You're a Duke

Chapter Four

As soon as he left the jail, Cooter got back to his garage and called Jesse and Daisy over his CB, knowing that one or the both of them were close by in case times like this arose, which was often as Boss Hogg and Sheriff Coltrane have been trying to bring down the Dukes, mainly Bo and Luke, for as long as all of Hazzard County can remember. This certainly wasn't the first time he's had to make this call and it definitely won't be the last. Daisy came back over the radio after his second call out, using her usual call sign.

"Bo Peep here, Crazy Cooter," she said sweetly. "What can we do you for?"

"I'm afraid our boys are in trouble again," their mechanic friend responded in frustration. "They've been arrested again, another one of Hogg's big set ups. I suggest you and Jesse get to town as soon as you can."

Uncle Jesse quickly grabbed the radio mic from his niece as he replied worryingly, "I had a feeling that today was going to be one of these days. What's the charge this time?"

Cooter quickly responded, "Illegal narcotics, or something like that. I'll explain it when you get here. I suggest that you hurry. There's more and it ain't good neither."

"All right, we're on our way," Jesse answered gruffly."Illegal narcotics… Thanks for the heads up, Cooter. We're gone."

Meanwhile, back in town…

Not long after putting Bo and Luke inside one of the cells a few feet away from the booking counter, Boss Hogg and his sheriff walked behind the counter to write up the charges against the Duke Boys, laughing while they did so. The boys knew the charges were false, but they decided it was best to wait for their uncle and cousin to arrive before trying to escape in case they didn't have to, though Luke came up with a plan anyway should it come down to it.

"So, how much bail money is it going to cost us to get us out of here this time, huh Rosco?" Luke asked from their cell, after he and Bo finally got fed up with listening to them ramble on about how they caught them for being drug mules.

Rosco chuckled again as he responded, "It's only going to cost your Uncle Jesse a hundred dollars."

Boss objected, "A hundred dollars? Uh… uh… It's gonna cost you five hundred dollars, each."

"A thousand dollars?" Bo stated angrily. "Are you out of your minds? You know we can't pay you no thousand dollars, especially since we didn't do the things you're framing us for."

"Don't you worry none, boys," a stranger, whom Luke recognized as the man claiming to be Bo's father, replied smugly as he walked inside the jail and up to the counter to speak with the sheriff on their behalf. "There'll be no need for you or your family to pay up any money. I'll have you both out of here in the next ten minutes."

Bo looked at the man in confusion as he asked, "Who's that? And why is he here to help us?"

Luke ignored his cousin as he called out to the man saying nervously, "Look mister, we're real grateful, but this here is a family matter."

"That's right, friend," Boss said in agreement as he stared at the stranger oddly, wondering why a man new to town would want to help Hazzard's biggest troublemakers. "We don't want yer money, so git. Yer money isn't good here."

"That's just fine because I'm not here to bail these boys out," the man answered coolly as he looked between J.D., the sheriff, and the two deputies, who had all gathered within the jail at this point. "I'm here to right the wrong that's been done here. I heard these boys' protests when your men here arrested them outside a few minutes ago. From what I saw outside, I don't believe you can arrest these boys on account that you can't prove whatever it is you found on them actually belongs to them. For all you know, what you found within their supplies could belong to the shopkeeper, or to whoever it was that shipped the supplies to the store."

Enos looked at the man with a smile on his face as he responded, "That's true. Are you some kind of lawyer or somethin'? You sure sound like one."

The stranger reached into his coat pocket and pulled out his credentials, then held it out for each of the lawmen to see as he replied, "As a matter of fact, I am. I'm from up north, New York. Been a lawyer for over twenty-five years. If you don't set them free, I can bring charges up against you for false arrest, unless you can prove that they're guilty. Your evidence here is purely circumstantial."

"Jist why are you helping them?' Rosco asked as Bo had earlier. "They're good fer nothing law breakers and complete strangers to you, aren't they?"

"Mostly," the man answered again as he picked up the cells' keys and held them out to Rosco in an attempt to get the sheriff moving to set the boys free like he requested. "Except that one of them also happens to be my son, the younger one. I go by Geoffrey Crocker now, ever since I moved away from here a long time ago, but my name was once Duke, Jeff Duke."

While everyone stared at the man in shock at his revelation, Luke immediately looked over at Bo in fear, seeing that he was more surprised and confused than the rest of them, until he shook his head and turned away from everyone, including Luke as it donned on him that this was clearly the reason for his cousin's strange reaction earlier, before their arrest. For the first time in his life, Luke couldn't think of anything to say at that moment.

"Your son?" Boss repeated, as if he hadn't heard correctly, while, without realizing what it was he was doing, Rosco handed the keys over to Enos, who quickly stepped down to stand in front of the boys' cell to unlock its door. "Bo Duke is your son? But that's not possible. Neither of these boys have parents. They've been raised by their uncle their whole lives."

"This conversation's meant to be spoken between our own family, Boss," Luke finally stated coldly as he stepped out and moved toward the doors leading out of the building, followed by Bo until he quickly moved to walk out in front of everyone. "If you can find proof we committed whatever crimes yer accusing me and Bo of, then we'll see you later, but you won't because we didn't do it. Bye."

Once they were outside and clear of Boss Hogg and Rosco, Luke watched Bo walk straight to the General and get into the passenger's seat without a word, then quickly turned back to glare at the stranger as he spoke again saying angrily, "I thought I made it clear that you needed to speak to our uncle first before letting Bo know who you claim to be. I have no idea what I can say to him right now. Why did you have to do that?"

Geoffrey shrugged and then responded, "I saw you boys were in trouble. I watched the sheriff and his deputy arrest you and heard part of the conversation. I wanted to help."

"Because you're Bo's father?" Luke asked snidely. "Well, thanks, but we would have been just fine without your help. Bo and me are always being arrested under false charges and we always manage to prove ourselves innocent. You need to leave and come by our farm later. We need time to find out the truth from our uncle before you go and ruin anything else. "

"I think it might be a little late for that," the stranger replied as he pointed behind Luke upon seeing Jesse pull up behind the boys' orange car in an old pickup truck, the family patriarch staring in shock at the slightly younger man standing with his oldest nephew. "It looks like that conversation might just happen sooner than you planned."

Both Luke and Daisy saw the worry and surprise upon their uncle's face as he swiftly got out of his truck and made his way over to the newcomer and Luke as he called out angrily, "What in tarnation are you doing here? I thought I made it clear that you were never to come back here and what…"

Jesse stopped short upon looking back at his boys' car as he saw his youngest, whom he could see was upset as he refused to look toward either of them, it being clear to him that Bo obviously knew who the man was, then he started to walk toward him, but turned back to his brother and continued, "You and me are going to have ourselves a talk, but before we do, I need to speak with my family."

"I understand," Geoffrey answered calmly. "But just so you know, it was an accident, me coming upon your boys and letting slip that Beauregard happens to be my son."

"His name is Bo," Luke stated coldly, even though that didn't really matter at the moment. "He prefers Bo. So it's true then, that this man really is Bo's father?"

Daisy looked over at her younger cousin worryingly, then back between the rest of her family and the stranger, then finally turned to their uncle as she asked, "Is this really true Uncle Jesse?"

Jesse nodded sadly as he looked between her and Luke and then finally turned again to look toward his youngest as he spoke up saying fearfully, "I'm afraid it is true, Daisy. We have much to talk about when we get home. I just hope the boy is able to understand."