neat light brown hair and his blood covered body that hangs tightly against his muscular body. His left long leg is bent over his right knee to send my attention at his heavy leather work boots that seem to be well taken care of.
Taking him in, my thoughts flash to the past and on how wild he had been, but mainly to how close he was to Luke and just how much he seemed to hate Bo. To me his hatred for Bo was visibly apparent, but to the rest of Bo’s family who Shawn treated with respect and honor, they seemed to be blind to it. Blinded by Shawn’s charm that seemed to often times give him what he had wanted, led people believing anything he had to say.
Abruptly my heart comes to a halt in unannounced fear as Shawn looks up from looking at Daisy to eye me with his intense green eyes, sending ice cold chills down my back. I quickly look away from him before I numbly stand up to turn around and face Enos and Boss who remain sitting upon their seats while attempting to ignore Shawn. Attempting to ignore the sharp feeling of fear that his look had forced into me while my thoughts remain frozen with images of a stranger in Hazzard brutally attacking Bo in his own barn, but this time, my mind draws Shawn brutally attacking Bo. Taking a deep breathe in attempt to shake the images away I quickly break the silence by saying, “I’m done waiting,” I pause as both Enos and Boss look up at me, “I’m going to go and interview Bo. Enos, I want you to come with me.”
“Yes sir,” he shyly states as he obediently stands up, “but the doctor said only one at a time and Jesse is still in there with him and he has his whole family waiting their turn. Don’t you think -”
“You know what I think?” I question to send everyone’s attention toward me and I breathe in deeply before lowering my voice, “I think the sooner we learn everything there is to know, the better. The sooner we are out there searching for that monster that did that to Bo, the better. We sit here and wait our turn as if we are back in kindergarten, that monster will be way outta Hazzard and will get away, cleanly, for what he did to Bo. You want that, Enos?” he shakes his head no at me, “Or worse yet, he could be out there beating up another victim! His next victim may not be lucky enough for someone to come by in time to scare the monster away as Shawn -” I come up empty as my suspicions of Shawn quickly melt away despite the fear he had installed within me. If he had beaten Bo up that badly, why save him? Unless he was only trying to enforce a point to Bo…
“OK Sheriff,” Enos finally states to break my silence when I don’t finish my sentence, “I see what you mean. Let’s go. I’m sure Jesse won’t mind if you help him look at it that way.”
I nod at him as Boss slowly begins to stand up. “Not this time, Boss. I think it’d be best if Enos and I go in to talk to Bo. Without you,” I slowly tell the small round man who gives me a hurt look filled with anger directed to me. As he goes to protest, I harshly state, “Look Boss, this is police business and this is what I am paid to do. What Enos is paid to do. This is our job, not your’s. The less people in there will create less stress. Less stress equals more cooperation from Bo to help us. I think it is best if only Enos and I go talk to him about what had happened. If you want to visit Bo, then you’re going to have to wait your turn like everyone else. Sorry Boss.”
“Yeah sure you are,” he snaps back as he drops back in his chair, his dark eyes shooting daggers of anger towards me and I quickly turn my back on him to briskly walk past Shawn, Cooter, Luke, and Daisy and into the hallway.
After several minutes and after asking a nurse for directions to Bo’s room, we finally find his room, just as Jesse Duke slowly steps back out into the lighted hallway and closes the door behind him. I am hit harshly with intense sadness and grief as Jesse turns to face us to find his crystal blue eyes to be filled with tears of fear and sadness, his normal body language stating strength and courage now seems old and vulnerable. I go to say something about how sorry I am about Bo or how I hope he will be OK, I quickly fall short as I fight off my own emotions. I may give them all a hard time and would love to see them behind bars and out of our way, but never would I wish this upon any of them. “Our turn,” I state instead as I quickly step past him before he can see any of my own emotions upon my face.
As I reach Bo’s closed door where Jesse had came from, I hear Enos behind me apologizing and making some sort of excuse to the Duke patriarch and I slowly shake my head as I shove open the door. The room is dimly lit by a single light that hangs near the hospital bed that lies in the middle of the room, the other lighting fixtures stay off. The small TV shaped monitors beep loudly and annoyingly, the beeping is slow and irregular to pronounce how poor of health he seems to be in. Probably his breathing more than his heart. Breathing in deeply, I slowly step in before I walk over to the bed and as I glance down at Bo, my heart once more comes to a halt to see how badly bruised and cut up he is. Looking worse than how I had imagined him looking.
“Bo,” I hear Enos gasp besides me as he approaches the bed and I glance over at him to see the horror in his eyes as he stares down Bo before he looks back up at me, giving me a look as if demanding me to do something to help Bo. “How could anyone do this to anyone? To Bo? What could have Bo done -”
“Nothing,” I interrupt him as I look back down at Bo who remains still with his eyes closed, “but standing here and feeling sorry for him isn’t going to help him out either. We need to talk to him so we can go after whoever did this.” Enos nods at me and I glance back down at Bo before I place a gentle hand upon his shoulder and firmly state, “Bo. We need to talk to you.”
He gasps heavily as his eyes are thrown awake to reveal baby blue eyes that scream of pain and intense fear as he begins to cough harshly for a long moment before residing to wheezing. Panic shines in his fear-filled eyes momentarily before his eyes seem to focus upon us and he slowly relaxes back into his bed. “Sorry Bo. Didn’t mean to alert you like that. We just – “ I cut myself off to take a deep breathe to calm my own emotions, “We just need to ask you some questions. Get your side of what happened.”
He eyes us for a long time, his fear radiating in his eyes, before he quickly looks away from us. “What if I don’t want to talk about it?” he questions, his voice weak and strenuous.
“If you want us to catch whoever did this to you, we can’t accept that for an answer,” I slowly answer and as he looks at me I realize the option I had given him, “I guess I assume you want us to catch who ever did this to you. But whether you do or not, we can’t accept that for an answer. We need to know what had happened so we can prevent this to happening to someone else. You were lucky that Shawn got there-” with that his eyes are clouded thickly with anger and sadness and he quickly looks away from me, “when he did. Their next victim, may not be as lucky as you are.” I finish out and silence fills the air, except for the machines and the hissing of oxygen that is forced in through his nose. “What happened, Bo?” I finally ask, my voice sympathetic.
Looking at the ceiling for a long silent moment, he finally begins shaking his head. “I can’t -” he begins to state before going silent for a long moment. “I don’t know.” he goes silent as he bites his lower lip as if trying to decide on what to say or not to say to us. “I can’t remember.”
“You can’t remember?” I ask skeptically, “What if I say I don’t believe that? You’re holding something back?”
“Think what you want to think,” he snaps eyeing me harshly, tears trailing down his eyes, “but I’m not holding nothing back! Nothing!” With that he begins coughing and struggling to breathe and more tears fall from his eyes to send his monitors beeping crazily at us. “Leave me -” he attempts to say as he struggles for air and the door behind us is abruptly thrown open and I turn around to find his doctor rushing in with a couple of nurses. “alone.” Bo manages to finish as his doctor squeezes between Enos and I to read his monitors. Bo gasps painfully for air, his coughing now residing into gasps as his eyes abruptly fall shut before he weakly opens them again, looking at his doctor for help and support.
