Chapter 2: Getting to Know You

Jesse stared at the lady shaking his hand. Her smile seemed genuine, and she looked pleasant enough so far, but he knew better than to trust anyone on looks alone. She was still a Yankee, after all, and she had been sent by Rosco. He decided that polite aloofness was the best track.

"Pleasure," he responded noncommittally. Calloway nodded and turned her stunning smile on Bo next.

"Brooklyn?" the youngest Duke asked in amused disbelief. "Your name is Brooklyn? Your parents certainly had a sense of humor." Beside him, Luke and Jesse both cringed. So much for polite aloofness. Both instinctively turned towards Calloway to see how she would react. To Jesse's relief, her smile remained unwavering.

"I'm sure they did," Brooklyn responded easily, no trace of anger or annoyance in her voice. "though," she added, "I'm pretty sure your parents did too, Beauregard."

At the sight of Bo's face, Luke couldn't help but burst into laughter. "Ha ha! She's got ya there, cuz!"

Bo glared at him then turned scowling back to Brooklyn. "It's Bo," he said.

"Brooke," the deputy answered, extending her hand to the youngest Duke. He studied her with suspicion, then grinned in spite of himself and took her hand.

"Fair enough," he said amiably. Luke elbowed him out of the way to introduce himself.

"Luke Duke," Deputy Brooke said as they grasped hands. It was not a question.

"Yes, ma'am," Luke answered. He had been studying her, as he could see that she was studying them. His time in the Marines had taught him a lot about people, but this girl was an enigma. A northern city girl working and living in Hazzard county was strange enough, but this was even stranger. A deputy working for Hogg but seemingly friendly as can be… well, it wasn't unheard of. After all, Enos was a very decent man, and Cletus hadn't been too bad. Could it be that her outward friendliness was genuine? On the other hand, she had rushed right over at Rosco's bidding. Remembering this, Luke frowned and withdrew his hand.

"If you don't mind my askin', ma'am, what exactly are you doin' out here?"

"Oh, Rosco sent me to arrest you both," she answered calmly. Jesse winced at the complete casualty of her voice. It was simply a fact, and she was stating it. He had just been warming up to her, but he instantly put his guard back up, feeling slightly deceived.

"Now you just hold on a minute, Deputy Calloway! I don't know what J.D. or Rosco done told ya, but my boys ain't done nothin' wrong!"

Brooke blinked and looked at him, about to say something in reply when Bo jumped in.

"Yeah, they're always framin' us for something! Didn't even ask us for our side of the story though, did ya?" Bo was angry. He had began to like the look of this girl, but she was apparently no better than the other lawmen in Hazzard after all, and he hated being proven wrong.

"That's right," Jesse continued angrily. "Well, you can just clear out of here, missie, cause you ain't got no business arrestin' my nephews! There's enough prejudice in this world without you turnin' against us afore you even get to hear what they got to say!"

Brooke tried to speak again, but Luke took over the angry tirade.

"Look, whatever it is that we're supposed to have done now, we've been busy all day. We went right from here to Rhuebottom's store to the Boar's Nest, and then back here again. And we got witnesses who'll back us up on that."

"And I'll tell you another thing," Bo started, intent on explaining to Brooke exactly what he thought about her coming down from her big city in the north to interfere with their small town lives. Before he could continue, however, Brooke held up her hand.

The deputy waited a minute before speaking. Well, I guess I should have expected this, she thought to herself. Her friends in New York had all warned her that the southerners would not take kindly to her presence, but her smile had never failed to win people over completely. She was perfectly well aware of her best asset and she took full advantage of the fact. After all, that was how she had gotten the deputy position in the first place. Why were these people so suspicious of her? She studied the family in front of her again, wondering if her initial assessment had been off somehow.

"Mr. Duke, is there somewhere we can all sit down?" she asked finally. The older man looked puzzled, as though he had been expecting a much different response. Brooke wondered briefly how police visits to this farm normally took place.

"Come along inside, then," Jesse answered grudgingly.

The three Dukes and the deputy all moved inside to the living room. Jesse seated himself in his easy chair with a sigh, as the boys took their seats on the couch. Brooke sat in a chair across from the cousins and studied them yet again. This time she waited until she could feel their impatience before she began speaking.

"First of all, I want to clear the air between us. We seem to have gotten off to a bad start."

"Well, whatdya expect, when ya come chargin' in here accusin' us of whatever your accusin' us of?" Bo demanded.

"What exactly are ya chargin' us with anyways?" Luke asked, realizing suddenly that they still didn't know why they were being arrested.

