Unbreakable
"I still think we should have taken my car," I groused.
"The striped tomato? Riding around in that thing is about as discreet as riding in a homecoming float."
"At least it's got some speed. What if we run into . . . ."
"Speak of the devil." Hutch said. We both spotted the black and white at the same time as it poked its head out from an alley, like a crab emerging from the sand, just ahead of us. Only yesterday its unmistakable markings would have made me breathe a sigh of relief, since it meant that backup was on its way. But now it meant an unpleasant confrontation with Captain Dobey and Internal Affairs, loss of my badge and possibly even jail time.
But those consequences paled in comparison to what a run in meant for Hutch.
"Hold on." He swung the LTD into a hard right using an evasive maneuver he'd no doubt learned from years of watching me. I couldn't help feeling a little proud of that, even if it seemed as though we'd followed Alice through her looking glass, leaving a squeal of smoking tires on our wake.
"Are you okay?" Hutch asked once we were in the clear, with even more solicitousness than usual. I knew he was asking about more than my ribs' uncomfortable contact with the door handle. What he really wanted to know was if I had any second thoughts about disregarding the warrant for his arrest, handcuffing Dryden to the table leg, and throwing in my lot with his, even if it meant giving up everything we'd worked for.
"I'm fine," I assured him.
I couldn't help but think the knots he'd become tangled in could have been avoided if only I'd have tried to stop him from meeting her, maybe from even taking her call.
Vanessa.
The name turned my blood cold.
As far as I was concerned, my partner was just about perfect inside and out. Except for one fatal flaw. His craving for love made him an easy target for blood-suckers, of which Vanessa was the worst kind. She didn't even know him, let alone love him, despite her wedding vows. She should have been struck by lightning right there at the altar. It would have saved everyone a lot of trouble.
I'd lost count of the exams Hutch struggled through at the academy not that he wasn't one of the sharpest guys in our class, but because Vanessa had put him through the wringer the night before. Or of the afternoons he rushed home rather than grab a beer with John and me because Vanessa didn't like to be kept waiting. The few times Vanessa actually lowered herself enough to socialize with us, I'd watch her fuss with the silk scarf around her neck as if to ward off some kind of disease we might pass on.
Worst of all were the times she'd disappear for days, leaving Hutch alone with his feelings of failure and despair. And me, to tell him otherwise. Until that last night when she left for good and Hutch fell asleep sobbing on my shoulder and woke up in my bed. It took a while for us to be comfortable enough to look each other in the eye again afterwards. But when we did, it was with a connection that neither of us had ever felt before. An unbreakable bond.
I should have stopped him from picking up the phone in Dobey's office when her call came in. But I didn't. Which made me as guilty as him for what happened next, if not more so. He'd been my partner for six years. He'd been my other half even longer.
But he agreed to meet her and left.
ooOoo
I'd just stepped out of the shower the next morning when Hutch called.
"Van's dead," he'd said, as if it was him as much as her whose heart had stopped beating.
I raced over to Venice Place terrified of what I'd find, but when I reached his doorway I froze. Vanessa's body was stretched out on the floor but it was the sight of Hutch, slumped unmoving in a chair, that paralyzed me. His pain arced across the room, stunning me with its force. He didn't need words to explain. For him, Vanessa's murder in his own living room was the ultimate failure. He'd been unable to give her the life she'd wanted and now even that had been stolen away.
I walked over to him then and brushed his arm, fearful he'd disintegrate at my touch. Grateful when he didn't. Just as I had that other night she'd left, I poured him a drink. I sensed his need for me to take over so he could slip into oblivion for just a little while. That, I could do.
ooOoo
Vanessa had been killed in Hutch's apartment with Hutch's own gun while he'd gone out for his morning jog. Standard procedure called for Internal Affairs to investigate. I wasn't thrilled but what could I do? Officers Simonetti and Dryden were assigned to handle the case and, for some reason, Simonetti was antagonistic toward Hutch from the get-go. That didn't sit well with me.
Maybe it was because he was jealous of Hutch. After all, Hutch was a smarter and better cop than Simonetti could ever be. Or maybe he was jealous because Hutch's ex was a bombshell. Van had a face and figure that inspired a thousand wet dreams. And, let's face it, Hutch was no slouch himself. I was first hand witness to the fact that looks like theirs were a mixed blessing. They could work for you or against you.
