MaryAnne

Woah...woah, easy there Hilery. For god's sake, all he did was wink. Jeezum crow... *takes Brian by the arm and grabs up the two towels off the bar. Leads him towards the kitchen to help him get the ice cream and junk out of his hair* God forbid he said a friendly hello to her you'da probably shot him! Cool yer jets, girl.

*looks at Brian* "Yeah, he's pretty scary awright..."

"Oh we've been having a typical Hazzard day, kidnappin's, blown up patrol cars, frame ups, bad dreams and too many chili dogs." *raises empty root beer mug to Daney, looking for another round* "It could be suggested that there's some paranoia runnin' rampant 'round here. I'll tell ya, if life were anymore crazier in Hazzard, I'd have to declare myself sane. " *smiles*

With everyone crowded into Rosco's office, Cooter jerked his thumb at the Dukes. "It was actually their idea," he said. "Their idea?!" Brian, MaryAnne, Cully, Mac and Rosco all exclaimed in unison. Luke smirked. "Yeah, Rosco, our idea..." "Yeah, Rosco, our idea..." "Rosco.....Rosco......Rosco...." ....... *** "Rosco?" Cully sighed and finally pushed the sleeping Sheriff enough to nearly knock him out of his chair. "WOOJIT!!" Rosco exclaimed, becoming fully awake and grabbing on to the chair and the desk. He looked up at Cully. "Oh, Cully...it's you. Lord 'o mercy I just had the craziest dream." "That's what you get for eatin' them chilidogs and then fallin' asleep. MaryAnne warned you at lunch." "Yeah, well I think next time I'll listen." He paused. "What are you doing here?" "MaryAnne wanted me to fetch ya. She and Brian are waitin' outside. The lil' tour of Hazzard y'all were gonna give me?" "Oh yeah. You know, you were in my dream. You got yerself one heck of a tour of Hazzard." Cully grinned. "C'mon, Sheriff, you can tell us all about it...." ~The End!~ =)

Although two days had passed since Riddick had left Hazzard, MaryAnne still looked at the note he had left with Hilery. Thankfully, no one had been hurt, and in all honesty MaryAnne figured Riddick wouldn't have hurt anyone in Hazzard anyway. By the words of his note, the people of the town had struck a chord of some sort with the mysterious loner and whatever road he was traveling on and what ever destination he was heading to, he had a piece of Hazzard in his heart. Silently, she wished him luck and good fortune. She placed the note back down on the booking desk with the other notes that had been left that night, and she strolled over to the window. Across the street at Cooter's garage she saw the primer grey 1970 Charger. She chuckled to herself. Haven't seen another Charger similar to the Dukes car since.... She saw Cooter come out of the garage with a tall, dark haired young man in black jeans and a grey t-shirt. The mechanic was smiling, talking and had his arm over the young man's shoulders as they walked towards the grey Dodge. The young man popped the hood and they both looked into the engine. "Can't be..." MaryAnne said. "Or can it??" She left the window and walked out of the booking room, leaving the courthouse. She walked across the street, staring at the young man. "Chet?"

Brian looked at Daney, incredulous. "Sweet cheeks?" he said. "Ha!" His dark eyes scanned over at Alex and Gillian. "I'm more apt to wanna play cowboys and outlaws..." He strolled over to the two assassins. "...and swing these two from a rope..." "How many freakin' lives do these people have?" Cully blurted out, staring at the two. "Awright, I'm gonna git to the bottom of this," Rosco said and marched over the two gun mauls. "WHO HIRED YOU?"

