BABY BLUES

An unexpected partnership threatens Starsky and Hutch.

This story is a collaboration between ProvencePuss and Sparkle731. ProvencePuss wrote the introduction and Starsky’s Pov’s. Sparkle wrote the chapters from Hutch’s Pov.

Introduction

Ok, here we go.

“Come on sweetie; mommy get you out of the car; oh you are a heavy little thing – it was easier carrying you inside me than it is now. OK diaper bag? Check. Bottle? Check.

Let’s go and see if your daddy’s here.”

Wow this place hasn’t changed much. Oh good Huggy’s on duty tonight, if they aren’t here he’ll know where they are. Thought they could fool me going off that night with their arms around each other. I know them both too well to fall for that. In fact I know them both intimately.

“Hi Huggy, remember me?

...

oh yes, isn’t he cute? He’s three months old now

…

yes time does fly. Have you seen Starsky and Hutch today?

...

oh they are?

....

well I don’t know that I really want to stay too long here, I mean no offense but the air in here isn’t too good for his little lungs

….

Look don’t tell them I came by; I’ll find them later.”

Well I hope that worked. This little cap kept his hair covered nicely; even if Huggy does tell them, they’ll both be guessing.

Chapter One

(Starsky’s POV)

We’d been in The Pits about ten minutes when Huggy dropped the bomb. You should have seen Hutch’s face. It was written all over “is it mine?” Does that mean he slept with her more than once, the bastard? Over a year ago and I still don’t know how far I can trust him any more.

It started out so sweetly. She was transferred to our precinct and our eyes met over the coffee machine. She was beautiful that day. Her hair was so thick and kind of wavy and she had that big smile. I couldn’t help myself. She was flirty and funny and when I asked her if she wanted to meet for a drink after work she didn’t hesitate.

We went back to my place. She admired my ship, asked me if I’d made it myself and I think she meant it when she said that she was impressed.

She was even more impressed in the bedroom. I gave her the full works. Started slowly and gently; lots of kissing and sucking at that pretty mouth. Her nipples looked like candy kisses, those little chocolate candies, and they tasted nearly as sweet. She gave me all she had to give too. She took me in her mouth and made me wish that it could go on forever. Then she let me into the gates of paradise. Wow it was good. It felt like we kept going for hours. We changed positions and tried out a few ideas that she had, and they were good ones, believe me.

The next morning I was chafed and sore and to be honest she was walking a little the way I do. But it was worth it.

We saw each other every day…well every night. We fucked until we couldn’t move anymore.

Then Dobey assigned us to that night club. The blonde dancers were being killed and some nut was leaving messages. The crazy French woman who ran the place didn’t really like it that we put a pretty cop into the ring. I mean she was a whole lot prettier than any of the other women in that clip-joint.

Hutch and I had to pretend to be clients. Oh you should have seen him. He started dressing up different each night. One night he looked like a cross between an off-duty sailor and a Dylan impersonation. That was the first time I noticed the way he was coming on to her. I thought she was just stringing him along. You know, taking her undercover role really seriously and not showing that they were working together.

I tried to let it ride, but then he went too far. He told her that we’d swapped assignments and that he was taking her home.

The next day I blew my top. I stormed over to his place and told him exactly what I thought. I told him to do his job properly or we’d end up with another dead blonde – and it might not be one of the dancers! I mean he was so blatantly hanging around with her even the dumbest customer would be suspicious. He called me a ‘stuffed shirt’ and I stormed out.

I spent that night with her. Doing dumb things like holding her on my shoulders while she hung plates on the wall above the opening in the wall that made the room seem bigger. I can still remember that soft sweet smell that wafted from behind my head every time she reached up.

We sat by the fire and talked of nothing and everything; and we spent a long and happy night together. I forgot how mad I’d been with Hutch.

The French woman was going nuts. Anyone would think she was the only clip-joint owner in town who had ever had a little trouble because her girls were ready to finish the tango horizontally.

As soon as Dobey let us go I went to find her a gift. I’d decided that I was ready. I never thought I’d get there again; not after Terri. I honestly believed that my one chance had been taken away when that bullet finally slipped and killed her. But then I was given another chance, and I guess that doesn’t happen to everyone. I chose the gift carefully. We didn’t really have many tastes in common – in fact I reckoned we’d both have to sell all our stuff and start from scratch in a new house. The woman in the store made a really pretty package for me. And I set out to ask this lovely lady to marry me.

Hutch’s car was outside her house so I double parked it. I remember some fool demonstrating that he knew how to make the horn work on his car; but I didn’t give a damn. I was so amazed to see that tatty heap that Hutch calls a car in front of her house. To be honest I was scared too. I thought maybe something terrible had happened and that Hutch had got there first.

It had; but not what I expected. Oh he’d got there first all right the low-down two-timing bastard. When she opened the door I was so relieved that she was OK; and then I smelled it; her own sweet scent –and something else. You don’t work with someone as long as I’ve worked with him without knowing all the intimate details. I could smell it; a distinct mix of blond sweat and WASP rut.

He came out of the bedroom still buttoning his shirt. Oh he tried to look embarrassed – he just looked like he was annoyed that I’d caught them. I slammed into him like he was the last linebacker on the field trying to stop me from getting through. I hit him and I could feel his breath leave his lungs as I gave him a solid left and right in the gut. She started screaming at us. She was yelling something about us having no right to fight over her.

That’s when I really understood what being betrayed means. My best friend had just been screwing the woman I had hoped to marry. And she was screaming that she didn’t belong to either of us. I understood that she didn’t really love me after all.

I don’t remember what I did with the gift; I stormed out of the house and drove off.

I was ready to radio in to Dobey and ask for a transfer to anywhere; even back to New York. But Mildred got there first. Another dancer had been murdered.

We hardly spoke at the crime scene. In fact we hardly spoke for a couple of days; and then it was all over. The killer was a Vet who had lost the use of a leg (poor bastard, I felt sorry for him about that) and lost part of his mind too. He was convinced that the blondes in the clip-joint were Cong spies. I guess that’s how he was injured. I lost a few friends in those attacks. The women seemed so friendly; the music was slow and sexy and then just as the GIs were dancing close and slow…bam! A couple of grenades and the Congs had a few less enemy forces to deal with. Anyway the big surprise was her reaction. Hutch and I managed to pull off our usual non-verbal communication bit and I flung that grenade like it was the punt that would win the Superbowl. The killer was down and there she was sobbing over him and comforting him while he died.

That got me and Hutch back together enough to at least talk about it; and we decided that if she thought she wanted both of us, that’s what she would have. All or nothing.

We got it all worked out – even Huggy was fooled. She didn’t want to play, so we left arm in arm, laughing like kids.

And now Huggy tells us that she dropped by today; with a baby. Three months old she told Huggy. Now I’m better at math than Blondie for all his college education and I know where we all were a year ago.

Huggy said that the kid’s eyes were blue – well that doesn’t exactly narrow the field! He also said that she’d put a cute little knitted cap on his head so none of his hair showed…..