I always figured if you got it, flaunt it. As long as you knew how to handle it. Hutch, being Hutch, had to be reminded from time to time. On the other hand, Vanessa knew exactly how to toss that silky mane to her advantage. Only this time she must have gotten in over her gorgeous head. Used her own rules to play in someone else's game. Someone sure as hell had wanted her dead.
Hutch let me know how Simonetti had pushed his buttons during his questioning, insinuating all kinds of lewd and shady motives for Vanessa's death. I could practically see Hutch flip up his black leather collar as he pushed right back.
I couldn't be there to back him up, but when Simonetti's mouth got the better of his brain in front of me, I took the pleasure of decking him myself. The sting of my knuckles connecting with his jaw was exquisitely satisfying. It may have been a bum move but I figured he needed to be reminded of who he was dealing with. If Simonetti thought Hutch was going to be left flapping alone in the wind, he had it all wrong.
The evidence surrounding Vanessa's murder billowed up like an ominous storm cloud, with Hutch directly in its path. Heated words exchanged in public, Nordic type DNA under manicured nails and a non-existent tumor, swirled together like debris in a powerful wind. The pièce de résistance was the hunk of glass Dryden found under the seat in Hutch's car that turned out to be worth well over a million dollars. It was one hell of a motive. Even Captain Dobey couldn't shield Hutch from that.
When all was said and done, I figured Hutch and I would either be buying a retirement villa in Rio or sharing a cell in San Quentin. Somehow, it didn't matter either way as long as we were together.
ooOoo
"Got any ideas?" Hutch asked, his knuckles white on the steering wheel.
"I thought you were the brains of this duo." I squinted in concentration at the headlights and neon signs that rushed by, hyper vigilant for any suspicious street activity. How do people live like this day in and day out? It reminded me of being in the army. Jumping at shadows never suited me. But I thought of the man sitting next to me. He made me think I could do anything.
"Hell, I didn't think even you'd thumb your nose at a murder one warrant without a plan." Hutch goaded when I didn't answer.
Hutchinson for murder one. The warrant had practically burned my fingers when Dobey handed it to me barely an hour earlier. I wanted no part of it, but I wasn't about to let Simonetti and Dryden be the ones to bring my partner in. Cold metal handcuffs snapped tight around his big wrists, his long legs stuffed in the back of a squad car. They'd take too much pleasure in it. I'd rather cut off my arm than see Hutch go through that.
At least together, Hutch and I had a chance to sort out the clusterfuck he'd found himself in. It was back to 'who do we trust' time, when all we could count on was our unshakeable faith in each other. But that's when we worked best.
Dryden had gone along with me to deliver the warrant. I found Hutch picking up pieces of his apartment and nursing a knot on his head. While I'd been working the case, he'd gotten knocked around by some monkeys employed by a big time fence named Wheeler. The sight rattled me so much I nearly forgot the poisonous paper in my hand.
Something in my brain began to click like an adding machine. Hutch's, too. Vanessa and greed, combined with a stolen rock the size of Mount Rushmore equaled Wheeler's trigger happy goons and a dead body on Hutch's floor. But my partner as the fall guy was the wrong answer.
It took less than a second for me to make my decision. I leaned down to look him straight in the eye as he sat in pained bewilderment at his kitchen table.
"Have you ever known me to disobey a direct order of Captain Dobey?"
He looked back at me slowly, not having to say a word for me to know he'd gotten my message loud and clear. We had a language all our own. One Dryden couldn't possibly understand.
Rather than bring Hutch in, I'd left Dryden handcuffed to the table leg shouting that he'd have my badge as Hutch and I walked out. As far as I was concerned, without Hutch I didn't want it.
"You really think Vanessa had the balls to play Wheeler?" I glanced at Hutch hunched over the steering wheel.
"Sure looks like it. It goes along with what she said about buying and selling jewelry on the international market. She'd bragged that she was going to be a wealthy woman."
Money. That's where the world began and ended for Van. Enough was never enough. And while she was off chasing rainbows I was the one who'd gotten the pot of gold.
"I guess Wheeler found out the same thing I did," Hutch was saying. "Vanessa was only ever interested in Vanessa. She'll trample whoever gets in her way. It doesn't matter whether it's a high end fence and or working class cop."
He took another hard turn while I braced myself with a hand on the dash. "The kicker of this whole thing is that she offered to make me her partner."
"Her partner?" I nearly choked.
