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…..”

“But what’s The General Lee doing here?” Daisy asked “Luke must have been here too….”

“Daisy, now you know Luke didn’t have nothing to do with anything like this!”

“I know that, Bo Duke!” Daisy said, angry that Bo had thought even for a minute that she would even consider such a ridiculous idea. “But he might know something! Whoever killed that girl might have intended to kill him too!”

“And they might think that they already did. That could explain the bump on Luke’s head.”         Bo said putting two and two together.

“I don’t like this!” Daisy said “If they meant to kill Luke and they find out that he’s still alive, they could come after him again and we don’t even know who they are.”

“And neither does Luke.” Bo reminded her somberly “Luke doesn’t even know who Luke is right now.”

“You better call Enos and git him out here so we can git back home with Uncle Jesse and Luke.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” Bo reached back in through the window and grabbed the CB mike, turning the channel back to channel 22. “This is Bo Duke to Enos Strate. Enos, you got your ears on?”

“This is Enos, good buddy.” Enos cheerful voice came over the CB “What do ya need, Bo?”

“I need you up here at Henderson Ridge right away. It’s an emergency.”

“You okay, Bo?” Enos asked in a concerned voice

“I’m fine just get here as soon as you can.”

“I’m on my way.”

Daisy and Bo leaned against the body of the General to wait for Enos to arrive. Neither of them said much, each of them lost in their own thoughts. The last time there’d been a murder in Hazzard County had been over fifteen years ago when Charlie Martin took a shotgun and shot his cheating wife and her boyfriend. But there had never been a violent murder and rape like this appeared to be.

Enos pulled in behind Dixie fifteen minutes later. He got out of his squad car with a huge grin on his face “I see you found the General Lee.” He said cheerfully as he walked towards the two cousins.

“That ain’t all we found.” Bo told him, leading him around to the front of the car.

“Oh my goodness!” Enos said when he saw the girl’s body lying on the ground. He immediately shifted into his lawman mode and knelt down beside the body, his eyes scanning the surrounding area and committing details to memory. He noticed the pieces of rope lying on the ground nearby and made a mental note to make sure and mark it as evidence. He let his eyes sweep over the girl’s body, noting her injuries and the rope that had been used to strangle her. Standing up, he walked back over to Bo and Daisy and said, “I can’t be sure but I think that’s little Angie Baker.”

“Angie Baker?” Daisy exclaimed “Why she’s only thirteen years old!”

“I’m sorry, y’all but I’m gonna have to ask you to come back to the office with me so I can get a statement from you.”

“Enos, Uncle Jesse’s back at the farm with Luke. We need to get back there with them.” Bo told him in an anxious voice that clearly conveyed his worry to the deputy.

“Well, I guess I could come out there to get your statements. I’m gonna have to talk to Luke anyway.”

“Enos, you can’t talk to Luke.” Bo reminded him patiently “Luke can’t remember anything right now, not even his own name.”

“Oh, that’s right.” Enos said “I forgot about that.”

“So can we go now?” Bo asked impatiently

“Yeah…… but you can’t take the General.”

“Why not?” Bo asked starting to get irritated

“Because I have to impound him as evidence at a murder scene. I’m sorry y’all.” Enos said his sincerity coming through in his tone of voice.

“Alright.” Bo said gruffly “Come on, Daisy. Let’s get out of here.”

“I’ll be out to the farm later.” Enos called after him as Bo and Daisy climbed into the jeep. Bo raised his hand to acknowledge that he’d heard Enos as he turned on the engine and backed up, turning Dixie around so he could head for home.

Back at the farm, the two cousins hurried into the house where they found Uncle Jesse sitting in the kitchen. As they pulled into the drive they noticed that Luke was still sitting on the front porch in the swing. That was good at least they could talk privately to Uncle Jesse about what they had found at Henderson Ridge.

“Now what in tarnation is going on?” Jesse demanded as soon as they walked in the door.

“We don’t know Uncle Jesse.” Bo told him “We were just checking out some of the spots where Luke likes to go looking for the General Lee and when we found him at Henderson Ridge, we found the little girl’s body too.”

“Enos said he thinks its little Angie Baker.” Daisy told him

“Jim and Macy’s young’n? Why that child’s only thirteen years old!”

“It was terrible Uncle Jesse.” Daisy said “You could tell she’d been raped.”

“Yeah, she was lying right there on the ground in front of the General Lee.” Bo told him

“Well, what the devil was the General Lee doing there?”

“I wish I knew……it’ll help if Luke could tell us.” Bo said grimly

“This isn’t good….not good at all….” Jesse said

“Uncle Jesse….Bo and I figured that if Luke was there then whoever killed Angie probably meant to kill him too….” Daisy said slowly

“Which is how he got hurt.” Jesse said somberly, glancing worried towards the front door.

“That’s what we figure.” Bo told him “And we also thought that maybe whoever did it thought they killed Luke too……And if they find out he’s still alive…..”

“They could come looking for him to finish the job.” Jesse said finishing Bo’s sentence “Dang it! We need to find out what happened last night!”

“But how are we gonna do that when Luke isn’t able to tell us what happened?” Bo asked in a frustrated voice.

“I don’t know.” Jesse admitted “I just don’t know. But we can’t leave Luke alone right now that’s for sure.”