Chapter Two

(Hutch’s POV)

When Huggy told us about Kira’s visit and her ‘surprise package’, I could see the expression on Starsky’s face. He was as shaken by the news as I was. We both knew that either one of us could be the father, but then half the men in the precinct could be for all we knew.

Kira was the one woman who had come close to destroying the close friendship between me and Starsky. And, she had almost succeeded. She shook her ass, batted her eyelashes and flirted outrageously and we both fell under her spell. I thought we were just having a fling, another one night stand. That’s all Kira ever meant to me. But, she meant more than that to my partner. I just didn’t realize it at the time. Or, maybe I did and I just didn’t care.

Even before Kira came into the picture, things had been rocky between me and Starsky. I’ll be the first to admit that it was my fault. I was tired and burned out on the job. I took it out on Starsky. I put him down, called him names, and treated him like crap. Starsky just took it in stride and stuck by my side. That’s the kind of friend he is, loyal to a fault. He gives and gives, and I take and take. The more I tried to push him away, the closer he stayed.

Hell, I didn’t even know he’d been dating Kira at first. He hadn’t told me and that’s not like Starsky. Usually, he spends the next day boasting to me about his new conquests. But not with Kira. That should have told me something right there if I’d been paying attention.

When we got assigned to work undercover on the dancehall murders, that’s when I started really noticing Kira for the first time. Oh, I’d seen her around the precinct before that and did my share of flirting with her just like every other man in the building but working together at the dancehall gave me the opportunity to really let loose and come on to her. And, believe me, Kira didn’t mind. She came on to me just as strong as I did to her. The signals were all there, loud and clear.

By then, I knew that Starsky had dated her a couple of times but I had no idea how serious the relationship was, at least as far as Starsky was concerned. There’s always been a friendly competitiveness between me and Starsk, especially when it came to women. It wouldn’t be the first time we’d both dated the same woman or even slept with her for that matter. So, I didn’t have any guilty conscience when I went after Kira; that came later after I found out how she’d manipulated and used us both.

Then I told Kira that Starsky and I had switched assignments for the night and that I would be taking her home instead of him. She didn’t object or seem to mind very much. She just slipped me the key to her house. The signals she kept sending me seemed to say go for it, Hutch, so I did.

I found out that night just how wild she could be in bed. I mean, she had moves that even surprised me and I’ve been around the block a time or two. She was a great fuck and she liked to leave her mark. I had scratches all over my back and shoulders from those long fingernails. I was dragging my ass and sore as hell the next morning, but it was worth it.

Then, out of the blue, Starsky confronted me about Kira. When he told me that he loved her and that she loved him, all I could do was stare at him like he’d grown a second head or something. And, being the pompous ass that I can be at times, I didn’t believe him for a minute. The Kira I knew wasn’t Starsky’s type, at least not the type he got seriously involved with. She sure as hell was no Terri. I was stunned when Starsky stormed out of my apartment muttering under his breath about me getting my act together and doing my job right,

I’ve always hated arguing with Starsky. Things usually blow over once we both vented, but not this time. I kept thinking about what he said about Kira feeling the same way he did, so I did something really stupid. I decided to ask Kira about her relationship with Starsky. When I asked her if she loved Starsky and she said yes, I was ready to walk out of that door and never look back. Then, she floored me by saying that she loved me too. Something wasn’t adding up. When she started rambling on about loving us both but in different ways and asking if I’d ever had a relationship with more than one woman at a time, her logic made some kind of twisted sense.

I still don’t know how it happened but we ended up in her bedroom. I was so wrapped up in making love to her that the thought of what I was doing to Starsky never crossed my mind. When we finished, Kira climbed out of bed and went into the living room while I finished getting dressed. My heart almost stopped when I heard the doorbell. Somehow, I just knew it was Starsky. I was tucking my partially buttoned shirt into my jeans when I stepped out of Kira’s bedroom.

I’ll never forget the look on Starsky’s face, so much hurt and betrayal shimmered in those sapphire eyes. I felt like crap knowing that I had put that expression in those eyes. I had hurt the one person that meant more to me than anybody else in the world and I had done it deliberately. I didn’t even try to defend myself when my outraged partner attacked, backing me up against the wall and slamming several well aimed punches into my stomach. I knew I deserved it.

I’m not sure what would have happened if Kira hadn’t started screaming at both of us and ordering us out of her house. With a final glare at me that broke my heart, Starsky turned and left the house. I was right on his heels but he was already in his car and speeding away without a backward glance. Dejected, I climbed into my car, not sure if I should cry or find someone to take my anger out on. With a sinking feeling in my gut, I realized that I may have just destroyed our partnership and our friendship beyond repair.

Starsky and I barely spoke to each other for the next few days, except when we had to. I wanted to apologize but my stubborn pride wouldn’t let me do that. Then it was over, the dancehall case was solved. The murderer turned out to be a disabled Viet Nam Vet who had convinced himself that the blondes at the club were really Viet Cong spies. I found myself wondering if I’d find myself without a partner now that the case was resolved.

Kira had called me a couple of times since the confrontation between me and Starsky at her place, but I refused to talk to her. I finally saw her for what she really was and I guess Starsky did too because as far as I knew, he had called it quits with her too. Anyway, Starsky and I finally talked about what happened and we came to the same conclusion. Our partnership and our friendship meant more to both of us than any woman ever would. I think that’s when both of us realized that Kira had played us both for fools, playing one against the other for her own enjoyment.

We turned the tables on Kira when she called each of us individually and asked us to meet her at the Pits. We dressed alike and arrived within a few minutes of each other. Poor Huggy wasn’t sure what was going on that night. When Kira showed up, Starsky and I both approached her, implying that if she wanted us both, then she could have us both. But, the fun of the game for Kira was fucking each of us behind the other one’s back. It wasn’t as much fun when we each knew about it. When she rejected our offer, Starsky and I just shrugged, smiled, and threw our arms around each other’s shoulders as we walked out of the bar together.

That was the last time either one of us saw Kira. She transferred to another precinct the next day, moving on to new conquests. Things were rocky between me and Starsky for several months but we finally got our relationship back on solid ground. But, sometimes, just for a minute, I could still see that look of betrayal reflected in Starsky’s eyes. Kira’s name was never mentioned by either one of us again.

Now the manipulative bitch was back and with a baby no less. A baby that could easily be either mine, or Starsky’s. I didn’t trust her for a second and wondered what her game was this time. If the baby turned out to be mine, I would do the right thing and accept financial responsibility for the child but Kira had better not expect more than that from me.

And if the baby turned out to be Starsky’s, I knew my tender hearted partner and the way he felt about kids. He would want to be a part of his child’s life, a full time father. It didn’t matter if he didn’t love Kira; he would still feel obligated to do the right thing. I found myself praying that the baby wasn’t his. I didn’t think he could survive getting involved with that man-eater again.

Chapter Three

(Starsky’s POV)

I was watching him closely, trying to figure out what was going on behind that cool Nordic face of his. I could see it in his eyes. He can’t hide anything from me – even when he puts on his dark glasses. He was weighing up the pride against the anger.

