Life Ain't Always Beautiful

Chapter Ten: Pretty Poison

"Daddy, who would wanna kill Miss Evie?" Rachel asked as she was following Enos around the perimeter of the bank. "That stupid bank robber better not have skipped town, 'cause I just might give 'em a little butt-kickin'. Hey, Daddy, lookie there. Looks like someone needs to get their oil tank fixed or somethin', they left a streak of oil all the way down the alley---hey, ya reckon this is the robber's car that did this? I bet they had an oil leak an' just didn't know it when they were robbin' the bank. Ya reckon we oughta follow it? I do!"

"Sweetie, I think ya need to lay off the sugary stuff for a while."

"I'm super serious though! Come on, Daddy, put two-and-two together, I bet if ya follow this oil leak trail you'll find the perp."

"Oil leak only goes so far, an' it could belong to anybody."

Rachel rolled her eyes and threw her arms up in the air. "You're impossible. Fine then, I'll go check it out then."

She took off running down the alley before Enos could otherwise protest, but then he figured she knew her way around town enough to not get lost and wouldn't get into too much trouble---he hoped.

Rachel winded her way around the back side of the buildings until she finally realized that the trail ended cold---the oil disappeared. Darn it, that's why she needed her a hound dog, a real big bloodhound to help her do things like this. She gritted her teeth in annoyance and kicked at a trashcan. She looked around her and noted that she was near the hotel.

Glumly, she stuck her hands in her jacket pockets and went out to the sidewalk near the street so she'd be facing the front of the buildings. She scanned the parking lot and noticed an annoyingly familiar black BMW. And then she noticed the driver walking out towards it. Isabella. The disgustingly beautiful stranger that thought she could hog-tie Jesse and Lizzy's daddy and keep as a trophy. Rachel had a good mind to slash all four tires, but she wasn't old enough to have her own knife (at least that's what her parents told her).

Isabella got in her car to go---wellsomewhere of course---and only when she was out of sight did Rachel observe the area that she had pulled out from. And behold, a puddle of oil located directly where Isabella car had just been parked. Rachel's eyes became like little slits and she imagined aiming little laser beams at Isabella's car while she drove and then imagined it blowing up.

"I'll get you, my pretty. An' your little car, too."

Instead of going home like I normally do, I just skipped takin' the bus an' decided to go over to the garage where I knew Daddy would be at. Uncle Luke wasn't workin' today, he an' Aunt Ali went to do somethin' that nobody told me about an' I figured Daddy could use the company. Uncle Rosco was home by himself, but I didn't think he'd want to be bothered with any "kids" runnin' around the house. And much to my dismay, Lizzy along with Jesse were also hangin' out at the garage. Jesse's okay, but Lizzy? Sweetheart, grow up already.

When Chelsea walked up to the garage, she was immediately greeted by Lizzy's annoying "Hiii, Chelseeeeea!"

Chelsea waved her hand at her and walked right past her and straight to where Bo was looking in the hood of the car. "Yo, Daddio, what's up?"

"Apparently not your IQ," the person that she had thought was Bo said, who lifted his head and smiled at her. "If your gonna mix me and Bo up with each other."

Chelsea's eyes got big and a smile stretched across her face. "COOTER!" she squealed, jumping to wrap her arms around his neck and give him a big hug.

"Oh, NOW ya recognize me, huh?" Cooter joked as he hugged her back. "I'm almost insulted."

"Sorry, I just wasn't expectin' ya," Chelsea admitted as she pulled back. "Where is everybody?"

"Bo's in the office, Lizzy's up front, and I guess Jesse went with him. So---how you been holdin' up since . . . you know."

I knew he meant what happened to Aunt Evie. I heard they were each other's favorite cousins.

"I guess I'm all right," Chelsea told him. "Still in shock though, but so is everybody else. Never thought it would happen."

"That's for dang sure. Shocked the heck oughta me too." He sighed, as if thinking about something and then decided to switch subjects. "Got a boyfriend yet?"

She started laughing. "Who ME? You're askin' ME? Oh-ho, that's a good one, Cooter, honestly."

Bo walked out from the office at this point, Jesse in tow. "See y'all managed to run into each other," Bo said. He looked up and frowned when he noticed the black BMW pulling up. "And she always manages to run into us."

Cooter gave him a strange look. "Why, who's she? Someone I need to know about?"

Jesse recognized who the "she" was and decided he wanted to go hang out in the office some more.

"What's goin' on, y'all?" Cooter asked before Bo could shush him, the woman now walking towards them, who smiled sweetly and said "hello" to Lizzy when the girl told her "hi".

Ah, the infamous Isabella no doubt. She looks like a fake. How can she stand wearing all that make-up?

"Hello, Bo," Isabella greeted, getting a subtle head nod from Bo and blank looks from everybody else.

"Hi, Isabella," Bo managed to say politely.

