by: Kristy Duke

Jesse Duke grips tightly onto the black leather steering wheel of the old Ford truck while Luke sits silently in the passenger seat, staring silently out through the open window at the woods that line the road. His thoughts are clouded with the little info he knows that had gotten them in the truck, going down the road, searching the woods for his cousin.  Only for his thoughts to freeze upon Bo, his state of mind through everything, and what had led him to sneaking out through their window and into the woods. Only to come to the single explanation he had come up with earlier; Bo blames himself for losing the farm and had his mind set upon finding a way to make his wrong right. Only for the strong and accusatory words Luke had spoken to Bo yesterday during their move to strongly begin yelling within him. Deep down, Luke knows he wasn’t the only one to blame for Bo running off as he did. Bo was already feeling responsible for what had happened, he didn’t need Luke to tell him, and he would have ran off whether or not Luke had said what he did.

“See anything?” Jesse asks to break the silence that built within the cab of the truck.

“Yeah, a whole lotta trees, rocks, and mud. No Bo,” Luke states sarcastically before he looks up at the gray sky that lingers above despite the rain coming to a halt an hour ago. “I’m having that bad feeling again,” he slowly states, speaking of the feeling he always seems to get whenever Bo is in trouble or hurt, “he’s in trouble or hurt. Maybe both.”

Jesse sighs heavily before stealing a look at his oldest nephew, knowing better than to question his strong feelings and concerns he is having for Bo. The bond his boys has with each others seems to be strong enough that they often know when the other is in trouble of some sort or another even without being there to see it or know it. “It’s that damn hill. I bet you a dozen to one he fell down it,” Jesse hisses before he pulls his truck over to a flat area in the ditch and pulls the keys out of the ignition, “the hill or the drop off is right over there,” he points into the woods, “let’s take a hike and have our self a look to see if we can find anything.”

Luke eyes him momentarily before throwing open the door to step out, his boot sinking into the mud. “It’s a start,” Luke answers as he joins Jesse at the entrance of the woods. They look at each other before they step into the shadowy woods and Luke allows Jesse to take lead, knowing he would know it a little better than himself to get there faster. After what seems to be several quiet minutes they reach the cut off that seems to be wide and deep. Luke steals himself a look down the steep hill and he finds himself holding his breath. “Well I don’t see no one down there or anything,” he pauses as he pauses as he looks up at Jesse who begins to walk along the hill line.

“It’s too dark to see anything from up here. You go that way,” Jesse points behind him and then points forward as he says, “I’ll go this way.”

Luke nods as he sends a hand through his hair and he turns away from Jesse to start walking the line of the hill, looking down at the mud at his feet and the tall trees that fall down the hill. “Bo!” he begins to yell, his feeling growing stronger within him. “Bo Duke! Yell if you hear me! Bo!” Hearing his yell come back at him, he slowly continues to walk ahead before he abruptly sees thick boot tracks in the mud that run to the cut off before stopping. Breathing in deeply, Luke glances down the hill to find a deep implant in the mud before slide marks go down hill. Looking up at Jesse that continues to walk the other direction, Luke thinks of  yelling at him before thinking differently and glances back down at the dark hill. “C’mon Bo,” he hisses as he slowly begins to slowly and cautiously finds rocks and trees to begin climbing down hill, noticing thick patches of blood on the way down only to send his heart to a dead halt of dread. After a long moment of following the tracks downhill, he finds it coming to an end right in the mud against a large thick tree trunk. “Bo,” Luke states as he runs his hand across the deep implant in the dirt that is spotted heavily in blood, as well as upon the trunk of the tree. “Bo!” he says louder as he reaches over to pick up a large patch of jean fabric that is covered in blood and stuck upon the bark of the tree.

Looking up he sees Jesse’s shadow, Luke yells, “Uncle Jesse!” he pauses as Jesse comes to a halt, “Over here!”

Jesse looks at Luke and nods, his heart stops in dread as he begins to make his way to where Luke seems to be kneeling down half way down the hill. He had been walking along, praying not to find his nephew down the hill, but now Luke seems to be telling him he found something. Jesse comes to a halt on the hill above where Luke is. “What is it? I don’t see Bo,” Jesse states.