I knew exactly what he was thinking. If the baby was his he’d ‘do the right thing’, and finance the kid from the cradle to grad school. He’d probably marry her in some big schmaltzy ceremony and square it with the preacher by asking him to christen the little tyke at the same time. He’d be making the big pitch at pleasing mommy and daddy; he’d probably stiff his old man for a trust-fund for the kid and maybe even quit the force and go back to Duluth to finish med-school.

It was written all over his face. Hutch has made his mark. He finally got to do something I hadn’t…well as far as I know I haven’t!

There was something else there too. I could see him worrying that I’d be hurt if it turned out to be mine. That’s Hutch all over, always worrying that I can’t handle things emotionally. I’m the one who had the big childhood trauma and he thinks I can’t handle things!

I was still trying to work out how I’d feel if it turned out to be mine when Huggy said he had a call for us.

We had to go see a snitch about a possible cocaine deal going down. During the next couple of hours neither of us had much chance to think about Kira and her baby. We had enough trouble concentrating on staying alive.

It was a set-up. The snitch was nowhere to be seen and as soon as we got out of the car someone on a roof started using us for target practice.

I watched Hutch run out from his cover and started firing in the general direction of our would-be killer. There I was crouched behind a mailbox firing a whole clip of bullets into the air…and Hutch was trying to work out how to get up onto the roof.

That’s when I realized that it would be best for that kid if neither of us was the father. I was crouched there trying not to think of my dad lying on the ground with blood seeping out of the back of his head.

I shouted out to Hutch to see if he was ready to cover me so I could join him. He yelled ‘OK’ and I slipped a new clip into my gun and made my move.

Hutch says I scuttle like a crab trying to be a quarterback. Whatever, I get where I need to be and I keep my head down. And for his information I was a fucking good quarterback…and there are a few ex-cheerleaders who I’m sure would back me up on that statement.

So I arrived alongside him and asked him if he had a plan. He likes that. He likes to think that he’s the brains of our duo; what was it he once called me? Oh yeah, ‘the not inconsiderable brawn’; that tickled me. I mean he’s as strong as I am after all. And I’m not as dumb as I like to play.

He had a plan all right. He figured that if he drew the guy’s fire long enough I’d manage to see where the shots were coming from. I gently pointed out that we’d already done that; and that it was pretty bloody obvious that the guy was on the roof over the diner on the corner of the alley.

“Hey,” I asked him, “are you sure you have your mind on the job here?”

He gave me one of those ‘Oh Starsk!’ looks he does; I’ll bet his dad did that to him and said something like ‘Oh you disappoint me Kenneth.’ I couldn’t let it drop.

“At the risk of being accused of being a stuffed shirt,” I said as lightly as I could, “I just wanted to point out that if one of us isn’t concentrating here, both of us could end up dead.”

That was what it took; I watched him pull his act together and then off we went. We snuck along the wall of the alley and I spotted the fire-escape. As usual I hoisted him up to get a grip on the platform and pull himself up so he could drop the ladder to me. It works best that way, the one time when his extra couple of inches are of use to both of us.

Oh-oh, there goes my mind again…according to Kira that’s not the only extra length he had; but she said I used mine better. Kind of like the guns we carry. Well maybe we both fired blanks!

Hutch and I were up on the fire escape and we could hear someone walking along the roof above us. We slipped into our usual non-verbal communication and I signaled that I’d go up first. I went up the ladder trying to keep as close to the wall as I could, and making sure not to look down. I peeked up over the edge of the roof and saw him standing about a foot away. He had his back turned so I made my move.

I can move very quietly when I have to. I learned that in the jungle. I kept low and I had my gun ready. He was standing in a very distinctive position and I thought for a horrible moment that the wind might be against me. At least I knew that he couldn’t be holding a gun. I stood up and stepped right up behind him. I put the barrel of my pistol up against the small of his back, right by his kidneys, and said “when you’ve finished my partner and I would like to talk to you.” He pissed all over his shoes!

I had him cuffed before he had a chance to zip it up again. I guess I was just feeling mean after hearing about Kira. We turned to go back to the fire escape and I could see that Hutch was trying not to laugh at my captive’s predicament.

“Be nice, Starsk,” he said, “let him zip it up.”

“Ok.” I said. I undid the cuffs but kept a firm hold on his right hand; I kind of twisted it a little so that if he tried anything it would hurt like hell. He dressed himself and I pulled his hand back to the cuffs.

“I need both hands to get down the ladder,” he whined. I thought about it for a second and decided to play it for all we could get. If I was tough on him he might just spill out who sent him to play shooting arcade with our heads. I looked at Hutch. He grinned at me. He knew what I was thinking. “I tell you what Starsk, why don’t we do what the mountain climbers do?”

Now I knew what he meant. We’d been to see a movie a couple of nights ago and had to sit through a documentary about mountaineering before the big feature came on. Now as neither of us has a head for heights, this was not our idea of a good time. We really got the horrors when they showed this string of guys all inching along a path about three inches wide, above what looked like the Grand Canyon. They were all attached to some kind of guide rail by loops around their wrists – at least that’s how it looked form between my fingers! I undid one of the cuffs; then closed it again – wrong side, I’d noticed when he was fumbling his zipper that he was a leftie like me - I knew that would make it a bit more scary. I slipped the open cuff around the rail of the ladder and down we went. By the time he’d got to the bottom the hard way he was ready to tell us everything.

And guess who was behind this little adventure?

It wasn’t until after I’d dropped Hutch off at his place and driven home that I started to really think about Kira’s baby and it troubled me. I put it to the back of my mind and settled down to finishing my newest project. I’m working on a scale model of a schooner. I’d love to have the real thing….maybe one day, if I’m lucky and Hutch is dumb enough to put his money where his mouth is when we’re playing pool!

Chapter Four

(Hutch’s POV)

I knew Starsky was watching me, probably trying to figure out what I was thinking. I had a bad feeling about this whole thing. Kira being back was bound to cause nothing but problems. Silently, I cursed myself for not wearing a condom when I was with her. Then a sudden thought hit me. Kira wasn’t the kind of woman to just let herself get pregnant by accident. She would have taken precautions. Having a kid would cramp her style too much. So, what gives? What exactly was the little bitch up to this time? Did she want money? Revenge? Or was she after something more sinister? Was the baby just another way to come between me and Starsky and break us up? I wish I knew.

All of my protective instincts towards Starsky kicked into high gear. No matter what the outcome, he was going to get hurt. I could feel it. He had been kicked around so much in his life and been handed so many heartaches by the women he had loved, he didn’t deserve anymore pain. Not from Kira. I vowed to make sure that didn’t happen to him, not this time. I had almost lost his friendship and his trust because of her the last time; it wasn’t going to happen again.

If I knew where to find her, I’d give her a call to try and get to the bottom of this little farce, but I had no idea where she was staying. My thoughts were interrupted when Huggy told us that he had a call for us. It was about a meet with a snitch about a possible cocaine deal going down. The call turned out to be a hoax, a set-up. When we arrived at the scene, there was no snitch, just somebody on top of building who decided to use our heads to take pot shots at.