“I’m going to have to ask you two gentlemen to step out for awhile and let him get some rest. You are causing too much stress for him to handle right now,” Doctor Millard firmly states and as I go to argue he says, “Look Sheriff, there isn‘t an option here. I need you to leave. I understand you need his information to what had happened to him, but it looks like he is unwilling to talk about it at the moment. That it is too much for him to handle at the moment. You’re going to have to come back later and try again later. Perhaps when he and his breathing are stronger and more able to deal with the pressure and stress you are placing upon him with your questions.”
“With my questions?!” I snap, “I only asked one. And that was what happened?!”
He shakes his head as he looks down at Bo who’s complexion has seemed to have grown paler as a nurse places a mask over his nose and mouth. Looking back up at me, his doctor states, “And obviously it is too upsetting for him to talk about at this time. I can’t let this go any farther. You must leave or I’ll call security and they can escort you out. Your choice.”
I eye Enos momentarily. “We can escort ourselves out,” I finally state before turning around and walking back through the open door way that they had left open. Once we are back out into the brightly lit hallway and several feet away from his open door, I turn to Enos and state, “He’s lying. Bo remembers everything…you can tell by looking at his eyes that he was reliving it as I was asking him about it. “
“Why wouldn’t he want to tell you then? I would think he’d want us to -”
“He’s trying to cover something up. Hide something,” I pause as I continue to walk towards the waiting room, “perhaps he was threatened not to tell anyone.”
“What now?” Enos questions as Luke turns around to face us while everyone else looks up from their seats.
I shrug. “We have everyone else’s statement and for the time, that’ll have to do,” I state as Luke boldly approaches us, his normal calm eyes now radiate in fear and worry for his cousin. “We go to the barn and see if we can find anything amiss.”
“He didn’t talk to you?” Luke questions and Enos sadly shakes his head no at the older Duke cousin, “Damn it. Look I want to go visit Bo and then go back out to the barn with you. I’ll only be a couple of minutes -”
“Luke, you need to be here with Bo. Let us handle the police work -”
“Look sheriff, I appreciate you trying to do your job for once, but my cousin was almost killed this afternoon!” Luke yells angrily at me, his voice seeming to ricochet off the walls, “I’m not about to just sit around and feel sorry for him while allowing you to attempt to get the piece of scum that did that to him! No,” he shakes his head as he lets out a long breath he had been holding back in frustration and anger, “I need to be doing something to get who ever did that to him…I need to do something to get back at whoever did that to Bo. I am not going to allow who ever did that to Bo to get away with it…he’s going to pay and he’ll pay by me before he pays up to you or the law!” He goes silent, eyeing Enos and I as if challenging us to argue with him. “So you can either go without me and I’ll do my own search on my own for the trash that did that to Bo or you can wait and let me come with you and we can work together on the same thing. The choice is your’s.”
I eye Enos momentarily who nods at me, willing to take Luke in as the local law to capture his cousin’s torturer. “Make it quick,” I snap finally, knowing full good and well that he means what he had just said. Knowing it’d be best for us all to team up together to accomplish both of our goals.
***LUKE DUKE***
“Make it quick,” the older sheriff harshly snaps back at me, his clear blue eyes are heavily clouded with anger, worry, and skepticism before he quickly looks away from me. I nod at the two Hazzard law men before I quickly make my way past them and down into the wide brightly lit hall way as I pass closed doors, looking for the one where Bo resides in. My thoughts remain fixated upon Bo’s broken and beaten image lying in the pen covered in blood as he struggled unconsciously to breathe through his attack. More questions of who and why rush through my head while Shawn’s inconsistent story remains bothersome to me.
Worry increases within me as I approach Bo’s closed door, fighting against my emotions, to find Dr. Millard slowly walking out of Bo’s room, closing the door behind him. I quickly walk to him to ask, “Is everything OK, Doctor?”
He looks up at me with startled eyes before he sighs heavily, stress and worry wrote dominantly across his face before he hangs his head and silently nods. “For now at least,” he finally answers, “whatever the sheriff and his deputy were asking him about upset him deeply and it threw him into another attack. He had stopped breathing by the time my nurses and I got in there.” He pauses as he looks back at Bo’s closed door and back at me, “But I think we got his breathing stabilized. For now, at least.”
I allow silence to settle between us as I allow his heavy statement to sink deeply within me to send my sadness and fear ricocheting off of my numb body. “For now?” I ask skeptically, running my hand nervously through my hair.
He shrugs. “That’s all I know right now…is how he is right now. With how bad he was beaten, his other injuries, and how weak his lungs are,” he pauses as he eyes me with sad eyes, “his breathing can change at any minute and with no warning. Meaning that anything can set his asthma off or make his breathing worse; such as any great emotion, as was the case just a little while ago. The less pressure, stress the better for him right now.”
I nod slowly as I glance over his shoulder at the closed door as my need within me to see my cousin arises within me and I force my attention to his doctor. “Thank-you Doctor. I will keep that in consideration when I am visiting him,” I state as nod at him and he slowly steps out of the way of the door for me before he nods back at me before he turns and starts to walk down the hallway, looking down at his clipboard as he walks. I watch him momentarily before I turn to the door and slowly push it open to be greeted by the loud and un-rhythmic beeping of his monitors with the slow and heavy hiss of the air tank. Only to send my mind rolling back a year and a half ago of visiting him in the hospital after we had been rescued from Max and his gang. Old memories flood through me of visiting Bo in the hospital as a young child as he had gotten hurt or the often times he was admitted into the hospital due to a bad asthma attack.
Sighing heavily, I slowly shove the thoughts back to take a step into the dimly lit room to close the door behind me before coming to a halt a foot away from the door, my eyes falling upon the silent and still figure lying on the bed. My thoughts turn back to the present to send my stomach churning angrily within me at the vivid scene of Bo’s bloody and beaten body and for a moment I am struck frozen in place. Frozen in place by fear of how bad he’s going to look, of seeing how badly he had gotten beaten; only to show just how bad I had failed him. I have always promised him to take care of him, protect him, and yet I had allowed this to happen to him. Logically, I know I can’t be with him everywhere he goes and that I wasn’t at the farm when it had happened in order to protect him, yet deep down, guilt holds me responsible for what happened to him.
Abruptly, slow movement in Bo’s bed redirects my attention to his bed before his weak and raspy voice speaks up to startle me for an unknown reason. “I won’t -” he struggles to say, the air pump behind his bed hisses air into his nose, “bite, Luke.” Bo finally finishes and a small smile flashes across my face before disappearing.
I nod at him as I force myself to step forward until I reach his barred in bed and my heart comes to a harsh halt at seeing the dark bruises and cuts upon his face and bare arms despite already have seen the damages he endured. Three IV’s drip into his arms while the TV shaped monitors monitor his breathing and heart rate and a small tube is shoved up each nostril before running behind both ears to meet up under his bruised chin and runs back to the air tank that is set up behind the bed. “I know you won’t,” I say as I force a smile at him, attempting to hide my fear and worry for him, “I was just taking it all in, I guess.” I go silent as I look away from the monitors to find him watching me with emotion filled bruised eyes. Forcing another smile, I ask, “How ya doin’ buddy?”