"Don't worry, Starsk. She never meant it. She didn't mean any of it."
"Any of what?" I hated to prod, but I knew you couldn't heal a wound without taking a good looking at it first, no matter how messy. Hutch and I had been patching each other up for years.
"She told me she still loved me. But it was the same old story. She was just using me like she did before. Only I was too gullible to realize it." The defeat in his voice twisted something in my gut.
"Funny how she didn't want any part of me being a cop before, but this time that's all she wanted me for. A little added protection while she waited to make her move from Wheeler."
If she wasn't already dead I might have strangled her myself. That may be cold but it was honest.
"I'll get you out of this. I swear it." I moved my hand from the dash to his knee.
"It's not your problem, Starsk."
"That ain't the way this works, pal. Hell, we're partners, right? Besides, if you go down, you'll need someone to cover that pretty ass of yours in San Quentin."
Hutch turned and shot me a quick look of disgust. "You have a trashy mind, you know that?" But when he turned back to face the road, I saw the grimace had morphed into a shadow of a smile.
At least I knew of a place we could hang out until morning. Huggy had moved up a step or two in the world since that last time we had used his pad to crash. That was the night I'd spent holding tight to Hutch as he thrashed in the bed sheets, burning with fever from the inside out courtesy of Ben Forrest's poison. It was something I doubted either of us could ever live through again and the memories were still raw. We tried not to look each other in the eyes as I knocked on the door. We knew exactly what we'd see and we had enough on our minds as it was.
Huggy's apartment was in a multiracial neighborhood one flight up from the street. It was hip yet welcoming, just like him. Even in the dead of night.
"This better be a national emergency," he griped as he opened the door.
"It is. There's a warrant out for Hutch's arrest," I announced pushing past him. I knew Huggy's indignation was mostly feigned. If there was anyone I wanted on my side in a pinch, other than Hutch, it was Huggy. He was his own man.
"We also need to borrow your white caddy," Hutch said as I hunted for the phone.
We had a plan half-formed by the time we had reached Huggy's place. Knowing Hutch, he wasn't going to like the other half I'd worked out on my own. But I figured if I set the wheels in motion before he understood the whole gist of it, he wouldn't be able to stop it.
I gambled that Captain Dobey was still in his office despite the late hour and won.
"Starsky, where are you? And where's Hutchinson!"
Hutch pressed so close the strands of his hair mingled with mine, despite the fact he could have heard Dobey's bellow from across the room. I heard the hitch in Hutch's breath, could practically feel the racing of his heart.
The calmness he displayed on the surface masked the churning of emotions underneath. Facing down a murder charge was only the tip of an iceberg. Acknowledging the deceit of someone who once vowed endless love cut far deeper. I could only imagine how he felt when I had served the warrant. Thank god it was only a matter of minutes before he understood I could never betray him like that. I meant to make every heart-stopping one of them up to him.
"Can you get me a picture of the diamond?" I asked once the captain's ranting had slowed.
"I guess so. Why?"
"Release it to the newspapers and let them know that Hutch - a cop – is wanted for murder one." The thought that Dobey might deny me didn't cross my mind. Too much was at stake. "I think it will help us nail Vanessa's killer."
"And what if it doesn't?"
"Well, if it doesn't you can visit Hutch and I in San Quentin."
"Thanks, buddy. That's just what I need to hear right now." Hutch's comment sounded more of exhaustion than rancor as he collapsed onto the couch once I hung up the phone. The stress of the day that had stretched into night was catching up with him. I was still jazzed, though, and doubted I'd be able to sleep.
"You mind letting me in on the party, as long as you're dancing on my dime?" Huggy went to the refrigerator and poured out a glass of milk. Even at that hour he strutted rather than walked.
"Someone killed Vanessa in my living room when I was out for a jog." Hutch leaned back into the couch and scrubbed at his eyes.
"That gorgeous creature you introduced to me at my place last night?" Huggy gulped down the milk like whisky and wiped the back of a hand across his mouth.
"More like a black widow spider." I had no kind words left for her. She'd never hear them now anyway.
"We think she was a mule for Wheeler, the diamond fence. But she was trying to go into business for herself. Stashed a hot rock in my car. I was an idiot to fall for her 'scared little girl' ploy."
I sat down next to Hutch and helped him pull off his leather jacket. I kneaded his shoulder, feeling his muscles tight as bow strings. "Now a couple of creeps in Internal Affairs think to pin it on Hutch."