Starsky and I both managed to stay under cover and avoid getting hit. That’s one thing about me and Starsky, no matter how mad we are at each other, we know the other one always has our back in a dangerous situation. I was annoyed when Starsky finally crouched down beside me and asked me if I had my mind on the job and pointed out that if one of us wasn’t concentrating, both of us could end up dead. I know he was referring to both of us being preoccupied with our thoughts about Kira and the baby.

After gruffly reassuring him that I was fine, we snuck along the wall of the alley we had darted into until we spotted the fire-escape. Starsky gave me a boost up so I could get a grip on the platform and pull myself up, then I dropped the ladder back down to him. That’s just how we work. We know each others strengths and each other’s weakness and how to make the best use of them in any given situation. I snorted as I realized that it hadn’t taken Kira long to figure out our weaknesses when it came to woman and use those against us.

Starsky signaled that he would climb the ladder to roof first with me right behind him. I know how much Starsky hates heights but he never lets that interfere with what needs to be done. I watched him slip over the edge of the roof and slowly advance towards our suspect, moving as silently and gracefully as a cat. I’ve always admired that feline grace in my partner. It’s a skill he learned in the jungles of Viet Nam while I was in college protesting the same war he was busy trying to survive.

I grinned in satisfaction as Starsky got the drop on the gunman and the poor guy pissed all over his shoes. Starsky had him cuffed before the guy got a chance to even zip it up. “Come on, Starsk,” I said with a chuckle “Be nice and let him zip it up.”

Starsky smiled thinly as he undid one bracelet just long enough for the man to zip his pants and then snapped the cuff back in place.

By the time we finally got the suspect to the ground, he was more than willing to tell us everything he knew. Starsky and I neither one could believe it when he told us that the person behind setting us up as clay pigeons on a shooting range was a man that we both used to consider a friend until he changed sides and became one of the bad guys, our old Academy classmate, John Colby.

We had both met John at the Academy and the three of us used to hang out together. John left before graduation to join the Army and neither of us heard from again until several years later when he blew into Bay City. He claimed to have been a guest of the Viet Cong for five years and said he was back in town trying to find his wife and baby. Starsky and I were more than willing to help him do that. We found out later that he was just using us. Old Johnny boy had become a very well paid hit-man and was looking to kill a man who was scheduled to testify against some very bad people. He used me and Starsky to help him find his target by claiming the man’s wife was his ex-wife. Luckily, we found out in time to stop him from killing the guy and John was arrested and sent to prison. Apparently, he didn’t take too kindly to us arresting him and decided to get even in his own way.

The guy he hired to take potshots at us didn’t know where John was holed up. He didn’t really know much of anything other than the fact that he was paid good money to use us for target practice. Good thing for us he was such a lousy shot. We had to find Colby before he decided to come after us again.

After booking our suspect, Starsky and I spent a couple of hours trying to track down Colby. The only thing we found out was that he had been released from prison over a year ago and he had dropped out of sight. Something sounded fishy about that whole scenario to me. If he wanted me and Starsky, why did Colby wait so long to make his move against us? And why hire some bumbling idiot like the guy we had arrested when John was a crack shot and could have easily taken us out himself if he had been on that roof? Something didn’t add up.

Calling it a day, Starsky drove me back to my apartment and dropped me off. I invited him up for a couple of beers but Starsky declined, stating that he was just going to go home and crash. I knew he was going home and rack his brains over the events of the day, not just the fact that Colby was back in town and out for our blood but the situation with Kira and the baby. I could already feel the tension mounting between us and I didn’t like it one bit.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile, in another part of the city, a lone figure slipped into a deserted phone booth and picked up the receiver. Depositing the correct amount of change, they dialed a memorized phone number. After three rings, the phone was answered as expected. “So far everything is going according to the plan. By the time we’re through with them, Starsky and Hutch will be finished.” The caller said with a satisfied chuckle. “Their careers as cops will be over and their reputations will be in the sewer.”

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Chapter Five

(Starsky’s POV)

Working on a model helps me concentrate my mind. Hutch sits cross-legged on a table looking like an anemic Buddha in PJs a size too small and goes Om for about ten minutes – I make models; or sometimes I run.

I sat and stared at the model for a while but this time the trick didn’t work; so I went for a run instead.

I love running. When I was a kid at school I was good footballer because I loved to run. I was on the track squad too; the only one who did the one hundred dash or the mile and was capable of getting a place in both. I slowed down a bit after I got hit in ‘Nam but I can still make old Blondie look like a schoolgirl if I have to. I don’t do it too often though; he loves to think that he’s the superior athlete with his workouts at the gym and his daily run around a couple of blocks. I’ll bet he’s never just let himself go running through the woods and feeling the wind whistle in his ears.

I go up into the canyon and just run. Sometimes I have to walk home because I’ve gone too far. I was running along the track that goes up to the ridge with the view out over the cantilever houses and the city below when I got the feeling I was being watched. Not followed, watched. Someone was watching me.

I set off back home and managed a quick scan of the neighborhood from the top of my steps before going into the house.

Someone had been watching me so that they could give the signal if I turned back sooner than expected. Someone who knew where, and how far, I run; IF I run. Which means that it was someone who knows I don’t have a regular pattern. But that was a question I’d think about later. Right now I had to deal with the problem in front of me.

I stepped over the upturned table and was about to use my T-shirt to cover my hand to pick up the ‘phone when I remembered that my prints would be everywhere anyhow! Shows how even the best cop can have a dumb moment!

I called Hutch first.

“My apartment’s been broken into.”

“What? But where were you?”

“I was running.”

“But Starsk it’s after ten pm. It’s dark out there, you could have fallen or…”

Typical Hutch, he’s worse than my mom or Aunt Rosa when it comes to looking out for Dave Starsky’s welfare. I think maybe my mom has a deal with him.

“Yeah; well I go out and run at all times. Look, the problem isn’t what time I run, the problem is that someone knew I might go running….I guess you’d better get over here; we need to talk.”

I called Metro and arranged for the crime lab people to get over here and check for other prints. They stood a pretty good chance of finding them because I’d done all my housework the day before; and when I do my housework the place is as neat as a new pin when I’ve finished. Not like Hutch, who is willing to accept Fifi’s quick run with the vacuum and a flick of a duster between mooching over his laundry!

Anyway, I knew that if there were any prints they’d find them.

I decided to take the photos myself. I love photography but this wasn’t exactly a pleasure. I took the table from two or three different angles; then I focused on the smashed schooner. Looking at it through the shutter it seemed even more fragile. I took a couple of shots and then the shock hit me. Whoever did this wanted to make me feel bad; and they knew exactly which button to push. I put down the camera and felt the hot tears running down my face as I tried to work out who could hate me so much.

Hutch got to my house first. The expression on his face when he walked in must have been much the same as mine had been. He did that thing that drives me nuts – kind of dry washes his face with his hand and then…yes…there it was, the tips of the fingers tapped against his forehead to signal that he was trying to work this out.

“Shit Starsk!”

“My feelings, entirely.” I said. “You may as well sit down; your prints will be in this place anyhow.”

He sat on the sofa and looked at me carefully. I could tell that he was trying to judge how upset I was.

