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Early Friday Morning
“Well, hello there, you gorgeous blonde thing.”
“Hello, Minnie.” Hutch leaned down and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. “Kind of late for you, isn’t it?”
“Just on my way home.” She pulled her jacket on. “How’s about you?”
“Thought I’d stop in and drop off my report before I went home.” He waved the paper at her. “I had plenty of time to work on it tonight.”
“The pigeon wouldn’t let you sleep in the house?” She cocked her head to one side and looked Hutch over. “Is that girl blind?”
“No, and neither is her husband.” Susan’s husband didn’t even want him to check the house over to be sure no one had broken in while he and Susan had both been working. “Either that or he thinks I’m such a sex fiend that I’ll crawl into their bed in the middle of the night.”
“A woman can dream.”
“Minnie…” He shook a finger at her. “Don’t lead me on.”
“I guess Starsky got to spend a little more time with that Kira, then?”
“Yep.” No doubt Starsky was pulling his pants on and exiting stage left even now. Getting cynical in your old age, Hutch – she's not his type and he's not hers. Starsk probably bedded down on the couch.
“Maybe he’s finally getting a return on all those dinners he’s been buying.” Minnie snorted.
“What?” Hutch dropped his report in his out basket. “What dinners?”
“Oh, ho! Don’t tell me you didn’t know Starsky’s been meeting her for dinner ‘bout every day?” She laughed. “That boy’s sly.”
“Starsky’s been taking Kira to dinner?”
“They leave in separate cars, mind you, but they’ve been
goin’ to this little restaurant my sister’s friend Shirley works at.” “Your sister’s friend Shirley knows Starsky?”
“You remember when my sister was in here last month? The kids in the neighborhood kept busting her windows?” Minnie waited until Hutch nodded. “Remember the woman with her? The big girl who thought you and Starsky were so sexy?”
“Ah… her…” He remembered the rather oversized woman very well. “She was… friendly.”
“Friendly?” Minnie laughed again. “That’s one word for it. Anyway, she’s seen Starsky in there with a pretty blonde who does not match your description.” She looked him up and down, grinning as she did so. “Unless you’re an over painted hussy in your spare time.”
“That dog.” Here he’d thought Starsky was getting nowhere with Kira, and he was taking her out before they went to work. “Not to worry, Minnie, I’ll win out in the end.”
“Don’t you boys ever get tired of this game?” She opened the squad room door. “I’m telling you – one day it’s gonna backfire on you. You mark my words.”
“Never happen, Minnie. If Starsky was serious about Kira, I’d know it.”
“Would you?” Pausing in the doorway, Minnie peered over the top of her glasses at him. “Seems to me you boys ain’t even been in the same room long enough to say boo to each other lately.”
“We’re busy – “
“Um hum… busy doin’ all the wrong things.” She walked out of the squad room. “You mark my words, that woman is – “
The door closed behind her, cutting off whatever she’d been going to say. Hutch sat down at his side of the table, looking at Starsky’s empty chair.
Friday Evening
“Hi, Ma.”
“Davey, sweetheart, it’s so good to hear your voice! It’s been so long!”
“It’s been a week, Ma.”
“A week to you – “ She huffed. “A lifetime to a mother.”
“Are you doing okay?” Starsky settled comfortably on his sofa. “How are you feeling?”
“I’m fine, baby, my back hurts a little, but I’m not complaining.” A weary sounding sigh came from her. “How are you, Davey? No more shootings or stabbings or people hitting you on the head?”
“Not lately, Ma.”
“Good. Now tell me about the wedding.”
He laughed. Now that the niceties were out of the way, his mother was all business. “The bride was beautiful, all in white with pink roses, and the wedding was perfect. Chocolate cake with white icing.”
“Oh, that sounds so beautiful.” Another sigh. “And the groom, was he handsome?”
“Uh, yeah, I guess. Not my type, Ma.”
“What is your type, Davey?” His mother asked.