"Christ." Huggy let slip a rare invective and his gaze swung from me to Hutch and back again. Those dark eyes missed little. The speed with which he could read a situation had allowed him to survive life on the streets and come out ahead. I could image what he saw when he looked at us.
My gratitude to him was unending. He'd proven more than once there'd be no Starsky and Hutch without Huggy Bear.
"Let me know what I can do to help. In the meantime, mi casa es su casa." He swept an arm down low, his silky robe swirling around his lanky frame, like he was welcoming us to a grand castle rather than a two room flat. It was all a matter of perspective.
ooOoo
An army cot, a friend's couch, the back seat of the Torino. I'd learned to sleep pretty much anytime, anywhere. But tonight, despite the accommodation of Huggy's bed he'd so graciously given up to two bone weary cops, I doubted sleep would come. Still, Hutch's familiar, soft snoring was as soothing as the sound of cars rumbling down the narrow street below my bedroom window or the waves lapping on the California beach.
I'd lost count of how many nights I'd fallen asleep to that hypnotic hum. Late night study sessions during our time at the academy, mind-numbing stake outs once we'd exhausted our patience with word games and each other, and even the times we'd had too much to drink and spilled out secrets like wine until there was nothing left to tell. I could listen to the sound of Hutch and feel at peace no matter what else was happening around us.
Tonight was no different. I had almost drifted off when he gave a violent toss and his elbow hit my ribs. The little push I responded with was enough to wake him. His eyes fluttered open and looked into mine. They were as disturbing as his dreams.
"Will you visit me in prison?" He murmured.
"Every day." I slipped my arm around his head and tucked it the crook of my neck.
The intimate position we found ourselves in was all too reminiscent of the first night Vanessa had left. Her callous abandonment had nearly destroyed him.
We all have a need to be loved unconditionally, at least by the people who gave birth to us or who promised fidelity till death do us part. But sometimes things go horribly wrong. Misplaced expectations and ego rush in and devour a soul like the tide washes away a sandcastle.
"She doesn't want me," he'd choked out that night years ago between vodka and tonics. "No one wants me."
"I want you." I'd whispered as I'd pulled him to me. If my feelings had changed since then, they'd only intensified. I couldn't imagine my life without him then, and now only more so.
His fine hair tickling my chin brought me back to the present. "Did you sleep with her?" I didn't know I'd voiced the question that had been plaguing me aloud until, after a few seconds, he answered quietly against my neck.
"No."
"Hey, it's none of my business," I stammered. I hated the thought of me, Bay City's finest horndog, being possessive. It went against the image I worked so hard to maintain.
"Sure it is." He moved his hand to my shoulder and rested it there. There was image and then there was reality. Vanessa may have fooled him, but I never could.
"I'm going to Wheeler's alone tomorrow." At my revelation, Hutch's fingers on my shoulder tightened almost painfully.
He pushed himself upright and looked down at me, immediately fully awake as if I'd just rousted him during a midnight stakeout. His features were obscured in shadow but I didn't need to see his face to know what he was thinking.
"Why?" A curt demand. His self-assurance had returned in full. The sensitive, vulnerable man or the confident, hard-driving cop. I don't know which one I loved more.
"Look, Hutch. I've given this a lot of thought. Wheeler's no fool. This act has to be believable. That, I got covered." I scooted myself up against the pillows so that he wasn't at a height disadvantage. "Plus there's no reason for you to put yourself out in the open for now. It's too dangerous with both sides gunning for you."
"I don't like it." He responded as I had expected. When Hutch and I played tug of war with resolve there was never a clear winner.
"You don't have to like it to go along with it." I ran my hand through his already bed-tousled hair. "But that doesn't change the way it's gonna go down."
He knew this was a battle he wasn't going to win. He continued to search me, observing more than the faded light would allow. He was perceptive enough to see I was right.
I slid back down into the blankets and turned my back to him as if I hadn't a care in the world. "Now go back to sleep, blondie. And this time dream of something nice. Like a villa in Rio."
He had to believe in me, too.
ooOoo
I pulled up to Wheeler's fortress of a house in Huggy's white Caddy. It was the last thing my brothers in blue would be looking to find me driving. I waved the morning's newspaper at the human guard dogs near the entrance. Hutch's face was front and center. Even the sparkling diamond couldn't outshine his golden boy looks.
