Disclaimer: I don't own the Dukes. Please don't sue.
Mark Riggleman slammed on the brakes of the large white van just a few feet away from the pond. Luis sat in the seat next to him holding his head in one hand and a camera in the other.
"Wow. Did you see that? I can't believe they made it across. I mean, I heard people say that those guys do that stuff all the time but..." Luis didn't get to finish his sentence when Mark cut him off.
"Shut up!!! We lost them. They know we're on to them now. Damn it." Mark said. Angrily he slammed his fists into the dashboard. They would now have to take the long route over to the Duke farm.
"It's not so bad, I mean I think I got some pretty good shots of them jumping over the pond." Luis said, still unable to believe what he had just seen. Mark just glared at him.
Out of the corner of his eyes he spotted Roscoe's patrol car in the distance off to his right and suddenly realized just how close they were to the spot where the woman was found.
"Wait a minute. Isn't that the Sheriff? He must be going to that site to look for clues about that woman." Mark said.
"Yeah, so? What about them? We can't go there. The press isn't allowed near that spot until they've searched it." Luis said. He looked over at Mark and suddenly realized what his partner was up to.
"Wait, you're not thinking what I think you're thinking, are you? There's no way. We'll be arrested if we got caught snooping around over there right now." Luis protested shaking his head no.
"Wrong. You'll be arrested if you get caught snooping around. Me, I'll be too busy snooping around the Duke farm." Mark said. Luis just looked at him for a second, then once again started to voice his complaints all over again at having to take the risk of being arrested.
After a few more minutes of arguing, Mark dropped him off about a half of a mile away from the site.
Now folks, didn't I tell you to keep my eyes on those two?
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Well about that time Roscoe, Detective Gordon, and Officer Burns were heading off towards the Potter farm after viewing the body. Since the Potter's owned most of land by the site where the woman was found, Roscoe decided he'd better get permission before he and his new colleagues went running around on his land looking anything that might help with the case.
It didn't take long for Roscoe to explain to Mr. and Mrs. Potter why they wanted to the land near the site where the woman was found. But there was something about the way the couple had acted during the questioning that made Roscoe wonder about the couple. So, he convinced the detective and his partner to stay for a few minutes of questioning before heading off. Roscoe wasn't sure why, but he had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach that something would turn up today, and it wouldn't be what he or anyone else expected.
While Roscoe was busy getting permission from the Potter's, Bo and Luke were busy helping Uncle Jesse and Daisy sort through the scattered pieces of the old train set that they'd dug out for Mrs. Potter to give to her son Andrew. What they didn't know was that Mark Riggleman was just now pulling up a few yards away from their driveway, after dropping off Luis about a half of a mile away from the spot where the woman had been found.
"Billy Feldman was here earlier and we missed him? Man, does that guy have guts coming back to Hazard after what happened the last time he was here." Bo said, shaking his head at the memory.
"Yeah. I don't think I've ever seen Boss Hogg that angry before in my entire life. When did he leave exactly?" Luke asked.
"About an hour after we found him. He stayed long enough for a cup of coffee and to wash his face off. Luke, I gave him one of your old shirts. His must've had more holes than a net in that old one." Daisy said, as she continued to sort the pieces of railroad tracks before placing them in the shoe box that they were now using to help sort the pieces.
"I just don't get it. That man's nearly fifty years old. You'd think by now that he would have at least tried to put his life back together." Luke said.
"Some folks just don't wanna help themselves Luke. They think that they're the only ones in the world that lost something important in their lives." Jesse explained. He thought back to earlier that day when he first saw Billy. It seemed that Billy always had a look in his eyes anymore that said his life was over. That he couldn't go back to the one he had before. Jesse wondered what could have caused him to have that look. He honestly didn't believe one woman could have caused such a look.
Ducking low outside the kitchen window, Mark Riggleman sat with a tape recorder in one hand and a pen and pad in another. He sat there listening, waiting to see if Bo and Luke told their uncle anything new about the case. In a few minutes the topic changed from Billy Feldman to the train set and then finally to the case he had been so desperately wanting to hear about.
Unfortunately, Bo and Luke didn't say anything more than what Mark had already known. The only new news was that the autopsy was currently taking place at the local hospital and Roscoe and the other two officers were heading off to search the site for any clues about the case. Upon hearing news of autopsy, Mark decided to head on off to the hospital and do some snooping around there.
