"Bo!" Jesse yelled into the open well as a warning.
But no warning was needed as Bo knew exactly what was going on. He was close enough to the opening of the well that the sun offered him some light to his surroundings. Spying some twisted vines snaking down into the well, he managed to close his hand around one just as the rope broke, sending the bucket down with a hearty splash.
Digging his boots into the rock crevices, he pulled himself up enough that, in just a few moments, Cooter and Jesse were able to assist him by pulling him out by the arms. With his feet on firm ground once again, Bo turned to peer into the inky blackness of the well.
"You alright?" Uncle Jesse asked with concern.
"Yeah, but Luke might not be if I don't find another way to get down there!" Bo replied anxiously.
"Wait a minute. What did we do with that wallet?" Cooter asked.
"It's right here." Bo replied pulling it out from behind a wet jeans pocket.
"Let me see it." Cooter said.
Cooter took the wallet and opened it up. After examining the contents for a few moments, he looked at them. "Luke ain't in that well." He announced.
"How can you tell?" Jesse asked as Bo took off for the house. "Where you goin' Bo?"
"To look for rope. " Bo replied hurridly. "I'm sorry Cooter, but if Luke is down there, he could be in trouble. We can't make assumptions that he ain't based on somethin' you read in a dime store mystery novel."
"Actually ain't much for readin', Bo. My knowledge comes from pullin' my fair share of cars out of the Hazzard Car Wash." Cooter shot back, pulling out Luke's license and handing it to Jesse. "A driver's license is pretty good at surviving moisture, when it comes to a quick dunk or a spill. But immerse one in a pool of water for a day or so and that ain't the story anymore."
He pointed to the license which had become saturated and the ink had become runny….even underneath the durable plastic coating.
"And seein' how you pretty much found evidence that somebody left here recently, I'd say we'd do good to look around the house for more clues."
Realizing that time would no longer matter if Luke had indeed been in the well as long as the wallet, Bo reluctantly followed his friend and uncle back toward the house, praying that new clues might lead them in a different direction concerning Luke's whereabouts.
Arriving there, Cooter looked down at the ground around the steps while Jesse went inside to see what he could find. That left Bo to explore the small porch, doubting he would find anything with only a broken down rocking chair occupying the space.
"Say Bo." Cooter said after a minute. "What did Luke say he was gonna buy soon as he had the money?"
Bo shrugged. "A pair of new Durango boots. Why?" He asked, wondering why Cooter had any interest in Luke's shopping list at a time like this.
"And that's because every since the corner of his heel broke off, he keeps tripping." Cooter finished, pointing to the ground.
Bo came over to see what he was pointing at. There, from the steps out a little way, was a trail of a single boot print, a corner of a heel obviously missing. The two men followed the trail, until it abruptly ended where muddy car tracks began.
Despite that they were on a cold trail again, Bo couldn't help but grin a little. "Luke ain't in that well….he's off in a car somewhere!"
"Now who's been readin' mystery novels?" Cooter replied.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Although it was a warm afternoon, the sweat pouring freely from Steve Pritchett's face couldn't be blamed completely on the heat. As he worked diligently under the hood of the Rolls Royce, he cast a nervous glance toward his garage office. Through the window, he could see the owner of the Rolls sitting in the small waiting area, fingering through an issue of 'Life' magazine that was at least two years old. Snarling her nose, she turned the pages with her fingernails, acting as if the stained publication belonging to the garage had as many or more germs than the edge of the hard plastic seat on which she barely perched.
At first Steve had been extremely happy to see an upscale car pull into his garage. Even though the occupant had looked at him as if he were slightly better than dirt, he also realized that she was the type having little knowledge of cars and no interest in quibbling over the few dollars he would tack here and there on her bill. Those extra greenbacks would ensure that the loan for the new lift in his garage would be paid off a little faster.
Being in debt was something he both hated and avoided. As a matter of fact, he was so anxious to get rid of that loan that he had taken drastic measures to do so. For instance, the first thing he had done was to cancel his liability insurance so that he could contribute the hundred plus dollars he paid out monthly to the elimination of the note. After all, he had been in business six years and never once had he touched the policy. He figured he could do without it a few months.
That is, until today, when the phrase concerning insurance being 'It's better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.' was beginning to take on a very personal meaning.
Groaning, he extracted a spark plug. It was the fourth brand new plug he had tried to install in the same area and this one was coming back out the exact same way: with the threads all bent out of shape.
He had one heck of a time getting the old plug out, and each wasted new one was money lost. After all, spark plugs weren't cheap, that is unless you were comparing them to the cost of a new engine block. That's what Steve was going to end up buying if he had done what he thought he had to Miss Fancy Pants' car.
It was certainly shaping up to be a very bad day. And when a white station wagon occupied by his estranged sister and the family he had never met pulled up to the station, he quickly began debating on whether or not it was about to get worse.