"I'm Chelsea, Bo's daughter," Chelsea intervened, making a point to introduce herself.

Isabella gave her a sickeningly sweet smile. "Oh, yes of course. Hello, dear."

That sounded too much like Missus Doubtfire for my taste.

"And I'm Cooter Davenport, Bo's friend an' cousin-in-law."

She gave him a look that probably asked "What kind of name is that?" but then she smiled the same way she had smiled at Chelsea and said, "Oh, pleased to meet you. Um, Bo," she stated, trying to steer her conversation back to her original target.

"Yes?"

She blinked at the interruption then smiled before continuing. "I seem to be having a little trouble with my car, I think it's an oil leak. Is there anything you can do?"

She's askin' a mechanic if he can fix an oil leak? Geez, lady, who else fixes those things?

"Uh, yeah, sure I can handle it," Bo answered. "You can just leave it here an' come back in about an hour or two to pick it up."

"Oh thank you so much, Bo." She looked around the garage as if trying to find something. "Um, is Luke here?"

"No, he went somewhere with his wife," Bo replied, stressing the word "wife" to get a message across.

Cooter's eyes were going back and forth between the other two adults, trying to figure out what was going on. Isabella had an icy look in her eyes which warmed up pretty fast so she wouldn't look too odd.

"All right, thanks," she said, turning to walk out.

When she was out of sight, she made sure that nobody was looking at her while she quickly took off one of her heels and broke it against the side of the gas tank, then quickly put it back on, collapsed, and started yelling in "pain". Just as she wanted, she heard multiple pairs of feet come rushing to her aid.

"What happened?" Chelsea asked, although she didn't really care.

"My shoe broke and I think I twisted my ankle!" Isabella cried, holding her "busted ankle" and moaning.

Bo sighed. The woman may have been causing trouble around Hazzard, but she was still a woman and she needed help. And it wasn't like a Duke to turn down someone in help.

"All right, calm down," he told her, motioning to Cooter to help him pick her up. "There we go, let's get ya in my truck."

"WHAT?" Chelsea exclaimed. "Daddy, what're ya doin'?"

"Chelsea, she needs to lie down an' get some rest for a while. I'll just drop her off with you an' you can watch her."

"ME?"

Oh, Daddy, you so owe me for this!!

"So who'd ya say you were again?" Rosco asked Isabella, who was at present laid up on Bo's couch with her foot propped up on pillows.

"Isabella," she answered, trying to ignore him as much as possible.

Rosco was leaned back in the sofa drinking his coffee. "I heard a rumor you were a homewrecker."

She stared at him with a befuddled look. "Excuse me?"

"A homewrecker," he repeated casually. "I heard that's what ya were."

"I'm not a homewrecker, pops, and whoever told you that was nuts."

"Y'know, in some states it's illegal to break up a family."

"Bo, where's that ice pack at?" Isabella called out, getting nervous with the elderly man's insistance that she was indeed a homewrecker.

"Now why ain't your ankle swollen up? That's what mine did when I sprained it. See, I was about seven years old, an' my fat sister Lulu, who was fat even then, was chasin' me around the house on account I'd taken the last chocolate chip cookie that our dear sweet Momma had made, God rest her soul an'---"

"One ice-pack, comin' up," Bo announced, carrying the cold pack into the living room and laying it on Isabella's ankle.

"Oooh, that's cold."

"Yeah, that's why it's an ice pack," Rosco informed her. "Otherwise, it wouldn't be an ice pack, it be a---oh, what're those things called?"

"Uncle Rosco, medicine time!" Chelsea called from the kitchen.

"Blasted medicine, hate that stuff," he mumbled, getting up out of the chair and making his way to the kitchen. "Don't why I gotta have it, ain't doin' me no good, tired of takin' the stuff . . ."

Uncle Rosco's been gettin' worse and worse. He started mutterin' to himself more an' more, plus he keeps rattlin' on these meaningless stories of his childhood an' who-knows-what-else to keep his mind off Aunt Evie. I don't think he wants his medicine anymore either. Like it's a chore for him to keep living. Like it's a punishment to keep living.

"Good God, is your dad always annoying?" Isabella asked Bo.

Bo started laughing. "Rosco's a lot of things, but he sure ain't my dad. My parents died when I was a toddler. He's my brother-in-law, he's just stayin' for a few weeks."

"Brother-in-law?"

"Yeah, my wife and his wife were sisters." Bo sighed. "His wife, Eve, just got killed in that bank robbery a few days ago."

Isabella nearly jumped up off the couch. Holy crap, these people are related to that woman I shot! NOOO!

"Oh my that's awful," she replied, freaking out on the inside.

"Yeah, he's not takin' it very well I don't think. But anyway, that's not your problem. You just lay here and rest up. When ya feel like you can move around enough on your own, we can send you on your way.