A tear leaks way from his blue eyes as he gives me a sarcastic look before he is sent into a long minute of harsh coughing and more tears streak from his eyes as he settles back down onto his pillow. Looking back at me, he sarcastically responds, “Just wonderful. How ‘bout you, Lukas?”
I give him a small laugh and shake my head at him. “Guess that’s a dumb question, but it just felt like an appropriate question to ask,” I slowly respond and he starts to nod and the look of pain increases across his face and he goes still, “Look Bo,” I slowly start and he looks up at me with great expectancy, “who ever did this to you,” I pause to watch him with great worry as his breathing seems to grow more labored, “won’t get away with it. I will make sure to it. I promise you that, buddy. They’ll be real sorry they even touched you.”
He gives me an unbelieving look for a long while. “Yeah, maybe,” he states as his baby blue eyes seems to darken and his breathing grows worse before I realize that in thought he has returned to his beating and I am reminded of what his doctor had warned me about in the hallway.
“No maybe about it. I will see to it,” I quickly state, wanting to get my questions in before he becomes too upset to talk to. “but look at me, Bo.” I pause as he slowly glances over at me, his eyes shine brightly in tears of pain and fear. “If I or the law are going to catch who ever did this to you, we’re going to need your side of the story. To know what had happened. Rosco said you wouldn’t talk to him that you were holding it back from him.” I pause once more and Bo quickly looks away from me. “I need to know what happened to you…who did this to you! “
“No,” is all he says at first, tears streak his bruised cheeks, “I don’t want to -” he is cut off with more coughing and as his coughing resides, he looks back at me and my heart sinks deeper within me at seeing harsh pain and fear radiating violently in his eyes. Weakly, he lifts his right bruised arm and I gently take his bruised hand in my own hands in attempt to lend him some comfort in his pain and fear. He offers me a weak smile in appreciation towards me at me reaching out to him and I gently nod at him, keeping his hand in my own. “I don’t want to talk about it. I won’t talk about it.” He states as a look of exhaustion melts over him. “To you or the law or to anyone.”
I nod once more at him, not wanting to push him too far. “They threatened you not to tell anyone, right?” I question and he shoots me an angry look, “Obviously I can’t protect you from everything. Otherwise you wouldn’t be here, but I can promise you to do the best that I can to make sure that he won’t do this to you again. To protect you to my best ability. I just need -”
“No,” he firmly states, his fingers fall against my hand and I glance down at his hand before he yanks it away and I gently let it fall back to his bed, “I am not telling you, Rosco, or anyone else no matter what you promise. No one threatened me,” he pauses heavily, obviously lying, “I just don’t want to talk about it.”
“You make a horrible liar, Bo,” I finally state while breathing out heavily in defeat, “but I’m not here to upset you any more, so I am going to drop it. For now.” I pause as I lean over, placing a protective hand upon his shoulder, “Trust me…whether you tell me or not, I will find whoever did this to you and make them pay for what they did to you. No one hurts my lil’ cuz and get away with it. No one.”
He looks at my questionably before doubt heavily mixes in with the look of pain and fear in his face before he glances away from me and up at the ceiling. “OK Lukas,” he states, his weak voice thick with disbelief and my thoughts fall back to Shawn and how I had so eagerly ignored Bo to be his friend and I can’t help but to feel like that is what had brought upon his disbelief in me.
I force another smile at him before standing back up. “Well I’m going to go and let you get some sleep,” I finally state and he eyes me for a long moment, “I’ll drop by sometime this afternoon to see how you are doing. Please get some rest.”
“OK Lukas,” he slowly states as another tear trails down his cheek and he stares up at me as if thinking of saying something else before his bruised eyes abruptly fall shut, no longer able to stay open and awake.
“Bye cuz,” I touch the back of his hand once more as I watch him sleep upon the old hospital bed for a long moment, listening into his weak and slowly raspy breathing. Standing back up, I take in his bruised body lying still upon the bed, allowing my emotions and thoughts to run rapidly within me. Taking a deep breath, I slowly turn around and walk back out into the brightly lit hallway to walk back to the waiting room. Walking into the waiting room, I quietly eye everyone that sits in the bench seats, taking in everyone’s worry and fear as they wait for their turn with Bo or just waiting for me to return. Walking over to my family, I eye Cooter and ask, “Where’s Shawn?”
He shrugs. “I guess he promised his brother that he’d meet up with him this afternoon. Said he forgot and was late already, but figured Bo wouldn’t want to see him anyway,” he states, “so he left around fifteen minutes ago, to see if it was too late. Told me to tell you though, that he’ll catch up with you or us later tonight.”
I nod at him. It was probably for the best for Bo if Shawn didn’t attempt to visit Bo, even though Shawn had saved his life, Bo still wouldn’t welcome the sight of Shawn. “Probably for the best. Look,” I turn to Jesse and Daisy, “I’m going to go with Rosco and Enos back to the farm and look around the barn. Maybe I can help them find anything that’s missing or something that may lead us to who attacked Bo…I have to do something.”
They both nod in understanding. “Take care, Luke,” Daisy sighs standing up and gives me a hug. Stepping back, she asks, “How was Bo?”
I breathe in deeply. “He was in obvious pain, was weak and tired,” I pause heavily, “he refuses to talk about what had happened. To anyone. And his doctor is probably right,” I go silent, “it’s probably best not to put any pressure on him. In other words not to keep bugging him with what had happened. Hopefully he’ll tell us when he’s ready to, but I have a feeling he won’t ever tell us if he has anything to say about it.”
“Like he’s been threatened not to tell?” Jesse inquires.
I nod as I glance back at Rosco and Enos who watches me impatiently. Looking back at them, I state, “I asked him if he was threatened and he flat out lied to me about it. It was an obvious lie. I called him on it, but I didn’t ask any farther because he was getting upset by talking about it.” I pause as I step back towards the law, “I guess they’re waiting for me. I’ll talk to you later, catch you up if we find anything.”
Jesse sadly nods at me as Daisy hugs tightly onto him, Cooter just stands behind them, watching me quietly. I nod back at them before turning around and walking over to Rosco and Enos to say, “OK, I’m ready now.”
* * *
Stepping out of the backseat of the old patrol car, I slowly glance through the hazy mist that lingers from the rain to take in the familiar scenery before looking at the ground. Mud covers the parking lot to be covered in tire tracks along new and old footprints. Sighing heavily I glance back as Rosco and Enos slowly joins me and we begin to walk back to the barn and my mind flashes back to only hours ago, that seems like days ago, when Jesse and I had returned home from Kristy’s. Then the sky had been darkened by dark storm clouds, now the storm clouds have moved on, though darkness slowly seeps upon us with the upcoming evening. “We don’t have long before we will no more day light left,” Rosco states, “we may have to take a quick look around to see if anything sticks out and come back in the morning.”
I nod as I walk before them and walk into the shadow filled barn and my thoughts rotate around the events that led us to where we are now. “We found him in there,” I point to the open pen as Enos hands me a flashlight and I slowly turn it on and turn it to the ground to find the board that lines the entry way of the pen to be covered in blood. Bo’s blood. “He was dragged in there it looks,” I state before leading them into the pen and flash my light where he had been lying. I hear Enos gasp aloud as the puddle of blood that had been left when the paramedics had taken Bo upon the stretcher has dried into a dark red stain upon the ground and hay.