“I was being watched while I was running” I told him. He thought I was imagining it. He reasoned that as I went running at crazy hours, no-one could have known to watch me. I told him that I thought the same at first. That I’d figured that I was imagining it and there was no-one watching me…but the fact that my apartment had an uninvited guest while I was out running kind of indicated that we were trying to kid ourselves.

We were interrupted by the crime lab team. I told them to take the film out of my camera. One of them dusted it for prints first. I didn’t really think about that until later…much later.

Hutch said that we both needed to rest and to get our minds clear so why didn’t we go to his place and get out of the crime team’s way. I nodded and followed him. We both keep a change of clothes in each other’s apartments in case of emergencies; and it wouldn’t be the first time I’ve cleaned my teeth with my finger.

I was following him back to his place.

I glanced up into the rearview and saw the tail. I dipped my lights a couple of times to signal to Hutch that something was wrong and he came onto the radio.

“What’s up?”

“We have company. You go home; I’ll turn into an alley and see if he’s following you or me.”

He agreed and picked up speed again. I spotted a filling station and ducked in there instead and used the pumps as cover. One car picked up enough speed to sit at just the right distance from Hutch’s heap; the other car stopped and waited to see what I was doing. I looked at the gauge and figured that I might as well make it seem for real.

I put in just over five bucks worth and sauntered into the store to pay. While the kid was making my change (I gave him a twenty to stall things) I checked out the parked car. It looked familiar; but then we see so many cars in our working day. But something about this one was making bells ring in my head. I couldn’t see the driver; I had no idea if it was a man or a woman – and that made the hair on the back of my neck tingle.

I went back to the Torino and started her up; I’m like a kid sometimes with this car, I admit it. It’s my pride and joy. I spent hours with Merle figuring all the things he could do to improve the engine and then he said “best thing would be to take it out and put in a V8.” I love to hear that baby growl when I turn the key. And no-one expects a Torino to take off the way this one does.

I slid away from the pumps and turned up the street away from the direction of Hutch’s place. Let my tail think I just came out to fill the tank. Sure enough he (she?) pulled away from the curb and had to wait for a couple of cars to pass before being able to do a one eighty to follow me. I slowed a little and watched to see what he did.

Perfect, by the manual, tailing technique. He kept a steady distance. Now that’s what the book tells you to do and to be honest it’s dumb. Most people when they’re driving slow down and speed up all the time. You try it sometime. Watch the speedo and try to keep to the limit. The needle flickers doesn’t it? Normal drivers don’t keep a steady distance; they catch up with you a little because you braked first at the lights; you get away from them because your engine has more zip; it’s a constant cat and mouse out there in real-life traffic. I guess that’s why I’m one of the best drivers in BCPD. I don’t keep that steady distance. I play with them; I’ve even been know to wind up in front of the car I’m tailing with Hutch watching it in the side mirror; Then I slow down and let it pass me and off we go again. Like that the mark doesn’t always catch on to being tailed.

Well this one was doing it by the book; which meant that whoever it was knew the book.

I took a sharp turn into an alley that didn’t look wide enough for one of those new Japanese cars that look like something out of a cereal packet. My tail hesitated.

“He who hesitates is lost.” That wasn’t my grandmother…I think it might have been Shakespeare (now that would surprise Blondie!) Anyway, whoever said it was right. I drove on down the alley and turned out into Ocean and drove the scenic route to Venice Place.

I parked around the block from Hutch’s place – near that disused store that is gets used as a dance hall now and then. I walked back to Hutch’s place and spotted the other tail. Very discreet! He was parked across the street and about fifty yards away. Most people wouldn’t have taken any notice; but I know every car that belongs on this block…and where the owners park them. I can always spot an intruder…it’s part of our mutual protection thing. Hutch knows all my neighbors’ cars too.

Hutch was waiting for me and he was jittery. I was bothering him that someone knew enough about my erratic habits to have been in the right place at the right time.

Tell the truth it wasn’t bothering him half as much as it was bothering me!

I slept on the couch. Not that I slept much. I had the old nightmare…except this time it wasn’t my dad in the alley….it was me; and the kid looking down at me was a tiny baby in his mother’s arms. And she was smiling.

Chapter Six

(Hutch’s POV)

I wandered around my apartment trying to shake the uneasy feeling that something was going to happen. Starsky and I have a sixth sense when it comes to each other and right now mine was going off big time, warning me that Starsky needed me. I was just about to grab my keys to head to his place when the phone rang and it was Starsky on the other end of the line.

“My apartment’s been broken into.” Starsky said, getting right to the point. That’s my partner. He doesn’t beat around the bush.

“What?” I said in a startled voice “Where were you?”

“I was running.”

“But Starsk it’s after ten pm. It’s dark out there, you could have fallen or…” I said, imaging all kinds of scenarios in my head. I knew Starsky could take care of himself but it bothered me when he did stuff like this.

“Yeah; well I go out and run at all times.” Starsky said, a trace of annoyance in his voice at my mother-henning him. “Look, the problem isn’t what time I run, the problem is that someone knew I might go running….I guess you’d better get over here; we need to talk.”

“I’ll be right there.” I told him, hanging up and grabbing my jacket on the way out the door. I broke every speed limit on the way from my apartment to his. I got there in less than twenty minutes.

My eyes widened in alarm when I walked in and took note of the condition of Starsky’s apartment. It had been trashed. A model ship he had been working on lay on the floor, smashed into pieces. Most of the damage seemed to be confined to the living room. Pictures had been torn down off the wall and lay on the floor with the glass broken and several pieces of his Mexican pottery were smashed. It didn’t look like anything had been stolen. It looked like somebody just wanted to trash Starsky’s things and they had known which things to break to hurt him the most.

“Shit Starsk!”

“My feelings, entirely.” Starsky said with a grim smile. “You may as well sit down; your prints will be in this place anyhow.”

I sat down on the sofa and looked at my partner carefully. I could tell he was upset but he was holding it together as best he could. I thought back to the time that Diana Harmon had broken into my apartment and trashed it, killing half my plants and smashing my guitar, things she knew meant a lot to me. I remembered how much that had hurt.

“I was being watched while I was running” Starsky said with a heavy sigh.

“Come on, Starsk…you run at such crazy hours. You don’t follow a set routine. How could anybody possibly know you’d pick tonight to take a run?” I asked doubtfully. “Maybe you just imagined it.”

“I thought the same thing at first.” Starsky replied “Until I came home and found that somebody had decided to redecorate my apartment while I was gone.”

“That means they had to be watching your apartment before you even left.”

“Yeah, and somebody could have been watching you too.” He reminded me.

“Great.” I grumbled. “I hope they didn’t decide to rearrange my furniture while I’m gone.”

We were interrupted by the crime lab team. Starsky told them to take the film out of his camera. He had already taken pictures of the damage. One of the techs took the camera and dusted it for prints first before removing the film. Standard procedure.

“Look,” I told Starsky as the lab boys started to do their thing. “We both need to get some rest and get our heads clear, Why don’t we go back to my place and you can crash there for the night?” Starsky nodded and followed me out the door.

