**FFnet is having problems with notifications for updates not being emailed. Please check back often to see if this story is updated. Trying to finish it up within the next month**

WARNING: While there's nothing explicit in this chapter, the depictions of murder are about the same rating as a true crime documentary would be. A fair bit of 'lesser' cussing, as well. For anyone who doesn't wish to read it, I will put a summary below the cut at the bottom so that you will understand the upcoming chapters.

There are only a few more chapters left in the story and then an epilogue or maybe two. I am currently thinking about writing another story after this one - NOT violent and dark... but I am only in early stages of outlining. Will know more by the end of this story.

A/N: Ketamine: It's been discussed earlier, but it is classified as a "dissociative anesthetic". Its main side effects are amnesia, shortened attention span, euphoria, and audio/visual hallucinations lasting for about 30 minutes, depending on dosage, and muscle weakness/coordination problems lasting several hours. Google for more side effect info.

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Chapter 78: The Devil and the Deputy

"Listen up! There's not a moment to spare.
It's quite a drop from the top,
so how're you feeling down there?
It's a cold, cruel, harsh reality -
caught, stuck, here with your enemy."
-Shinedown

Previously...

40 minutes later

He came to with a hoarse groan, sitting with his back tied against a pine tree. His hands were in handcuffs in front of him and his feet in shackles. His long-sleeved shirt was gone, and the recorder and microphone with it.

Darcy, with a look of gleeful anticipation, hovered in front of him holding a stun gun.

Enos tried to focus on the man in front of him but, while his mind knew he should be concerned, he couldn't seem to keep- A bird trilled above him and he looked up, into the branches of the tree, up and up and up forever, like stairs to heaven. The woods are lovely, dark and deep, but I have promises to keep and miles to go before I sleep... Where had he learned that? In school somewhere - he could taste the chalk dust and feel the hard desk beneath him, and after the bell rang, he would run down to the doors and wait for Daisy and maybe she'd want to skip school tomorrow because he was so tired of it, and if they went fishing then she would be in a better mood instead of worrying about her history test that she was going to pass anyway just like she always did because she was smarter than everyone else in her class...did he have a math test tomorrow? He'd get his hide tanned if he flunked another one...he couldn't remember...he couldn't even remember if he'd even gone to math class in forever...

10 Minutes Later

With a start, Enos realized he was still staring up into the tree. He lowered his head and focused instead on Darcy, who crouched in front of him. "What's goin' on?" His voice sounded funny, like someone standing behind him was speaking...or up in the tree...He felt his attention slipping and shook his head to clear it. His head throbbed like it'd had a good smack with a baseball bat, and he noticed there were smears of dried blood on his t-shirt.

"Here's the drill, maggot," said Darcy, ignoring him, "I'm gonna say five numbers. Then I'm going to wait for two minutes and then ask you what they are. We've got things to talk about, and I want to make sure you're not still off in LaLa Land. You understand? Nod your head 'yes'."

Enos stared at him, defiantly, not moving. There was a electric pop, and he yelled and jerked against the rope that held him to the tree as a million tiny knives shot through his guts.

"Good Lord, Enos! This is the third time we've been through this, and you do the same damn thing every time. You'd think you'd get tired of getting fried, eventually." He grinned at the confusion in Enos' eyes. "That's right, dumbass - you can't remember. The first time you didn't get any numbers right and called me some names I didn't even think you knew. I had to check your driver's license to make sure I got the right guy. Better leave the cussing to me, or God might scratch your name outta his book."

Enos, who had no idea what Darcy was prattling on about, gritted his teeth. "Get on with it, then."

"Anyways, like I was saying; you pass, we talk, and then I let you go. You fail, you fry." Darcy said, smiling toothily. "Your numbers are 3,4,2, and 8."

"I thought you said five numbers," Enos growled, trying to estimate if he could kick Darcy in the throat from where he was sitting. He tried to lift his outstretched legs but they didn't seem to get the message, and he couldn't manage more than a sluggish twitch of his hands. Ketamine, he thought, he shot me up with ketamine and then trussed me like a hog. That's why I don't remember the other times he tested me.

"Welcome back from the land of the living dead, deputy," he said, "So, did you enjoy your first trip? Probably would've been more fun if you hadn't fallen head first into a tree, but now you can tell everyone you've gone down the rabbit hole at least once. This stuff makes for a fun date night, too. Hell, they don't even remember what happened." He smirked at Enos' worried expression. "Don't worry, Enos, you're not my type. But Daisy...," he groaned in mock pleasure, "now that's a different story. She's something we can agree on, right?"

