Chapter Ten – Luring the Right Buzz Out of a Bee
Georgia Bill of Rights, Paragraph 19: The civil authority shall be superior to the military, and no soldier shall, in time of peace, be quartered in any house without the consent of the owner, nor in time of war, except by the civil magistrate, in such manner as may be provided by law.
How convenient. The ring still clenched in his fingers included a key to Rosco's cruiser. Good thing, because once he took the stairs two at a time, sprinted through the squad room and out into the dusk, Bo was winded. There was only so far his legs would've taken him anyway.
He didn't mean to complain or anything, but Rosco having presented him with a (suspiciously easy, but no time to think about that) opportunity for escape hadn't left him a chance to plan. A car was one thing. He was grateful for its convenience, and when he slid into the driver's seat and cranked it up, he was happy enough about its overall health. Must've been a new one, and what with him in jail and Luke out searching for horses or Miranda or anything that would clear him, there was no one to run poor Rosco into the pond. Which meant the car had some moves in it yet, a fact he proved by slamming it into gear and skating it around the perimeter of town square. Not the General, but it would do.
Would take him anywhere in a hurry, if only he knew where to go. Trying to think like Luke was—well it wasn't anything he'd ever gotten good at and it sure didn't mix with driving. Flying down the road or over a creek was about suspending thought and relying totally on belief. If a man had no faith that he could make a car go across that gully, well, he had no chance of succeeding. And thought – about the width and depth of the gully, and how hard the rocks at the bottom were likely to be – got in the way of making the leap.
Bo could drive or he could think, he couldn't do both. If he could figure out where Luke was, he wouldn't need a plan. He could handle whatever came, once he knew what it was he'd be handling. So it was simple, really. He needed to find Luke.
What had Daisy said, he was sick, Cooter had brought him home shivering and coughing and complaining about needing to go back to… she hadn't said where.
The car skimmed around a corner, throwing gravel and just missing a tree. Time to stop thinking, so he sighed and bit his lip. It was only a matter of time before news of his escape hit the airwaves anyway.
So he sighed and picked up the C.B., tuning it away from the police channel to the Duke boys' usual. "Lost Sheep calling Crazy Cooter," he said. The mechanic, at least, wouldn't bother with a lecture before telling him what he needed to know.
Georgia Bill of Rights, Paragraph 20: The power of the Courts to punish for contempt shall be limited by legislative acts.
Well if that didn't just tear the feathers out of a duck.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Uncle Jesse, sir," Enos said, and Jesse could just see him twisting his hat in his hands, even if he must've been using at least one of them to hold the phone. "Sheriff Coltrane, he just told me to let you know." That Bo had escaped, that idiot fool. With charges of horse rustling and kidnapping against him. The one thing he'd made Bo promise not to do. "And to stand by here at the county building, in case I was needed," Enos continued, interrupting Jesse's thoughts.
"And, uh," oh those boys of his. As if the day hadn't already been ongoing frustration, from the moment Daisy showed up in town, with her head hanging and no Luke at her side. Jesse reckoned the boy would be home soon, before dark, and he was doing some serious looking forward to giving Luke what for. Now he had both boys to worry about. "He didn't ask you to call no one else?" Because they sure didn't need the state police getting called in to go after his errant nephew.
"No sir, Uncle Jesse. Just said to call you and stand by." Cheerful boy, that Enos was, with absolutely no idea what kind of trouble Bo might be facing out there. "Was there someone you wanted me to call?" Helpful too. To a fault.
"No thank you, Enos." Far be it for him to suggest that any authorities needed to be called in. All the better that Rosco had apparently decided to handle things himself. "We'll be there soon."
To stare at an empty jail cell, to look for clues about how it had happened, maybe. To make sure there was no sign of violent struggle (but of course there wouldn't have been) or genuine vandalism (because Dukes didn't need to resort to harming property or people to get out of jail). He wasn't sure why he'd dragged Daisy down here, honestly, and while it had made a certain amount of sense to contact Bo's lawyers, that decision was quickly becoming regrettable.