“Not male.” He grinned and went for his mother’s weak spot. “Besides, he wasn’t Italian.”
“I could overlook a woman not being Italian if she made you happy. Your father wasn’t Italian, and he was perfect.” She scolded. “Now I know this sweet girl – and she is Italian – “
“Ma! No more matchmaking! Besides, she’s in New York and I’m here.”
“You could come back home. Both my sons are off running all over the country – not a thought for their mother.”
“Ma, that’s not true.” It was partially true with Nicky, but not with him. “I think of you all the time. Why, at the wedding, I was thinking of how much you’d have loved to be there.”
“I’d love to be at your wedding, Davey.” She sighed. “I’m never going to have grandchildren. My sisters are always going to pity me. Poor Isa, no grandchildren of her own.”
“Aw, Ma…”
“It’s true! Nicky – he’ll never settle down. But you – “ Her voice wobbled. “I had such hopes for you, Davey. That you’d find a nice girl and get married.”
“I will, someday.”
“Your Terry was such a sweet girl.” His mother said softly. “I know she had to be Italian, her heart was so big.”
The sharp pain in his heart made it hard to speak. “Terry thought you were great, Ma.”
“You treasure her memory, that’s good, but I don’t want you to be alone all your life, Davey.”
“It’s not like I’m not looking.” He protested. “It’s just – you know, Ma, I just can’t seem to find the one.”
“With your life, I’m not surprised.” There was a pause. “Though better than the one here, eh?”
“It’s not like I know how to do anything else.” He’d been a cop, a taxi driver, and a soldier. If not for being shipped to Bay City, he might have been a mobster. Short and unimpressive resume.
“That’s not true! You’re a smart boy, Davey! You could do anything you wanted.” She soothed. “You’re a very good policeman. Your father would be very proud.”
“Yeah?” Laying his head back, Starsky closed his eyes and tried to imagine his father being alive to see him now. “Think so?”
“Of course he would!” Her voice took on the soft tone it always did when they talked about his father. “He loved you, Davey, and he’d be very proud of you.”
“I’ve met a girl, Ma.”
“You meet lots of girls.” She snorted. “I suppose this girl is a dancer or a stewardess? What was that one that answered your phone that day? A dental something?”
“Hygienist, Ma.” Two years, and his mother still remembered what’s her name answering his phone one time.
“That’s not a nurse.” Her tone left no doubt as to what she thought of dental hygienists answering her son’s phone at eight o’clock on a Saturday morning.
“She’s a cop – the girl I’ve met. She’s a cop like me.”
“A cop? Davey, what kind of future can you have with a woman who’s a policeman?”
“She wants kids and a family – and I like her.”
“Does Ken like her?”
“What does Hutch have to do with it?” He snapped. Hutch liked Kira entirely too much in his opinion.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. Let me tell you about Kira.”
“David.” His mother’s tone was firm. “What’s wrong with Ken?”
“It’s nothing, Ma.” Starsky wrapped the phone cord around his fingers.
“Oh my God, he’s not hurt is he?” Her voice rose. “Someone shot him? Or stabbed – oh, you boys are always getting hurt!”
“No, Ma, he’s not hurt! He’s fine!”
“Thank God.” She took a deep breath. “Don’t scare me like that!”
“We’ve just – kinda been – not getting along lately is all.”
“You and Ken not getting along?” There was a long silence. “Let me see if the devil is outside ice skating.”
“Ma…”
“But you two are so close – I can’t believe you’re fighting.”
“We’re not fighting – just rubbing each other wrong.”
“You patch it up, Davey.” Her voice was sharp. “You hear me?”
“Ma, it’s – “ He couldn’t tell her that he and Hutch were at odds because he couldn’t tell Hutch about Kira. “It’s complicated.”
“You make it uncomplicated, you hear me?” The tone of her voice was the same as when he’d been a little boy and said he couldn’t see why he should do his homework. “He’s your friend.”
“I never said he wasn’t – “
“Davey, I don’t think I could sleep at night if I didn’t know Ken was with you.” Her voice was soft. “I worry about you – both of you.”