Enos' eyes had drifted off of Darcy and were busy scanning the area, trying to figure out if there was anything he could work to his advantage. They were further into the woods than he remembered; the trees taller and thicker and the trail was hidden somewhere at the top of the hill. On the ground off to the right lay a small, blue duffel bag, and bits of rope were scattered about, presumably cut with the garden shears lying next to his left foot.

If my ding dang legs would wake up, I might be able to scoot those scissors up to my hands. If my hands would work and Darcy would look-

*ZAP!*

His body jerked painfully, causing him to cut himself against the handcuffs. A thin, red line of blood welled up on the top of his wrist. "What the heck!?" he yelled. "I'm trussed up like a Thanksgiving turkey, you ain't gotta keep doin' that!" He backed his head against the tree as Darcy leaned in close.

"You seem to be confused, Enos," he hissed. "This is a conversation. When I ask you a question, I expect an answer."

"I didn't hear a question. Maybe it was just them crazy people talking in your head." He sucked in a sharp breath and gritted his teeth as Darcy shocked him again.

"Don't be a smartass," he snapped. "You seem to forget that I've killed a couple of people, and if a stun gun ain't enough to get your attention, I brought some sharper tools to try. What you need is some perspective."

He pulled a stack of photos from the duffel bag and held one up in front of Enos, who pretended to look, but instead focused on the collar of Darcy's shirt just above it.

Darcy grabbed a fistful of his hair, pushed his head back against the tree, and held the picture in front of his eyes. "You'll want to look at Patricia," he said, "cause there might be a test later. You see how messy it was? It took an industrial sized garbage bag to fit all the pieces in." He tossed the picture on the ground. "Go on, Enos. Ask me where I put it."

If I can just get him to tell me where he hid the girls... "Where is she?" he asked. Even though the recorder was gone, if he was somehow able to get enough information to find their bodies, Enos hoped it might not be a bust.

Darcy backed up and crouched off to the side, so that Enos was forced to turn his head to see him. Whatever he had done to himself by falling into the tree made his forehead sting painfully as it scraped against the bark.

"Oh, somewhere around." He scooped up a handful of twigs from the ground. "Gonna be a mess, though, when they find it." He tossed the twigs idly at Enos.

"Her," Enos corrected, bitterly. "She ain't an 'it', she's a her. Patricia Mae Miller."

Darcy shook his head and tsked him. "She was trash, just like Mabel and all them other girls with her," he said. "That dumb broad didn't even report her missing. What a bitch."

Enos frowned, wondering if he'd missed something. "I reckoned you'd be happy about that," he said, honestly confused. "Serial killers don't usually like being discovered."

"You're lumping me in with those fly by night crazies?" he asked, clearly disgusted. "I oughta shock you just for bein' dumb." Enos clenched his teeth and braced for the stabbing agony of the stun gun, but he continued speaking. "Everything else was foolproof. But since no one ever knew they were missing, the whole thing ended up being a colossal waste of time." His eyes narrowed at Enos, a slow and vicious smile crawling across his lips. "You knew Patricia's middle name. Good job, Enos. What else did you figure out?"

"I just know what the GBI told me," he said, thinking it wouldn't hurt to tell him. He barely knew anything, anyway, other than their full names. "They found pictures of them in your stuff and they suspected they were dead. I found Patricia's middle name on her adoption record in the archives. Both the girls had the middle name of 'May'. I promise, that's all I know."

Darcy rolled his eyes and opened and closed his fingers like his hand was speaking. "Blah, blah, blah," he droned. "That's not what I asked. I don't care what facts you know, I want to know what you think you know. And don't lie to me, cause I'll see it swimming around in your eyes if you do."

"I don't know what you're talking a-"

"Yes" ZAP! "You" ZAP! "Do!" ZAAAAP!

"I swear I'm tellin' you every dang thing I know!" screamed Enos, feeling his control begin to slip as angry tears blurred his eyes. He didn't have any idea what this lunatic was talking about, so he told him anything else he could think of, hoping that he'd say whatever he wanted to hear. "Both their names were 'may'," he threw out, "just like Daisy's. And they were both orphans with no criminal records, so they didn't have anything on file with the state. No fingerprints; they were almost untraceable."