Luke nods up at him before waving the bloody jean fabric up at him. “Bo’s not here, but he was,” Luke pauses before he looks down to see another pair of boot print a foot away joined with what looks to be Bo’s foot prints. “Damn,” he states shaking  his head as he looks down the hill and through the opening of the trees, he sees the familiar Duke land, but no sight of Bo or anyone else.

“What is it, Luke?” Jesse questions above to grab Luke’s attention.

“Wait a minute, I’ll join you,” Luke takes a last look to where it looks where Bo’s fall had come to an end. Sighing heavily he begins his climb up hill. Once up on top of the hill where Jesse stands, he shows Jesse Bo’s torn jeans and says, “Looks like he fell here,” he points Bo’s foot prints, “and landed against that tree there. Blood trails down the hill and on the tree there,” he pauses for a long moment to look around their surroundings, “but it looks like someone else was with him. There was another pair of footprints down there and it looks like Bo went with whoever it was.”

“You mean kidnapped?” Jesse asks, his heart once more coming to a halt in fear for his youngest.

“Looks like it,” Luke goes silent as he looks around again, “the closest place here is our farm over there.” He points over the drop off and into the woods. “I have a feelin’ we should go have a look at the old farm. And not just for old time sake, either.”

Jesse nods as he places a protective hand on Luke’s shoulder for a moment. “Well then,” he slowly states, “let’s go have us a look.”

Luke silently gets into the passenger seat while Jesse climbs behind the steering wheel before he turns the truck back and pulls it out onto the muddy dirt road.

“For once, Luke,” Jesse states as he follows the road to the farm he had been raised on, the farm he yearns to move back into, “I wish your feelings would be wrong.”

“Yeah, me too,” Luke agrees, staring blankly out through his open window.

 

SHERIFF ROSCO COLTRANE

 

Sheriff Rosco Coltrane’s patrol car squeals to a halt in front of the newly acquired Hogg farm and for a moment his attention falls upon Hogg’s niece’s car. “Rory,” he hears himself state aloud, his thoughts fall upon the several times she had stopped by the sheriff’s station while growing up and of the last time she had seen her at her wedding. Of her new husband that even he knew better than to trust. Only to make him wonder why Hogg has opted to trust them in a business proposition that they made with their supposed boarding house. “Oh well,” he states knowing better than to question Boss. Throwing open his car door and stepping out, movement catches his attention and he looks over to find Craig walking out of the barn, rubbing his hands upon his pants Rosco watches him get closer, noticing the blood and mud that covers part of Craig’s clothes. “Mornin’ Craig,” he nods at him as he steps forward to greet Craig, “what happened to you?”

Craig forces a smile at the sheriff and glances down at his outfit and fights to hid his own fear at being caught looking like this. “Eh me and Rory took a walk out in the woods and I slipped. I just haven’t had the time to get changed yet.”

Rosco eyes him unbelieving for a moment and then shrugs. “I see,” he states before looking up at the farm house and once more is filled with guilt and dread at his part of taking the Dukes’ home from them. “Boss sent me out here to see if you made any progress since he left and to see if you need anything.”

Craig shakes his head at him. “He only left a couple of hours ago. What he think? We can make this into a boarding house in a couple of hours? Damn Rosco,” he shakes his head, “I think he’s lost it. That is if he had it to begin with.”

“You hush! You don’t come in  here talking about him like that!” Rosco states, disgusted that they would talk about Boss like that. “You and Rory want something for breakfast? I can have Enos grab something in town to run to you in no time.”

“We’re fine, Rosco. We got breakfast covered,” Craig states in annoyance, “now if  you don’t mind, Rosco, we’re busy.”

Rosco eyes him for a long moment, his hand resting upon the butt of his gun. “If you say so, Craig.” He eyes the Duke farm house once more for a moment before his eyes fall upon the barn, his gut yelling at him that something was wrong. But what?  Shaking his head, he throws open the driver’s door once more and states, “I’ll let Boss know.”

“You do just that. We’ll call if we need anything,” Craig smiles and winks at Rosco and Rosco lets out a breath of exasperation, “bye Sheriff.”

Rosco waves at Craig before turning the car on to slowly back out of the driveway , remembering old times of coming here to arrest the Duke boys, of giving them a hard time. The way it should be. Sighing heavily, he throws his patrol car into drive and drives past the familiar old Duke farm and pulls forward only to find Jesse’s old dusty white truck coming at him. His heart aches at seeing the Dukes at their loss, their loss that he had helped Boss take from them.