"Now, Mr. Duke," Haddad was nattering. "I cannot do my job effectively if the client isn't going to listen to me, arright?"
Yeah, well. Bo hadn't ever been the best listener. Seemed to Jesse like he brought home more than one report card that indicated he'd do a lot better in school if he'd just listen.
Gary Butler's tongue clucked in dismay. He looked a bit rumpled, clothes less than perfect, like when the sun slid toward the horizon and he went off-duty, his wardrobe did, too. Overall, it was the most appealing Jesse had ever seen the man look.
Of course, Haddad looked just as casual come evening as he ever had in the day. "It doesn't look good for Bo's innocence if he goes breaking out of jail, arright?"
So far the lawyerly counsel of the evening had been far less than stellar. It would seem that if a man was going to get paid to say things, at least the information he gave would be something more informative and useful than basic common sense.
"Enos," Jesse said, because they were all wasting time standing here staring at an empty jail cell. "You're sure Rosco didn't say anything about where he was headed?"
"No, sir. He just said he was in hot pursuit, and he was gonna get 'im this time," Enos answered mournfully. Seemed to break Enos' heart that he couldn't give the Dukes more useful information, and it made Jesse wish his boys would be half as kind to his old heart.
"You sure, Enos sugar?" Daisy tried, because maybe honey was the best way to lure the right buzz out of this bee. But Jesse knew better; no amount of stroking Enos' arm or his ego would get him to remember things that hadn't happened. The man didn't know. And neither Bo nor Rosco was answering the C.B., so whatever clues Jesse was going to get had to come from somewhere in this room.
"It would be best for all concerned if he turned himself in, arright?" Alex Haddad advised, oblivious to the fact that Jesse wasn't paying him any mind. Daisy was, though. Dark look to her eyes like she was on the verge of yelling at the man, maybe about how Dukes had more pride than to offer their wrists to the law for cuffing. "And explained how he was just scared."
"Bo ain't scared," Daisy snapped, and Jesse held up a hand to stay whatever words she was about to unleash on the man. No point in wasting her energy that way. They needed to be thinking, not having useless arguments. "Well he ain't!" Daisy insisted, and she wouldn't have been his girl if she didn't.
Haddad had no idea how to take a hint. "Arright, but it would be better if he said he was," and furthermore, clearly didn't know when his advice was being studiously, carefully, ignored. "That it was an impulsive decision, arright?"
Jesse kept his eyes fixed on Daisy, standing in the doorway with Enos at her side. The lawyers were between them, and his girl was getting ready to give one or both of them a fairly serious tongue lashing. Just the tiniest shake of Jesse's head and she bit her tongue. Looked like it hurt her, too, but she was going to do what he wanted. Still, the girl had a point. For all the ways Bo had managed to drive the whole family to distraction, it was never cowardice that made him do it. In fact, if anything, it was usually the opposite; even Luke would cringe as some of the wild ways that Bo's anger made him brave.
"Because if it was premeditated, that makes him look guilty, arright? Like he expected to get convicted," the boy's counsel kept on chattering along.
Premeditated, maybe not. But not impulsive either. Jesse had told Bo to stay put, had gotten the boy's word. The word of a Duke, which was solid unless—
"Daisy," he interrupted whatever the lawyer was rambling on about now. "You sure Luke didn't say where he was going this morning?" She'd already sworn she didn't know her oldest cousin's plans, only that he'd convinced her to let him slip away.
"No, sir," she answered. "He didn't tell me noth—"
"Oh, now if he had an accomplice in his jailbreak, and if it was his cousin, well there's almost no way I can defend against that, arright?" the fancy Washington lawyer complained. "That makes the whole horse rustling and kidnapping seem like a conspiracy, a premeditated crime planned by both men, arright?"
No, actually, it wasn't all right.
"Uncle Jesse," was Daisy's request to defend her cousins, but he put a hand up to stop her.