“Ma, it’ll be okay. It’s just a rough spot, it happens.” It was his turn to soothe. “We’ll work it out.”
“You’d better.”
“We will.” Just as soon as this case was over and he could tell Hutch about Kira. “So tell me, did you win back your money from Aunt Carmela?”
“I did and another ten besides – you should’ve seen her face!” Her laughter, rich and happy, came pouring across the long distance and Starsky closed his eyes and listened while she told him about whipping her older sister at bridge.
He was tired as hell. The last two days had followed the same pattern as the first two, and there’d been no break in the case – and no end in sight.
Susan’s husband wasn’t about to let him sleep in the house. Does he think I have lice? And he’d ended up sleeping in the car again. Kira had at least let him sleep on her couch last night. The damn thing was too short and too hard, but it was still better than the Torino’s front seat.
He had kept things with Kira at a slower pace this time, not wanting to push too hard and too fast. They’d kissed and held each other, but his hands had stayed in the safe zones. Another night of blue balls, but hopefully the last.
Hutch had continued to flirt with Kira. Dancing with her too much and practically monopolizing her time at the dance hall. Anger flared up as he remembered Hutch’s smirk and shrug when he’d told him to back off and let the killer get close to her. That and the remark, “Don’t you mean let you get close to her?” had not improved his mood. Tonight was Hutch’s turn to guard Kira again – Starsky’s hands clenched on the receiver.
“Davey?”
“Huh? What?” Too late, Starsky realized he’d gotten lost in his own thoughts and hadn’t paid attention to what his mother was saying. “Sorry, Ma, it’s been a long week.”
“Too long to take the time to talk to me?” She sounded hurt.
“Of course not.” He sat up and stretched. “It’s just that I’ve been sleeping in my car – so I haven’t really been getting any sleep.”
“You poor baby.” Her voice was sympathetic. “Do you want me to talk to Harold?”
“No! Ma, you can’t talk to Captain Dobey about this!” The idea of his mother calling Dobey to complain about his sleeping in his car horrified him. “It’s part of the job! A stakeout!”
“Sleeping in your car is part of the job? Why can’t someone else sit there while you go home and sleep?”
“Because there isn’t anyone else on this case.”
“Ken isn’t on this case? You’re all alone – “
“No, Ma.” Her voice had shot up again, and Starsky hurried to set things straight. “Ken – Hutch – is guarding one girl, and I guard the other. See this crazy guy is killing blondes and – “
“Ken is blonde – though this man is killing women, I suppose?” Another long sigh. “Your job makes me crazy sometimes, Davey.”
“Makes you crazy?” He laughed. “The guy is killing women at a dance hall – just blondes – so we’re watching the only blonde that’s still working for the lady, and Kira is undercover as one of the dancers.”
“You met this girl at work?”
“Yeah, we needed a blonde girl for bait and she was who they sent over.” He smiled as he remembered holding her last night.
“And Ken likes her, too?”
“Ma, Hutch’s opinion of Kira doesn’t matter.”
“Since when?”
“Ma – “
“Davey, if this problem you two have is over this woman – she’s not the one for you.” Her voice snapped out at him. “Do you hear me?”
“It’s not, Ma, me and Hutch – “ He could see his mother – eyes narrowed and jaw clenched. And people thought he got his temper from his father. “It’s just a bumpy spot. We’ll work it out.”
“Remember what I’ve told you about friends?” The anger faded from her voice.
“I remember, Ma. Don’t worry. It’s not that serious.”
“Promise me.”
“I promise.” He held a hand over his heart even though she couldn’t see it. “You know nothing can come between me and Hutch. Ever.”
Sunday Afternoon
Hutch rubbed his leg, trying to ease the aching. Spending the night in his car every other night was playing hell with his back and leg. He hadn't had to worry about falling asleep on the job. He snorted mentally. Not that he could have fallen asleep.
