AN INVISIBLE PUZZLE

"Enos"…. A distant voice.

"Enos"… The voice came closer.

"Enos"… "Enos"… more voices, closer and closer.

Enos opened his eyes and he realized he was lying on the ground, cuddled up on his right side, and he didn't remember how it started. Several shoes and legs around him, from his position he could see just shoes and legs, and a pungent smell was irritating his nostrils.

The bomb!

"A bomb! Cooter! Where's Cooter?", he started to panic. Where was Cooter?

"I'm here, buddy, I'm OK. I wasn't inside the garage," Cooter lowered his voice, "fortunately."

Enos sat up, looking at Cooter, "I'm sorry for your garage, Cooter. But… I'm goin' to find the bomber, and I'm goin' to use the price on his head to rebuild your garage," he forced his voice through his burning throat.

"Ok buddy. I know you're goin' to arrest that man, though I don't know what you're talking 'bout. A bomber?" Cooter looked in confusion at Daisy, Bo and Luke, "I was having a walk with Bo and Luke when I heard the explosion. So, I have to thank Bo and Luke, otherwise…" he shook his head, taking off his greasy hat.

"What are you talking 'bout, Enos? It seems you know what's happened, whereas we don't know anything. A bomber? Why are you talking of a bomber?" Luke gently rested a hand on Enos' shoulder, worried for Enos' scared and confused look: Enos looked more shocked than Cooter, and it was pretty strange to Luke.

"The bomber from L.A.! Is the bomber from L.A. here in Hazzard?" Rosco forced his way through the crowd, reaching Enos, Cooter and the Dukes.

"Bomber from L.A.? What are you and Enos talking 'bout?" Bo repeated Luke's and Cooter's previous question.

"A dispatch from the Marion County Sheriff… one week ago…"

Enos closed his eyes as Rosco talked about that dispatch, the sheriff's voice more and more distant. There were too many people around him, and, because of that smell too, he felt like he couldn't breath.

"Oh Enos, why didn't you tell me 'bout it? You should've talked to me 'bout that bomber and how much it's worrying you." Daisy hugged him but he barely felt her arms around him: he was like numb.

"Enos, go and call…" Rosco's voice overlapped Daisy's one, calling him to his duty.

Duty, public trust: people in Hazzard were waiting for him arresting the bomber, waiting for him protecting them. But, was he able to protect them?

"I'm OK, Daisy, don't worry," again, his voice managed to find its way through his aching throat, but his legs were opposing to his order. He was unable to stand up.

He felt his friends' arms around his waist as they helped him to stand up and to walk, heading to Doc Appleby's house, and he didn't even try to fight against their help: he was too tired and too shocked to do or to say anything else but just being carried as an empty bag.

"What's happening to Enos?" Rosco followed Bo, Luke and Daisy out Doc Appleby's house, "He's… strange, he's strange since he came back from L.A, and that journalist said he was injured. I bet you know everything 'bout it."

Luke turned to Rosco, "Sorry, Rosco, but we can't talk about it. Enos is goin' to tell you everything, if he wants to."

After their brief, but meaningful, talking at Doc Appleby's house, Luke seemed eager to go away, and Catherine Burns approaching was a perfect chance to stop his talking with Rosco, "Rosco, I think you should talk with that journalist. I suppose she wants to ask you something about the bomb."

Luke was right: Catherine Burns approached Rosco, overwhelming him with all her questions about the blast, and, being the Sheriff trapped by the journalist, Luke beckoned to Bo and Daisy to come with him. It was clear he was trying to find a quiet place to talk to his cousins, a place away from everyone, so he headed to a small blind alley.

"So, what's goin' on?" Bo looked carefully at his older cousin, well knowing Luke was thinking of something important, really important.

Luke folded his arms, "Enos was shocked."

Bo shrugged, "And did you bring us here just to tell us what we already know? He couldn't stand up and he looked like he was goin' to burst out crying. He was goin' to faint and we had to drag him away from the crowd. I've never seen him this way," Bo shook his head as Daisy rested her head on his shoulder, bursting out crying. "Don't worry, Daisy, Doc Appleby's taking care of Enos."