Starsky was behind me on the way back to my place when I saw him hit the brights on his headlights and then the dims, signaling me that something was up. I picked up my radio and said, “What’s up?”

“We have company.” Starsky said “You go on home. I’ll turn into an alley and see if he’s following you or me.”

“Gotcha. Be careful.” I said. Hanging up the mike, I watched in the rear view mirror as Starsky pulled off into a gas station on his left and stopped in front of the pumps. I saw a car stop and pull over to the curb. Obviously, the tail was on Starsky and they weren’t being very subtle.

As I headed back to my place, it didn’t take me long to spot my own tail. A non-descript dark colored sedan that stayed behind me at just the right distance. Too far away for me to get a closer look at the car or the license plate, not to mention the driver. Somebody was definitely playing games with us, I just didn’t know why. Not yet anyway.

When I reached my apartment, I parked in my usual spot and climbed out of my car. I nonchalantly strolled over to the doorway that led to my apartment and went inside, but not before I saw my tail parking across the street about fifty yards from my building. It looked like they were settling in for the night.

I grabbed the key from its usual spot above the doorframe and unlocked my door. Starsky was always ragging on me about keeping my key in such an obvious place, especially since Diana wasn’t the only crazy who’d used it to gain access to my apartment, but old habits die hard and I still hadn’t moved it somewhere else.

I was relieved to see that my apartment looked the same as it had when I left. At least I hadn’t had any unexpected visitors. I turned on the lamp next to the sofa and started a pot of coffee while I waited impatiently for Starsky to arrive.

It bothered me that somebody knew my partner’s erratic habits enough to have been in the right place at the right time tonight to trash his apartment. Maybe it was just coincidence, maybe not. Somehow, I didn’t think so. I had a gut feeling that it was someone who knew Starsky almost as well as I did.

Starsky finally arrived fifteen minutes later. As soon as he came into the apartment, he said, “I lost my tail but yours is still parked out front.”

“Yeah, I know. I spotted them.” I told him.

“Whoever they are, they were following procedure tailing us, doing it strictly by the book.” Starsky said as he slumped down on the sofa and pulled off his tennis shoes.

“Cops?”

“Or maybe one certain ex-Police Academy cadet.” Starsky said. I knew he was referring to Colby.

“Or maybe a certain female cop that blew back into town.” I pointed out. I could see from the expression on his face that Starsky hadn’t thought about that possibility.

“Well, whoever it was…there were two of them, so they’ve got somebody helping them.”

“Yeah. Something tells me that you and I had better stick together until we get to the bottom of this.” I suggested. This whole scene was making me uneasy. My protective mode was on high. I didn’t want to let Starsky out of my sight even though I knew he didn’t like to be coddled. I waited for the explosion that wasn’t long in coming.

“I don’t need a babysitter, Hutch!” Starsky snapped, weariness making his voice sharper than he intended. “If they’re after either one of us, they’d find a way to get us even if we are together!” he grinned to soften his words. “But I guess it wouldn’t hurt to spend a couple of nights together.”

I smiled. Apology accepted. “You hungry?” I asked, knowing my partner’s hearty appetite.

“No, I just wanna get some sleep.” Starsky said, a yawn punctuating his words. He shoved himself to his feet and got an extra pillow and sheet out of the closet to make up the sofa.

I took a quick shower before going to bed myself. I lay there in the darkness, listening to Starsky tossing and turning on the sofa.

Chapter Seven

(Starsky’s POV)

I guess I did get some sleep but it didn’t feel like it. One thing was for certain I still needed to clear my head of all the things fighting around in there. Hutch was groping his way to the bathroom to splash a bit of water on his face; he had his jogging pants on, but he hadn’t got much further in dressing. I heaved myself up from the floor where apparently I’d finished the night and reached for my clothes.

“You going running?” I asked him.

“Yes, but I guess you want to get a shower and…” I could see he was getting protective again and I snapped.

“No, I’m coming with you – if you can stand the pace.” He grinned and went into his bedroom to finish dressing. I hauled on my tennis shoes and folded up my bedding. Leave it to Hutch and the whole kit and kedoozle would be left on the couch until tonight.

We went down onto the street. The dark sedan was still in place and so was the car that had been following me. I nudged Hutch and we set off in the opposite direction.

We hit our rhythm, or at least I kept to his, and started on our way.

“I wonder why they are both there.” He said.

“I guess they decided to stick to the one of us they could find.” I tried to sound convinced of what I was saying.

“Why don’t we go see who they are?” he said. He was beginning to puff a little and the words came out a bit strange.

“Ok.” I said and I set off to turn the corner. “Last one at the tail is a …”

“Starsk! Wait!”

I slowed down again and let him catch up. It’s not that Hutch can’t keep up with me, but he doesn’t have my acceleration. He came alongside of me and finished what he wanted to say.

“I don’t think we should give them an easy target – stick together, OK?”

“OK mom.”

We continued on around the block and started along the street coming up behind the two cars. As far as we could see there was no-one in the second car. I slowed to a jog and Hutch did the same. I didn’t need to speak, he knew what I was thinking.

If it was Colby in there, he knew a few techniques that you don’t learn at the Police Academy. Hutch left me to exercise my special knowledge and he hung back; ready to…to what? He didn’t have his gun so he couldn’t cover me. I knew that he and John were pretty well-matched when it came to hand-to-hand. Hutch took a few Karate courses at the Academy while I was fine-tuning the driving skills I’d learned in the back streets and alleys when I was a kid in the parts of this city that still worry him after dark.

I crouched down like I was tying my laces and when I was sure that no-one was watching me in the side mirror I started to sneak alongside the car keeping as low as possible to avoid being picked up in the wing mirror. It was a four-door sedan and I was about to check the back seat when…WHAM! It was just like in the comic books I used to love when I was a kid…I saw stars.

When I woke up in the hospital I only had Hutch’s word for what happened. As far as I was concerned it was just a big black blank.

According to the doctor the concussion wasn’t too bad. At least I haven’t lost my memory; I know who I am and everything and I remember right up to going for the door handle.

According to Hutch the door opened fast and I got it smack on the side of the head. Then the car started and the door closed and whoever was in it drove away. The other car stayed put. Hutch noted the license and as soon as I was safe in the ambulance he’d used their radio to call Dobey with the number

Dobey was checking it out while Hutch sat waiting for me to come back to the land of the living.

I sat in bed and tried to focus my brain on what I’d seen. But no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t bring back the slightest memory.

I turned to Hutch. He was sitting there waiting for me to come out with some tiny clue. “Did you manage to see if there was someone in the back, Hutch?”

He shook his head. “No. Are you sure you can’t remember?”

“Nothing…hey, wait a minute…not something I saw; but something I heard: just as I was coming alongside the car…I could have sworn I heard a baby crying.”

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

“Do you think he saw the baby?”

“He didn’t see anything – he didn’t even know what hit him.”

“Good.”

“What’s the next step?”

“The next step is to start making Hutch look like a fool.”

“That shouldn’t be too difficult; especially with Starsky out cold in a hospital bed for as long as we want him to be.”

They both laughed and she took the baby onto her lap and stroked its head.