MaryAnne nodded. "Hmmm...." "What are you thinkin'?" Rosco asked. "I'm thinkin' that them two knew what they were doin' at every step. Try this on..." She walked up to the booking area and looked at the group that was gathered in the booking room. "Them two get their orders to come to Hazzard, not necessarily hired by Val here." MaryAnne looked at the Game Warden, sitting in the holding cell, looking back at her sadly. "'cause I don't believe that." "But that tape recording...?" Bo said. "Tape recordings can be altered..." MaryAnne looked at Mac, "And somebody could have dressed up to look like Val, to nab you. If your evil twin had the know how to look like you convincingly, his lady partner could've pulled the same trick." MaryAnne paused. "I'm thinkin' these two did their homework before they got here." "But why make it look like Val hired 'em?" Daisy asked. "Well, I said they did their homework, I didn't say they finished it. Their orders were not to kill Brian, but to employ scare tactics. Somebody hired these two and these two not only took that information with them when they jumped off Kissin' Cliff, they left a wild goose chase for us here." "Then they're protectin' their boss," Brian said. "At a very high price." "Extremely high." "So when they saw MacGyver postin' to the board a challenge to Brian, they took the opportunity to make Mac here look like the one after Brian," Luke said. "Thus covering their own tracks. And implicating Val, covered their tracks more if everything were to blow up on 'em, which is did." "Leavin' us with a fine mess," MaryAnne said.

Khee! Thank ya! *Brian picks up root beer mug and takes a sip* Tasty! *looks at Hilery* What ya mean a late Easter present? What were you gonna give me instead? Lilies?

Brian came up beside MaryAnne and looked at the letter and envlope over her shoulder. He refrained from comment for the moment, letting Rosco and MaryAnne handle the questions of the investigation. But he certainly had questions of his own that would be asked in due time. "Hmm..." MaryAnne walked over to the telephone on the desk near Boss's office and made a phone call to her old friend, Min. A few minutes later she hung up the phone. "Awright yer story checks there. Looks like you an' Cully there had bad timin' comin' to Hazzard. This isn't the usual reception we give for visitors...." She walked back to the group gathered in the middle of the booking room. "Lessee....so you came to Hazzard and saw our lil' postin' game on the bulletin board. You joined in. You offered a challenge to Brian and our two gun mauls, allegedly hired by Val, see an opportunity. Val, allegedly, grabs you, one of the two gun mauls assumes yer identity and kidnaps Brian and his partner grabs Daney. We have some Hazzard chasin' and stuff, loose a patrol car off Kissin' Cliff and end up loosin' the two gun mauls off Kissin' Cliff. But they leave a note, implicating Valerie Strate. Incriminating evidence is left in Daney's car, cash and a tape recording of Val, allegedly making a deal with the two gun mauls." MaryAnne paused and sighed. "And I can't make heads or tails of it." Rosco looked at Mac. "Did anybody know you were comin' to Hazzard?" "More to the point," Brian said. "Did them two gun mauls know you were comin' to Hazzard?"

MaryAnne was half contemplating slapping the cuffs on the blonde haired stranger but Bo spoke up. "We did find 'em tied up, MaryAnne. Luke and I, Daisy. Rosco was there too." MaryAnne nodded. "Awright." She looked at Mac. "Just keep yer fingers clean if I decide to print 'em. Now...second question. What are you doing here in Hazzard?"

*Brian looked at the root beer floats that MaryAnne and Daney had. He then looked down at his beer and back at the root beer floats. He put the mug down on the bar top with a thunk* To hell with the beer, I want one of those! *MaryAnne sipped at her root beer* "Mmmm...much better than the peanuts. Khee! Thanks Hilery."

That brunette woman was none other than MaryAnne Coltrane who walked into the booking room with Cully and Brian behind her. She stared at Mac. "I thought he was dead??" "It's a long story, MaryAnne," Rosco said with a sigh. "A very long and complicated story..." "Well ain't nothin' simple in Hazzard anyway," MaryAnne said. "Awright, what do we have here?" Rosco did a quick run through of what they knew, the tape recording and money found in Hunter and finding the real MacGyver tied up in Val's boarding house room. MaryAnne blinked. "This is all a joke right? I mean... Val?! And them two gun mauls threw themselves off a cliff because they didn't want to get jail time for scare tactics?" MaryAnne was thouroughly confused. Something wasn't clicking. The pieces didn't all quite fit. She looked at Mac. "First question. Who ARE you??"

A string walks into a bar and the bartender says "sorry we don't serves strings." So the string goes out side and jumps and rolls around until it's all tied up with itself and goes back inside the bar. The bartender says "hey, ain't you the string that was just in here?" And the string says, "No I'm a frayed knot." *looks at Daney and Brian for reaction and promptly plops two peanuts into her root beer* We oughta git Rosco in here. What'd one casket say to the other? Heh!