“More blood out here,” Rosco states softly and I look up to find him with his flash light on in the middle of the barn and I slowly walk out to him, shining my light on the ground to see the trail of blood that leads to where Rosco stands. “Here’s a boot print,” Rosco states as he shines his light upon the design of looks to be of a work boot, “doesn’t look like Bo’s or any of your’s unless you have different boots than something like -”
“Those aren’t mine or Jesse’s or Bo’s,” I state, my mind turning to Shawn’s expensive looking leather boots, “maybe it’s the attacker’s boot or Shawn’s. Shawn wears a pair of work boots, maybe he got it there when he found Bo.”
Rosco shakes his head. “You just said that Bo was found over there. Why was Shawn over here if he was helping Bo for?” he snaps at me and I shrug at him, “Could be anyone’s. Bo talk to you about what happened?”
I shake my head. “No. He was very set against talking about it to anyone,” I answer as I walk over to where the pail sits on the ground, remembering placing the pail several feet away in the corner where it belongs. Shining the light near it, I see another pair of boot prints like the ones Rosco found. “Here’s some more. This pail has been moved. I put it in the corner there yesterday morning after feeding the chickens with it. Don’t know what that means,” I go silent as the lawmen look at what I am showing them, “Then again, I don’t know what any of it means. I mean there is nothing in this old barn that anyone would want or would hold any value to anyone. There is boxes up on the loft, but that is only from stuff from when we all were little that Jesse kept for sentimental purposes only. They wouldn’t be worth nothing to anyone else.”
“I’m sorry, Luke,” Enos states, placing a hand upon my shoulder.
“Thanks, Enos,” I nod at him as I walk past shining the flash light on the ground, taking in all the blood and the prints in the mud before I flash my light up against the wall on the opposite side of the pen to find more blood stains on the wall. “He must have thrown Bo against the wall or held him there. There’s blood all over it,” I point toward it, noticing the thick crack in the board, wondering if it has always been like that or if it was made there under pressure from Bo being thrown against it.
They all look silently for a moment before Rosco moves back to the pen, silently taking it all in before he steps back out. “I think it is best to wrap it up for right now. These lights aren’t showing much of anything right now. Be best to look while it is light outside,” he states walking back outside and towards his car. “So we’ll be back around eight tomorrow morning for another look to see if anything new shows up. Until then, if anything comes to mind or if you find anything else out, you know how to get a hold of us.”
“Yeah. Thanks for coming out,” I slowly state, my hands being shoved down my back pockets while my thoughts quickly turn from one thought to another in a desperate attempt to come up with a plan or an idea of what had happened.
“Sorry again, Luke. About everything,” Enos states climbing back into the passenger side of the patrol car and closes the door behind him.
***BO DUKE***
Pain, fear, and weakness abruptly explodes violently within me as my thoughts struggle desperately for ideas to get my family out of the trouble that I had put them into. If only I had stayed inside and hadn’t walked outside to see what Shawn was up to, if I had minded my own business I wouldn’t be standing where I am now. Luke and Jesse wouldn’t have the guns pointed at their heads. If I had stayed inside, perhaps Shawn would have been gone by now and life would have returned to normal, as it had been before he had entered Hazzard on his supposed surprise visit. If only…
Closing my eyes tightly in attempt to shut out all my what if questions that has seemed to resurface within me, I try to direct my thoughts and attention onto what is happening now and what I can do, now, to prevent Shawn’s threat becoming a reality. There is nothing I can do about walking into Jesse’s barn a few days ago to find Shawn and the money; what’s done, is done. But if only I could come up with an idea on how to stop Shawn from pulling that trigger, find an idea on how to rescue my family from what I had created by walking into the barn. . .But what? I was the one that had always seemed to find a way to pull Luke and I into trouble while it was Luke who had came up with the ideas to help push us out of that trouble. He was the thinker. He was the smart one. He was the calm one. Not me.
Yet with Luke kneeling upon the barn’s hay littered ground and his hands and feet tied tightly behind him, he is in no position to be coming up with any ideas to help us out of this mess. Right next to him Jesse kneels in the same fashion and then Daisy and Cooter. All because I followed Shawn to the barn to see what he was doing. . .
Looking over at Luke, I find him eyeing me coldly with accusatory blue eyes to send chills of guilt washing over me and I quickly look away only to find Shawn looking at me as well, his intense green eyes seem to dance in joy while he smiles excitedly at me. “No, no, no,” I hear myself whimpering only for his smile to widen and he pulls Luke’s hair back to send his head back and Luke yelling out in pain. Looking up at me, he places the ugly black handgun forcefully against Luke’s temple.
“You want to pull the trigger or should I do it?” Shawn asks before falling into laughter, his laughter ringing off of the thin walls and as panic washes heavily over me, my breathing becomes difficult and painful. “You might as well as do it, after all, it is you who is doing this to them. I’m only the messenger, doing what you have forced me into doing. Wonder how you’ll be able to sleep tonight knowing it was you who put the bullet in Luke’s head. Jesse’s head. Daisy’s head. Cooter’s head.” He falls back into evil laughter and as I try to walk over to him, I am overcome with harsh pain that was administered to me through his beating on me in the barn only days ago. When all this had started. . .
“I didn’t do-” I am forced into coughing before I feel the oxygen getting sucked out of me, no longer able to breathe enough to cough and more panic floods through me.
“You did everything. Stop lying to your family. Is that the last message you want to give them? You know before I finish the job you sent me to do?” he snarls at me, tightening his grip on Luke’s hair who holds back yelling out though continues to eye me accusatorily. Seemingly to quietly ask me how I could ever do such a thing to them. That they trusted me and I had let them down intensely.
Hanging my head and shaking it in sadness for a moment, I look up only to say the one thing that I can think of to say. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean -” I stop as tears flood down my face, my thoughts envisioning what will happen to them. All because of me. “I’m sorry.”
“You and your life are the most pathetic thing I ever saw. You’re a wasted life,” Shawn hisses at me as he shoves the lock off of the gun and as I go to run to him, I am harshly grabbed from behind from one of Shawn’s new friends. “Say good-bye Luke,” he laughs as he pulls the trigger to ensure a loud explosion. . .
“Luke!” I hear myself cry out as I am harshly thrown awake as intense fiery pain violently explodes within my right knee, the knee that the doctor had said I had great damage to, to send tears swelling in my eyes. A thick eerie darkness has filled my small hospital room and as my eyes slowly adjust to the darkness, intense fear and panic flood through me at seeing a dark figure leaning over my bed. My mind instantly turns to Shawn, of his evil smile and his heavy boots hitting me repeatedly, of his threat, and of the nightmare I had awaken from a moment ago. Attempting to shove myself up higher on my bed to reach the light switch, I am abruptly stopped as more pressure is forced upon my knee to send the pain accelerating within me. From besides me, I hear my monitors starting to beep at a higher pitch as fiery pain swells in my lungs with each breath I attempt to take and I half expect for Doctor Millard to race in as he had earlier. Yet no one comes. . .