Rosco yelps out in surprise as the old white truck quickly swerves and comes a halt in front of Rosco, cutting the road off in front of Rosco.  “No, no, no,” Rosco quickly steps onto the brakes to send the tires squeal to a halt, stopping a foot in front of Jesse’s driver’s door. “Git, git, git,” he stutters as he throws open the door to quickly to get out of the car with questions rolling in his mind. Looking up, he finds both Luke and Jesse now standing out of the truck, looking at him with wide eyes full of fear and worry. “Well Jesse and Luke Duke,” he hears himself say as he makes his way around his car, “if this is about your old farm, there is nothing that can be done about what is done. It now belongs to Hogg and his niece for their new boarding house.” Anger is quick to hit Rosco for letting that slide, Hogg had made it clear not to say it to anyone. Their secret.

“Boarding house?” Luke questions, eyeing Jesse for a moment before turning back to Rosco, “Never mind, Rosco. That’s not why we stopped you.” He pauses to take in Rosco’s surprised look. “Look Rosco, something’s wrong with Bo. Bo ran off this morning. Long story short, we found his blood and this,” he lifts up a blood covered patch of jeans, “on that hill in the woods. He is no longer there, but he was. By the footsteps, looks like he left with someone.”

Rosco raises his eyebrows, his mind instantly going to Craig as he had walked out of the barn, of the blood and mud on his shirt that he had gotten from supposedly falling. But would he be cold enough to hurt someone? “Left with someone he knew?” Rosco asks, refusing to believe Hogg’s new business partners had something to do with the Duke’s disappearance.

Luke shakes his head. “I doubt it. He ran off this morning, I presume, to find a way to get the farm back. He feels responsible for losing the farm and I am assuming he had went out this morning to take it upon himself to try to get it back,” Luke calmly states as he pockets the bloodied fabric, “unless he prearranged to meet someone in the woods, he wouldn’t just find someone he knew in there. Don’t know who he’d call and ask for help if t hat is what he did either,” Luke pauses as he looks into the woods, “plus with all the marks on that hill, the blood, it is obvious that he fell and is hurt.”

Rosco eyes Luke and then Jesse who eyes him with a stern and impatient look. “Well, I don’t know what you want me to do about it,” Rosco states though knows they are asking for his help in finding the youngest Duke.

“Rosco Coltrane!” Jesse abruptly breaks his silence, his voice and eyes are both full of rage and fear, “You are the sheriff of this here town of Hazzard and it is your responsibility to serve and protect the citizens of your town! We have found ample evidence to prove that Bo has been seriously hurt and has been kidnapped!”

“We have?” Rosco questions as he feels the war breaking loose within him. The war of right and wrong, the war of what he should do and the consequences that would follow each actions. The war that would never have arisen within him over twenty years ago, but now seems to be the war that he wakes up fighting every day for  the past few days. After years of hard and honest police work, hard and honest work he had given to the people of Hazzard, he had rebelled against them after they took his pension. He sided with Boss Hogg and for the longest time his conscience was fine with it and what he was to do. He was fine doing dirty and dishonest work for a living, ripping off the people that ripped him of his highly earned pension. But now? Sighing heavily he attempts to shove his doubt away before saying, “All I’ve got is your story of what you supposedly saw in there and some ripped fabric that could have been dipped in paint for all I know.”

“Rosco!” the Duke patriarch yells with even more anger, “You want to see the hill where he fell? See his blood and the footsteps? Let’s go! You are the sheriff of this town and it is about time you do your job, whether you like it or not!”

Rosco eyes Luke and Jesse before he glances into the dark woods that Jesse is angrily pointing into and once more he is remembered of Craig and the blood on his clothes. Of his story of being in the woods and slipping in the mud. Only to raise more questions within him. Hogg would be upset at him if he were to say his doubts and questions of his new business partners, if he would do something to jeopardize his new investment. But Jesse was right. He was the sheriff and if Bo was really hurt and in trouble, it was up to him to step up to the plate and do something about it. Whether he was a Duke or not. Whether it would upset Hogg or not. If he wanted to hold the people of Hazzard responsible for his lost pension, then he had to hold the people of Hazzard responsible for giving him the job t hat gave him purpose at life.