The last conversation with Starsky had kept replaying itself in his mind, not letting him rest. "Conversation, hell – more like an argument." They had started with a discussion of the case and it had degenerated into accusations of him not doing his job. It was a raw pattern they'd fallen into.
Starsky’s attitude was beginning to wear on Hutch’s nerves. He didn’t know why his partner was pissed off, but he was tired of it. Last night at the dance hall had just about been the clincher. Starsky had told him – again – that he was being unprofessional.
“Unprofessional, my ass.” One of the other detectives in the squad room looked up, and Hutch glared at him. “What the hell are you looking at?”
The other man quickly looked back down at his work.
“Never seen a man talk to himself before?” Hutch snarled. Picking up his cup, he took a drink of coffee, grimacing as the hot liquid burned his tongue. “Well that makes my fucking day.”
During the last week, he’d seen Starsky get more and more short tempered. When he saw him anyway. And when he’d tried to talk to him about whatever was eating him, all Starsky would say was that it was the case.
Hutch knew his partner hated it when their cases involved women being hurt, but this was the first time Starsky had taken his frustration out on him.
Sipping his coffee more carefully, Hutch stared at Starsky’s empty chair. Again. Except for an occasional moment here and there, he and Starsky hadn’t really seen each other for days. He hadn’t spent this much time on his own in years. At night, they’d move to opposite ends of the dance hall. It was the best way to watch the room, but it left them no chance to talk.
“When we do talk, we hurt each other.” Hutch sighed and rubbed his eyes. This reminded him too much of his marriage to Van. They’d ended up two people who loved each other but who couldn’t stand to be in the same room together.
Was it this case? Or was there something else? “Maybe we’ve just reached the end of the line, Starsk.” He said softly.
He and Starsky had been partners a long time, perhaps too long. After this case, maybe he should talk to Starsky about getting a new partner. Maybe that would keep their friendship from going up in flames.
His eyes stung, and Hutch rubbed them again. For it to end like this after all these years hurt far worse than when Van had left him. His chest ached, and he leaned on the table for support.
“Good morning, ladies!”
Hutch looked up at Starsky’s cheery entrance into the squad room. His partner was smiling as he sauntered across the room to pour himself a cup of coffee. Anger, hot and hateful, flared up inside of him. How could Starsky be happy when their partnership was falling apart?
“Evening, partner.” Starsky sat down at his side of the table. “And how are you this fine evening?”
“Tired.” Hutch said shortly. It was obvious that his partner had finally nailed Kira. Wipe the goofy grin off your face, Starsk, you're not sixteen and getting a piece for the first time.
“Me too.” Taking a pen from the cup on the table, Starsky began working on his report. Too bad he couldn’t put in all the details. A smiled curved his lips as he remembered waking up in Kira's bed, her soft body in his arms. “Long night.”
After nights of frustration, he’d walked into Kira's house to find candles lit and soft music playing. And Kira wearing a blue negligee that had made his mind go completely blank. She had been nervous and shy, and he’d spent a long time on foreplay, making her comfortable with him before he’d made love to her.
A smile crept across his face, and Starsky leaned an elbow on the desk, cupping his chin in his hand. They’d made love twice, both times slow and sweet. He’d always preferred to be gentle with women, and Kira had told him it was a wonderful change to the usual rough and fast treatment.
The only fly in the ointment had been having to get up and leave at dawn. Sure, they had to be discreet and sure, he understood, but it had still been harder than hell to get out of her nice, warm, soft bed.
Kira had been worried about getting them both into trouble, and he’d reassured her that he wouldn’t tell anyone, not even Hutch. A twinge of guilt had hit him when she’d told him that she’d been afraid that she was nothing more than a prize in some competition that he and Hutch were having. There was a competition, only Hutch didn’t know it was over.
Because of his promises to Kira, Hutch was going to keep flirting with her and making passes at her and not know until this case was over.
The thought made Starsky frown. He went back to his report, aware of the silence from across the table. “You’re tired? Of this case?”