“Turn the light on,” says a familiar voice and I stare at the darkened figure that leans over me and is forcing the pain within my knee and through my body. When I don’t instantly do as he says he sends more pressure and pain in my knee and for a moment I fear he is breaking it and I slowly push myself up the little room I am allowed to hit the switch with the tip of my middle finger. As the dim light slices through the thick darkness, panic swells deeply within me at seeing Shawn at the foot of the bed with a tight grip upon my knee. “Morning sleepyhead,” he grins as he reluctantly lets go of my knee while sitting upon the bed next to it, “sorry to awaken you that way, but,” he pauses to shrug his shoulders, “I had to get your attention some way. How you don’, Bo?” With that he begins laughing at himself before he falls silent.
“Get lost, Shawn,” I snap angrily at him as fiery pain engulfs my lungs and he slaps his hand back upon my injured knee and I cry out in pain to send a wicked smile across his face.
“Shut up, Bo,” he finally says, growing serious as he eyes me with intense eyes, his hand resting heavily upon my knee, “you bring any attention in here, I will execute the threat I delivered to you earlier today in the barn. Do you need me to remind you want that was?’ he pauses and I painfully shake my head no at him for a brief second. “Didn’t think so. Because if you tell anyone I was here or what you saw or what happened today or anything else that happens between us in the future, Luke and them are as good as dead and you’ll have your own sorry self to blame. You understand?”
Anger and hatred courses thickly through me as I eye him sitting on my bed, my thoughts slowly falling back upon the nightmare he had awaken me from while breathing becomes more difficult. “I understand. I won’t -” I begin to say only to be cut off by painful coughing while I struggle to breathe. Struggle to breathe despite the air tank behind me hissing air into my nose. “tell anyone.” I finally responds as I feel tears streak my cheeks. “I promise.”
“Very good. Now then,” he grins at me, “why you tell everyone you can’t remember? And not the story we went over about that other guy trying to steal your dogs?!”
“There was no other guy, Shawn. That other guy was you!” I snap harshly at him only to force the pain in my lungs to accelerate within me. Dark anger flashes in his eyes a moment before he raises his hand off my knee to issue a moment of relief before he harshly slaps it back down upon my knee, his long fingers clench tightly upon my knee cap and he begins twisting it. Grabbing onto the bars that line half of the bed I cry out in pain and fear in spite of his earlier warning as I fight back the tears that threaten to fall at the pain flashing from my knee. “Let go, Shawn!” I yell out only for him to tighten his grip and I struggle to breathe and I attempt to relax my breathing in order to lessen the attack. After a long moment, I slowly speak up, “Look Shawn, I may not tell Luke or anyone else about your sorry little life you are now living or about your awful secret you are holding from them and the rest of Hazzard, but I’m not going to lie to them either.”
“Too late, moron,” he snaps back with another evil smile at me, keeping his hold upon my knee, “you’ve already lied to them. You lied to them about not remembering a thing of what had happened and obviously, you remember everything.” he shakes his head at me. “I can tell you one thing, they know you’re lying, they know you’re holding it all back from them. You’re an awful liar!”
“I’d rather lie about not remembering what had happened than to make up an entire new story that makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. They’d never believe that dumb story you made up for me to tell them. Those dogs are mutts and aren’t worth much of anything,” I pause, eyeing him boldly while ignoring the pain he is issuing me, “not alone anything anyone would kill over. There is no one who would be dumb enough to buy into that pathetic story of your’s.”
He goes silent in thought for a long moment as he nervously eyes the closed door to send my own attention in that direction in hope of the door opening and help arriving for me. After a long moment of nothing happening and the door remaining shut, he slowly looks back at me while reapplies the pressure upon my knee and begins twisting it and I bite onto my lower lip from crying out in pain again. Seeing my pain, a large smile crosses his face and he tightens his grip even more so, putting all of his effort into hurting me as he can. “OK. Fine,” he finally states, his grab remains tight upon my knee, . “I’m going now…but remember what I told you. You even hint towards the money and what had happened in the barn and what happened now…or anything that happens between us in the near future and you’ll be watching that bullet land in the back of Luke’s head. I don’t care if you say something on purpose or accident, to the wall, to your dog, or to Jesse or Luke…I’ll make sure you see it all. Understand?”
I nod as I close my eyes against the pain and the tears that wash down my cheeks. “I already tol’ you I understand. My word is good for what it says,” I force out before I begin to cough chronically and the pain in my lungs flairs up. “Not a word to no one. To nothing.”
“Perfect,” he grins at me as he stands up and places all his pressure and weight upon my already swollen and bruised knee for a long silent minute before he abruptly lets go and takes a step towards the head of my bed. I eye him fearfully and panic flares within me as he abruptly reaches out to grab the clear tube under my chin that leads to my nose.
“No, no,” I hear myself weakly whimpering at him as I claw at his muscular arms as he tightly pinches the tube together to stop the oxygen from getting to me. Tears once more cloud my vision as the little oxygen I was getting comes to a halt and I begin to feel the blackness creeping back over me. “Let…go.” I plead with him as I try to shove his arms away only for him to laugh hysterically at me.
“You might as well as surrender to me, Bo, you are far too weak to be trying to shove me away,” he continues to laugh as he abruptly shoves the pinched tube against my throat, holding it there to increase the pain, “I wonder how long it’d take for me to stand here like this for you to die…how slow of death that would be. I would love to find out. Wouldn’t you?”
I eye him through tear filled eyes as I feel my arms falling back upon my bed from holding onto his arms in my desperate attempt to shove him away a moment before my eyes fall closed. Forcefully I reopen my eyes as the room seems to spin around me and I attempt to respond to his question only to open my mouth and shut it again.
“Before you go back to sleep,” I hear Shawn, sounding distant despite him standing right over me, “let me say this, it’s been fun. You wouldn’t mind me using your bed while you’re here, would you Bo? Obviously you won’t be in need of it for a few days,” he seems to go quiet for a long moment as he adds more pressure onto my neck, “Well, I guess I’ll be seeing you at home whenever you get out of this dump.” Once more my eyes heavily fall shut as blackness starts to settle in with the lack of oxygen, though am still able to hear him as he says, “Bye Beaureguard.” With that, I feel the pressure rise from my neck as well as the oxygen being resent through my nose as he lets go of the tube and I hear his receding foot steps.
Gasping painfully for air, I slowly force my eyes to reopen in time to watch him shoving the door open and the bright light from the hallway shines into my shadowy room as he briskly leaves my room. Leaving the door open. A small worm of relief wiggles deeply within me as I feel the oxygen freely being sent through my nose from the tube that seems to shove the darkness away, the darkness that had crept over me only minutes ago. Though, even with the help of the breathing tube in my nose, my breathing continues to be difficult and painful with the continuance of my harsh asthma attack that Shawn’s presence had ensued.
Forcing my head deeper onto the thin pillow, I slowly close my eyes in attempt to ignore the pain that is spread throughout my body and attempt to relax my breathing while I silently hope for help to arrive as it had earlier when Rosco and Enos was in here asking their questions. Only to send my thoughts rushing rapidly within me, bouncing from one thought to the other. Thoughts returning once more to the past before flooding to what had happened in the barn this afternoon to all that was said and done only minutes ago from Shawn. Fear paralyzes me once more as my thoughts turn to the uncertain future and what all this will do for my family, for Hazzard. If only I could talk to Luke, he’d know what to do.