"Those are just more bullshit facts," said Darcy. "But I can see you're trying, so I'll help you out. Let's imagine that there were two missing persons reports. The first one would have been right after you got back from Los Angeles. Being the good little deputy that you were, you would have eventually found Patricia's full name, just like you did. Now, tell me...what would you have thought if two orphaned women with the middle name of 'May' turned up missing, and presumed dead, in Hazzard?"

Their eyes met, and Enos followed his reasoning to its obvious conclusion. "I would've thought Daisy was in danger," he whispered.

"And, before long, you'd see a killer in every man you didn't know," Darcy added. 'You'd stalk her - even more than you did before, watching over her in case anyone tried anything. With everything hush, hush with the GBI investigating, no one would understand why you were so overprotective. Maybe Daisy would have even thought you'd gone bonkers and complained to her hayseed cousins about you." He shook his head, disgusted. "It was a great plan, but like I said, that bitch Mabel-"

"What do you mean, it was a plan?"

Darcy laughed and rolled his eyes. "You really are an idiot, Enos," he said. "You just better hope they don't find those women, 'cause when they do, they're gonna send you back to your little concrete box."

Enos stared at him, dumbstruck, not believing what he thought he was hearing. "You mean to tell me, you murdered two girls just to set me up?"

"Everyone knew you were just a little too obsessed with Daisy, Enos," he said. "Why, you were so obsessed, you went and killed a couple of whores just to get it out of your system. And by the time someone called the GBI with a tip on the location of their bodies, you'd be so paranoid that people would have thought you'd lost your mind. And then, when Daisy disappeared, no one would believe you, and everyone would think you were responsible. Then there's your fingerprints all over the murder weapon, which you, being the idiot that you are, left in the bag with Patricia. Open and shut case. Ever wonder where your stapler went?"

Around them, the birds chirped and somewhere behind them, the brook gurgled though the valley, but in the stillness of those few seconds between himself and the man in front of him, Enos finally realized that, if Darcy lived, Daisy would die. Maybe not this day or the next, but someday Darcy would kill her. Just because he could.

"Did I show you Addie's picture? I don't think I did." Darcy pulled another picture off the stack and held it up to Enos, who got another zap from the stun gun for trying to keep his eyes shut. "Get a good look, Enos, 'cause this is what I'm going to do to Daisy, only I'm gonna enjoy her a whole lot more before it gets to this point, if you know what I mean."

The image of Addie, her blonde hair stained red by blood, horribly mutilated and posed demeaningly, burned itself into Enos' brain. "I'm gonna kill you," Enos told him, and he meant every single word.

Darcy grinned back at him. "You ever come sniffing around my airfield, and you'll be pushing up daisies instead of sleeping with them. I'm guessing that ring means that Cletus has finally replaced you as the oldest virgin in Hazzard." He straddled Enos' outstretched legs so he was directly in front of him and leaned in, until Enos could feel the heat from the man's breath. "So, how was she, deputy?" Darcy whispered next to his ear. "Was she worth waiting for, after all those years?"

Enos spat in his face.

He wiped his cheek off against his sleeve, then grabbed Enos' left hand and held it up. "Do that again, and you'll lose a finger." He placed the open blades of the garden shears around the base of his ring finger, the gold glinting in the dappled sunlight. "And I'll start with this one." He leaned closer. "It's share and tell time, since you beat me to her, so answer my question. Was she worth the wait?"

Enos felt the shears start to close. "Yes," he ground out, dredging up every ounce of hate he had into his eyes as they stared into Darcy's.

"And, she doesn't mind all the scars?" he asked, in mock sympathy, letting his finger go. "You seem to have an awful lot. Of course, if you hadn't tried to play James Bond and worn a wire, I wouldn't have gotten such a good look at them. I'm really partial to the new artwork on your back, although the 'I' is a little crooked," he added. "I thought I'd let you know, since you can't see it."

"Are we done here?" Enos scowled, thinking that his shotgun really needed to be cleaned before he blew Darcy's head off with it. "By the way, I don't know what time it is, but Rosco should be here any minute."

"If Rosco comes traipsing around before we're finished, I brought something for him, too, since I told you to leave him out of it." He reached into the bag and pulled the butt of a handgun up enough for Enos to see it before putting it back. "Hope he didn't listen to you." He stood up and paced back and forth in front of Enos, as though trying to remember something. Finally, he stopped and snapped his fingers. "Oh! There is one more thing, deputy."

"Get on with it, Darcy, you're making me dizzy."