“Maybe.” Hutch tossed his report in the out basket. “Maybe I’m tired of you.”
Starsky looked up, hurt showing in the sapphire eyes. “What the hell did I do?”
“I don’t know, Starsky, I’m too busy being unprofessional to notice.”
“You are being unprofessional! You’re so damn busy having a good time with Kira that you don’t even bother watching for the bad guy!”
“Me?” Hutch stood up, his chair shooting back to hit the desk behind him. “What about you? All you’ve done is – “
“Starsky! Hutchinson!”
They jumped as Captain Dobey’s voice echoed off the squad room’s walls.
“In my office! Now!” Getting up, Starsky slammed his chair back under the table before stalking into Dobey’s office. He threw himself into one of the chairs in front of the desk, pointedly ignoring Hutch when his partner moved the other chair farther away before sitting down.
Captain Dobey shut his office door and walked back to his desk to sit down. For a moment he studied his two best detectives, reading their uptight body language and angry expressions.
Finally he leaned back in his chair. “What the hell is going on with you two?”
“Nothing.” Hutch told him.
Starsky shrugged.
"Well I don't care! Whatever it is – work it out!" Dobey slapped his hand down on the stack of files on his desk. "The Chief is on my tail! It's been a week and we've got nothing to show for it but expense vouchers!"
"Nobody's moved on 'em, Cap'n. Nothing we can do about that." Starsky shrugged again.
"We're there every night – what else do you want us to do?" Hutch rubbed his leg again. First Starsky was jumping down his throat and now Dobey was following him. "I've been going over the reports every day trying to find something – anything – to break this case."
"You're either missing something – or you're not doing something right!" Captain Dobey sat back and shook his head. "You two are distracted – you're off your game."
"Oh, I think the game is coming along nicely." Hutch muttered under his breath.
"What was that, Hutchinson?" Dobey glared at the blonde detective. When Hutch didn't answer, he continued. "The Chief thinks you're in a rut, and he wants us to shake it up a bit."
"The Chief thinks we're in a rut." It was Starsky's turn to mutter.
"It's been a long time since he was on the streets – but the Chief was a hell of a detective in his day – " Jabbing a finger at them, Dobey defended his Chief. "You'll give him the respect he deserves!"
"Well, what'd'ya want us to do?" Starsky slouched deeper in his chair. "Hang signs around their necks that say 'please hurry up and try to kill us so the Chief will be happy'?"
Despite his irritation with his partner, Hutch had to smile at that. "Maybe we can put an ad in the paper asking him to give up, pretty please."
"Knock it off!" Slapping the files again, Dobey glared at them. "What we're going to do is change the rotation. Hutch, you'll be keeping an eye on Susan again tonight – "
"Oh, come on, Captain!" Hutch protested. Two nights in a row of sitting in his car, and his back would be out for a week.
"What's the matter?" Starsky smirked. Two nights in a row with Kira was just fine with him. "Forget to bring your pillow?"
"Is that what a professional does?" He snapped. "Smartass."
"At least I'm being professional." Starsky shot back, his good humor gone. "Which is more than I can say for you!"
"You? Be professional? You can't even spell – "
"What the hell's going on with you two?" Dobey shouted them down.
"Nothing." Starsky told him.
Hutch shrugged.
“Bull! The two of you come in here every day and growl at anybody who talks to you!” He glared at them. “And lately, putting you in the same room is like throwing gasoline on fire!”
“Maybe we shouldn’t be in the same room.” Starsky sunk down lower in his chair.
“Maybe you’re right for once.” Hutch sniped.
“Stop it!” Dobey brought a fist down onto the desk. “I want to know what’s going on, and I want to know now! You’re too good of friends for this crap!”
“Captain – it’s – “ Starsky looked helplessly to Hutch, only to have his partner look away. “It’s this case – I think – “
“I can take you off the case.” Looking from one to the other, Dobey’s heart went out to them. Something was tearing them apart, something more than just the usual lousy case was going on here. “If it’s too much – “
“It’s not too much, Cap’n.” Starsky assured him. He wanted to catch this killer before some other woman wound up dead. “We’ve – it’s just – maybe we need a vacation?”
