"What are you doing in my granddaughter's room?"
Luke and Cooter were snapped out of their shock as they whirled around and faced the elderly man that was standing there giving them an angry stare. That anger quickly turned into fear as he moved his gaze toward the bed. "Rebekka!" He exclaimed rushing over and grabbing her hand.
He held her hand up to his cheek as he felt for her pulse. "Dear Lord, she's dead!" He exclaimed in disbelief as signs of upset quickly became apparent.
Cooter and Luke simply stood there unsure of what to do. Each of them debated silently over whether they should call the police, comfort the old man, or simply dash from the room before they had to explain themselves.
But Luke was raised by Uncle Jesse, and the elderly red-capped man didn't have to be there for him to know exactly what would be expected of him. Excusing himself from the room, Luke returned a few moments later with a few tissues. Placing a hand on the man's shoulder, he bent down and offered them to him.
"Thank you." The man replied, finally releasing his granddaughter. Dabbing his eyes and blowing his nose, he took a few deep breaths and managed to calm down. When all signs of upset had faded, leaving behind only a sad face, he reached over to the bed and closed Rebekka's eyes.
"I'm sorry, Sir." Luke offered as he stood the man up and steered him out of the bedroom toward the living room. "I know you don't know me from Adam, but I want to promise you, me and my friend here didn't have anythin' to do with your granddaughter's death."
"I know." The old man nodded. "She's far too cold to have passed recently…..but… I don't know, maybe this explains why my Myron was acting so strangely."
"Strangely?" Luke couldn't help but ask.
"I spoke with him on the phone not ten minutes ago." The old man explained numbly. "He seemed so upbeat, kept going on about how he'd found Rebekka a kidney and how she would be better soon. Then all of a sudden his voice seemed to change , and he told me he'd be leaving home for a little while. He said that Rebekka was sleeping and I was not to check on her. That was very out of character for my son, he won't hear of her being alone, not since this illness." Mr. Settles shook his head. "But I couldn't help myself, I was just so happy to hear some good news for a change, I wanted to come over and just hug my granddaughter. That's when I saw the ladder that you boys apparently left in the hallway."
"Mr. Settles." Luke nervously asked. "Did your son say where he'd found this kidney for Rebekka?"
"Some fellow matched up in every way and volunteered to donate a kidney to her." Mr. Settles explained.
"Do you know where the donor is now?"
"No I don't….." Mr. Settles began, brightening as he came back to his senses somewhat. "Wait a minute, why am I telling you any of this? Far as I know you're nothing more than a couple of petty thieves who happened to break into my son's apartment."
Luke's hand went to his head as a sudden wave of dizziness came over him. Cooter saw what was happening and stepped forward to assist his friend, but Luke regained his senses and nodded reassuringly to the mechanic.
"You alright son?" The kind Mr. Settles asked even as his thoughts of Luke were not that high at the moment.
"We're not thieves." Luke assured him, ignoring his question. "The so called donor your son is referring to more likely than not is my cousin Bo. He's went missing, and was seen with your son just minutes before his disappearance."
"I know this is a lot to take in right now, Mr. Settles, and we apologize, but can you tell us where your son might have gone?" Cooter pressed.
As Mr. Settles thought, the phone on the nearby desk began to ring. After 9 rings had interrupted his though process, Mr. Settles finally took it upon himself to answer it.
He hadn't even had time to get out a hello when the frantic voice of a woman met his ears.
"Rebekka, you have to get Grandpa Joe, he's gotta help me, your daddy….oh please Rebekka just get Grandpa Joe!"
"Sherri?" Mr. Settles asked, as Cooter and Luke stood nearby, able to hear everything as the woman was speaking so loud.
"Joe! You're there! Oh Joe, you gotta help me, you just gotta. Myron….Myron's done something terrible here you gotta come over!"
"Try to calm down Sherri." Joe Settles demanded as the frantic woman was making little sense.
"Joe if you don't get over here, I just don't know what will happen, oh please Joe come and bring your bag!" She exclaimed one last time before the line went dead.