But I can’t talk to Luke. Even if I could, would he believe me about Shawn? He never did in the past. Questions once again invade my thoughts, questions of the future, but also of the past. Of who Shawn had stole all that money from and how he got the money? Was Shawn alone or did he have friends hiding out somewhere while he was in town? What could I do about it? About Shawn, the money? Shawn is obviously in town under false pretenses and has changed since he had left Hazzard twelve years ago. If he is at the farm and in Hazzard for much longer, he will bring trouble to my family and the town of Hazzard. But what am I to do about it?
I was always the one that got us into trouble while Luke had came up with the plans and ideas on how to get us out of the trouble I got them in. He was the smart one. He was the one who always knew what to do. If I were him, he’d know what to do and where to go to deal with Shawn. But I’m not and now I am left wondering what to do with what I know and can’t tell anyone. If only I hadn’t followed Shawn into the barn, if only I hadn’t stepped on that damn stick . . .
Abruptly, a harsh sense of desperation and helplessness floods over me in realization that there is nothing I can do to stop Shawn from whatever he is doing, nothing I can do to help protect my family and my town from the danger Shawn will put upon them. Nothing I can do unless I was willing to risk Shawn’s violent threat against my family. Deep down, I am full aware of how serious Shawn was when he had made the threat against Luke and know there is no chance that I could ever risk telling anyone what I know.
Meaning it was all up to me to deal with.
Abruptly, my thoughts are interrupted by the sound of footsteps and I slowly open my eyes to watch Jesse walking into the room with a cup of coffee in one hand and a look of worry spread across his face. I force a weak smile at him in gratitude of seeing him here before I questionably look at the small clock that hangs over the small TV in the corner and then glance back at him. As if reading my thoughts, he says, “I talked the hospital into allowing me to at least stay the night tonight by saying I feared for your safety after your attack,” he pauses as he sets the coffee down upon the small nightstand that lies besides my bed before he looks down at me and his worry in his blue eyes seems to steadily increase into fear. For a moment he looks up at the monitor as if reading the lines before looking back at me to break his silence, “Damn,” he hisses as his callused hand is gently placed upon my forehead for a moment before he nervously moves to the foot of the bed where he pulls the clipboard out from it’s slot to look at it. Putting it back down, he walks back to me and asks, “How you feel, Bo? Honestly.”
Looking up at him, I slowly shrug before falling still as pain screams with each little movement I take while he watches me patiently, waiting for my answer. “I can’t,” I struggle, “breathe. It hurts. . .I hurt. Everywhere.”
He nods and for the first time see tears watering his angered eyes as he takes a step back. “I’m going to get your doctor. He should be in here as soon as your monitors started going crazy!” he snaps, anger thick in his voice and he leaves before I can say anything. For a long moment, I stare into the empty air where he had been standing before I slowly rest my head back upon the pillow and closing my eyes to block out the pain. With my eyes closed, vivid scenes from my nightmare abruptly reappears as Luke looks accusatorily at me while the gun shot from Shawn echoes loudly in my ears and I quickly open my eyes in attempt to push away the harsh scenes of the dream.
After a long moment, Jesse quickly walks in to be followed by a different doctor that had been here earlier and I begin to assume he must be the nightly doctor. He stands an inch shorter than Jesse with gray eyes that seem to express some inner emotion while his black hair shows specks of gray through out. “I don’t care if you were on your break and whether or not your nurse was at his station! What I care about is my nephew who is obviously in pain and can’t breathe and should have been helped the minute those damn monitors began acting up!” Jesse is yelling at the doctor who solemnly nods in agreement, “Now when I went to the station to get help, you were in the backroom eating your sandwich. If I could see you sitting there, you could see the monitors to see your help was needed, so it wasn’t a case of you not knowing or seeing what was going on. You knew and you opted to do nothing because you were too busy being on your break and eating! If your damn break is more important than helping people, then you have no business being a doctor and should find some other occupation where people’s lives aren’t at risk!”
Once more the doctor nods while looking at me with apologetic eyes as he moves past Jesse and over to my bed to eye the monitors before walking over to grab the clipboard from the foot of the bed and moves back besides me, reading the papers on it. “OK,” he says aloud to himself as he sets the clipboard down besides Jesse’s coffee, “I’m going to step out and grab the cart. I’m going to increase the painkillers that you’ve been given and place an air tank and mask over your mouth and nose for awhile to see if that will help with the breathing. If not, then I may be forced with putting a tube down your throat to apply more oxygen, but let me try the mask first.”
He eyes me for a long moment before he briskly turns around to walk out the door, leaving the door open to signify that he’ll be back and Jesse slowly takes the doctor’s spot by my bed. “The door,” he nervously states as he eyes the open door for a long moment before looking back at me, “was open when I came here.” He goes silent as if in thought. “Why? Who left it open?”
I am forced to think of Shawn’s hasty exit as he had left the door open upon leaving and I begin to wonder why he had done so, had he left it open on accident? Or was there a reason behind leaving it open? But why? “I don’t know. It was open when I woke up,” I lie to him before looking away from him, ashamed at myself for lying to him. I glance back at him as Jesse places a gentle hand upon my shoulder a moment before the doctor returns with a nurse pushing a car full of medical supplies.
***GARRETT DUKE***
“Well, well, well,” a loud booming voice shatters the thick silence as I welcome myself into the old farm house that Landon had directed me to over my cell phone fifteen minutes ago. I jump in surprise at his voice and I quickly look up from closing the door behind me and instantly fear and shock radiate within me at seeing Shawn tied tightly to a wooden chair a few feet from where Landon stands. “Garrett Duke,” Landon speaks up to pull my attention away from Shawn and back onto him, “just the man I’ve been looking for.”
I force a nervous smile as questions continue to run through my head and I dare another look at Shawn to find his right eye swollen and bruised. Breathing in deeply, I look back at Landon while I pull a cigarette out from the box with my lighter. “Imagine that,” I begin to say as I light my cigarette, puffing on it deeply before blowing out a thick cloud of smoke, “you called and here I am.” I give him another grin as I walk farther into the old house before coming to a halt several feet away from him and Shawn, inhaling more smoke as I buy more time in order to access my thoughts of what I am seeing.
Up until now, I wasn’t trusted to know where their hideout was located at and went a long way of having his guys blind fold me and drag me into their hideout in order to keep it a secret. Yet fifteen minutes ago he had called and demanded my presence at their hideout and had given me directions on how to reach their hideout. Here I am only to find one of Landon’s most trusted men, Shawn, to be tightly tied to a chair and somewhat beaten. Why? “So what’s so important?” I finally ask to break the silence, nervously eyeing Shawn and then him again.
“Well Garrett, I’m glad you asked,” he grins at me as he slowly walks over to Shawn who watches him nervously and he begins to fight against his restraints on his hands and feet. Landon shakes his head down at Shawn before he backhands him across the face and Shawn’s head is thrown back as he hisses aloud in pain. “It seems Shawn and I have a little problem,” Landon speaks up from behind Shawn as he pushes Shawn head forward and Shawn’s chin hits his chest. “You see in Atlanta we broke into the mayor’s house to take all that we could get. Well the mayor and his guards came home early and Shawn here shot and killed the mayor and a couple of his guards. Someone else killed the other guard. Which is why we had to leave Atlanta and hide out a while,” Landon pauses as he reaches the window a few feet away from Shawn to look out. Turning back to me, he continues, “It seems while Shawn had lingered behind to tidy up he found this certain briefcase under a chair and thought he could hide it and keep it to himself.” He goes quiet as he looks out the window that shows the thick woods that surrounds the old farm.