"You've been holding out on me, Enos," he said. "A friend of mine happened to bring a tape recorder with him to your trial so I could hear all your tear-jerking witnesses. You've got a lot of friends...but there was one in particular I had forgotten all about."

The world seemed to stand still on its axis. Enos knew Daisy was in danger, that was a given, but he had never considered that Darcy might go after anyone else, simply because they had taken the stand in his defense. There was only one person he could be talking about, and Enos tried to look away to shield his emotions, but Darcy had already seen the panic in his eyes.

"You know, don't you?" Darcy crouched down in front of him again, a smirk playing on his face. "I hope you never start playing poker, Enos, cause you're a piss poor liar. She's one fine woman, and I am definitely going to have to pay her a visit. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if she's as virginal as you used to be." He studied Enos, curiously. "Unless the two of you know something no one else does, cause, if my memory serves me, you're the only one she ever wanted."

"Leave her alone! Amy ain't got nothing to do with this...I haven't even talked to her in ten years!"

"Oh, I don't know about that," he answered. "She's the one who started this whole thing in the first place. Remember?"

"This 'thing'!" Enos shouted. He had no idea what he had ever done to this man outside of loving Daisy. "What the heck is this 'thing'? Why're you doing this to me? All I ever did to you was bust your nose when we were kids for messing with Amy and mouthing off about Daisy!"

The eyes that met his burned with cold, blue fire. "And I swore that, someday, you'd pay," he reminded him. "And you're gonna pay, Enos. You'll pay until you've got no one left to pay with."

The clock said 2:45pm, and Rosco blew out a nervous breath. He had hemmed and hawed over what he should, or shouldn't, do for the better part of the last hour, and had finally decided to wait, at least for a while, in hopes that Enos would come back. He deserved a chance, Rosco reckoned, and it might be the only one they got for Darcy to incriminate himself.

But, as the clock edged closer and closer to the the next hour, his worry gave way to panic, stirring the nauseous feeling he'd had in his stomach ever since he'd come back from lunch. He'd given Flash his corndog; just the smell had made him sick. Now, he sat twiddling his thumbs while, for all he knew, Enos lay dying in a ditch somewhere. Not able to wait any longer, he picked up the dispatch radio and pushed the button.

"Cletus? Cletus, this is your superior officer, come back!"

Static buzzed before Cletus answered, his voice tinny over the small speaker. "Hey there, Sheriff! What can I do for you?"

'You can get yourself back to the station ASAP, and I mean right now. I've gotta go do some recognizance and rectify a situation."

"Wow, Sheriff, that sounds awful complicated!" he exclaimed. "I'm right over here on the other side of Cooter's station where you said to set that hydrant this morning. Do you want me to bring the hydrant back with me?"

"Of course I want you to bring the hydrant back, you lame-brain!" he yelled. "What good's it gonna do sitting out there with no one to write a ticket? Now get back here or I'm gonna make you take momma to her podiatrist appointment next week!"

"Yes sir! I'm on my way!"

As Rosco made his way up the steps to the Duke's porch, he realized he was becoming a fixture at the farm. He'd been here at least a dozen times over the last month, going over the logistics of Enos' case with the Dukes, Gary, and the GBI agents. If he wasn't careful, he'd get soft on them, and then he'd really be in a rut, especially with Boss. All he cared about right now, though, was the health and well being of his deputy.

Bo met him at the door, holding it open for him without questioning his presence. "Hey, Rosco," he said, looking down into the yard. "Is Enos with you?"

Rosco stopped at the table, taking a steadying breath before he turned back to the younger Duke. "No, Bo, he's not. Is Daisy around?"

"Uh, yeah, I think so." He narrowed his eyes at the sheriff. "What's going on, Rosco? Is this about Darcy? We heard on the Hazzardnet that-"

"I'm sorry, Bo, but I ain't got time to jaw right now," he said, cutting him off. "In fact, just get everyone and have them meet me here. Quick, if you can, I think Enos might be in trouble." He leaned on the chair in front of him, his knuckles white with the force with which he grasped its backrest.

Bo stared at him in confusion for a second before nodding his head. "Sure thing, Rosco, I'll go rustle them up."

He ran out the door and down the steps, leaving Rosco standing forlornly in the empty kitchen. He reached in his pocket and took the folded note which Enos had left at the station, opening it up and smoothing its creases. Distantly, he heard voices from around the far side of the house, coming closer. The words were unintelligible, but the anxiety in them was clear. He rubbed at the tension in his face.

