"You sure you ain't seen him Emery?" Luke asked Emery Potter as he leaned out the window of the General, talking to his neighbor who sat on the front porch.
"Sure ain't, Luke." I've been up since 6:00 this morning and I ain't seen none of yall's cars go by."
"Well, he didn't take any of the cars. He'd either be on foot or someone would have given him a ride."
"It don't matter." Emery replied. "Ain't nobody been by here today. You're first one I've seen."
"Much obliged, Emery. Give us a holler on the CB if you should see him." Luke said, waving as he drove away.
"Lost sheep calling Shepard." Luke said into the CB.
"Shepard here." Jesse replied from his pickup truck." Emery know anything?"
"Negative." Luke replied.
" Well, we've went full circle right back to the farm. The only place left to check is in town, although I can't imagine Bo confronting J.D. on this. Not yet anyway." Jesse mused.
"Town! He's probably staying at Cooter's Place. Why haven't we thought of that before?" Luke exclaimed, turning his CB to channel 47 along with Jesse. 47 was the channel Cooter stayed on most of the time. "Lost Sheep calling Crazy Cooter. Cooter, you out there?"
Cooter heard the call from near the motorcycle he was working on and rushed over to his CB. "Breaker one, breaker one, I might be crazy but I ain't dumb….Lukas, is this important? I was late to work this morning and I gotta get Ms. Tizdale on the road so she can get the mail out."
"Sort of. Yes." Luke replied. "Bo disappeared on us last night and we was wonderin' if you had seen him."
"No Luke, can't say as I have. Is he in some sort of trouble?" Cooter asked.
"I don't want to say too much over the 'net. But if you see him, will you please let us know?"
"I'll do better than that. Give me about five minutes and I'll help you look for him."
"We'd really appreciate that, Cooter."
"If you find him take him home and don't let him go nowhere until we get there!" Jesse broke in.
"Ten-four Uncle Jesse, over and out."
Uncle Jesse frowned as he looked at the CB, upset that Cooter had called him 'Uncle Jesse' but not in the mood to correct him this time.
"Cooter, did I hear Jesse say that Bo was in some sort of trouble?" Ms. Tizdale asked as Cooter kneeled beside her motorcycle again.
"Yeah, Ms. Tizdale. Seems Bo took off on them last night for some reason."
Ms. Tizdale sighed and looked like a teenager in love. "I can't imagine why anyone would want to run out on a man like Jesse Duke." She then suddenly looked angry. "'Course I imagine that Sarah Jones would agree with me."
"Ms. Tizdale, you know them rumors about Jesse and Sarah ain't true."
Ms. Tizdale brightened. "Cooter, you really think so? Oh I hope not. You know I been pinin' away for Jesse for quite some time now, even went over to Capitol City just last month to get me a new tube of red lipstick so I could fix up for him."
Cooter laughed. "Well Ms. Tizdale, you go ahead and put on that red lipstick if you want to, 'cause I talked to Sarah myself the other day and all she could talk about was how much she still missed Edward."
Ms. Tizdale giggled. "Oh, I wish I had time to help Jesse look for that boy today, but I'm already late on my deliveries."
"Wait a minute, Ms. Tizdale." Cooter thought of something. "You got any mail for the Tanner farm today?"
"Unfortunately, yes." Ms. Tizdale replied. "It'd really be a help if I didn't though, especially today. They live so far out that it saves half an hour on my route whenever they don't have anything."
"Well, it's a good thing that you do today 'cause the Tanner farm is right on the Chickasaw County line!"
Emma Tizdale's smile slowly disappeared. "What does that have to do with anything?"
"Well aren't you good friends with Bea Claiborne?"
"Yes, but…..oh!" Ms. Tizdale's brightened. Bea Claiborne was a Chickasaw County resident and Bo's aunt, the sister of his mother, Olivia. "But do you really think the boy may have gone there, I mean with his probation and everything……"
"I'd say if he's brave enough to run off on Jesse, he ain't gonna worry much about Roscoe P. Coltrane. Them boys may be grown but Jesse still keeps that belt hanging on the nail. Crossin' him takes guts."
