Happy New Year! Start it off right by R&Ring… pretty please? It means so much! Also, please don't assume that all Michiganders are like this fellow. We're not! Thanks so much and happy reading!- Jordyn

Officer McDougal stopped the patrol car just within sight of the cabin. Several other patrol cars pulled up behind him.

"Stay here, son."

"That's my cousin in there!" said Luke angrily.

"You'll help more by being out of the way, Mr. Duke. Now stay put."

Officer McDougal walked slowly toward the cabin. "Come out with your hands up!"

There was no answer.

Luke watched helplessly as the officer kicked in the door and disappeared inside.

He reappeared a moment later and walked to Luke.

"Mr. Duke… I don't know how to tell you…."

"Bo… is he….?" began Luke, searching for answers in the officer's face.

"Here." The officer handed Luke an envelope.

"What's this?" asked Luke opening it. "A lock of Bo's hair? Why would…what's it mean? Where's Bo?" asked Luke, his voice giving out as he uttered his cousin's name.

Officer McDougal cleared his throat. "Uh, Mr. Duke… Skorniski… well, he has a fetish for blond hair and blue eyes, as I've said. He keeps track of his victims this way… has a regular filing system…"

"His victims… you mean that Bo…?"

"I can't swear to you, Mr. Duke. But I can say that Skorniski did an envelope for every one of his victims… that's how we linked them all. Mr. Duke, it's a kind of sick tradition he does… after they've been killed."

"After they've been killed…" repeated Luke in a whisper. "You're wrong," he said with conviction. "My cousin's alive out there. He might be hurt… or hiding somewhere…but he's alive."

"Mr. Duke, we'll do everything we can. Now what you need to do is hop over to that ambulance there and have them take a look at your ankle."

"I ain't goin' to no hospital… not with Bo out there…"

"Now Mr. Duke, this is rough terrain. Your ankle could be seriously hurt. They have something for the pain, too," said the officer, noting how weary and pain-stricken Luke was.

Much as he hated to admit it, he knew that McDougal was right. Luke limped over to the ambulance and accepted a pair of crutches that the drivers had brought with them.

The medic checked Luke's ankle, gingerly touching the swollen area.

"Ow!"

"Your ankle's very badly sprained, if not broken, Mr. Duke. You need a doctor, right away."

"Ankles mend… my cousin might not. Much obliged." Luke braced himself on the crutches and made his way towards the cabin, trying his best to keep his tears at bay, for the moment, at least.


Bo stopped walking, trying to catch his breath. Faintly, he could make out the sound of sticks cracking in the distance. Sam was closing in fast. "God, help me," prayed Bo as he started up again. He had taken only a few steps forward when suddenly there was no ground beneath him. He uttered a surprised cry before tumbling down a hidden ravine.

Ya know even without seein' that boy finds more trouble than anyone I know.


Luke was making his way out the back door of the cabin and out to the woods beyond when a gunshot split the sky.

"Bo!" He hobbled as fast as he could into the night. He was met by McDougal and another officer, leading a hand-cuffed Skorniski back to the patrol car.

"Where is he!" demanded Luke.

Skorniski smiled widely. "Gone."

Luke was enraged. Letting his crutches drop to the ground, he flew at Skorniski, knocking him out of the officers' hands and beating him for all he was worth.

"You monster! What'd you do to him? Answer me…. Answer me!" screamed Luke as he struggled to free himself from the two officers who had pulled him off Skorniski.

Skorniski smiled once more, displaying a bloody mouth where Luke had hit him.

"He had such nice hair. So soft and wavy…"

Luke's body shook in anger and his face turned beat red. "What did you…?"

"I killed him."

Luke's breath caught in his throat. He grew dizzy and would have fallen had not he been held by the officers. "You… you…"

Skorniski, seeing Luke's reaction and feeling that he owed the boy one for his beating, proceeded to give him all the details, unbeknownst to Luke that it was all a lie.

"He sure put up a fight. Had to tie him up and gag him. Beat some sense into him…"

Luke tried to jump him again, but his captors held him tight. "I'm gonna kill you…"

A young officer came bounding towards them, carrying a bag in his had. "Thought you'd want to see this, Dave..." It was the blood-stained knife.

Skorniski smirked. "I think it's getting dull… it wouldn't cut through him as well as it did the others."

He's sure got a big imagination… too bad Luke don't know that.

"That's enough, take him out of here!" ordered McDougal.

Luke's chest convulsed dry heaves as tears flooded his eyes. Bo was dead, and he wanted nothing more than to die with him.

"Mr. Duke, we need to get you to a hospital. They can get a hold of your family and…"

"No."

"Mr. Duke, I assure you. He will get the justice he deserves. Meanwhile, you need to get some help. There are grief counselors who can…."

"I ain't goin' nowhere without my cousin. He can't be dead. He just can't…"

"Mr. Duke, you're in denial. That's normal. What you need to do…"

"What I need to do is find Bo… you helpin' me or not?"

McDougal paused, staring at the determined Duke. "Alright. Let's go."


Flashlights beamed through the woods until the early morning. There was no sign of Bo anywhere. Lightning flashed across the sky.

"Bo! Bo!" shouted Luke, thankful for the rain that hid his tear-stained face.

"This has gone on long enough, McDougal. His cousin's gone… we've been chasing after rainbows all night long."

McDougal had to admit that the patrolman was right. It was beginning to storm, and the patrolmen had stayed past their shift already, helping in the search for the body… or what was left of it.

He was just about to call off the search for the time being when he heard a voice scream for help.

It was Luke.

Now friends, I sure hope Luke is calling for help for Bo and not for himself, but even I don't know what to expect next! Stick around.