“Well,” he hears himself saying as he looks back at Jesse and Luke, their intense anger they had a moment ago seeming to have melted into fear and sadness only to grip Rosco’s heart tightly. “you’re right. It’s my job. I believe you about the sight, but in order to do my job correctly, I better have a look at what  you are talking about myself. You know anyone that would want to hurt him? That would do this to Bo?”

Jesse and Luke eye each other, surprised that Rosco has turned so serious about this quest of finding Bo, but also relieved to have the law seemingly to be on their side for once. “As far as we know, there is no one that would wish him harm or that would kidnap him. We came out here looking for him in fear of seeing him lying hurt on the hill and instead found that he has to be hurt, but him no where in sight,” Luke finally speaks up as he runs another nervous hand through his hair, “the only thing that would make sense to me is if he had fallen down the hill as it looks like he did,” they begin to walk into the woods, “and had overheard someone talking about something they didn’t want anyone to know about. They kidnap him to shut him up. Or perhaps he didn’t hear anything, just the thought is enough for them to take preventative measures.”

Rosco nods as he becomes nauseous at the thought of the mess Hogg may have gotten them into this time if it was Craig who had hurt or kidnapped Bo. He may have little to no love for the Dukes, but he would never wish them harm. No matter what Hogg would get in return. “Hopefully all of this is just some misunderstanding,” Rosco states as they walk into the thick of the woods.

Luke shakes his head; doubtful. “That’s not what my gut feeling is telling me and my gut feeling is seldom wrong when it comes to Bo,” Luke states as he points out Bo’s foot prints to the hill.

“Trust him when he says that, Rosco. Luke knows when Bo’s hurt or in trouble,” Jesse backs him up as he stops and the other two join him as he points down at a set of four big animal prints in the mud, “looks like a big dog.”

Luke nods as he begins back towards the hill and the Rosco and Jesse follow him. “What’s this about our farm being made into a boarding house, Rosco?” Luke slowly asks.

“Yeah, um,” Rosco stutters as he watches the prints before they fade away off the hill, looking down he sees where someone had fallen and slid and through the light between the shadows, sees what may be blood. “I wasn’t suppose to tell you or anyone about that. Especially you. Hogg’s gonna kill me when  he finds out I did.”

“Look Rosco. Right now I care very little about Hogg or whether he’ll be upset or not! What I care about is finding my cousin before he gets hurt worse than what he already is!” Luke snaps angrily at me, “Now tell me about the damn boarding house!”

Rosco nods as he eyes the big drop off before eyeing how far Bo had made it before getting stopped by the thick tree. “Hogg’s niece, Rory and her husband Craig is the ones that came up with the idea and ran it past Hogg a month ago. Problem was they didn’t have the farm or the house to do it until Hogg got his hands on your farm,” Rosco pauses nervously to eye them guiltily, “they are to build it up to their design, Rory will do the meals and house chores while Craig will take care of the farm. Hogg will get sixty percent and they’ll get forty percent.”

Luke eyes him wildly. “You mean to tell me that this Rory and Craig has agreed to do all the work around the place and yet make less than Hogg who seems to only sit back and collect the cash?” Luke asks in disbelief and Rosco nods, “Something wrong there to me. No one in their right mind would agree to something like that unless they were getting something else out of it in return to make all their work valuable to them.”

Rosco shrugs, relieved that he didn’t say or accuse him of running them off the road to get their hands on their farm; though Rosco knows they must already assume that is what happened. “Don’t ask me. Hogg don’t give me the details,” he slowly states, “I’m just telling them how I was told.”

Luke nods while Jesse eyes him questionably. “What you thinking, Luke?” he slowly questions, catching that look in Luke’s eye of an oncoming idea.

“I’m thinking we should drive by our old farm, as we were planning on doing, and see for ourselves the progress they had on Hogg’s boarding house. I’ve got myself a feeling that this Rory and Craig has something up their sleeve that they are not telling Hogg or Hogg has something up his sleeve that he’s not telling Rosco here. Something is definitely not right with that deal Rosco just described,” Luke answers stepping back, no longer able to stomach the look of his cousin’s big fall, “I think I owe it to Bo to have a look to see if I can find him or find something leading to him at the farm.”

“Git, git!” Rosco stutters, his inner turmoil exploding within him at Luke’s suggestion, “I can’t let you do that. I got strict orders to arrest any Duke that steps foot on that property for trespassing!”