“Yeah, a vacation.” Hutch said dully.
“You guys deserve a little time off.” Dobey nodded. “After this is over, my brother has a little place on the beach – it’s not Malibu, mind you, but it’s nice. I can get the key and you two – “
“Maybe we need a vacation from each other.”
“What?” Starsky sat up and turned to look at Hutch again. “What are you saying?”
“I’m saying – I’m saying – “ He couldn’t look Starsky in the eye; the hurt there was too much to bear on top of his own. “I’m saying that maybe we need a little time apart. To – you know – just a little time?”
It was a weird thought, that Hutch was breaking up with him, but that was the only thing Starsky could compare it to. It was too much like Nancy Fentineli in the eleventh grade telling him they could still be friends.
“That might be a good idea actually.” Captain Dobey made a note on his desk calendar. “When this is over – the two of you take a week off. I can get the beach house for one of you, and there’s always my cabin at the lake if either of you wants to use it.”
“Actually, Captain, I may go back to Minnesota and visit my sister.” Hutch said quietly.
“What?” Starsky got up.
“She’s got a new baby, and I haven’t seen the first one yet.” He got up and stuck his hands in his jacket pockets to cover how they were trembling. “Two boys.”
“Sounds good, Hutchinson.” Leaning back in his chair, Dobey smiled. “It’s always good to go visit your family. Helps keep a man grounded. Starsky, maybe you should go visit your mother.”
“I don’t want to go visit my mother.” He felt helpless, as if pieces of his life were falling and he couldn’t catch them. “Hutch?”
“You two go on.” Dobey waved a hand toward the door. “Just try to keep your heads on straight until this case is over.”
“Sure thing, Captain.” Opening the door, Hutch stepped out into the squad room. He was almost to the door leading into the hallway when Starsky caught up to him.
“Hey.” He grabbed Hutch’s arm. “What the hell’s going on?”
“I don’t know, Starsk.” He pulled his arm away. “I can’t tell you.”
“You want to go on vacation alone?” Starsky raised his hands in a helpless gesture. “We haven’t done that in – in – we’ve never done that.”
“Maybe it’s time we did.” Aware of the other detectives listening, Hutch pulled Starsky out into the hallway. Too many of their fellow cops thought he and Starsky were a little too close, and this looked too much like a relationship that was crashing and burning.
“Why?”
“Did it ever occur to you that maybe we spend too much time together?” Hutch raked a hand through his hair. “A little time apart could be good for us.”
“You don’t believe that.” He’d heard that line before, and it usually meant he’d never seen the girl again. “Look, let’s go get a burger down at Huggy’s. Have a little dinner and a beer and talk about this.”
“Dinner?” Shaking his head, Hutch laughed softly. “I thought you already had a dinner date, Starsk.”
“What? I don’t have – “ Kira. He was supposed to meet her in an hour. “I mean – you’re more important – “
A smug smile curled Hutch’s lips. He could drop the bomb on Starsky here and now, but what the hell, let the game play out.
“Hutch, look, I can – ”
Still smiling, Hutch walked away. “Go have dinner, it’s not nice to keep a woman waiting.”
Starsky watched Hutch until he’d stepped into the elevator and the doors closed between them. The good feeling he’d had from finally spending the night with Kira was long gone.
Walking back into the squad room, he sat down and stared at the blank page he was supposed to write his report on. Starsky picked up the pen and forced out the words. Cut and dried. No suspects. No attempts on Kira or Susan. Nothing new to report.
Except possibly the end of his partnership and friendship with Hutch.
“I can’t wait for this case to be finished.” He tossed his report into the out basket. When the case was over, he could tell Hutch about Kira.
When the case was over.
When they took their separate vacations.
In separate places.
Not together.
Leaning back, Starsky stared at Hutch’s empty chair.
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