The Return of Matt Houston - 1/ Apart - 4

The dust kicked up as the car traversed the long driveway leading to the house. The man stopped his horse a moment to stare while wondering who would drive all the way out to the ranch so early in the morning. His address was unpublished. His home was far removed from the rest of the world. There were very few people who knew where he lived. He was off the grid. Even ol' Baby didn't know where he lived.

Curious, he set the horse in motion and went to meet the driver. As he neared, he noticed a woman behind the wheel: thirty-ish, shoulder length blonde hair, slim in stature, she stopped the car and climbed out upon seeing him.

"Mr. Houston?"

It had been a long search for this detective, thousands of miles from her base of operation. She was no stranger to challenges, but for most of her trip, she felt like she picked the short straw. Investigating rapes and child endangerment cases were much more her cup of tea than traveling across country in search of a man no one had seen in years. Some even theorized he was mythical.

He scowled.

"Who wants to know?"

She suppressed a grin, triumphing internally that she accomplished the first of her goals: finding the legendary detective Matt Houston. "Amanda Rollins. I'm a detective from New York," she said flashing her badge.

He couldn't make out the badge from his vantage point but already knew he didn't want to talk to her.

"I don't talk to detectives. Especially ones from New York, " he said as he turned his horse and galloped away.

Amanda wasn't about to give up and jumped back into her car, pressing hard on the accelerator, cutting across the field to race up beside him, then in front of him. She slammed on the brakes, the horse reared and Matt nearly fell off.

"Whoa!"

Dismounting, he marched right up to her.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Seeing the his size and intensity, she could've been scared or at least intimidated, but she had faced far more frightening people than Matt Houston in her line of work. She opened her car door and climbed out.

"Mr. Houston…"

"You know you could have killed me back there!"

She stood with her arms folded and stared at him.

"From what I understand about you, you're practically indestructible. Haven't you escaped death at least a dozen times? That's more lives than a cat has."

He arched an eyebrow, wondering how she knew all that.

"What do you want?"

She softened a bit, offering a polite smile.

"It's not for me … actually, it's …"

She had his attention now, and noticed his penetrating brown eyes despite his rather rotund and disheveled appearance. He probably was quite handsome back in the day.

"What is it?"

"You see, my coworkers and I were doing some research on you and a C.J. Parsons …"

He cut her off. "C.J.?"

She could tell by his expression that this C.J. meant something to him.

"Yes. You and Ms. Parsons used to work together … as private investigators."

"Do you know where she is? Is she alive?"

The double-barreled question threw her off-guard. This trip wasn't about his former partner - it was about a client who they passionately believed was handed a raw deal in life. But there was an obvious excitement in his voice. His whole demeanor had changed with the utterance of those two simple letters.

"I … I don't know. I just know from my research that you both worked on a case that might have ties to something that happened in New York recently; a case you solved back in 1984. "

Oh is that all she wanted. He sighed, a bit disappointed but intrigued enough to entertain her question. She did come all the way from New York, after all.

"Which one?"

"Does a case concerning Judge Nicholas Whitewood ring a bell?"

"Saint Nick?" he said, scratching his head.

"Yes. Do you remember much about it? See, there's this woman who says Whitewood molested her when she was younger and murdered her older sister, but we can't find any confirmation to her story. She wants to press charges now that he's out on parole. There's word he's bought his way out of prison, if you know what I mean. She mentioned your name, said you would know all about him. Any information, any information at all, would really help us out."

He walked a few feet away, looking at his footsteps as he thought.

"A woman … Butterfly?"

Amanda didn't know the name.

"No, that's not her name… at least not anymore."

"If I had some files in front of me or still had my computer…"

"So does mean you'll do it? Will you us help out?" she asked excitedly.

His mind flashed back to that case ... and C.J. and how they worked on it together. Even though that case lost them Butterfly's older sister Marsha – their client, it brought back fond memories.

"I don't know. I'm retired. I haven't worked on any cases since I lost my partner thirty years ago."

Feeling slightly defeated, Amanda's heart sunk for a second before she regrouped with another idea.

"Your partner… this C.J. Parsons … the one you've spent much of your life and your money looking for because you never believed she died?"

If her intention was to catch him off-guard, she succeeded. How the hell did she know what she did? Losing his best friend C.J. had, indeed, sent him backwards. He had given up the only life style he had ever known, the one routine in his life that gave him purpose. He had given up investigating cases to spend 100% of his free time and money searching for her, never believing she died thirty years ago. His obsession with finding her had driven most of his friends away.

"Yes, that's the one," he said with a somber look in his eyes. "Why?"

"I'm sorry," she offered, realizing she hit a sensitive area. Losing a partner in the crime-solving business was devastating – as her boss Olivia Benson once told her. "It's just that my boss, well she's really passionate about helping this woman and from what we know about you, you're the best person for the job."

He reached for the stirrup with his foot and hoisted himself onto the horse. No, he couldn't work without C.J. by his side. It was just too painful.

"Well, I'm sorry, Ms. Rollins. I'm retired. Investigating just ain't my game anymore."

And with that, he took off, galloping away.

Amanda drew in a sigh, feeling defeated, But wait, no. She didn't fly three thousand miles to leave empty-handed! She climbed back in her car and pressed on the gas.

He saw her approaching from the corner of his eye and ordered his horse to go faster. She tore up the sod, speeding along the grass, trying to catch him. He was nearing the woods so she knew she only had moments.

She pulled up in front of him, slammed on the brakes, stopped the car and climbed out again, unaware he was admiring her spunk. She reminded him of himself when he was ever so much younger.

"Mr. Houston, wait! Please! There's something else."

He rolled his eyes. "What?"

"I know people… people who can help you find what happened to your former business partner. If you help us, we'll help you."