Now folks, it seems to me snooping around is all those two fellas are any good at. It's also a good thing Uncle Jesse didn't spot Mark. Or he'd find himself running from two barrels of a shotgun, if you know what I mean.
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Meanwhile, down by the creek, poor old Luis had just arrived to do some snooping around of his own. And so far he wasn't having much luck at it. The temperature had reached a record high for Hazard, for this time of year that is. And Luis wasn't in a good mood at all. I don't blame him. Would you?
"Jerk. One of these days I swear I'm just going to quit. Why do I have to do the dirty work?" Luis said to nothing in particular as he picked his way through the woods which led to the grave site of the woman.
"I spend most of the time getting my hands dirty and developing all the pictures, and doing countless other things. And for what? So he gets all the credit. That's what." Luis said.
"I mean I..." his voice trailed off as he tripped and stumbled over a rather large rock hidden underneath the long blades of grass which covered this area of woods.
As Luis picked himself up, he noticed that not far from the rock was a small metal item. Luis pushed away the grass blades to get a better look. Thinking quickly he took the lens cap off the camera from around his neck and snapped several pictures of the tiny piece of metal. He then took off the backpack he was wearing and fumbled around inside until he found what he was looking for.
"Strange. Looks like a hood ornament. I'm surprised it's not covered in rust." he said as he carefully slipped the little piece of metal into a clear plastic ziploc baggie. Lifting it up, he took note of the letters 'B' and 'T' inside a detailed circle on a heavy base.
Luis examined the hood ornament for a few more moments before carefully placing it inside the backpack. Working with Mark, Luis learned firsthand to always come prepared. In the backpack were countless items, from extra film and cameras, to a pocket knife and little ziploc baggies. Luis eventually started bringing sweaters, snacks and bottled water specifically for special assignments such as this.
He looked around carefully before continuing down to the grave site. He wanted to make certain he didn't miss anything else important. In fact, he wasn't even sure if what he had found even had anything to do with the case, but he would find out soon enough.
In a few more minutes he had reached the grave site and immediately took advantage of the fact that there was no one there to guard the place from reporters. That had seemed odd at first, but then he thought about just how much law enforcement this small town really had.
After all, he only noticed the sheriff and one other deputy. He realized they probably don't generally need extra men in this town. And with the sheriff and that detective and his partner in town all working on the same case they would want at least one man taking care of the general business of law enforcement for Hazard. At least until all of the mayhem was over.
Luis decided that now was as good a time as any to get the pictures he needed. He walked to the grave site and made special care to look out for mud while he did his job. About halfway through he ran out of film and had to reload the camera.
Just as he finished he heard the sound of a car pulling up by trail that led to the creek nearby and realized that it was the sheriff with the other two men coming to search the area.
"Great. I better be getting lost now." Luis said as he headed off towards the right, towards the old trail that would lead him back to the Potter farm eventually, but Luis wasn't aware of that fact.
Or that when he arrived he'd find the Bo and Luke Duke there along with a shocking discovery.
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"Boys, I think we're all done for now. You'd better head on over there and get this stuff to Mrs. Potter before her son gets home from school." Uncle Jesse said as his nephews finished packing away all the pieces to the train set.
"Uncle Jesse, why does she want all this for Andrew for anyway?" Bo asked.
"Well that's easy. His birthday's in about two weeks. And I'll tell you one thing, that boys' looking more and more like his daddy every day." Uncle Jesse explained.
"Yeah that's right, he's gonna be ten then. I can't believe how big he's getting." Luke commented.
"I just wonder where he got those pretty blue eyes of his. Nobody on either side of his family has blue eyes like his." Daisy said.
"I don't know. Maybe on his mother's side? If I remember correctly she's not from around here. I think she once told me he favored his uncle." Uncle Jesse as he thought about the comment Daisy had made. After a moments thought he brushed it aside. It didn't really matter who the boy looked like.
"Come on Luke, it's one thirty. I think Andrew gets out of school at around three." Bo called carrying a large box out to the General Lee.
"You sure we got everything?" Luke called back to him.
"Yeah. We just spent the last couple of hours washing this stuff down and testing all the electrical equipment. I think it all works just fine." Uncle Jesse told him, handing Luke the other box.
"You ready to go?" Bo asked.
"Yep. Let's get going." Luke said as Bo pulled out of the driveway and sped down the road in the direction of the Potter farm.
