Author's Notes: Well dang if there aren't some slick, smart reviewers out there - and that's all I'm gonna say. :-D Enjoy!
Chapter 10: Lost Sheep
When they reached the Sutton farm, Thomas walked out onto the porch to meet them, pulling on a red-plaid wool jacket that Jesse didn't notice wasn't his usual woolly sheepskin cold-weather coat. Sutton greeted them both, though he was surprised to see Daisy, and he thanked Jesse warmly for coming.
"She's at the far end of my back pasture, we'll have to drive out there. My truck's already loaded up with supplies," Sutton said, and Daisy and Jesse climbed in.
As the drove over the cattle guards and into Sutton's broad pastures, occasionally passing stray cows along the way, the rancher expressed his sympathy for their situation, and asked about Bo. Jesse's answers were polite but short, and the small talk soon fell into a sort of awkward silence. It was only mid-afternoon, and in a way, Daisy was glad of the distraction, because it would be a long night ahead until they were allowed to go back to the hospital.
"It's not too far," Thomas spoke up, eyeing the land ahead. They were almost in the very far back corner of his lands, following the fenceline.
"Just what did you say is going wrong with this heifer?" Jesse asked, trying to get an idea of what lay ahead.
"Did I say heifer?" Sutton asked, his generally stoic features cracking slightly in a hint of a smile. "I meant sheep. A lost sheep, to be more specific."
They rolled over the crest of a knoll and Daisy gasped as a silhouetted figure came into view, sitting on the grass against a fencepost with long legs stretched out, arms wrapped tight across his chest in a fleecy sheepskin coat, and head back against the fencepost in a doze. He looked up as the truck approached.
Jesse saw him too. "Thomas, I don't know what to say," he said softly as they pulled to a stop.
Sutton smiled. "Don't worry about it, Jesse. I'm glad to help any way I can."
Luke stood to greet his uncle and cousin, who quickly left the truck and hugged him in turn.
"Boy, it's good to see you two," he said, holding Daisy tightly. "How's Bo doing? How come you had to leave the hospital? I heard you on the C.B. with Cooter."
"Bo's doin' just fine," Jesse assured him.
"Yeah, you shoulda seen him this morning - wide-awake, talkin' and smilin' like all get out - you wouldn't hardly know he was hurt but for the casts and bandages," Daisy added with a smile.
Luke looked from cousin to uncle with disbelief. "Wouldn't hardly know he was hurt? But, what about…isn't he…?"
"Isn't he what?" Daisy asked.
"I heard the doctor tell you Tuesday morning, Uncle Jesse, that he'd hurt his neck and his back, and he'd be…well, paralyzed." There, he'd said it. Luke looked up carefully at Jesse, whose expression shifted from surprise to compassion.
"You mean all this time, you thought…? Oh, Luke!" Jesse shook his head sadly, putting a hand on his confused nephew's shoulder. How he must have worried! "The doctor was just telling me the possibilities! Bo ain't paralyzed - there's nothing wrong with him time and rest won't heal."
Daisy wrapped a sympathetic arm around Luke's back, resting her head on his other shoulder. He looked shocked.
"You're sure?"
Daisy smiled. "He was sittin' up, and wiggling all his fingers and toes just fine, the doc said. The last he said before the doctor kicked us out was that he was starving and he asked if they had anything good to eat."
Luke grinned, reassured. That was Bo, alright. He blinked back a few stray tears as Daisy hugged him again, and he couldn't believe the weight that left his shoulders at Daisy's words. Just fine, just fine, thank you God.
Y'know, I'm glad someone finally set Luke right - it was breakin' my heart, seein' him all worried like that for no good reason.
Thomas Sutton stood back, smiling himself as he watched the exchange. He owed Luke and Bo more than he could ever repay for saving the lives of his sons, and he was not among the Hazzard residents who thought good or ill of the Dukes according to the tides of the charges occasionally and unfairly leveled against them. Nor was this the first time one of the Duke boys had shown up in his pastures in need of help, and he was always glad to give it.
He stepped forward, holding a picnic basket from among the supplies in the truck. "Jesse, Eleanor packed this for you all, though I'm sure it's Luke that needs it the most." He handed Jesse the heavy basket, and the Duke patriarch opened it to find it packed full of fried chicken, biscuits, corn, potato salad, and a carefully placed apple pie. Sutton reached back into the truck bed and brought out a jug of sweetened tea and a couple of blankets.
Luke, however, hungry as he was, was keenly aware of his fugitive status and the wide-open field. He pointed back over his shoulder towards the trees a few hundred feet from the fence, where the General Lee was hidden from sight. "Mr. Sutton, I'm much obliged, but we ought to move back towards cover if we're gonna be here long. They had a helicopter earlier…"
Nothing more needed to be said. Sutton handed out the supplies he'd brought - the food and drink, of course, and the blankets, but also a satchel of medical supplies he kept for his livestock and horses. He hadn't missed the bloodied bandage on Luke's arm. Then all four made their way to the trees, and Luke led the way to the General. He'd driven here along the back roads, then cut across country to reach cover, and carefully went back on foot to erase the tracks where he'd left the road.