"Robbing one of Hogg's armored cars, according to Rosco."

"Always the armored cars," Luke muttered to himself. It was always one of two things: either the armored cars or the bank. He suddenly found himself wishing that once, just once, Boss would come up with something a bit more original.

"And you may notice," Brooke continued suddenly, swiveling around to look at Bo, "that I did not accuse you. I said Rosco sent me to arrest you two. I'm not accusing you of anything."

Her statement was met by silence. Luke found himself puzzled again over the strange girl. He just couldn't quite figure out which side she was on. Bo sat back, looking a little chagrined, but Jesse merely counted his blessings. He didn't know what was going on with this deputy either, but he wasn't willing to argue over the matter if she wasn't accusing his nephews of robbing this mysterious armored car.

"Now look," Brooke said, turning to Jesse this time. "I've done plenty of background checking on all of you. I know about your run-in with the government, and I don't know if that's why you seem to have such a problem with the law around here or if that has something to do with another story. But I can see quite plainly that you're against me. Now, I have to know, is that because I'm a police deputy or because I'm a New York Yank?"

Jesse regarded her thoughtfully. "Look, missie, where you're from isn't what's botherin' us. I suppose we're against you because we thought Rosco and J.D. had got ya turned against us afore we had a chance to defend ourselves."

"You never gave me a chance," Brooke said. For the first time Luke saw a chink in her emotional armor as a hint of anger and frustration slipped out in her voice. "I only got here this morning. I hadn't met any of you until I showed up not ten minutes ago. What do you think I'm doing here if not to get your side of the story? Why do you think I jumped at the chance when Rosco asked me to come get your boys? After all I've heard about you, I couldn't wait to actually see for myself if everything they say about you is true."

The Dukes looked at the floor guiltily. It was true, they had assumed a lot about her. What she was saying did make sense.

"The fact is," the deputy continued, "you people are the ones with a prejudice. You see my uniform and assume I'm corrupt. You hear my accent and assume I'm going to look down on you. I came out to your farm specifically to give you a chance to prove Boss and the sheriff wrong about you, and you accuse me of not being willing to get to know you before judging you."

"Look, we's jus' lookin' out for ourselves," Jesse said gently. He knew the northerner was right, of course, but he also knew that after all the times that Rosco and Boss had had them set up, they had the right to be suspicious of people sent by him.

"Yeah, you have to understand the way things work around here," Bo said. "We've ended up on the wrong side of Boss Hogg's schemes a few too many times."

Brooke leaned back in her chair and studied the Dukes yet again. She knew what she was doing was technically manipulation... the careful hint of emotion that she allowed to slip through, the way she placed the blame on a common enemy, all working to gain their trust. She couldn't help it, and it wasn't planned. It simply came naturally. This, however, was getting frustrating. She didn't know it, of course, but the Dukes were just as confusing to her as she was to them. Analyzing people also came naturally to her. It might be a cold, calculating type of gift, but it could come in handy living in a place like New York. It never took her this long to figure people out. Closing her eyes, Brooke took a few calming breaths. She couldn't let emotions get in the way of her analysis, or she might miss some important clue to the character of the two boys and their elderly uncle. She mentally shifted through her thoughts and decided to go with her original conclusion as to the Dukes.

"Like I said, I've done some background checking on you all. You seem to have a lot of friends in town," Here she paused briefly, recalling the conversation she'd had with the funny little mechanic who seemed quite indignant at her hints that the Dukes could possibly have anything to do with illegal activities. "I believe you. I want to make that perfectly clear. I don't think you two had anything to do with that robbery."

"But you're going to arrest them anyways?" Jesse asked resignedly.

"No, of course not. I just said, didn't I? I know they didn't do it."

Bo and Luke exchanged confused glances. This wasn't how things usually turned out for them. Cletus was never bright enough to figure out that they were innocent, and Enos was too devoted to his job to just let them go.

Brooke glanced down at her watch. Her job was done. She could see it in their eyes – they were starting to believe what she was telling them. It was time to get out before they changed their minds.

"Gentlemen, I have to be going now. It really was a pleasure getting to have this little chat. Good day." With that she got up and walked outside into the summer sun. She turned around to see that the Dukes had followed her, still trying to puzzle out what was going on.

"You're really ain't arresting us?" Bo asked. "Ain't you gonna get in a heap of trouble?"

"Yeah, Boss ain't gonna be happy if you come back empty-handed," Luke said with a touch of concern.

