"Theft?" Jesse repeated.

"Yes sir. Theft. The file this young man extracted is hospital property and taking it warrants a sentence just like anything else."

"Well if yer gonna arrest somebody fer takin' it, arrest me." Jesse replied.

"But….." The manager began as Luke and Daisy looked at their uncle in shock.

"Well ya found it in my hands, didn't ya? When tha boy here couldn't git it tha easy way I went about gettin' it tha hard way."

"Uncle Jesse………" Luke began, shaking his head.

"So you just go ahead and put them handcuffs on me, and I won't give you no trouble."

"What's going on here?" Cooter replied, walking up to the group. Luke looked behind him and saw the tow truck in a parking spot that had been vacant moments earlier.

Jesse held out his arms, waiting to be handcuffed. "Now Luke, don't you worry about me." He announced, giving his nephew a knowing nod. "Just go on and do what you need to do."

As the officer got out his handcuffs and commenced to putting them on Jesse, Daisy shook her head. "Officer, you're making a mistake!"

"There's no mistake that the file belongs in the hospital, miss." The officer replied leading Jesse to his patrol car.

"Daisy!" Luke exclaimed, calling her over from where she was following her uncle. "Listen, I got that address memorized so's I'm gonna go over there and see what I can find out. You go on with Jesse and see what you can do to get him outta jail."

"Luke, I can't let you go by yourself. You're weak, and Dr. Settles knows that. If he does have Bo………."

"Lukas ain't goin' by himself long as I'm around." Cooter assured her.

Luke simply glanced at his friend before he continued. "When you get to the police station, they'll be some questioning, but try to stall them as long as you can. If the police show up at that apartment anytime soon it's gonna be me and Cooter here under arrest, not the doctor. But if you don't hear something back from us by the end of the day, go ahead and call the Major. I'm pretty sure he would be willing to check things out, but I'm not calling him until I know more about what's going on. I haven't forgotten the fact that I could be completely wrong on all this."

"Okay Luke." Daisy replied, offering him a quick hug. "Be careful."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"I hate to tell you this Lukas…" Cooter whispered as they walked down the hallway of the high scale apartment building. "….but we stick out like a couple of sore thumbs around here. I'll bet you there ain't a plaid shirt or a greasy hat on the whole place."

"Just relax, Crazy C." Luke replied. "If we should run into Settles on accident I'll just tell him I had a change of heart about the surgery and came out to talk to him about it."

"And what if anyone else asks us why we're here?"

"We'll tell themwe're here to see Dr. Settles. Would you try to relax Cooter? You're makin' me more nervous than a stray hefer in a pasture full of bulls."

"Well I always git that way when I'm out of my element, and this is definitely one of them occasions."

"There it is, apartment 17C." Luke announced, jutting his chin toward the door at the far end of the hallway. "Looks like the doors open." He observed, noting a sliver of light where the door met the frame.

"Better be careful. It could be open on accident but it's possible he just ran in quick like for somethin' and plans to come back out soon."

Cooter and Luke walked up to the door. Observing the hall behind them and not seeing anyone, Luke placed his hand on the door handle and pushed the door in slightly.

"It's gonna be okay, Rebekka." They heard Settles saying betweensobs. "Daddy told you he was going to make you better and I never go back on my word. In just a little while, you'll have a whole new kidney and you'll be feeling much better. I promise."

When the girl didn't respond, Settles continued. "They told me there was no hope for you, but they were wrong. They just didn't realize where to look. When I found out about Bo Duke, I knew that was the answer since his kidney had already been exposed to the drugs. But when I took his blood and tissue samples from the lab and compared them with yours, it was like a miracle had occurred. It was a perfect match, the answer to my prayers."

Luke pulled the door to and swallowed the lump in his throat. "Good Lord, Cooter." He muttered, looking at his friend. "Settles wasn't ever interested in me, he was only interested in Bo. His intention this entire time was to harvest Bo's kidney for his daughter! That's what was makin' Bo so nervous in that Boar's Nest video. After I had turned down Bo's help, Settles asked for the kidney on behalf of his daughter, and Bo turned him down!"