“Who does he remind you of?”

“His mother!”

“Shouldn’t we go get your car?”

“No. We’ll see how long it takes Hutch to trace it to me. It will be our bait.”

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

When the doc said I had to stay in the bloody hospital for forty eight hours ‘under observation’ I exploded. I started to yell that I didn’t need to stay there etc. And then my head told me I was wrong. The pain started behind my left eye and soon I couldn’t keep my head straight. I could feel the pain pouring through my head and I knew I was about to throw up. I guess Hutch has seen it enough times to read the danger signs and he grabbed the nearest thing he could find to hold under my mouth.

I know I’m a great shot but I guess I deserved some congratulations for throwing up into a flower vase without spilling anything. Hutch was holding me against him and stroking the strap muscles at the back of my neck to try to get them to relax and ease the misery a little. Through the buzzing in my brain I heard the doctor ask Hutch something and Blondie answered; the next thing I knew was the needle going into my arm.

I woke up. I still couldn’t remember anything. Dobey was sitting by my bed.

“Where’s Hutch?”

“He’s uh…uh…”

Now most people think that Dobey is some kind of gruff type who treats all his cops with the same amount of impatience. But Hutch and I know better than that. Oh we tease him enough about it, but we appreciate his concern about us. Edith, that’s his long-suffering wife (she puts up with us!) once told me that he sees us like older versions of Cal and Rosie; he worries about us when we are in trouble just like he does about his own kids. So when he started with the “uh…uh…” I knew something had gone wrong somewhere.

I sat up, and regretted it because the aftermath of the migraine was still there. I waited for the room to come out of orbit.

“Captain, where’s Hutch?” I asked him again. Dobey’s face crumpled. “He’s in the Sheriff’s jail over in Ventura County.”

I was about to ask him to explain when I saw that I had another question to ask first. Dobey had been reading the newspaper while he was waiting for me to wake up. It was the LA Times – Sunday edition! My apartment was wrecked on Thursday!

“How long have I been out?”

“The doctor thought it best to keep you sedated, when you began to wake up your head was still bad, so he ordered an IV instead of shots. The nurse came in now and then and did some kind of check on you and put another dose in the drip.”

“Didn’t the doctor come and check me?”

Dobey wiped the sweat off his face. “No. Oh good god; do you think that the nurse…”

“Yes. And I think it was too keep me out of the way while they set Hutch up. I didn’t ask, what’s he accused of?”

“Rape.”

I nearly fell out of the bed. Hutch is pretty proud of his sexual prowess; but not to that extent. If a woman says ‘no’ we both respect that. I asked Dobey to fill me in and started to get out of bed. My head was still spinning – my brain felt like it had come loose – but I knew that this was because of some kind of drug, not a migraine. I poured myself a glass of water and drank it then drained the jug direct. I opened the closet and was relieved to see that at least this time Hutch had thought of bringing me some decent clothes for the day I left the hospital. I guess he’ll never forget how mad I was the day I had to leave wearing a hospital gown that flapped in the wind as I walked.

I was dressing and listening to Dobey.

“Hutch noticed that the car was still outside his house when he got back from the hospital. It hadn’t followed him and that didn’t add up.”

Too right it didn’t. Why stake us both out and then not follow Hutch while I was out of the action?

“He ran a trace on the owner and went over to see her.”

Her! I was all ready for him to tell me that the car was Kira’s. But I was wrong.

“The car belonged to a lady living out beyond Malibu. He called her and arranged to go and see her. That’s the last I heard from him. The next thing I knew was the Ventura county sheriff called me to say that he had one of my men in his cell and that there was an eye-witness to back up the rape charge.”

“Drive me over there. We need to find out Hutch’s side of the story.”

Dobey hesitated. He didn’t want me to leave the hospital without seeing the doctor.

“Captain,” I said, “If what I’m thinking is right, the last person I should see is that doctor.”

We started down the hallway. A nurse tried to block us at the elevator. Dobey grabbed her and called over a security officer. He showed his ID and told the security guy to escort her to Metro.

“Ok sir, what’s the charge?”

“Assaulting a Police Officer.”

I swear she tried to spit at him as the security guard led her away.

Dobey drove steadily, he radioed in an order to arrest the doctor that had prescribed whatever it was kept me in the clouds. I knew he wanted to get to Hutch as quickly as I did, but I could tell that he was being careful not to make my head feel worse. I felt in the inside pocket of my leather jacket and found the pills I always carry for emergencies and swallowed a couple. “It’s OK Captain; you can put your foot down.”

He hit the siren and we sped over the County Line.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

As soon as she’d been booked the nurse used her one ‘phone call.

“Starsky’s out again.”

She hung up knowing that the person she’d spoken to would arrange for her to be out of the joint as soon as possible.

She was right; but she didn’t leave the way she expected to.

At least it wasn’t necessary to call out the coroner’s wagon; they took the body straight down to the morgue in the elevator.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Kira was still breast-feeding the baby. She smiled over his head at her friend and partner.

“I really did begin to love both of them a little bit.”

“They were my best friends.”

“I guess that’s why he hired you to finish the job.”

“Well I don’t regret that he did for one moment.”

“Neither do I. Thanks to him I’ve got what I’ve always wanted. A baby; enough money to keep me in this extremely pleasant style for the rest of my life; and you to make it happen and to share it all with.

She carried the baby over to the big window that opened onto the deck and stepped outside into the warm night air. “The view is beautiful from here.”

“It’s pretty good from where I’m standing too.”

He kissed the nape of her neck. “Why don’t you put Junior to bed and then we can enjoy the rest of the evening.”

She took the baby to his crib and returned to join her lover on the deck. They made love under the stars.

When they’d finished she went to take a shower.

He ran over the past few months in his mind. There had been errors and although Starsky had nearly died Hutch was unharmed and he’d managed to arrest Gunther. What neither of them understood was that even Gunther was not the ultimate head of the organization. And it was that person who was giving the orders now.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Chapter Eight

(Hutch’s POV)

When I saw the car door slam open and hit Starsky in the side of the head, my heart skipped a beat. As he crumpled to the ground, the car engine roared to life and the vehicle sped away. I noticed that the second car appeared to be empty as I ran to check on my fallen partner.

Starsky was unconscious and didn’t respond to me so I immediately yelled at a woman going into the restaurant on the ground floor of my building to call an ambulance. I saw the nasty looking knot at Starsky’s temple that was swelling and turning black and blue. I knew Starsky had a hard head so I prayed it wasn’t too serious.

At the hospital I was relieved when the doctor said Starsky had a mild concussion. He wanted to keep him there for a couple of days just to be on the safe side and had ordered him sedated for the rest of the day so he would stay quiet and rest. I went back to Starsky’s place to get him some clothes and dropped them back off at the hospital. Starsky was out of it so I didn’t stay long.

I had the license number from the second car at the scene and wanted to find out who the vehicle was registered to. Maybe that would tell us who was behind whatever was going on. I had spoken to Starsky briefly before the doctor sedated him and he didn’t really get a chance to see anyone in the car that had left the scene but he did say that he thought he had heard a baby crying. Could Kira have been in that car? I needed to find her and find out what the hell she had to do with this whole mess.

