Fifteen minutes later while eating ice cream with Beth in the parlor, Sheriff Daniels wondered why Cody did not appear. The boy never passed up the opportunity for chocolate ice cream. Sheriff Daniels would give Cody a few more minutes before checking up on him in his bedroom.

The phone in the parlor rang twice before the Sheriff answered it with a simple, "Daniels."

It was Buzz Cochran on the other end of the line. Sheriff Daniels questioned why Matt's father would be calling him. Surely Cody had told Matt he could not come to the party the boys were having that night.

"Brock, you and Beth better come over straight away," Buzz Cochran informed the Sheriff telling him, "Cody's been hurt."

The announcement caught Sheriff Daniels off guard.

He asked his friend, "What are you talking about, Buzz? Cody's upstairs in his bedroom. We're waiting on him to come get his ice cream."

"No he's not, Brock," Cochran replied, "he's sitting on the couch in my living room. His jeans are torn and his right leg is bleeding. He was hit by a car coming to Matt's party. Cody won't tell me directly but I think he knows who hit him."

Sheriff Daniels recradled the receiver of his phone. Relaying the aforementioned development to Beth, he said, "It's Cody. He's hurt."

The news grabbed Beth's undivided attention. She dropped her spoon in the middle of her ice cream dish. Falling against the side of the ceramic bowl it made a loud ping!

"Cody's been hit by a car," Sheriff Daniels continued his story. Then he told Beth, "He's with Buzz. Cody knows who it was that hit him."

"If you're waiting for me, Cowboy, you're backing up!" Beth stated grabbing her clutch off the countertop where she had placed the bag earlier that day.

"Say no more, Sweetheart. I'm right behind you!" Sheriff Daniels informed her.

They left the house in a hurry. Their minds on Cody's welfare. Down the sidewalk leading to the Cochran residence they flew. Buzz Cochran stood in the doorway of his house to meet them.

Sheriff Daniels paraded through thirteen excited, talkative, boys clustered in the living room of the Cochran house to reach Cody.

Immediately he demanded, "Do you know how much trouble you are in, little man?"

Embarrassed by being asked that question in front of mixed company, Cody meekly responded, "Yes, sir."

In the back of the room one of the other boys mumbled under his breath to those standing around him, "Oh-h-h! Cody's in big time trouble!"

While Sheriff Daniels asked Cody how he was, and examined his injured right knee, Beth took control of the situation.

She told the other boys to "Go in the den and put a movie on or go home. You don't need to be out here right now while Sheriff Daniels is tending to Cody."

"Yes, ma'am. We're going," thirteen boys responded in unison.

They filed off into the spacious den still chattering among themselves about what happened leaving Matt and Buzz Cochran, Sheriff Daniels, and Beth remaining in the living room with Cody.

Matt, seated next to Cody on the couch, had stayed quiet through the whole ordeal to that point.

"Cody, if you know who hit you I want you to tell me right now!" Sheriff Daniels asserted.

Cody's knee was discolored, and swollen, but nothing appeared broken. That was the good news. The bad news was Cody did not respond to the Sheriff's comment right away.

Noticing Matt was still in the room, Beth strongly addressed him, "Matthew David, when I told you boys to go watch a movie that included you. Motor!"

Quietly, Matt slid off the couch and left the room as Cody finally replied to the Sheriff's last inquiry with, "It was Taylor!"

Still steamed by the whole incident Sheriff Daniels asked him pointedly, "Fred Taylor?"

Cody responded, "Yes!"

He could still feel the sharp intake of his breath when he had been hit.

Sheriff Daniels went ballistic! Completely off the chart.

He stood up from where he had been examining Cody's knee and vehemently stated, "I'll kill him!"

Beth grabbed his arm tightly and calmly said, "No you won't Brock. You're going to calm down and let cooler heads prevail. Now step aside, Cowboy, so I can talk to Cody."