"I want to talk to you about the reason why Enos is so shocked. It's about something Rosco said when we were at Doc Appleby's," Luke's eyes were lost in the distance while he remembered their previous talk with Rosco: he was recollecting the pieces of his personal puzzle.

"Rosco just told us about a dispatch: a bomber from L.A. here in Georgia."

"Rosco told us a lot more, Bo," Luke's eyes focused on Bo and Daisy, and he started to gesticulate as he was really composing a puzzle, "Now, Rosco told us, EXACTLY, that one week ago the Marion County's Sheriff sent a dispatch about a bomb in his County, being the bomber responsible of other blasts in L.A., and then in other States."

Bo nodded, and Daisy, her face previously buried against Bo's shoulder, turned to Luke, listening carefully to him.

"The interesting thing is that Rosco told us Enos looked pretty shocked by that dispatch. Do you understand?" Luke nodded, his arms again folded, and he looked into Bo's eyes.

"I think Enos doesn't want to hear about L.A. anymore, and it's why thinking of a bomber from L.A. in Hazzard scared him. He was shocked when he met Mrs. Burns too. I think just naming L.A. hurts him."

By Bo's side Daisy swallowed against the lump in her throat, nodding.

Luke shook his head, "No. It isn't enough. When I asked Rosco to describe me, exactly, how Enos reacted to that dispatch, Rosco told me Enos seemed calm and indifferent, at the beginning, THEN he asked Rosco to read again that dispatch, and AFTER he re-read it he turned pale. So, I think Enos was scared not by knowing about the bomber but about something else in that dispatch. Something, beside the bomber, caught Enos' attention, shocking him."

Bo looked at Daisy and then again at Luke, "Maybe a delayed reaction to the bomber's news."

Luke gently rubbed his chin, thoughtful, "Yeah, maybe you're right, but…", he shook his head, rejecting Bo's idea as his hands started again to compose his invisible puzzle, "… but I think, on the contrary, Enos was scared not about the bomber but about something else in that dispatch."

"The detectives coming from L.A.? Rosco told us 'bout some detectives from L.A. to call in case of the bomber…," Daisy's eyes opened wide, starting to realize Luke's idea.

"You got it, Daisy! I think Enos, reading that dispatch a second time, realized something about those detectives. If the problem had been the bomber, I think Enos would've been shocked when he read the dispatch for the first time."

Bo shook his head, "I don't know, Luke, your idea is a bit… bizarre. You're reading too much into a reaction you didn't even see. Rosco told us Enos turned pale after he read that dispatch a second time, but maybe he's wrong, and Enos was shocked since the beginning."

"I think Luke's right," Daisy squeezed Bo's arm, in fear, "after the blast, when Enos was on the ground, I hugged him and I felt him shivering when Rosco approached, asking him to go and call those detectives. As soon as Rosco told Enos to call the Marion County's Sheriff and to ask for help and for those detectives from L.A., I felt Enos shivering, and I'm sure about it. Maybe it's just because Rosco named L.A… or maybe…"

"Or maybe he doesn't want to meet those detectives," Luke completed Daisy's thought.

"And you think Enos doesn't want to meet those detectives not simply 'cause they're L.A.'s detectives," Bo too started to enter into Luke's idea.

Luke nodded, "Yeah. Do you remember what Mrs. Burns told us the first time we met her? She told us she thinks Enos knows perfectly well who beat him up, but he didn't tell it or it's been covered up."

Daisy glanced at Bo and then she stared at Luke, her eyes wider and wider, "Do you think those detectives could be somehow involved in Enos' beating, Enos knows it and it's why the idea of meeting them shocks him so much?"