"You might just want to reconsider what your jaws are a-flappin' about there, Mr. Haddad." Calm, he stayed calm, because whippersnappers needed to be taught their manners, and yelling at them wasn't setting a good example. But he stared the boy down, same as he would his own children when they got a little too big for their breeches. "You might have learned a lot of things in school. And I reckon you've got good cause to think you know most everything about the law. But what you don't know is them boys of mine."
"I know they're on probation, arright? And it's hard enough to make them look innocent with that. Throw in jailbreak and—"
"Make them look innocent?" Of all the—"Bo done told you he don't know where them horses or that girl is. He ain't never wavered on that, no matter who done the questioning." Enos was cowering back towards the stairs, as if his hide was in serious jeopardy of being tanned. Same silly boy he'd ever been; Jesse had no harmful intentions toward him. That fancy lawyer, though, who was opening his mouth to speak, even as his friend grabbed his arm to hold him off, that there was a boy who was about to get a whipping. "And!" made everything stop; Enos stood still from where he'd been considering a dash up the stairs, Daisy's proud chin and smoldering eyes kept themselves fixed on out-of-town fools who didn't have a lick of sense, Gary Butler's hand stayed clenched around his friend's upper arm, and mercifully, Haddad's lips froze, mid-flap. "Two things you should know about Bo and Luke. First!" Everyone was still frozen, seemed like he'd finally managed to get their attention. "They don't, neither of them, lie. Ever. And second, they'd do anything, anything! For each other. Which don't mean breaking Bo out of here because he ain't man enough to face charges. It means—"
"It means Bo must've thought Luke was in trouble," Daisy finished, wide-eyed. Yeah, that was where Jesse was leading, eventually. He'd had a few more things to say about integrity and honesty and how his boys had more in each of their little fingers than any slick city lawyer ever hoped to, but it was just as well that Daisy cut straight to the chase. There really wasn't time to make all the points he'd wanted, but they could come back to those later.
"And Luke didn't say where he was going," he prompted Daisy. "You sure?"
"No sir," but the answer wasn't dejected, it was more of a place marker. "But Cooter said the only thing Luke wanted last night was to go back up to the old Hastings Horse Camp and look around some more."
"All right, then," was Jesse's assessment. "What are we wasting time for? Let's get going," and he was halfway to the staircase before the sentence was done coming out of his mouth.
Georgia Bill or Rights, Paragraph 21: There shall be no imprisonment for debt.
"Miranda," he yelled and she cowered from him. Probably should have said it nicer, more gently and suited to the fairer sex, but there she was, standing at the far end of the stable, fully alive and healthy. Meanwhile it had been five days, five days, that Bo was locked up and suspected of doing her harm. She had to know what was going on, was obviously complicit in it, or else she would have showed her face at the farm before now.
It was dim inside, twilight seeping in through dusty windows didn't do much to light the place. There was a lantern down there by where Miranda had been soothing a handsome, chestnut horse, but it wasn't much to see by.
"Luke," the girl answered, and it was defeated and scared. Maybe asking him not to wring her neck, like he wanted to. "I—"
But she cringed further back into her corner, like she really thought he'd hit her. He was angry, oh, he was spitting mad and she was about to get an earful, but he knew better than to raise a finger to hurt her. Lessons from childhood, when his temper had loomed larger than his skinny boy's physique, the words of his aunt rattled through his brain. About how you didn't go pounding on people that were smaller, weaker, or weren't fighting back.
He slipped his hands into his back pockets; safe there where it wouldn't look like he had any real intentions of hurting Miranda.
"That's Henry, ain't it?" The Miller horse, one of the two that was missing. Weren't many horses in Hazzard that size; Henry was built like Bo with a broad chest and long legs. Must be why his cousin chose to ride him so often.
Miranda nodded, still eyeing him carefully as he took a few steps in her direction. It was starting to get annoying how little this girl trusted her safety with him. Oh, he had every intention of making sure she wound up in jail, but damn it, he wasn't going to hurt her.