"Show this to Wheeler," I demanded. "He'll want to see me."
It didn't take long to be ushered in front of the big man himself. The one who held our future in his pudgy hands. If there was one thing we knew about greedy bastards, it was that they loved to brag. About their power, their possessions, their women, their balls. I figured if I offered the right incentive – waved a karat rather than threaten with a stick - he'd tell me everything I wanted to know.
I slapped the front page and photo of the diamond down on his desk.
"Why are you here?" He asked as he fingered the glossy photo like an expensive whore.
"They want me to bring in Hutch. It's like cuttin' off my arm. I ain't going for it."
"What's that got to do with me?" He set down the photo long enough to look up. His watery gray eyes assessed me as if I was a gem under his magnifying glass and he was evaluting my price. I'd accept only one.
"We need some get out of town money."
"Do I look like a bank to you?'
"Hutch's got the diamond. You want it. Let's not play games." I laid it out for him hard and fast. Still, he insisted on tossing figures and conditions back and forth like a shuttlecock. I knew the routine well. I wasn't about to forfeit. For me, it was winner take all.
"How do you know you're not setting me up?" The fence asked at last.
Our plan, our entire future, relied on Wheeler believing me. Accepting that my partner meant more to me than my home, my career, my reputation, and a million dollar diamond.
I'd been in plenty of undercover situations where I had to pretend I was anything other than what I was. Convince some dealer I needed a score, a pimp I wanted to restock my stable. But the irony was that this time I was deadly serious. Every word I said was God's honest truth.
If they could pin a murder charge on Hutch, I wanted no part of the job, the department or even the country. If we ended up robbing banks in Bolivia, so be it. Hutch had become more than just my partner a long time ago. He was my world and I didn't plan on hanging around if he wasn't in it.
I stared straight at him and didn't bat an eye. I told him. And he believed.
The final part of our plan went smooth as sex on silk sheets. Wheeler met us with the money on neutral territory. But we didn't expect him to just hand it over to us. His position had been challenged, his greed too powerful. He threatened us and added a little more, his admission of having Vanessa killed. Our ace in the hole was Huggy Bear, hiding out of sight with a tape recorder, getting it all down for posterity.
ooOoo
With the taped confession in our hands and Wheeler and his goons behind bars, Hutch and I could finally breath freely again. The IA boys had dropped all charges against Hutch at the morning's hearing.
Louise scampered in her box as Hutch leaned in close to announce the news. I hadn't known how tense I was until I felt the warmth of his nearness relaxing me.
Captain Dobey just stood back and watched at first, then joined in our banter. Irresistible as a second scoop of ice cream.
"Captain, do you really think I could confuse a guinea pig for a chinchilla?" I gave Louise a little pat, then handed her box over to Dobey. "Tell Rosie happy birthday for me."
Hutch grinned at the little joke I'd played. It was good to see him smile again.
"How about a coupla burgers and beers at Huggy's? We'll tell him the good news and I might even pay up our tab." I was feeling rich and eager to share the wealth.
In the parking lot I noticed an older couple who looked familiar, yet out of place, walk briskly toward a Lincoln Towncar. The woman's heels stabbed into the pavement. Their stiff movements seemed measured to ensure they wouldn't touch. For a brief instant I wondered what would happen if they did. Maybe, like on the late movie, their opposing life forces would cancel each other out. Then a chill of recognition swept through me.
"What are they doin' here?"
"They came to collect Vanessa's body." Hutch responded simply.
"And watch you get grilled at the hearing? Christ, if I would have known. . . "
"It's okay, Starsk. You've done enough. I got this now." The confident cop was back. Once again, I witnessed the miracle of what love could do.
Hutch lengthened his stride in order to catch up with the couple. "I'm sorry for your loss," he told them.
Vanessa's mother turned to us while her husband stopped and stood off to the side like a tin soldier. Their expensive clothes couldn't cover their hollowness. Elegant yet as brittle as blown glass.
"You didn't deserve Vanessa." The woman's sharp voice could splinter ice.
I shivered. Some people just didn't get it.
I looked at Hutch standing steady and strong. Then I tossed an arm across his shoulders, drew him in close and smiled at her. "You're right, ma'am," I said. "He didn't."
We turned and walked away. The chill I'd felt faded as his arm snaked firmly around my waist. Overhead the California sun glittered like a diamond.