BETTER SAFE THAN SORRY

SOMEWHERE, IN THE BLUE RIDGE MOUNTAINS

Too shy and too serious to sleep by her side in the double bed of the cabin's bedroom during the night, but enough confident to sleep huddled up on the couch with his head on her lap or to sleep on that same bed with his head on her chest in the afternoon: sitting on the couch, Daisy caressed Enos' hair, smiling of his strange way to keep his boundaries.

A week passed since their arrival to the cabin, a week of nothing but just talking and waiting for news, Enos more and more in discomfort because of that stagnation.

The siren of an ambulance sipped into the silent cabin, distant and strange sound in that peaceful place.

Enos opened his eyes and sat up, yawning. He stood up and stretched his arms up, then he rested his hands on his hips and arched his back, moaning.

Daisy sighed and looked at him, "You should sleep in the bed, Enos. It is wide enough for both of us whereas the couch is too small for you."

Enos shook his head and walked to the window, "I prefer to sleep on the couch. Don't worry for my back, it's OK." He stared outside the window, "Rain. It rains, again. I feel like trapped. And we had no news from Hazzard, yet. NO news!" He turned to her, "Why?"

They talked and waited for news, and their talk always came to that point.

Daisy had a deep breathe, "Uncle Jesse said he'll call Gus when they'll find the culprit. He can't call Gus for any little step forward in their plan. What if Maybelle, for some reason or another, hears uncle Jesse calling Gus? We can't risk someone, and so that man, find out we are alive and we are here."

Enos scratched his head in frustration, "I know. I know. Better safe than sorry. We have to wait until Gus goes to Hazzard."

Daisy nodded, "Right. Gus usually goes to Hazzard a couple of times per month, every two weeks, more or less. He's planning to go to Hazzard next week, keeping his habit, and, as he usually does, he's going to visit uncle Jesse and talk to him, no nosey eyes and ears around them."

Enos shook his head and slipped his hands in his jean's pockets, "And we can't ask Gus to bring forward his visiting Hazzard."

Daisy nodded and smiled, "Right. If Gus starts to go to Hazzard too many times, some people could notice it and wondering why."

"Gus could say he's simply visiting his close friend in order to cheer him up after the loss of his beloved niece. Nobody would be surprised of it."

Daisy shook her head, "I don't think so. It's a lot better if Gus doesn't focus people's attention on him. Better safe than sorry."

Enos sighed, "I can't stand this wait."

Daisy smiled sweetly, "Don't worry. For sure Bo, Luke and uncle Jesse are doin' their best to find that man and so to bring us back to Hazzard. Trust them."

Enos frowned and looked down at the floor, "I trust them, but I don't like to stay here just waiting."

HAZZARD

Uncle Jesse stared at Bo and Luke entering the living room at the farm, his eyebrows rising in surprise, "What happened?"

Bo walked to the couch, his left eye swollen and dark, "A talk with the Beaudrys."

"The Beaudrys?" Uncle Jesse shook his head in disappointment, "And what in tarnation do you want to talk 'bout with the Beaudrys?"

Bo looked at uncle Jesse, just his right eye open wide, "Well… Milo tried to force Daisy to marry him, time ago. So we should think of him as a possible suspect for hitting Enos and burning our barn. I wouldn't be surprised to find out the Beaudrys are involved, some way or another. Beaudrys mean just troubles."

Uncle Jesse walked to the kitchen and opened the fridge, "I don't think the Beaudrys are involved in it, 'cause – "

"Milo is just a baboon." Luke sat on the couch by Bo's side, "Whereas the man who nearly killed Enos and burnt our barn is cold and schemer. Beaudrys are more…" he shrugged and frowned, "… animal-like."

Uncle Jesse walked to Bo and gave him an ice bag, "We have already talked 'bout it. That man is smart and cold, and it complicates things."

Bo rested the ice bag on his left eye, "He is smart and cold, and muscular too, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to knock Enos out and drag his body away from Hazzard. Milo has the strength of an ape, and he wanted Daisy. I had a try in order to find out where he was during the night Enos was injured and during the night our barn burnt."

Uncle Jesse nodded, "I guess your try with Milo got wrong, Bo."

Bo sighed, "The way Milo talked of Enos and Daisy…" He glanced at uncle Jesse, "But I can't repeat what he said, or you'll tan my hide, uncle Jesse."

Uncle Jesse shook his head, in his voice a pitch of reproach, "And you rose to Milo's bait."

Bo looked down at the floor like a scolded child, "Sorry."

Luke stood up and walked to the kitchen, "Having Enos and Daisy away from here is good, 'cause they are safe, but now that man has no reason to show himself, no chance he's goin' to have a false step in order to hit Enos."

Bo stared at Luke, "We couldn't use Enos as bait. Too dangerous."

Luke came back to the living room, a glass full of water in his hand, "I'm not sayin' we should have used Enos as bait."

Uncle Jesse caressed his beard, "Or maybe he's goin' to have a false step 'cause of his self confidence. He thinks he won over us. If he thinks he has got off scot-free, he'll let down his guard."

Luke sipped the water and rested the glass on the table of the living room, then he sat on the couch, caressing his chin, "Or maybe not. I don't think he is goin' to let down his guard so easily. What if…" he kept on caressing his chin, thoughtfully, Bo and uncle Jesse's eyes on him, "… what if we let him know, some way or another, Daisy and Enos are still alive? I think he is the kind of man who doesn't like to be fooled, and I bet that if he knew where Enos and Daisy are, he would try to kill both of them, both because of his hate for Enos and because of the rage for having been fooled."