"You don't think he…….." Cooter whispered.

"No." Luke replied. "He wouldn't hurt Bo until he got his kidney, and he wouldn't take the kidney until Rebecca was prepared to receive it."

As they heard footsteps near the door, the friends immediately went into panic mode. Spotting a door nearby with the word 'Custodian' etched on a plaque, they quickly opened it and stepped inside, taking care not to knock over the brooms and mops that crisscrossed their path.

Moments later, Settles came out of his apartment carrying a large briefcase. Luke cracked the custodian's door wide enough to watch the doctor dab at his eyes before he secured his door and went on his way.

After enough time had passed for Settles to have made it to the elevator, the friends quietly ejected themselves from the closet and went over to the door.

"Dang it, it's locked now!" Luke exclaimed. "If Bo's in there, we gotta get him out before he ends up on the operating table."

"Why don't we just let the girl answer the door? Once she opens it we shouldn't have any trouble getting past her." Cooter suggested, reaching out to ring the doorbell.

"No!" Luke exclaimed, grabbing Cooter's hand. "If it turns out Bo ain't in there then it's gonna be hard to find him if she lets Dr. Settles know we're on to him!"

"You got any better ideas?" Cooter asked as Luke looked around.

"I sure do." Luke replied, pointing up to the ceiling which was made up of rectangular shaped ceiling tiles.

He didn't have to say another word. Cooter simply nodded before he went over to the custodian's closet and ejected the ladder that was in there. Setting it up, he quickly ascended it and pressed against the tile closest to the door, moving it out of the way. Feeling for some of the rafters, the mechanic grabbed on and hoisted himself up. Once he was above the ceiling he inched over the door frame and pried another ceiling tile away. Looking down, he recognized the interior of the Settles apartment. Taking only a moment to rest, he grabbed the rafters once again and lowered himself inside. The journey was not without noise, but at least it had been kept to a minimum.

Cooter ducked behind a table for a moment in case he had startled Rebekka. When after a few moments she hadn't shown, he felt comfortable enough to let Luke in.

"You alright?" Luke whispered, realizing the entry had to have been rough under the best of circumstances.

"Yeah." Cooter whispered back.

Luke simply patted him on the shoulder. "Just stay out of the girl's room."

Cooter and Luke spent a few long minutes combing the apartment. They checked all the rooms and all the closets. They even went so far as to search for anything belonging to Bo or an address as to where he might be, but they continued to come up empty-handed.

"Dang it, Bo ain't here! We should have followed Settles when he left!" Luke muttered in frustration.

"Don't be so hard on yourself. You's goin' on the hunch that he was here. Like you said, he ain't gonna hurt Bo, not as long as he's housing a healthy kidney he wants to put his hands on."

Luke stood scratching his head in thought. "Yeah, but from what he told his daughter, he could be making preparations to get that kidney even as we speak. We don't have a choice. We're gonna have to ask the girl."

"Luke, remember what you said."

"I know what I said, but we're running out of time. If we don't get to Bo and get to him fast, I have a bad feeling it could haunt us the rest of our lives."

With a determined walk, Luke went toward the room they knew Rebekka to be in. Looking inside, they could see her in bed with her back turned toward the door.

"Excuse me Rebekka." Luke announced, giving the door a couple of raps. "We don't mean to frighten you but we really need to ask you something."

When the girl made no effort to turn over, Luke simply continued. "We need to ask if you know where your dad is. My cousin Bo went missin' and we're awfully worried about him. Thought your daddy might know somethin' 'bout where he is."

When again, she made no effort to respond, Luke looked at Cooter for advice. Cooter shrugged his shoulders and simply pushed Luke forward until he was almost standing over thetop of her.

"Rebekka…." He began again, a little louder this time. He reached out to shake her shoulder and she finally turned over.

When she did so, the men involuntarily flinched and grabbed on to one another.

Because she was staring at them.

Through lifeless eyes!

Ya know, this is one of them days when ya wish you could go back to bed and git out on tha other side to see if it'd improve things any.