Earlier an excited Bo Duke had just finished showing Roscoe the deed to the farm. He then dug his suitcase from the shrubbery near the steps and took it over to Cooter's Garage. "Cooter's runnin' late today." Bo thought as he found the door padlocked. There was no vehicle on the place and no access to the CB inside. Bo hadn't felt right taking the General, as it was half Luke's. Deciding that it was just as quick to walk cross country to the Duke farm as it was to beg for a ride, he stashed his suitcase under some old tires and took off. He hurriedly ran across the rear of Emery Potter's property, not knowing that at the same time Luke was questioning Emery on his whereabouts.
"Jesse, Luke!" Bo exclaimed as he entered the house, taking the chance that one of them might be home even though both the truck and the General were missing. He then went into the kitchen and picked up the CB. "Lost sheep calling Shepard. Lost she….." He stopped short when he realized he wasn't getting any feedback from the CB. He shook the wire and watched the dials light up and die back down several times before giving up. With no way of contacting Luke or Jesse, he shrugged his shoulders and went to his room to collect what remained of his things.
"Uncle Jesse, I'm getting hungry. Why don't we head back to the farm and grab a bite to eat." Luke called to his Uncle on the CB.
"We may as well. We've checked with everyone I know of except J.D. and I ain't talkin' to him until I've had a chance to sit down with Bo and get a better feel for the situation." Jesse replied.
"Ten-four." Luke said. On the way home, he decided to take a jump over the Mojabie river just for the fun of it. Unknown to him, he startled the same fisherman that Bo had frightened the day before. As the General flew over, the fisherman fell off the bridge into the river below. Bobbing to the surface, the fisherman then shook a fist once again in the General's direction.
Luke and Jesse arrived back at the farm at the same time. Luke tried to comfort his uncle who got out of the truck with his head lowered. "Cheer up, Jesse. Give Bo some time, it'll work out in the end."
"I hope your right." Jesse replied as he went in the house.
Both were surprised when they opened the door to the kitchen to find Bo standing there stirring a pot of food on the stove.
"Hey ya'll. Where have you been?" Bo greeted them.
"Where have we been? Out looking for you!" Jesse exclaimed. "What about you?"
"I've been here for about the last hour or so, Jesse." Bo replied.
"Well if you's here why didn't you call us on the CB?" Luke asked.
"Because it's busted. That wire has come loose again." Bo replied.
"What's this?" Luke asked, staring into the pot.
"This, my friend." Bo replied. "Is a celebration lunch."
"Oh I'm your friend now?" Luke replied, hurt that Bo had called him 'friend' instead of 'cousin' as he usually did.
"Yes, Luke, you'll always be my best friend. But I am not your cousin, and the sooner we all accept that the better off we will be."
Luke started to argue but Jesse, who had spotted the rest of Bo's things stacked in boxes, held up his hand. "Bo, where were you this morning?"
"Well, I went into town to give Boss Hogg a piece of my mind." Bo replied.
"Oh." Jesse replied, suddenly looking nervous. "And how did that go?"
Bo turned around from stirring and smiled. "Jesse, you will not believe how well it went. Once everything was out in the open it's like Boss turned into a totally different person. He accepts me and he wants me to be with him."
"Uh-huh." Jesse muttered as Bo began to ladle the chili out into bowls and set them on the table.
"As a matter of fact, he told me to come back here, pack up my stuff, and come to live with him in his house."
"He did what!" Jesse fumed.
"Jesse, I told you. He accepts me and he wants me in his home. I mean, I'm not really a Duke so I don't belong here."
"So is this what we're supposed to be celebrating? The fact that you're moving out?" Luke asked sternly.
"No." Bo said, smiling as he pulled out the deed and handing it to Jesse. "This is."
Jesse took out his reading glasses and examined the deed for a few moments. "How'd you get this?"
"Boss gave it to me." Bo replied.
