by: Marty Chrisman

            When Uncle Jesse returned home, Bo filled him in on the visit from Enos. Jesse agreed that considering Luke’s present condition, it was best to keep Enos away from him too. At least for the time being. Although Luke wasn’t as skittish as he’d been that morning, there was still cautiousness in his eyes as he watched the family interacting around him. It hurt Jesse to see the mistrust in his oldest nephew’s eyes but he knew that if he was in Luke’s place, he’d probably feel the same way. He understood how scared and confused Luke had to be.

Since Daisy was at work, Jesse made supper that night. While he was cooking, the boys went outside to do the evening chores. Just like earlier Bo had to tell Luke which chores needed to be done. But once he knew what to do, Luke did it willingly and without complaining. He still didn’t talk much to Bo or to Jesse for that matter. After the finished the chores, they went in the house to eat the good old fashioned country supper that Jesse had prepared. Luke listened to Bo and Jesse’s conversation but ate his own meal in silence. His silence was unnerving to both of the other Dukes but Jesse soon discovered (Like Bo had earlier) that it was hard to carry on a conversation with someone who treated you like a stranger.

After they had eaten, Luke excused himself and went to his room. Bo started to follow him, but Jesse gestured for him to let Luke alone for now.  In the bedroom, Luke paced the floor anxiously. In his mind, he didn’t know these people or recognize this place. He felt a strange detachment both from himself and from his surroundings. He wished he could remember something, anything but it was like his mind was a blackboard that had been wiped clean. He sensed that something bad had happened, really bad, but he just couldn’t remember what it was. He was scared, confused, and angry as hell. He just wasn’t sure where to direct his anger. It wasn’t fair to direct it at the people who claimed to be his family. He felt nothing but love from them even if he couldn’t return that feeling. Exhausted from the days events, he stripped off his clothes and lay down on the closest bed, which happened to be the one closest to the door. Soon he was sleeping soundly.

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by: Marty Chrisman

The Dukes decided that there was no point in saying anything to Luke about the discovery of the girl’s body. Since he couldn’t remember anything, they agreed that the news would only upset him needlessly. But the discovery of the murder made the circumstances surrounding Luke’s own injury more sinister. To protect one of their own, the family would close racks around Luke and do whatever they had to do to keep him from any further harm.

Since Daisy had to go to work and Jesse needed to go into town for a few things, Bo would have to stay at the farm with Luke, who had been sitting on the front porch swing ever since Doc left after examining him that morning. Grabbing a couple of glasses of lemonade, Bo went out on the porch to join his older cousin. Luke accepted the glass of lemonade without comment and took a drink, still staring off into the distance.

“Ya know, cousin, the scenery don’t change much.” Bo said trying to lighten up the noticeable tension in the air.

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by: Marty Chrisman

Instinctively, the first thing Bo did was grab the CB and call Uncle Jesse. “Lost sheep to Shepard. Come in.” he said into the mike “Uncle Jesse, it’s Bo. Let’s listen to some country music” Country music was the Duke’s code telling Jesse to switch to Channel 6 which was the private channel the Dukes used when they needed to talk privately without the rest of Hazzard County listening in. Bo reached in to change his CB to channel 6. “Uncle Jesse, you there?” Bo said

“This is Shepard.” Jesse said over the CB “What’s wrong?’

“Well….we found the General up at Henderson Ridge….but that ain’t all we found. There’s a dead body here too….”

“What?” Jesse yelled into the CB

“Yeah….I ain’t sure who she is but it looks like she’s been raped.”

“Oh my god…….” Jesse exclaimed in shock. “Well…I guess you better call Enos and git him out there….then git yourselves back here as soon as you can.”

“Yes, sir.” Bo said. He hung the mike and turned to Daisy, who had joined him on the driver’s side of the car so she wouldn’t have to look at the girl’s body. “Guess we best call Enos like Uncle Jesse said…..”

“Bo….you know that Rosco is gonna try to find a way to pin this on Luke….” Daisy said

“He’d better not try nothing like that!” Bo growled “I don’t think even Rosco could hate Luke that bad…..”

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by: Marty Chrisman

After Doc left, Jesse went out on the front porch to check on Luke who was sitting on the porch swing staring at the horizon. Jesse stayed by the door not wanting to spook Luke even though what he really wanted to do was to take his oldest nephew in his arms and give him a hug. But he remembered how Luke had shied away from his touch earlier and he sensed that Luke would do the same thing if he tried to touch him now.

“Uh…you alright, Luke?”

Luke turned to look at Jesse his eyes still full of distrust and fear “I guess….” He said quietly. His mouth turned up in a humorless smile “I don’t have much choice, do I?”

“You wanna come back in the house?”

Luke shook his head. “No, I’d rather stay out here for now if you don’t mind.”

“No, I don’t mind. If you need anything, just let me know.”

Luke nodded and went back to staring off into the distance. Jesse sighed and went back into the house. Daisy and Bo looked at him questioningly as he walked back into the kitchen. “He’s okay for now.” Jesse said somberly “Let’s just give him some space….don’t try to push him.” He looked at Bo “Bo, you call Mary Anne and see what time Luke dropped her off last night. Then we need to call Rosco and tell him that the General Lee’s missing.”

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by: Marty Chrisman

It was late, almost four A.M., and it was dark. The young man stumbled down the road guided more by instinct than anything else. He was a handsome young man in his mid twenties with finely chiseled features, sapphire blue eyes and dark brown curly hair. Six feet tall, he had lean muscular build and was casually dressed in brown cowboy boots, blue jeans and a blue plaid shirt.

Reaching a dirt driveway, he walked around to the back of a weather beaten two story frame house with a screened in back porch. A white pickup truck and a white jeep CJ7 with the name Dixie written on both sides of the hood with a golden Eagle painted in the middle were parked in the barnyard between the house and the old barn.

The young man stumbled up the steps to the porch and entered the house through a back door that opened into the kitchen. Without bothering to turn on the lights, he made his way through the darkness to the stairway and climbed the steps to the second floor. He opened the door to the bedroom at the top of the stairs and went inside. Ignoring the single bed directly in front of him, he crossed to the second single bed in the room. He collapsed across it, face down, without bothering to get undressed.

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