A flurry of movement bounded up the steps and into the kitchen led, of course, by Daisy.

"What's going on, Rosco?" she said, breathless from running, "Bo said something about Enos being in trouble!" She wasted no time rounding on him, stepping into his personal space. "He was only supposed to be there to do research. If you've put him in danger, so help me, I'm gonna kick you from here to the Atlantic ocean!"

He met her wide eyed anger with his own. "It ain't me who put him in danger, Daisy," he snapped. "It was Enos who went and laid his own neck down on the chopping block, and if I'd have known what he was about to do, I would've locked him in a cell until he came to his dang senses!"

"What's he done?" she whispered, and Rosco could see the terror behind her eyes.

"Just tell us what's goin' on, Rosco!" bellowed Jesse. "If it's that important, then we ain't got time to peck at each other."

Rosco told them about the phone call and explained about the wire that the GBI had showed him how to use, and that both the recorder and Enos were gone by the time he'd come back from the Busy Bee. "I called Maybelle and she said someone who sounded like Darcy had called the station and asked for Enos not five minutes after I'd left."

"He went to go meet Darcy alone?" Daisy's eyes welled with frightened tears. "Rosco, Darcy wants him dead! Where did he go to meet him?"

"Well, that's the problem," explained Rosco. "He left a note, but I can't understand it."

He handed it to Uncle Jesse, who read it over and shook his head. "I don't know what he's talking about, Rosco. He says ask Daisy."

Daisy snatched it from his hand and poured over it. It only took her a second to understand. "He's wearing his dad's watch," she explained, "but it's not broken anymore, because I had it fixed for him. It was broken when Otis Strate died...out at his still!"

"Otis set up out at Kittredge Mine," blurted Luke. "That must be where he is! Let's go, Bo!"

"I'm coming, too!" shouted Daisy. She followed her cousins to the door, but Rosco grabbed her and pulled her back. "Let me go, Rosco!"

Rosco took her by the shoulders, forcing her to look at him. "Daisy, if anything happened to you, Enos would never forgive me," he told her, as tears rolled down her cheeks. "I swore to him that I'd protect you. You ain't goin' out there, cause I don't know what we're walking in to. For all I know, Darcy's gunning for all of us." Without thinking, he pulled the girl into a hug and held her tight, feeling her shoulders hitch with sobs, and whispered, "I promise, Daisy, I'll bring him back to you."

The boys had stopped in the doorway, watching in dismay at Rosco's uncharacteristic display of affection. Uncle Jesse held up a hand for them to wait. "Now, hold on just a minute, boys," he said. "Rosco's right. But, we ain't goin' off and leaving Daisy all by herself. There's been rumors all day about missing girls and Daisy being in some sort of danger. Somebody's gotta stay, but none of you have ever been out to Otis' still site, so I've gotta go."

"I'll stay with her, Uncle Jesse," said Bo, turning back into the kitchen. "You three go on."

Uncle Jesse nodded. "Thank you, Bo. Hold on, just a minute." He went to the hall closet and took out his shotgun and put six shells in his pocket. He took Enos' 12 gauge with him, as well, which he handed to Bo who looked at him questioningly.

"Uh...Uncle Jesse...I'm not supposed to use a gun while I'm on probation."

"Some things are more important," he reminded him, and pointed at Daisy. "Don't let her out of your sight."

A/N: "The woods are lovely, dark, and deep..." is from Robert Frost's, 'Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening'.

Chapter Summary: Enos goes into the meeting with Darcy believing that Darcy is a serial murder who is choosing his victims based on the fact that they are orphans who share the middle name of 'May', and that Daisy was his next intended victim. This isn't the case. Daisy was correct when she told Enos previously that she believed that Enos was Darcy's target. The murders were part of Darcy's original plan to set up Enos. The two girls who were murdered were chosen in the hopes that it would make Enos scared for Daisy's safety and, in the process, his behavior would become paranoid and overprotective. Darcy had plans to call in the locations of the two murdered girls, who were dumped with evidence which would incriminate Enos in their deaths (Enos' stapler with his fingerprints on it). Darcy's plan failed, however, because Mabel never filed missing persons reports for either girl. Darcy tells Enos that he is going to kill Daisy and Amy in relaliation of Enos embarrassing him when they were kids. Enos believes the only way to protect them is for him to kill Darcy.

Bo stays at the farm with Daisy, while Uncle Jesse, Luke, and Rosco head out to Kittredge Mine to find Enos.