"He just gave it to you? That don't sound like J.D. to me."
"Well he did. He said he was going into business with Frothy and if I would just help him find some land for the business and work with him to bring it to Hazzard that he would give me the farm."
Bo became frustrated when Jesse and Luke stood staring at the deed for a long time without speaking. "Well don't you have anything to say? You don't have to move. Heck, you don't even have to make mortgage payments anymore! I thought you'd be happy."
"Bo…" Luke began. "You ain't no businessman."
"Well, I know that, but I ain't doin' it by myself. Boss will be there to help me. Besides, I don't suppose I can get out of it now. I signed a contract this morning saying I would help him."
"A contract?" Jesse asked. "What exactly did you sign?"
"Well I'm not sure of the details, because I didn't read it."
"Bo, I've always told you not to sign anything until you've read it." Jesse scolded.
"Well I know, Jesse, but I didn't have anything to loose. Besides, how bad could it be? He gave me the farm, didn't he?"
"I'm sorry boy but I smell a rat." Jesse said, walking toward the door.
"Where you going?" Luke asked.
"I'm going down to J.D.'s office to find out what's going on." Jesse replied, throwing on his red hat.
"Wait, Jesse. Please don't mess this up. Boss, he accepts me and….and the farm is yours. I'm not seeing a problem here."
"The problem is, I'm losing you!" Jesse shouted, immediately looking as if he were sorry he had said it. "Look, I'm not trying to bust your bubble. You's so tore up yesterday I'm just glad to see you smiling again. But I've known J.D. a lot longer than you and I'm not gonna feel good about this until I know everything for myself."
Bo grabbed Jesse's arm. "Jesse, let me handle it, please."
Jesse looked at Bo's hand on his arm. "Either you let me go right now or…." he finished by looking at the belt that hung on the nail. Bo let him go in a hurry. "Keep him here." He ordered Luke as he jumped in his pickup truck and took off.
It wasn't long before Jesse arrived at the jail.. As usual he bypassed Enos and Roscoe and stormed into Boss's office unannounced.
"Jefferson, what's going on here?" The stranger asked who sat in the chair opposite Boss.
"J.D., I want to talk to you." Jesse began.
"Oh, forget him, Oliver. Roscoe!" Boss called. Roscoe rushed in with a corndog in one hand. "Would you please escort Mr. Duke from my office?"
"Duke? Would that be Jesse Duke?" Oliver asked.
"Yes, that's me." Jesse replied as Boss snapped his fingers in frustration.
"I've been trying to call you for days. I'm Oliver Kane from Atlanta, lawyer to Jefferson Hogg Sr." He said, standing to shake Jesse's hand. "Are you aware that you were named as the executor to Mr. Hogg's estate?"
"Yes, I'm aware." Jesse replied.
"Then please sit down, Mr. Duke." He said, waving Roscoe away before digging in his briefcase for some papers. "As you may know, Mr. Hogg left a will behind distributing his estate. This of course simplifies things a great deal, meaning your job as executor has more or less been reduced to signing this paper acknowledging that the signature you see on the will matches that of Jefferson Hogg Sr." He finished by slapping an acknowledgement in front of Jesse and handing him a pen.
"If you will give me a moment, Mr. Kane, I would like to look over the will before I sign anything." Jesse announced, getting his glasses out again.
"Now now, Jesse." Boss began, coming around the desk. "I thought we talked about this yesterday. Their ain't no heir but me and……."
"………Bo." Jesse finished, looking up at Boss. "This here will says that Bo Duke is heir to half of the Hogg estate. 1.5 million dollars!"
"Not exactly, Mr. Duke." Oliver broke in.
"Well it seems that way to me." Jesse pointed to Big Daddy's signature. "That signature's an exact match of J.D.'s father, and Beauregard Duke is named right here in the will." He finished, moving his finger up to Bo's name."
"Yes, but you see," Oliver began, pulling out the contract Bo had signed that morning. "Beauregard signed his inheritance over to J.D."