They settled down on the soft loam next to the orange Charger. While Daisy set out the meal, Jesse explained their eviction from the hospital, and Luke held out his arm for Sutton to examine. Jesse frowned when he saw the gashes, which seeped blood again as the crusted bandage was pulled off, and Sutton whistled.
"What was this from, Luke?" he asked. He looked closely at the torn skin, and saw tender redness and puffy swelling - signs of infection. Carefully he touched Luke's forearm, and was rewarded with a hiss of pain, confirming it. He certainly couldn't stitch the gashes closed now.
"Broken glass, yesterday morning," Luke replied, wincing a little.
Sutton brought out a jar of clear liquid and opened it, and he felt Luke tense. "Just water," he said, rinsing Luke's arm with some of it and soaking a gauze pad with some more. He carefully cleaned around the cuts with the gauze, then pulled out other supplies and quickly dried and rewrapped Luke's arm in clean, sterile dressings.
"It's starting to get infected," Sutton explained as he worked, "so I can't stitch it up. You're gonna need to see a doctor within a day or two, before it gets much worse."
Luke nodded. "Thank you, Mr. Sutton, for everything," he said earnestly.
"You're welcome, Luke. Now, I'll leave you three to talk and eat. Jesse, the keys are in my truck - Lawrence should be up here by now with a horse for me, and we'll be out with the herd. You just drive on back whenever you're ready." Sutton smiled and nodded at the family's grateful expressions, and pulled himself to his feet.
"Thank you again, Thomas," Jesse said. The rancher waved over his shoulder as he set off through the trees.
A growl from Luke's stomach turned Jesse's attention back to the picnic meal spread before them. Though his nephew looked a little embarrassed, Jesse saw the way he looked at the food from the corner of his eye. Unlike his younger cousin, however, Luke wouldn't reach for a bite without Uncle Jesse's assent and grace said, no matter how hungry. Accommodating, Jesse folded his hands and bowed his head, glancing up to see Luke and Daisy quickly follow suit. His prayer of thanks was brief but heartfelt, and with an 'Amen', he looked up again.
"Go ahead, Luke," Jesse urged when his nephew finished his own prayers. "You got the look of a polecat after a three-season famine." With three missed meals behind him, Luke needed no second encouraging.
Once he'd served himself, Daisy and Jesse took up plates, grateful for Eleanor Sutton's kindness. They were quiet at first, letting Luke eat in peace, but after a few minutes he paused long enough to press for details on Bo and anything else he might have missed. Daisy was happy to fill him in, including an update on Anna, who was settled in at Sally Jo's in town. In turn, once he was down to picking at the scraps left over on his plate, Luke told them about his activities over the last few days, especially the most recent developments and his secondary reason for calling on Thomas Sutton to bring Jesse there.
The C.B. feed in the General from the Flanagan's car had long been silent, but not before Luke heard an earful after parting with Cooter. It gave him plenty to think over as he drove along looking for a likely hiding spot. Then, when he heard Daisy telling Cooter she and Uncle Jesse were headed home, Luke quickly came up with a plan to get ahold of his uncle, making his way along the heavily forested roads to the rear of the Sutton farm.
Chet had been with the brothers that morning in Cedar City, and the police had been waiting for them, acting on Luke's tip. However, the red-haired giant spotted the cops before they parked, and with David at the wheel, they fled the scene, patrol cars in hot pursuit. Fleeing Deputy-Sheriff Roy, Luke had turned on the C.B. and police scanner in time to hear Chet et. al. headed straight for him with a parade of bogies on their tail. Happy to let the thieves draw away the city's police force, Luke had taken another road and gone straight into Cedar, hoping to disappear on the other side of Choctaw County. What he didn't count on was David Flanagan losing the state police so quickly, on the back roads of Choctaw that Luke didn't know as well. Then the hunt for Luke began, while the Flanagans were off free and easy.
About the time Luke was back on the road with the General after his run-in with Cooter, the Flanagans were near reaching their destination, and true to form, were arguing about their situation.
"How the hell did they know we were coming?.!" David growled angrily, having thought it over and over and still come to no conclusion.
"Luke Duke," Chet answered crossly. "I'll bet my share it was him."
"Luke? How?" Joel asked. "He's been on the run the same as us. How would he know where we're going? Wait, you don't think he knows about the warehouse, do you?"
"Why would he know about the warehouse?" David countered irritably.
"Maybe his uncle told him," Joel suggested, his frown evident in his tone.
"His uncle?" David asked.
"Didn't Chet say Jesse Duke used to run moonshine for his father?"
There was a brief pause, and Luke could imagine David was fiercely looking at Chet for answers.