Luke scratched his head, "It's just a supposition. Maybe I'm reading too much into things, but we know Enos was beaten by his colleagues, and probably LAPD covered it up; moreover, after he knew about those detectives coming to Georgia from L.A. he looked like if he saw a ghost. Now, coupling these two things, my supposition isn't so bizarre."

"Do you think those detectives beat him up, and he knows it?" after his question Bo held his breath.

"I think he knows those detectives, otherwise he wouldn't have reacted that way as he knew 'bout their staying in Georgia and 'bout the possibility to meet them because of that bomber. I don't know if Enos knows them 'cause they were responsible of his beating, or 'cause they are responsible of the covering up. Or, maybe, he worked with them, in some cases, and now he simply doesn't want to meet anybody recalling him of L.A. But, in order to protect him, we'd think of the worst possibility. You know what I mean, don't you, Bo?"

Bo nodded, a serious and worried look on his face, "You're telling those detectives, IF responsible of Enos' beating, or of the covering up, maybe want him dead."

"WHAT?" Daisy looked at Bo, terrified, "If they had wanted him dead, they'd have killed him as he was still in L.A. Don't you think?" She tried to smile, a forced smile to fight back her fear, "You're saying absurd things, boys, I think you're really reading too much into things."

Luke looked silently at Bo and Bo looked silently at Luke, then Luke turned to Daisy, imitating her forced and pitiful smile, "Yeah, we're reading too much into things. It's because of the blast, and Cooter's garage, and Enos feeling bad. You're right, Daisy. Stop thinking of absurd things and go help Rosco and Enos, and those detectives, to find the bomber. And I think you should check how Enos is goin'. Go to Doc Appleby's house and check if Enos is OK."

Daisy nodded, satisfied by Luke's answer, and she walked away, eager to reach Enos.

"Luke…" Bo stared at Luke, "are you sure 'bout your suspicion?"

"I'm not sure about anything, Bo. I just know that I prefer to think of the worst possibility, take precautions against this worst possibility (though … bizarre) and finally realize I was wrong, instead of underestimate a possible danger and reproaching myself I didn't follow my instinct when it's too late. Someone nearly killed Enos when he was in L.A., as retaliation, and we can't be sure they aren't goin' to complete their revenge, masking it and blaming the bomber the same way they blamed the protesters."

"But, maybe they didn't want to kill him, maybe they wanted to give him a lesson," Bo held back his disgust. He didn't like to talk about it, he didn't want to think of it: the same way Daisy kept on imaging that day in L.A., he too wasn't able to erase those pesky images from his mind.

"Or maybe they thought he was dead, or he was going to die, but he survived, coming back to Hazzard. And now they have a great chance to conclude their… lesson."

"IF those detectives are some way or another involved in Enos' beating. IF!," a forced smile, similar to Daisy's one, surfaced on Bo's face, his way to reject that terrific possibility.

"A big IF, an IF we can't underestimate. So, we're goin' to have a CLOSE watch on Enos and on those detectives. OK?"

Bo's smile faded, and he nodded, accepting that terrific possibility, "OK. Though I sincerely hope you're wrong, this time, totally wrong, cousin."

"I too hope I'm wrong, Bo, you can't image how much I hope I'm wrong. And, now, go and check if Enos is OK. He looked like…," Luke shook his head, sighing, "he looked like he was scared to death."

MARION COUNTY

"Hazzard County?" James Colt's tone changed from questioning to thoughtful, "Hazzard County," then he turned to his colleague, who's driving the car, "the rat was from Hazzard County, wasn't he? What a strange fate! Are we goin' to meet him again? Or maybe he's in convalescence, and it wouldn't be strange."

Rick Molise's knuckles turned pale as he clenched his fists around the wheel, "Don't use that word, please, James," his voice and his eyes not betraying his emotions as his hands did.

THANKS, again, to everybody's reading, and THANKS THANKS to everybody's reviewing. I hope you're liking it and you're enjoying it the same way I'm enjoying writing it :-)) (IF... the chapter of "IFs".. LOL, IF I'm going to write another story, after this one, I promise something more happy and funny).