Rosco and MaryAnne both heard Daney's call on the radio and MaryAnne tried several times to get the Duke back on the airwaves with no success. "Scout, come back!" she called into the CB mike, but it was no use. Daney wasn't answering. "Dang it," she said, putting the mike down. Rosco came up beside her. "You reckon the note she found looks like this one?" Rosco asked, holding up the note that was now in a plastic bag. MaryAnne sighed. "I'm reckonin'. Whoever nabbed Cooter and Hilery is probably the same that nabbed Enos. And if Daney goes into those woods they're gonna nab her too." "And all of Hazzard County's gonna go 'blip!' and disappear!" "We gotta git to the bottom of this thing, and we're gonna need some help. C'mon..." Rosco grabbed his hat and followed MaryAnne out of the booking room and courthouse.

Really??? Man, I've been tryin' to find a way to do that for awhile now! Just a lil' ol' peanut, I'll be darned. *looks at Brian's beer mug and then at Brian* Who woulda thunk? Khee!

"You think they jumped out?" MaryAnne asked. "They might have. I'll be honest, some of the marks in that dirt look like they coulda jumped out." MaryAnne slowed the Firebird down and pulled over to the side of the road. She turned in her seat to look at her kin. "Maybe we should turn around," Brian said. Rosco agreed. "If they're still back there..." MaryAnne nodded. She was about to turn Maverick around in the road when she saw Cooter's tow truck coming down the road. "Hey, there's Cooter..." she said. "Looks like Hilery's with him."

Around 11:30, MaryAnne returned from patrol and parked her patrol car on the side of the courthouse that faced Cooter's garage. Cooter and Hilery were still working when MaryAnne had left around 9pm and she noticed now the garage was completely black. The outside light that Cooter usually left on near the office door was out too and the garage doors were still open. MaryAnne got out of her patrol car and stood for a moment looking over at the garage. Something was wrong. Cooter always closed the garage doors when he closed up for the day. She walked across the street. "Cooter?" she called, her voice echoing inside the garage bay. "Hilery?" MaryAnne pulled her flashlight off her gunbelt and clicked it on. She found the light switch and flipped it a couple of times but the lights in the garage wouldn't come on. "Weird..." she said softly to herself. "Wonder why the lights ain't workin'..." She flashed the light over Cooter's work bench and saw the blood stained note. "Oh my Lord...."

"HOLY--" MaryAnne brought Maverick to a quick stop and everyone spilled out of the car. The black smoke rose up above the canyon and the three Coltranes, along with Cully looked down to see. Both Cully and Rosco removed their hats. "Good Lord..." Rosco said softly. "They couldn't stop." MaryAnne looked at the smoke and slowly shook her head. "No. I don't think they wanted to stop. They knew exactly where they were driving. "

*looks at peanut floating in glass of root beer* You're right, we have to be read for anything. And yer right about our kinship. *grins* That's how we get away with doin' stuff like this *flicks a peanut into Brian's beer*

*ponders Brian's question while sipping on her root beer* You'd be the Lord o' something that's for sure. Yeah tho'...I remember them days. When good was good and evil was evil....before things got sooo fuzzy...." *stops, looks at you* "Sorry, lil' Don Henley there. *takes a handful of peanuts from the bowl* Anyway, yeah, I remember when you put that sign up. Man alive that was quite a ride when we did that. But now tho'... *munches on a couple of peanuts* I dunno seems like nobody wants to play for fun anymore. What we need around here is a good battle of wits. No addendum for murder, no tryin' to kill off somebody. Just good ol' fashioned smarty pants dialouge, with some hijinx thrown in. *chews for a moment, then looks at you* Whatchya think?

"I don't hold nothing against Daney," MaryAnne replied in the CB, "and I understand what she did too but backwoods southern justice is gonna have to be dealt out in more than just a fight in a mud pit. I will not have people think they can come into Hazzard County, push us around, threaten us, kidnap us and try to kill us, and get away with it." She paused. "So Luke Duke, if you've got that look in yer eye....stand on it! Let's not let these jokers get away! I'm gone!" MaryAnne tossed the mike over to Rosco who hung it up on the CB set. She glanced at Cully in the rearview mirror. "This isn't the kinda introduction to Hazzard I was hoping for but....Welcome to Hazzard County, Cully." Cully grinned. "Wouldn't be the same any other way."