"Jesse Duke never delivered to the warehouse!" Chet snarled defensively. "Besides, Luke's got no way to connect you to me or the warehouse anyways!"
"He'd better not!" David snarled just as angrily. "We ain't payin' you for the pleasure of your company!"
"You'll pay me my cut or I'll make a couple cuts of my own, across your throats and yellow bellies!"
"You'll get your money, Chet! Y'know, it wouldn't surprise me if you were the one to call the cops!"
Joel held silent while his older brother shouted back and forth with their newest partner. Their source in Atlanta said Chet Goldthwaite was the man to go to for a safehouse in the area, a central hideout to operate from, but Joel wasn't sure he was worth the trouble or the money. He seemed to have an awful lot of other schemes happening on the side, and was only as trustworthy as the Flanagan brothers were prosperous.
"Why would I do a damn fool thing like that, while I'm on the job with you?.!" Chet demanded.
"The hell if I know, but we're packing up tonight and getting the hell out of Capitol City and Georgia first thing in the morning. Let the cops chase the Dukes around in circles - we'll be long gone."
"You're not leaving 'til I get my money." It was less a question than a statement of fact - or threat.
"Well we're not paying you until we leave! You're not gonna walk away with my money and then turn us in for the reward."
"And you're not gonna sneak away with my money! I guess we're just gonna be awful good friends until you leave!"
The argument had gone on another twenty minutes, with little new said and a great deal more swearing, but Luke had heard more than enough. If Jesse knew where this warehouse was, Luke could make tracks, sneak in close enough to verify the presence of the thieves and the evidence, and then call the police. He'd wait until it was dark, to avoid being seen or arrested too soon, but with any luck, it would all be over tonight.
Jesse frowned as he listened to Luke's new information and his plan, and when his nephew looked to him for a response, he sighed and shook his head. "I'm sorry, Luke, but that two-faced vagabond is right – I made plenty of runs to Russell Goldthwaite's inn back when you kids was little, but never anywhere else. He had a lot of business connections, if I remember right, investments he was involved in, but nothing we ever discussed. This warehouse they were talking about might have had something to do with one of them."
Luke tried to hide his discouragement as his hopeful expression fell, but then Daisy spoke up.
"Well, at least we know they're in Capitol City somewhere."
Luke had to admit, that was something. But Capitol City was a big place, and it would take a good bit of searching. He'd be lucky to find them by morning, and luckier still to avoid the law headquartered there. Sighing, he leaned back against the General and picked up his glass for a drink of tea.
Glass in hand and heart thumping in his chest, he froze as a growing sound set his nerves on edge again. All three Dukes looked up. The thick foliage above, however, sheltered them from the passing helicopter as much as the afternoon sun. Still, it was several minutes, when the chopper failed to return a second time, before Jesse and Daisy relaxed. It took several more minutes for the tension to leave Luke, and his uncle and cousin had a brief glimpse at how his last few days had been spent.
Daisy packed up the remains of the picnic lunch, setting the basket in the back of the General for Luke to finish later, before settling down next to him and laying a comforting hand on his arm. Luke shivered and pulled Sutton's borrowed sheepskin coat tighter as the wind picked up and blew chill and fierce through the trees. Jesse frowned. He hadn't missed the occasional yawns throughout the meal and conversation either.
"Well, I don't know about you two," Jesse said, hauling himself to his feet, "but I'm getting mighty cold just sitting on the ground here. What say we sit in the General, if we're gonna wait here until dark?"
"Uncle Jesse, you don't have to stay," Luke objected. "I'll be fine here, you and Daisy can go on home. I'll give you a call and let you know how things go."
Jesse scowled at the suggestion. "You think I've got something better to do than keep my fugitive nephew company? Come on, boy, get on up and get in there, before you freeze your tail off."
Luke smiled as his uncle offered him a hand up, and he climbed in through the car window after Daisy. Jesse picked up the picnic blanket off the ground and put it in the back seat before awkwardly climbing in himself – grumbling about the welded doors, of course. Luke found himself in the middle of a Duke sandwich, but had to admit it was a sight warmer and more comfortable inside the General than out. He drew a deep breath and sighed.
"Now," Jesse was saying, "you've got a good four or five hours until dark, so why don't you use that time with me an' Daisy here, and get some rest. We'll keep an eye out," he promised.
Luke shook his head, rubbing his eyes with one hand. "I ain't that tired, Uncle Jesse."
"Don't be stubborn, Luke. You already told us you didn't hardly sleep last night. How do you expect to be out all night if you don't sleep now?"
"I'll be fine," Luke insisted with a wave of one hand, while Daisy traded a dubious look with her uncle.
"Luke…" she began.
"Daisy…" he countered, starting to feel irritable.
Jesse gave his niece a slight shake of his head, and she quieted. There was only one way to win this argument, and that was to stop arguing. It was gonna be a long four or five hours 'til dark.