All thanks to my beta, Dickonfan as always.

Usual disclaimers apply as regards to the rights of the T.V. series.

I Do Know

After fighting off Gil White's men Starsky and Hutch entered the seedy downtown apartment room that Belinda Williams called home.

Once an attractive singer and recording artist with her musical partner, Vic Rankin, the woman was now ravaged by years of drug addiction. Right now she was hurting badly as the need for more heroin made her sit shaking and rocking herself in an attempt to keep warm and fight off the pain that racked her body.

Starsky seemed to treat the woman with disgust after finding out she had betrayed her former partner to Gil White. Vic Rankin had come to her in desperation for a place to hide and rest. He was exhausted from a night fleeing the law and Gil White and his associates.

Belinda Williams was in despair. She could have gotten one hundred dollars from Gil White's men for handing Vic Rankin over to them. Now he had fled the place before White's men appeared.

Vic was wounded by a gunshot to his arm but still made his escape through a window to the streets below. Now she had no hope of getting that precious money that would have given her enough to buy that temporary relief her body craved. And these stupid cops were here making her feel guilty about it and asking questions.

"Need a fix real bad huh, Belinda?" Hutch asked. At least he looked a little more sympathetic then the other one.

"What would you know about it?" Belinda replied glaring at the man in front of her as another wave of pain coursed through her body making her shake again in agony.

Hutch stood momentarily still as he heard the words the desperate woman had just uttered. Memories flooded his brain as he recalled how desperate he had been for a fix and would have done anything to get one to end the pain, the agony that Forrest and his gang had inflicted on him.

Maybe he would have done what she had done and betrayed somebody close to him for the money, even Starsky. That thought filled him with guilt; the one person who had been with him during the darkest days and who he trusted with his life. Could he have been brought as low as Belinda had?

Right now though they had to find Vic Rankin before Gil White's men who would kill him for stealing the counterfeit money. Hutch felt powerless to do much else for Belinda, so he reached into his pocket for his wallet. He took out a few dollars and gave them to her. "Here, Belinda, die a little," he said as he put them in her hand before following Starsky out of the room.

"You okay? Starsky asked after they got into the hallway and half way down the stairs. Hutch leaned back against the wall and stood still for a while.

"Did you hear what she said, Starsk?" Hutch replied as he looked at his friend and partner. "She asked me what would I know about it. How could I tell her I did know? Starsky, I would have done what she did if I managed to escape from Huggy's place and quite easily would have betrayed you and Huggy for a fix, because that is what desperation does for you. You become less than human. Do you know how that makes me feel when I think about it?"

Starsky walked over and put his hands on Hutch's shoulders and looked straight into his eyes. "Hey, Buddy, there was never a chance of you escaping. I saw to that, I guarded that door better than a guard dog. There was no way I was going to let you put more of that junk into your body. I listened to all the insults you shouted at me knowing it was not you talking and we won, Hutch, in the end. So you got no reason to think about something that was never going to happen."

Hutch looked at Starsky and told him, "I guess you're right but seeing Belinda Williams just brought those memories flooding back, especially after she said that to me."

"Well how about remembering instead that we've got a job to do and find Vic Rankin?" Starsky smiled and added, "Come on, partner, let's get out of here."

The two men left the building and got into the car leaving Belinda Williams and her troubles as they sped off in search of a wounded man who was in danger of losing his life to Gil White and his associates if they didn't find him first.

The End