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Up in the barn loft of the Potter farm Billy Feldman had just woken up with a terrible hangover. Like many other times before he wasn't quite sure where he was or how he'd gotten there. He just knew he was someplace else. The only thing he could remember was hitching a ride and ending up not too far from the Potter farm. And like always when he woke, not far off to his side was an empty bottle of whiskey.
Getting up, Billy staggered around for about a minute until he came to the window that looked down at the staircase in the hallway of the Potter house.
Billy was almost certain for a minute that the house was empty, but he got a big shock when he saw Mrs. Potter at the top of the staircase. He was about to turn away when out of the corner of one eye he saw her slip, saw her go crashing to the floor at the bottom of the staircase.
Billy let out a silent gasp as he turned back to the window. He saw a large figure heading towards her, but couldn't make out who it was. His head hurt to badly to try and concentrate on that right now.
He turned around and through his dizziness somehow managed to make it down the ladder, out the barn door and over to the house without falling.
His head was hurting badly as he made his way over to where Mrs. Potter lay. He looked down at her and suddenly realized that the other person was gone. That he'd left just before he got to her.
Billy reached over to turn Mrs. Potter over when he noticed the pool of blood that rapidly formed around her. And suddenly he saw the knife deeply embedded into her back.
"No, no, no, no. This ain't happening. Its not real. Its not real." he repeated to himself. Billy put his hands to his throbbing head and suddenly realized that his hands were caked in wet blood. Blood. From when he touched her shoulder.
"Gotta call the sheriff. He'll know what to do." Billy said to himself. But when he reached the phone in the kitchen he heard a car pull up and heard the sound of Bo and Luke Duke's voices outside.
"No. No, I can't call the sheriff. The boy's will see me here. And all this blood. They'll think I did it." Billy said out loud. With that he turned towards the back door of the kitchen.
As he opened the door to leave, his shirttail caught on a rusty nail just below latch. He pulled hard on it. It wouldn't budge. He tried again, this time it tore free, leaving a piece of the blue material to hang off the nail. After checking to make sure no one saw him, he ran out of the house.
"I thought Uncle Jesse said that Mrs. Potter would be waiting for us?" Bo said to his cousin as they waited for an answer at the door.
"So did I. Mr. Potter's not here, but his wife's car is. I thought I heard something a minute ago. Maybe she's around back or in the barn." Luke said.
"Hey, the door's unlocked. Why don't you go check in the barn and I'll go set this stuff in the kitchen?" Bo asked.
"Sounds good to me. That's probably why she didn't hear us pull up." Luke said, heading towards the barn.
Bo opened the front the door, while balancing a large box in one hand. He was about to call out to her in case she was still in the house but hadn't heard them knock when he saw the figure on the floor. Saw the pool of blood that formed around her small frame and the knife jutting out of her back.
"Luke!!! Luke!!!" Bo screamed, dropping the box he carried. He turned towards the front door and headed down the porch steps as his cousin came running up to him.
"Bo, what is it? What is it?" Luke asked him out of breath.
"D-d-don't go in there!!!" was all Bo could say. He pushed passed Luke, down the porch steps to the side of the house, as a wave of nausea hit him. He felt dizzy. He was shaking hard. It felt like the earth under his feet were spinning. Luke was asking him questions, but he couldn't answer them as he felt his lunch, from just hours before come up.
Luke realized he wasn't going to get an answer unless he went inside himself. As soon as he reached the doorway he knew what had upset Bo.
He walked out of the house and felt a wave of nausea hit him as well but managed to keep it down. He held onto the porch railing for a few minutes before finally being able to walk back to the General Lee and radio in for help.
When Luke finished talking to Enos, the only things on his mind was why anybody would want Mrs. Potter dead. Did the Potter's have anything to do with the murder of the woman they found near their property? If not, did they know who killed her? These and many other questions raced through Luke's mind as he went over to sit by Bo and help comfort his cousin.
"Bo, just what did we get ourselves into this time?" Luke asked as he spotted Luis coming towards them from the trail that led from the farm to the creek near where the woman's body had been found.
He knew now that things would be getting more and more complicated before they got better. And somehow, he also knew that Mrs. Potter had been killed for a specific reason. All he really knew for sure was that in one way or another the Potter's had been involved in the murder of that woman they found. It was the only possible explanation that made sense to him.
Now friends, poor Bo and Luke never go out looking for trouble. Trouble goes out looking for them. In fact, if trouble went hunting it'd be open season on the Dukes all year 'round.