"Where's Rainbow?" Not that it really mattered right now. It wasn't like either horse would fit in the General's back seat, and he didn't exactly have a trailer hitched to the tow ball. Really, best thing he could do tonight would be to bring Miranda to town and make sure she admitted that Bo had nothing to do with the missing horses or her own disappearance.
She was a pretty thing, Luke had to admit that. Not his type, but he could see how Bo liked her, how her delicate frame must have made him feel big and strong.
"I don't know," was the defensive answer. "I really don't!" Again, as if she were being threatened, when he was just walking closer, slowly, no sudden moves or anything. "He got sold, I don't know who to."
Luke just nodded; no point in pressing the girl. Either she had more information or she didn't, and it was Rosco's job to get it from her, not his. Two more steps toward her with the simple intention of making the undeniable request that she join him on a trip into town, but she spooked. Nowhere to go, her head dipped down so her eyes were hidden in her hair; a child's belief that if she couldn't see him, he couldn't see her.
Luke sighed. "Are you all right, Miranda?" he asked. Didn't want to, had the perfectly reasonable instinct to maintain his righteous anger, but it was only neighborly to ask polite questions before hauling your cousin's girlfriend down to the sheriff's station for questioning.
"Fine," she answered, but she wasn't. Dang it all. It was a narrow space, a hallway between stalls, and he had her cornered at the end. It was the perfect way to act with someone who had harmed his cousin, and no way to treat a frightened girl. There was a good-sized feed bucket in the stall to his left, so he fished it out and overturned it. Sat down and it was so low he was practically looking up at her from between his knees, but it made for a comfortable place to rest himself, anyway. Gave him a different view of the girl's face, too.
"Benjamin ever hurt you, Miranda?" Didn't want to know the answer, but he had to if he was going to do the right thing.
"No," she answered and it was a lie. "Not on purpose." A lie she needed to believe, maybe. "He just," Miranda shook her hair out of her eyes, letting him get a good look at her, finally. Nothing too serious there, just some fading marks. Only the kind of thing that would make him go after anyone who ever did that to Daisy with the kind of violence that would make them understand that you never hurt a woman that way. "My dad always picked on him. He's the oldest and Dad always reckoned he should know better." Yeah, Luke could relate to that. "Anyway, he don't mean to, but he just gets mad sometimes."
"Miranda," the girl was a fool. She'd left home to get away from a father that Luke could only assume was abusive, but she'd gone with a brother that was equally as rough with her. He shook his head at the stupidity of it.
"Luke Duke," she snapped, and while she hadn't entirely come out of the corner, she was standing upright like she hadn't since he'd entered this stable. "Don't you start telling me what I should do." Vehemence, and who would've expected it? "Benjamin is my brother, and I love my brothers, all of them. He's family, and it seems to me you should understand that!"
Oh, this was ridiculous. Family was who you counted on to help when outsiders hurt you. "Miranda," he tried again. The girl had to know she wasn't making any sense.
"Are you seriously going to tell me that Bo ain't never made you so angry you couldn't think of nothing else to do?" Her voice was angry, bitter. "You gonna say you never hit Bo, not once?"
Yeah, he'd hit Bo. He'd meant it, too, hit him hard enough that his nose bled. Hurt him bad enough that he'd left the farm in tears, intent on spending his life with Diane Benson.
Yeah, he'd hit Bo, but it was for his cousin's own good. Bo was blind when it came to women, wanted to believe what they said, even when it was clear as day that they were using him.
Yeah, he'd hit Bo, but it wasn't the same thing. Bo hit him first, and Bo was his equal, or nearly, in strength. The girl had no right to ask about that, it wasn't any of her business, anyway. The girl was—
Not looking anymore, her eyes were fixed beyond him. He was a fool, he'd let her confuse him and distract him and—
He turned around in time to see the board coming down before it hit his head. Damn it. Two days in a row that he'd been so close he could just about taste it and now—