“I never said anything about stepping foot on any property, Rosco. That road driving by our old farm is public land and you can’t arrest us for trespassing on it for driving on it,” Luke winks at Jesse.

“You can’t possibly find anything out by just driving by. They’re not dumb enough to tie Bo out in the open to display what they did. That is if they did do what you are accusing them of. Besides,” Rosco continues, “I was just there and I saw no sign of Bo anywhere out in the open. Saw just what you would by driving by.” He gulps heavily, feeling like a fish out of water as his mind remains fixated upon Craig and his bloody and mud covered clothes, of the panicked look in his eyes when he walked out of the barn to see him there.

“Look Rosco,” Luke eyes Rosco firmly, refusing to lose ground to the sheriff, “give me some room here. Right now I care very little about your threat of arresting me for trespassing. All I care for is for finding my cousin.”

Rosco nods. “OK, I’ll give you some room. How about I distract Craig and Rory and you can go have a look at the barn,” Rosco states, proud to be of some help to the Dukes, “that’s all. You don’t find Bo or anything in the barn, then we retract and regroup.”

“It’s a start,” Luke nods, his hands are shoved into his pockets.

“Yeah, it’s a start, but why the barn?” Jesse eyes the sheriff with suspicion, “You know something, don’t you Rosco? You know we’ll find Bo in the barn because Hogg had him kidna-”

“Whoa Jesse!” Rosco quickly interrupts Jesse, “I agreed to work with you two and give you some leeway on this for the sake of finding Bo. That’s all. Don’t stand there looking at me and accusing Hogg of having something to do with this. He didn’t. If anyone did, it was Craig. Not Hogg.”

Luke eyes Rosco for a long moment, catching sight of his uncle’s wise suspicion. “Then why the barn if you know nothing about it?”

Rosco sighs, knowing he has to tell them what he saw otherwise Hogg will be forever accused for whatever happens to Bo in the eyes of the Dukes. “Look. I want this kept between me and you for the time being. I . . .I really don’t know what it means,” he goes silent, eyeing them both for a long moment before they both reluctantly nod at him, “Hogg sent me over there to check on their progress and to see if they wanted help or some breakfast. Well, when I pulled up Craig was walking out of   y’all’s barn,” he pauses for a moment as he catches what he had said, “I mean walking out of the barn. Anyway, he seemed to be startled by my presence. But at the time, I just assumed it was their dislike for me. But when Craig got closer to me, I noticed blood and mud on his clothes and hands,” Rosco pauses again to take in the startled looks on both Dukes’ faces, “I asked him what happened and he stated that he was in the woods with Rory a little while ago and he slipped and fell in the mud. He was quick to tell me he didn’t need anything or any help. That they would call if they needed anything.”

“It has to be Bo’s,” Luke slowly states, “and if he was coming from the barn, maybe that’s where Bo is.” Luke nods at Rosco. “Thanks Rosco. You won’t regret this.” He states before eyeing Jesse and continues, “How about we ride in Rosco’s patrol car to the farm? I’ll ride in the back and just before you pull into the drive and is behind the barn, I’ll sneak out. Rosco, you and Jesse go to the house claiming that Jesse has forgotten something of great value to him and that you agreed to bring him to the house to retrieve it. While you two are doing that, I’ll sneak into the barn to see what I can find. I’ll meet up with you two, hopefully with Bo, around the corner by the woods as so they won’t be able to see you stopping and all. How’s that?”

Rosco eyes Jesse momentarily and then back at the young Duke, wondering what would happen if Rory or Craig didn’t buy their story or refused them in. “What if they don’t let us into the house?” he voices his worry.

“Tell them you’ll call Hogg and that he’ll find other employees that will listen to his sheriff, people that won’t question your authority. Despite you two’s differences, he needs you to be the sheriff. No one else would let him get away with what he does get away with towards you. They’d know that if she is related to Hogg,” Luke states in confidence, “if that don’t work, well by then I should already be inside the barn. So then go back to the patrol car and wait for me where I  had just said to meet me at. I don’t return, well then, call Enos and you two can come in after me. But with them at the house, unless they have someone else there we don’t know about it, it should be a piece of cake to get Bo out of there.”

“If he is in there,” Rosco is quick to correct him and Luke nods in agreement. “OK, it sounds like a plan.”