I was surprised when the car I checked out came back as being registered to a woman who lived out past Malibu named Janet Webb. I placed a call to Ms. Webb who told me that she had reported her car stolen the day before. She agreed to talk to me in person and I immediately headed for Malibu.

Ms. Webb lived in a secluded beach front property outside of Malibu with no close neighbors. She was an attractive woman in her late thirties with long black hair and big brown eyes. I listened as she explained that she had been visiting her sister in Ventura and had come home the day before to find her car missing. She had immediately reported it as stolen. Since she had been gone for a few days, she had no idea when it was stolen.

She was very cooperative and polite. When she offered me a glass of lemonade, I didn’t want to appear to be rude, so I accepted. That was a mistake. I had only taken a few sips when I started feeling dizzy and lightheaded. Next thing I knew, the floor was coming up to smack me in the face.

I woke up in jail cell in Ventura County with a burly cop with an attitude telling me that I was charged with rape and assault. My alleged victim was Janet Webb, who was in the hospital in serious condition. I knew then that I had been set up. The only problem was how was I going to prove it?

I was sitting in my cell, feeling like an idiot, when I heard loud voices coming from the upstairs office. Voices I knew intimately. Starsky and Captain Dobey. I bounced to my feet as the two of them came down the steps to my cell and peered at me through the bars. I was overjoyed to see them and hoped they could get me the hell out of this place. It wasn’t any fun being on the opposite side of those bars.

“Hutchinson, what the hell is going on here?” Dobey demanded gruffly

“I wish the hell I knew, Cap.” I told him. “I went to question the women that one of the cars in front of my apartment was registered to and I woke up in here.”

“Janet Webb.” Starsky said, filling in the name. “The same woman who is in the hospital in serious condition. The woman you supposedly raped.”

“I was set up!” I snapped defensively. “She gave me a glass of lemonade that knocked me out! I don’t know what happened and Barney Fife upstairs wasn’t very anxious to tell me anything. I had to threaten him to let me have a phone call.” I sighed heavily. I knew that neither Starsky nor Captain Dobey believed that I had actually raped somebody. I needed to know what evidence the local police had against me. “What kind of evidence do they have?”

“The woman for one. Apparently, she gave the officers a statement at the hospital.” Dobey said. “She claims you attacked her when she told you to leave her house because you made unwanted advances towards her while questioning her about her stolen vehicle.”

“There’s also a witness. A boyfriend who claims he was in the bedroom and heard her screaming. He says he ran out and found you raping her. He said he hit you over the head with a statuette to stop you.” Starsky said, his voice tightly controlled, his anger barely held in check. “His name is Tony Marcellie, pretty young boy toy if you catch my drift. I’m gonna run a check on him for any previous wants or warrants.”

“You gotta get me outta here.” I said anxiously. I locked eyes with Starsky. I couldn’t watch his back from behind bars and he couldn’t watch mine. Somebody was trying to separate us so they could go after us one at a time.

“I’m working on it.” Dobey said gruffly. “But it’s gonna take some time and a sympathetic judge who will be willing to listen to our side of the story. So far, the only evidence they have against you is the boyfriend’s statement and the woman’s version of what happened. But, apparently, Ms. Webb is a very influential citizen with some very powerful friends.”

I sank down on the edge of my bunk and buried my face in my hands. I got the distinct feeling that I was really being screwed. I took a deep breath and looked back at Starsky and the Captain. “Do what you have to do but get me out of here…please.” I looked at Starsky “And you be careful. They could try to set you up next.”

“Ain’t gonna happen.” Starsky said with that cocky confidence of his. “But, if it’ll make you feel better, I’ll lay low somewhere else besides my place for a while.”

“I think you both better lay low someplace else once we get Hutch out of here.” Dobey said ominously.

Their conversation was interrupted by the deputy sheriff that Hutch had dubbed Barney Fife. Strutting up to Starsky and Dobey, he said, “Okay, it’s time for you two to leave now.”

“We’ll be back.” Dobey said, ignoring the Deputy’s order. “And we will get you out of here.”

“Count on it.” Starsky said, glaring at the Deputy sullenly. I could tell that Starsky was on a short fuse and I hoped the Deputy wasn’t stupid enough to light it.

“Come on! I said out!” the Deputy said, making the mistake of reaching out to grab Starsky’s arm to move him along. Two seconds later, he was on the floor, looking up into the outraged eyes of my partner. Dobey quickly took Starsky’s arm and led him towards the stairway that led to the office before the situation escalated any further.

“Come on, Dave. Let’s go talk to the judge.” Dobey said, ignoring the deputy sitting awkwardly on the floor.

The Deputy pushed himself to his feet with a scowl. “You’re gonna pay for that, boy!” he yelled at Starsky’s retreating back, but he was smart enough not to follow my hot headed partner up the stairs to confront him. I tried unsuccessfully to hide a smirk as the Deputy turned to glare at me. “Your friends ain’t gonna get you outta here that easy, scumbag.” A thin smile crawled across his scrawny face. “And I’m gonna make sure you remember your little stay with us.” He turned and stomped up the steps, nursing his wounded pride and his bruised backside.

Hurrying to the front door, he looked out in time to see Starsky and Captain Dobey leaving the building. Walking over to a desk in the corner, he picked up the phone and dialed a familiar number.

“Starsky and his Captain just left. They’re looking for a judge to spring Hutchinson.”

“That’ll take them a while. In the meantime, make sure ‘our guest’ enjoys his stay. And make sure they don’t find Marcellie.” A gravely voice ordered from the other end of the line.

“What are we gonna do if they find out the woman in the hospital isn’t Janet Webb?”

“You better make sure they don’t find that out…at least not just yet. The real Janet Webb isn’t due back in the states for another week, so we’re safe until then.”

Chapter Nine

(Starsky’s POV)

Hutch looked so defeated sitting in that cell but he perked up as soon as he saw me and Dobey. I had to keep back a giggle when he referred to the deputy as Barney Fife. Hutch explained that he’d been to this Ms Webb’s house and it was pretty secluded. She said that she’d reported the car stolen when she’d got back from a trip and the she’d given him a spiked lemonade. I made a mental note to check out whether the lady was in the habit of taking the kind of trips that don’t actually mean leaving the house.

The Deputy was a swaggering ass-hole who seemed to think he was running a jail house in Hicksville. I was edgy enough and when he started implying that Hutch was lying I lashed out. Dobey had to get me out of there before I gave him a second dose for calling me ‘boy’.

I hated leaving Hutch there but even Dobey had no authority over Barney Bear; we were out of our jurisdiction and that my friends, as the man used to say, is that.

Dobey and I headed back for his car; I could tell something wasn’t right; the crowd was whistling and I wasn’t the guy running to the line with the ball. I turned to take one last look at the Deputy and saw that he was making a call. It was the look on his face that set my thumbs a-pricking; either he was calling a girlfriend that his wife didn’t know about…or he was in on it. Trouble was I still didn’t know what ‘it’ was.

“Captain; we didn’t ask for a copy of M