Chapter 1 – Proud Grandpas
Bay City CA
"Hey, Hutch," David Starsky calls out as he moves his queen into position, "I just put you in check, again."
His old partner, Ken Hutchinson, sets a platter of burgers from the grill onto the picnic table next to the chessboard and re-takes his seat.
"You haven't won yet," he says, sliding his king out of harm's way before reaching into the cooler at their feet for another O'Doul's.
Both men are 73, still in relatively good shape, still possessing all of their teeth and most of their hair, and still closer than brothers almost fifty years after they'd first met as rookies on the Bay City police force.
"You and that fake beer," Starsky mutters, a just-opened bottle of Michelob on the table in front of him. "Whaddaya trying to do, live to be a hundred?"
Before Hutch can reply, the sound of female laughter reaches him, and two girls appear suddenly around the side of his house, the same house he has lived in almost as long as he's known Dave Starsky.
The two old friends look up and smile as their granddaughters approach the picnic table in their swimsuits, barefoot and breathless and dripping wet.
Both girls are twenty-one, but any apparent similarity between them ends there.
Amber Starsky is moody and impetuous, with green eyes and long, often-tangled black hair, her skimpy turquoise bikini currently showing a lot more sun-browned skin than her grandpa thinks is proper, while Melanie Hutchinson, standing next to her, is a blue-eyed blonde with shorter hair, bigger boobs, and a black one-piece that Amber herself wouldn't be caught dead in.
And yet, despite these outward differences, the two girls have been each other's best friend for most of their girlhood, and no one who knows them doubts the fierceness of their bond.
They'd kill for each other, Starsky thinks, part of him proud and another part hoping his theory never gets proven true.
Amber reaches over Starsky's shoulder, guzzles half his beer, and moves his queen.
"Checkmate," she says triumphantly to Hutch, who scowls at her.
"I hate when you do that," he grumbles, then looks at his old friend in disgust. "I hate when she does that."
"Not that you could beat me in any case," Starsky mutters, then looks up at his granddaughter. "You two pool rats still hunting a job?"
"Oh, for sure!" Amber cries, while Melanie, ever more polite, merely says "Yes, sir, we are."
Starsky takes a business card from his shirt pocket and hands it to Amber.
"Call this number. The man's expecting your call."
She studies the card, her face breaking into a big smile. "Turquet and Brown? Isn't that Huggy's detective agency?"
Starsky nods. "Uh-huh. He just opened up a second office, says he's got more clients than him and Turkey can handle."
"Turkey?" Amber and Melanie say together.
Hutch grins. "The Turquet part of Turquet and Brown."
Amber rolls her eyes. "How did I not guess that?" Then she turns on her bare heels and dashes toward the house. "C'mon, Mel, let's go figure out what we're gonna wear!"
"Dress nice," Hutch calls after them.
"And don't forget shoes!" Starsky adds for Amber's benefit, but by then the girls have vanished into Hutch's house and he doubts whether she even heard him.
Or whether she'd listen, even if she had.