Uncle Jesse and Bo looked at each other.

Luke kept on talking, "I'm not sayin' we should let him know that Enos and Daisy are with Gus. I'm talking 'bout having that man wondering if Enos and Daisy are still alive, first, 'cause for sure he would check if it's true. We could cause a rumor, just a rumor, 'bout Daisy and Enos safe and sound somewhere, giving him the doubt 'bout their death, then giving him a place where to find Enos and Daisy, and waiting for him at that place. He'll show up!" He snapped, "This is my plan. We're goin' to use Enos and Daisy as bait, but a false bait."

Uncle Jesse stared at Luke, thoughtfully, "That man is clever. So, we need a realistic rumor, something apparently not starting from us, of course, but from someone else, a rumor slowly spreading in town. We'll control this rumor, in order to give that man a false place where to find Enos and Daisy, waiting for his checking the truth."

Bo scratched his head, "The problem is how to start this rumor and how to control it, pushing it in the right direction. Rumors can be confusing. Besides, if the rumor 'bout Enos and Daisy spreads in town, several people would check if it's true, so we risk to have the wrong man coming to the place where we are waiting for the real culprit."

Luke stood up and walked in the living room, his hands on his hips and his eyes down at the floor, "If we manage to cause a realistic rumor, realistic and so enough confusing," he glanced at Bo, "'cause, you're right, rumors are usually confusing, enough confusing but not too much confusing, I bet that man will be the first one to look for the truth."

Uncle Jesse nodded, "It's a good point, but it won't be easy."

Luke shrugged, "If it won't work, OK, it will be just a rumor. It will start as rumor, and it will end as rumor. If it won't help us to find that man, we'll manage to let people think it's just a rumor, so they'll believe, again, Enos and Daisy are really dead. Enos and Daisy will be safe, anyway, 'cause this rumor won't bring that man to them. That man won't ever know if it's just a rumor, if there's something true in it, or if we are responsible of this rumor; he'll have just doubts, and maybe he'll finally have a false step, some way or another." He looked at Bo and uncle Jesse, "OK?"

Bo sighed, "If we fail, that man will become more and more careful."

Uncle Jesse sighed, "We should try; we can't be sure 'bout the outcome of this plan, neither of any other plan, 'til we don't try it. Enos won't stay away from Hazzard for a long time. When we forced him away from Hazzard that way, we hurt his pride and sense of duty, and no matter how much Daisy is good in persuading him, she can't tie him."

SOMEWHERE, IN THE BLUE RIDGE MOUNTAINS

Discomfort and uneasiness: day after day, they grew in Enos' heart, and Daisy felt it.

"I have betrayed people's trust. I have lied to them."

It was the point, and Enos always came to it.

Daisy stood up and walked to him, "Enos! It was Luke's plan, and, as you said, we forced it on you. YOU aren't responsible. YOU didn't lie."

Enos scratched his nape in confusion, "Since I'm staying here, it means I have accepted Luke's plan, so I am your accomplice in it. It means I am guilty, 'cause I am letting people think I am dead. It's unfair, 'cause I am causing pain, a pointless pain."

Daisy covered her face with her hands and shook her head in frustration, then she stared at him, "Why is it so difficult to you? Why are you feeling so guilty 'bout lying?" She came closer him and she rested her hands on his shoulders, her face closer and closer to his one, "Enos, please…"

He had a step back and rejected her upcoming kiss.

She folded her arms around her chest, hurt by that rejection, "Are you so angry, Enos? Are you hating me so much because I forced you into this lie?"

He looked at her in surprise, "Angry? I'm not angry, Dais. I don't want to kiss you 'cause I would like it."

Daisy raised her eyebrows in confusion, "Would it be so bad, liking it?"

Enos shrugged and sighed, "If I start to like my staying here with you, I'll feel even more guilty."

She repeated her previous question, "Why are you feeling so guilty 'bout lying?"

He turned to the window, he stiffened and had a deep breath; he finally turned to her, looking into her eyes, his eyes burning for pain, a pain Daisy didn't ever seen in him, before, "Do you know why I decided to become a cop? Do you know why I can't lie? Do you really know it? Do you know how it really started?"

No, she didn't know it. She has always thought it was just because of Enos' innate honesty, but she has never thought about a real reason, about a 'start'. She waited for his answer.

"I decided to become a cop when I was 8 year old. Do you remember of – "

"ENOS! DAISY!"

A frantic knocking at the door and Sarah's voice, Gus' wife, interrupted him.

Daisy dashed to the door and opened it, hugging the crying woman, "What's goin' on?"

The woman cried into Daisy's arms, "Gus. He isn't feeling well. He is pale, and he feels a weight on his chest. I called the ambulance, and the paramedics are bringing him to the Atlanta Medical Center. Please, come with me! I need your support in this."

Enos turned pale, "The Atlanta Medical Center?" He washed away every smell, sound and feeling of that place.

Sarah looked at him, "It's the closest Hospital from here." She gave Enos the key of Gus' truck, her hand trembling and her voice cracking, "Please, come with me."

He couldn't stand women crying, he grabbed the key and walked to the door and then along the path heading to Gus and Sarah's house, "OK. Go."

Sarah and Daisy followed him, Daisy's arm still around the older woman's shoulders.