Standing up straight, Steve took an oily rag from his pants pocket and began wiping his hands as his sister got out of her car. As she approached him, he felt like both hugging her without letting go and smacking some sense into her all at the same time. He had missed her, missed her a lot. But just the same, there had been many nights he had lay awake, cursing her for the pain she had caused their family all those years ago when she had walked out the door for the last time.
"Hello Steve." Kathleen offered.
"Well well." Steve smirked, the frustration over the Rolls declaring a winner in his emotional war. "Ain't this my lucky day? My long lost sister done showed up for a loving family reunion."
"Steve, I'm sorry." She offered.
"Aw, sorry for what?" Steve asked, turning his attention back to his work as he talked. "Sorry that you run off with that no account thief that stole all that money from Dad and Mom right out from under their noses? Or sorry that you told us that we could all take a flying leap into that eternal flame before you took off with him and disappeared for seven years?"
"Steve that was a long time ago. I was young and I was blinded by love. I realize now what a mistake I made."
"Oh when did that happen? When he finally ran off on you too?" Steve asked, shaking his head as he continued to work on the Rolls. "Ya know, it's kinda hard for me to believe you've realized your mistake…..especially when you come crawling back to me with a new criminal in tow."
Kathleen crossed her arms and pouted. "Well if you're so dead set against what I've done and who I'm with, why did you agree to let us have the apartment?"
"Because……." He continued, pulling out yet another ruined sparkplug. "No matter how I feel about what went on between us, the baby in that car is my nephew and he, at least, is deserving of a decent place to live. Besides, if that new husband of yours is the hot-shot mechanic you sold to me over the phone, I could really use his help around her, con man or not."
"So you really didn't do any of this for me?" Kathleen asked, hurt.
Steve slammed his tool down and turned to face her. "I'm doing a whole heck of a lot more for you than you ever thought about doing for me, let alone Mom or Dad. Now are you going to stand there pouting all day or are you gonna get that baby outta the car and next to the air conditioner?"
Without replying, Kathleen simply went back to the car and opened the door to extract Will. "Hey precious, looks like we're home!"
After a few moments spent getting out, Luke hobbled toward the garage and nodded at Steve before looking at the spark plugs. "Looks like you got yourself a mess of trouble there."
"Yeah I do only I ain't so sure it all has to do with the car." Steve replied, watching as his sister ascended the apartment stairs with Will in tow. Once she was out of sight, he decided to size Luke up, wondering how closely he was going to have to watch this man, who he assumed was a convicted theif.
Well, no matter what his new brother-in-law might eventually do, Steve decided that he and his possessions were safe so long as Luke was on the crutches. Still, the young man in the blue plaid shirt carried himself in a certain way and acted in a certain matter that made him seem trustworthy. He was either a very gifted actor or perhaps just a guy who, down on his luck, performed a crime out of desperation one day. Without meaning to, Steve began to let his guard down, decided that he would extract more information from him in due time.
Unaware that he was being examined under a microscope, Luke had picked up the latest discarded plug. "Just hang on, I think I can get it." He announced, laying the plug back down. Hobbling over to where Steve kept his tools, Luke pointed around to them before he found what he was looking for. Selecting the tool he sought, he went back over to the Rolls. Steve watched in amazement as Luke worked his magic. Before long, a new spark plug had been put firmly into place.
"How did you know how to do that?" Steve asked in amazement.
"I don't really know." Luke shook his head, unaware that he had used a trick he had witnessed Cooter Davenport using on more than one occasion.
Steve offered a huge grin of graciousness and relief. "Seems my sister was right when she bragged about your knowledge of cars! What else can you do?"
"Well…" Luke began.
"Sometime today?" The Rolls owner asked with more than a little sarcasm as she poked her head out of the office door.
Before Steve could answer, he saw a tow truck pulling onto the lot carrying a wreck.
"Look, if you don't mind I'm a little tired, and I can see that you're busy. Mind if we talk about this later?" Luke asked.
"No not at all." Steve replied, pointing toward the stairs. "Take all the time you need. Rolls is good to go now thanks to you."
Offering a slight smile, Luke went over and begin ascending the stairs. As he did so, Steve went into the office to finalize the service papers for the Rolls owner. After he had sent her on her way, the tow truck driver finally entered the office.
"Hey, long time no see." Steve said, greeting the man.
"Don't get around here much anymore. Not unless I have to." The driver replied.
"Yeah I heard."
"Which is why I'm here. All things considered, I was wondering if there's any way you could take over delivery of this car for me. Owner needs it real bad but with what's going on……."
Steve held up his hand. "Don't mention it. My brother-in-law's working for me now and I can get him to deliver it tomorrow." He announced, looking out the window at the black, wrecked car that was hooked to the back of the tow truck. "Just tell me where it needs to go, Sammy."
"Fella in Hazzard." Sammy replied. "Name's Cooter Davenport."
Well don't that just tie it up all nice and neat?