"Well, ya know what they say," MaryAnne said. "The family that plays together, stays together. Khee!" She glanced in her rear view mirror at Cully and Brian in the backseat with Bandit between them. "I guess I can pass on the introductions, y'all already seem to know each other." "Well, with a face like mine it's easy to be recognized," Cully said with a grin. "Nice to meet ya, Brian. I've heard a lot about you." "All bad, of course," Rosco added. "Khee!" Up ahead, the patrol car was in viewing distance, but there was quite a length between it and Maverick. MaryAnne had the pedal to the floor. A moment later Daisy's voice came over the CB. MaryAnne picked up the mike. "Go ahead, Bo Peep."

MaryAnne and Rosco were both glad Brian was okay and seeing him in a uniform should have illicited a few smart comments from the cousins. But there would be time later for teasing. Now, there was a call to action in the air. MaryAnne wanted a piece of the two hired guns so bad, and she knew Brian had seen it in her eyes. There was no reason to hold back on it either. Kidnapping and attempted murder were serious issues. A swift delivery of justice was on order. "Whattya mean, she's the law?" Rosco complained. "I'm the law too, I'm the Sheriff--!" "Who agrees that crimes have been committed," MaryAnen said, "and the perpetrators are getting away! They kidnapped Brian, they kidnapped Daney. They attempted to kill Brian, and we can throw in assault and battery just for good measure. We're goin' after 'em---" Before MaryAnne could finish her speech, she watched the lone Hazzard County patrol car come into view with Val, Enos and Cletus. "Well...maybe we won't be..." A little disappointed, the Coltrane cousins watched the scene. Mac and Gillian were let out of the patrol car by Daney Duke, who then undid their handcuffs. "What is she doing??" Rosco said. "Is she crazy?! Them dipsticks, they shouldn't be lettin' them outta the car!" They saw Daney turn, flash the ridge runner okay signal to her cousins and then the tables turned. With the Dukes backs to the scene, Mac and Gillian had subdued Enos, Cletus and Val, tied them, gagged them and jumped into the patrol car. "DAMMIT! They're they go!!" MaryAnne took off to runnin', with Rosco and Brian with her. There was no way they could do anything to stop the car themselves, but MaryAnne got close enough to pull her gun and took aim at the fleeing patrol car. Six shots came in rapid fire, blowing out the back window of the patrol car and shattering tail lights. The Plymouth kept going. "C'mon y'all!" MaryAnne yelled. "They're not gettin' outta Hazzard County!!" She turned and ran back to Maverick.

A few moments later the blue Firebird came into view of the cabin. The car kicked up dust on the narrow dirt drive and then came to a quick, sliding stop, surrounding it in a cloud of dust. The two doors popped open and Rosco and MaryAnne jumped out. Cully stayed in the car with Bandit. It wasn't too hard to spot the only other person in the crowd wearing a Hazzard County deputies uniform. "Brian! Are you awright??" MaryAnne came up to her cousin, taking him by the arm and looking at him. Althought both he and Daney beside him grinned at her, she couldn't help but look at him with concern, relief, and with apology for that fact that she and Rosco couldn't get here sooner.

"If I ever get my hands on that two bit gun maul...." MaryAnne muttered as Maverick tore up dirt and grass, heading in the direction of the cabin. "And the chick. Just for good measure." She and her two passengers had heard the gun shot as well and the Firebird was beating a path to the source of the sound. "I hope we're not too late," Rosco said. "If we are, everybody better run for the hills. Because I'm gonna go ballistic!" "I dunno if I wanna see that," Cully said. "You don't," Rosco replied. "Figured." MaryAnne was beyond fuming. First, the rest of the Coltranes were a day late and dollar short in regards to Brian being kidnapped. Things just moved too fast. Now, finally getting themselves in gear, they were probably too late. And Brian probably wondered where the hell they were and possibly passed on thinking they weren't gonna try to save him. "@!%$!!" MaryAnne spat. "I'll second that," Cully said. "What if that gun maul is still around?" Rosco wondered. "Good!!" MaryAnne said. "We can have target practice and a bar-b-que!" "Jit..." Cully refrained from comment.