“And you found out about it, apparently,” I state as my eyes fall upon Shawn to find him staring angrily at me, though remains silent.
Nodding, Landon turns around to face me once more. “Yeah. You see, we trust Shawn, but also know how things may go once he got back to the old hometown and in with his old friends again. That he may be tempted to brag or what not,” Landon eyes Shawn for a long moment, “so we had a microphone in his boot and a hidden camera hidden in the grill of his car. Well,” he pauses dramatically, “one of our guys was watching yesterday afternoon when he saw and heard Shawn taking the briefcase out of the trunk and into the Duke barn and called me in to watch.” He goes silent once more, this time to yank Shawn’s hair and head back and yell down at him, “Why don’t you tell your friend’s cousin here what you did to his brother?!”
As he says this, my thoughts instantly fall upon Bo’s broken and bruised body lying on the old hospital bed as he was this morning when Kristy had talked me into visiting him. Of his partially swollen shut eyes that had screamed of pain and fear and of the oxygen hissing into his nose as well as his cut up and bruised arms that had lain weakly upon the bed. Of his thin chest slowly rising before falling still for a long moment and of his painful battle to breathe against his asthma. Of Kristy’s tears of fear that had kept her up most of last night with the thought of how close Bo had came to be beaten to death and would have if Shawn hadn’t walked in to scare the killer away.
With that thought, my eyes are frozen upon Shawn sitting in the chair in anger and mistrust at the wicked lies he created to ensure his freedom from any consequences from his actions. Anger that he would use someone’s weakness against him as he had Bo with his asthma and that he would beat him up so badly. “You beat Bo up?” I say accusingly and Shawn attempts to spit at me to come up short and I angrily throw my cigarette at him and he yells out in fear and pain as hit hisses upon landing on his lap.
“Get the damn thing off!” he yells.
I shrug as I walk up to him, confident in his lack of ability to attack me too. “Why should I? After what you did to my brother. . .”I let my voice trail off as I watch his discomfort as he stares at my half lit cigarette, “You almost killed him! I bet that makes you real proud of yourself…doesn’t it?”
“What you talkin’ about?” he eyes me accusatorily, “Why you care anyway? According to Luke you can’t stand Bo…thought I was doing you a favor.”
I back hand him across the face as Landon had done only minutes ago. “That may be true that I can’t stand him and perhaps I’d be enjoying this if you had given him a chance to defend himself. But you’re too much of a coward to do so, aren’t you?” I ask as I step forcefully upon his shoe, “Instead of giving him a decent chance to defend himself, you waited until he could barely breathe as you shot his inhaler in two. You used his weakness in order to get what you want and you know what that tells me? You are a damn coward and I have no patience for a damn coward! You going to attack someone…you give them a chance to defend themselves. That way, when you win,” I pause for affect and out of the corner of my eye I notice Landon nodding in agreement, “you know you won fairly and that you were better than them! You dumb coward!” With that, I slowly bend down to yank the cigarette butt out from his lap to throw it into the corner, spitting in his face while I do so. “Why you do it for?”
Shawn remains silent.
“He walked in as Shawn was looking at all the money that was in that briefcase he was holding back from us all, had to make sure Bo wouldn’t go tell anyone. You see,” Landon starts off as he rejoins us, “our theory is, we don’t leave witnesses. And now, thanks the coward there, we have ourselves a witness. But according to him, he won’t talk because he not only beat him almost to death, but he threatened to execute Bo’s whole family in front of him if he so much as whispers one word about this whole thing. You think I should trust Shawn?”
“You mess up so they all got to pay, is that how it works with you?” I question Shawn before turning to Landon, “I wouldn’t trust him even if my life depended on it. Then again, I wouldn’t have before all this either. He’d be willing to kill his best friend over this?”
“That’s what I said, wasn’t it?” Shawn hisses back at me, “Bo got the message across, I even went to his room -”
“So we heard,” Landon says impatiently, “we then overheard from his mike in his shoe of his threats he made to Bo in the hospital during the middle of the night last night. Got the gist of what he was doing to Bo too.”
“Which is why his breathing and all that has taken a turn for the worse,” I slowly state, recalling Jesse’s story of how he had found Bo around midnight after he came back from running down to the basement of the hospital for a cup of coffee in order to stay awake. “you are a coward. You beat people up and make your threats when they are weak and vulnerable. Bet you’re real proud of yourself, Shawn.”
Silence grows into the room for a long while as I see a couple of guys lingering around to watch and listen into what is going on. “So you do understand the problem I do have now, don’t you Garrett? Not only do I have a witness to our crime in Atlanta, I’ve got myself a trader in my own group of friends. He might as well as stabbed me in the back,” Landon continues before back handing Shawn again, “Anyway, my first thought was to kill him…perhaps beat him the same way he had your brother. But he’s been a big part of my gang for over ten years now and so far, this is the only time I’ve known that he would do such a thing. But I can no longer trust him…but on the other hand, if I was in his spot, I woulda done the same thing as well. So Garrett, what you think I should do?”
I look at Shawn for a long moment and then Landon, thinking of his question. “I see your problem, boss,” I state honestly, “but I don’t know how I can be of any help to you or what you should do. I’d say waste his pathetic life if he’s going to treat you and everyone like that, but obviously that isn’t’ want you want to do. Otherwise you’d have done it by now.”
He nods. “You think like I do,” he laughs as he places his arm around my shoulders, “anyway, you just joined so I am kind of leery of you. But I was thinking perhaps you could take over Shawn’s position or rank in the gang, take over his responsibilities since he is no longer able to be trusted. Which would also include keeping watch over him since he was keeping watch over you.”
“You gotta be kidding?!” I snap at him, “I ain’t gonna be his babysitter!”
Landon shakes his head as he shoves me away. “That’s not the answer I was wanting to hear, Garrett,” he pauses, “I was asking you nicely, but if you are going to answer me like that, I will make it an order. Understand?”
I nod. “I understand,” I pause for a long moment, eyeing Shawn for a long moment, “I’ll do what you want me to do.”
“Perfect. Start by untying him and taking him to the back room and start separating the drugs to get ready to be sold,” he pauses, “then he’ll have to get back to the farm in order to keep his story straight with the rest of his family and this hick town. I’m sure you’ll still be able to keep an eye on him there, won’t you?”
I nod. “I’ll keep my distance, but I can try.” I finally answer before moving back to Shawn and grabbing my pocketknife out of it’s black leather case that my dad had given to me when I was twelve. Bending over to begin cutting the thick ropes from his wrists, I whisper in Shawn’s ear, “You better hope my knife don’t slip to cut your wrist…that’d be a crying shame, wouldn’t it?”
Shawn eyes me harshly for a long moment as I cut through the ropes and allow the edge of my knife to gently cross his bare wrists in order to taunt him once more before I bend down and untie his tightly tied ankles.