The frantic woman's voice apparently overpowered anything else that was going on in the old man's life at the moment, because he dropped the receiver and commenced to running down the hall toward his own apartment, leaving Myron's door wide open and the practical strangers standing inside with his deceased granddaughter.
Having heard Dr. Settles name mentioned, Luke and Cooter instinctively followed. Mr. Settles rushed into his apartment and returned just a few minutes later carrying a black bag that resembled that of Doc Appleby's a great deal.
"I don't have time to talk to you boys anymore." Mr. Settles announced, brushing past the pair who ended up following him as he ran down the stairs he'd decided would be quicker than the elevator.
"What's going on?" Luke asked, the running tiring him easily as he struggled to keep up with Mr. Settles.
The old man chose not to answer as he finally reached the first floor. Rushing outside, he ran over to a red car.
Mr. Settles cursed through his teeth. "I left my keys upstairs!" He muttered, dropping the bag and searching fruitlessly through his pockets.
"We can get ya there in my tow truck." Cooter announced, pointing to his truck.
The doctor nodded and the three headed for the truck as fast as they could go. Mr. Settles scooted into the middle as Cooter took his place behind the wheel, leaving an exhausted, sweating Luke to pull himself into the passenger seat before slamming the door.
"Head for Norcross." The old man commanded, which Cooter did without question.
"What's going on?" Cooter asked, questioning for himself as much as he was for Luke, who sat in the passenger seat trying to take a rest.
"I'm not sure. Sherri is Rebekka's mother. She and Myron divorced a couple of years ago, and she's living at their old place in Norcross. She mentioned Myron, and something bad had to have happened for her to call me."
"You a doctor too?" Luke finally managed to ask, looking at the bag.
"Retired." Mr. Settles replied. "I'm one of the last ones to have made house calls. My dad was a doctor too, runs in the family." He explained in a monotone voice, as if talking was the only thing to keep him from going absolutely crazy.
Luke lay his head against the headrest and closed his eyes as Mr. Settles barked out directions. The running he had done combined with the wild ride Cooter was sending them on was putting more strain on his body that it should have been taking in it's current condition, and he felt sick.
What would normally have been a twenty minute trip only took ten. As Mr. Settles barked out the last of his directions, the tow truck came to a skidding halt in front of Sherri' Settles' residence. Throwing open the doors, the three occupants exited the tow truck.
"Joe! Joe!" A woman screamed hysterically as they neared the door. The front door was thrown open and Sherri buried herself in Joe's arms. She was covered in blood and ripped pieces of duct tape still circled her wrists. It was apparent she had been tied up.
"Good Lord, Sherri!" Joe exclaimed as he saw the amount of blood on her.
"He's gone mad Joe! Just mad, he's crazy, he has to be!"
"Sherri, come in the house, we need to get you looked at." He insisted, practically carrying the lightweight woman back into the house.
Luke and Cooter assisted Joe. Once they got inside, they were horrified to find several things broken and out of place, but what looked most horrifying was the trail of blood that went across the floor.
At that point Sherri finally released Joe and started pulling him toward another room, their feet slipping in the blood as they walked.
"Stop Sherri." He commanded, planting his feet firm. "Honey you've lost a lot of blood and if we don't get you looked at soon you're going to end up in a lot of trouble."
Cooter shot Luke an amazed stare as the events unfolded, but quickly saw that amazement was near the back of Luke's list of emotions. The raven haired Duke boy looked extremely pail as his eyelids began to flicker.
"But it's not my blood Joe, it's his!"
The three men looked to where she pointed and saw where the trail of blood ended. The blood itself seeped from the back of the partially stripped man who lay there with a phone that was never dialed still curled in his hand, the man who, amazingly, still had on his shirt, the yellow material bunched up near his shoulders.
"Bo!" Luke attempted to yell but was never able to.
Because that's when sickness and darkness finally overtook him.
I don't know about ya'll, but it's hard to come up with anything witty to say when yer starin' at the screen with yer mouth wide open.