"Well," Brooke said, surprising them with a mischievous grin. "From what I gather, that's how most deputies come back after chasing you two." With that, she tossed the keys to the General at Bo, got into her patrol car, and drove away leaving behind three very confused Dukes.

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In a back room of the Boar's Nest a short, fat man in a completely white suit was pacing back and forth as Sheriff Rosco watched.

"Now, look here, Rosco," Boss Hogg said. "this here plan of mine ain't gonna work if you can't even get a hold of the Duke boys long enough for me to let them go again!"

Rosco scratched his head. His little fat buddy sure did have some strange ideas. "Uh, Boss, why exactly would we want to let the Duke boys go once we finally catch them?"

"Rosco, I've explained this to ya a hundred times!" Boss sighed in frustration. It was difficult being as clever as he was when all he had to work with was people like Rosco. "We're framin' the boys for stealin' that armored truck of mine, remember? Well, if we're gonna make a case against 'em, we need to catch 'em with it!"

"And we're gonna do that by puttin' them in the hoosegaw?" Rosco asked, still not understanding.

"No, you dipstick!" Boss Hogg stopped pacing and wandered over to his desk. His frustration was getting the better of him, and now he needed something to eat. Reaching into the top drawer of his desk, he pulled out the makings for a humongous sandwich. As he was lathering a piece of bread with a layer of mayonnaise that was at least an inch thick, he turned back to his unfortunate sheriff.

"Now look, Rosco. That armored truck by itself is small potatoes. I don't use it officially anymore. But in the back, it's filled to burstin' with all them artifacts that Walters and Slade have been stealin' from those bigshot museums in Atlanta!"

Rosco nodded, watching with a watering mouth as Hogg continued working on his sandwich. It now resembled a miniature buffet line.

"Rosco, what's the first thing the Duke boys always do when we put 'em in jail?"

"They break out…" Rosco answered miserably.

"Exactly! Now, we're gonna arrest them Dukes for hijacking that truck. Of course, they're gonna want to prove they ain't had anythin' to do with it. So once we let 'em bust outta here, they're gonna go huntin' for that truck so they can bring it back here. That's when we're gonna get 'em!" Boss laughed maniacally and took a huge bite out of his sandwich. It was going to be a good day. Rosco scratched his head again.

"Ok, Boss, if you say this idea of yours is gonna work, I guess it will."

"You're damn right it will!" Hogg exclaimed through a mouth full of food. "Uh, you did toss the key to the back of the truck into the General Lee like I told you to do, didn't you?"

"Yes, Boss," Rosco answered gleefully. "Khee khee! Just tossed it right in to their back seat! I paid some girl in the Boar's Nest to keep 'em occupied, so they ain't seen me do it neither!"

The door to Boss's office suddenly burst open. Hogg swiveled around as two suspicious looking young men walked in.

Now, friends, this here is Walters and Slade, Boss's henchmen. Walters and Slade had been working together for weeks, acquisitioning all the stolen artifacts that now sat in the back of the armored truck. When Boss came to them nearly a month ago with this job, they didn't see any reason why they should let the little fat man get seventy percent of the reward money when they was the ones doing all the work. So, of course, they had made their own plans to double cross him. But don't y'all worry none. Boss is wily.

"Boss, we got a problem!" one of the men burst out as they came charging through the door.

"Oh, what is it now?" Boss asked grumpily. He was going to need another sandwich.

"The keys to the back of the truck are gone!" the other man yelled indignantly. "Now, we know you had them last, what'dya do with 'em?"

Boss laughed evilly. His planning had paid off, it seemed.

You see, folks, after years of being frequently double-crossed by his own double-crossers, ol' Hogg has finally got it figured to keep his merchandise out of reach of his own goonies.

"Now, why would y'all be needin' a key to the back of the truck?" Boss asked innocently. "It's all loaded and ready to go. You ain't needin' anything outta there, so the key stays somewhere safe! This way I know y'all ain't gonna be takin' off with my new plan in the back of your car! Now y'all get back out to the mill. The boys'll be lookin' high and low for that truck once they break outta jail, and you just better be there when they get there! Now git!"

Looking murderously at Boss Hogg and muttering to themselves, Walters and Slade slouched out the door of Hogg's office. Boss rubbed his hands together gleefully. He could practically feel the reward money in his fat little hands. Yes, he decided. It was going to be a very good day.

Friends and neighbors, I sure don't like where this is headin'. Y'all stick around!

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A/N: Hey guys, how am I doing so far? It's my first try here, so reviews are welcome and helpful. Please review, it would really make my day! Thanks!