* * *
Pulling up to the Duke family farm, Shawn slowly places his Mercedes into park before he sullenly eyes the dark farm house that stands proudly in front of him to force his thoughts back to yesterday. Back to carrying his stolen briefcase in the rain to the barn, thinking he was alone, before Bo had caught his attention by stepping on the stick. A brief smile crosses Shawn’s cold face as a vivid picture of Bo’s face full of fear and surprise that had entered his face a moment before Shawn had thrown he briefcase down to confront Bo. As his thoughts turn to beating Bo un-mercifully and as a look of terror and pain had crossed Bo’s face as he had continued to beat and force more pain upon the retard, Bo, he hears himself begin to laugh aloud. To laugh aloud at the pain and fear he had put upon the youngest Duke cousin, of his baby blue eyes looking up at him, begging him to stop hurting him. All of what he wanted so badly to do before he had left Hazzard, but was unable to due to Luke’s protectiveness over Bo. Now he was able to take out his anger and frustration upon the blond Duke, yet disappointment and anger continues to flood within him. Disappointment and anger at his lack of ability to finish the job, to kill him and get him out of his life once and for all as he longed so hardly to do. Perhaps once Landon feels safe enough to leave Hazzard, he’ll be able to kill him as he had the mayor in Atlanta, but worse. A bullet was too good for Bo. If it was up to Shawn, he’d make sure Bo would suffer before his heart beat for the last time, watch Bo die in pain before they fled Hazzard for the last time.
No. It was good that he had his limits and he stuck with them. This way, Bo has suffered with the harsh beating he had given him yesterday and now lies in the hospital, suffering and fighting to breath. Now he has to live with the beating, the pain, and with his harsh threat over his family if he were to tell. Bo would keep it to himself in order to protect his family and that alone would be enough for him to suffer with. But when the time was right, he’d beat him again, slowly and painfully until he finally gave up and died.
Suddenly, a car drives by the drive way to avert Shawn’s attention and thoughts away from the farm house and away from Bo and he glances through the rearview mirror to find a rusty green car driving away from the farm. Inhaling deeply, he turns around to face the farm again as his thoughts settle upon this morning and of Landon’s hatred and anger that he had clearly displayed for Shawn as he had beat him and tied him to the chair. His harsh accusations of being a traitor and a back stabber had stung deeply despite the hard truth of it all and if that hadn’t been bad enough, Landon had to go and call Garrett in. Made a show for Garrett before giving Garrett his rank, placing Garrett over him and as his watch dog.
Thinking of Garrett, he slowly climbs out of his car and into the warm afternoon to slowly scan the farm and the surrounding area, knowing he is out there somewhere. “Damn it,” Shawn cusses as he doesn’t find anyone anywhere around. Anger explodes deeply within him. Anger at himself for messing up so badly yesterday. If only he had kept the money in his trunk until all this had blew over, no one would have known about the money. Of his hiding it from Landon and the rest of the gang. But he got too greedy, too excited about it and felt the need to hide it farther away from Landon. He should’ve known they would have bugged him just by how nervous they acted about his plan. How nervous they were of him returning to his hometown and back with his old friends. He should have known.
“Damn it,” he repeats as he slowly walks up the few steps onto the porch, feeling the pounding in his head and upper body from Landon taking out his anger upon him. Only to force more questions within him. How was he to explain his bruises to everyone? He can’t exactly tell them the truth. . .
“Shawn!” Daisy exclaims as he walks into the dark kitchen and he jumps in surprise at seeing her, “What happened to you?”
Ignoring her question, he asks, “Where’s the jeep? I didn’t think anyone was home.” Once again, he was caught off guard by someone being home that he thought wasn’t. Luckily it was Bo who walked in on him yesterday and not Daisy, Luke, or Jesse. Sighing heavily he begins to wonder what he would have done if it was one of them. Hating Bo as bad as he does, it was easy and fun to beat him so badly. But Daisy? Who could do that to Daisy? Or Luke or Jesse? He’d have to do something, though, in order for them not to do anything to him or his gang or to say something to anyone else. If it was any of them that had walked in, they wouldn’t have been so easily threatened into not telling, though they would do anything to protect their family. Luckily for him, it was Bo who was home yesterday and had walked in on him. . .
Daisy shrugs at him with a warm smile as she offers him a hug for comfort. “I parked it in the barn,” she slowly begins, “I just washed and waxed it.” she shakes her head as a lost look crosses her face, “I had to do something to get my mind off of Bo and all that he went through. So,” she pauses once more to step away from Shawn, “I washed, waxed, and vacuumed the jeep. I parked it in the barn as to not get any dirt or rain or any other stuff on it. In other words, to keep it clean.” She goes silent, her dark eyes eyeing the bruises upon Shawn’s forehead, cheek, and chin and more worry crosses her face. “Now back to my question, what happened to you?”
“I . . .uh,” Shawn mutters before getting an idea, “I was attacked. I think it was the same guy I chased out of the barn yesterday. Not sure.” Shawn goes silent. “I was walking in town when this guy attacked me out of nowhere. Didn’t get too good of a look at his face but when he ran off I saw his hair and height and it matches what I remember from yesterday.” He shrugs, “Mustn’t wanted to leave a witness from yesterday or something.”
“Are you OK? You tell Rosco?” Daisy asks, full of concern.
“I’m fine. It looks worse than what it really is,” he shakes it off, “and I didn’t see no use in going to Rosco. Unless he’s changed for the better, he ain’t gonna catch this guy. My bet, after the beating I gave him in return, he’s already outta Hazzard by now anyway. “ He forces a laugh. “Probably had to crawl out of Hazzard on how bad I fought him off…think that is punishment enough.”
“Speak for yourself. I don’t care how bad you beat him up in return for what he done to you,” Daisy snaps at him with tears in her eyes, “nothing is punishment enough for what he did to Bo! Bo could have died because of that thing!” Tears streak down her cheeks and as Shawn attempts to comfort her, she pushes him away and gives him a cold look. “I thought you said he ran off?” Shawn eyes her questionably. “Well if you beat him so badly that he’d have to crawl out of town, then how could he run off?”
Shawn sighs heavily. “OK fine. So I didn’t beat him as badly as I said I did, but I got a few punches and hits in before he got chicken and ran off,” he pauses, “I didn’t mean to upset you. I am fine and it isn’t that big of a deal. Nothing like Bo.”
Daisy eyes him for a long moment with tears quietly melting down her tan cheeks and she roughly wipes them away before she abruptly turns around and walks out of the kitchen. Shawn sighs heavily as he watches Daisy disappearing around the corner before he hears her bedroom door heavily slam shut, leaving him alone. Glancing around the empty kitchen, Shawn shoves his hands into the deep pockets of his black coat, his long fingers reach the small box that he had hidden into his right coat pocket to send his mind and thoughts rushing wildly within him. Thoughts of Landon’s clear orders to bug the farm and anything that would be on or around Bo all the time in order to keep track of him and all that he says.
After giving it a little thought, Shawn slowly walks out of the kitchen and into the living room before eyeing Daisy’s closed door before walking over to the phone. This is the best time as any to bug the place. . .