Chapter 2

Hutch loaded Manny into the back of the Torino, his hand on the top of the big man's head to stop him from doing himself an injury. It seemed pointless, as the blond really would have preferred to have slammed the sanctimonious giant into the body of the car. Manny continued to protest his innocence as Hutch got into the car while at the kitchen door, Starsky was still trying to get Melanie to come down to the station to press charges.

'We can protect you, if that's what you're worried about' the brunet urged. He hated the fact that this woman was so obviously hurt by her husband and yet still sought to protect him.

'I said I'm fine. I should go. I have to make a phone call. Manny will want his lawyer waiting for him at the police station.' Melanie gave a little smile.

'And what Manny wants, Manny gets huh?'

'He isn't a bad man Dave. He just…. He's very passionate about things. He likes things to be done right and he doesn't like mistakes.'

'Is that why he hit you? Coz you made a mistake?' Starsky snapped.

Melanie ducked her head, sighing. 'Like I said, I fell.'

'Whatever. I don't know what it is with you women an' I really wish I could understand. We're here, this is what we do. Just let us help, please.' Starsky cocked his head on one side, the urge to enfold this tiny woman in his arms almost too strong to fight. Inside he snickered at himself. Great Davey boy. Some kinda cop you are! You're supposed to catch the bad guys, not get suckered by every hard luck story out on the street.

Melanie took his hand and squeezed it. 'I know you don't understand, but Manny has been good to me. I can't just start pressing charges, he's my husband. I owe him.'

'You owe him enough for him to beat up on ya?' Starsky asked angrily.

'Please, leave it. I appreciate that you care, really I do. It means a lot, but now, you have a job to do, and I should make the call. Thank you' Melanie was about to close the door when the brunet put his foot in the way.

'You know where we are if you need us?'

She nodded. 'I know. Thanks.'

The curly haired cop walked slowly back to the car and opened the door. Getting in, he started the engine but even the throaty roar of the V8 didn't drown out Manny's moaning and sniping.

'You have no right to take me in.'

'Was she ok?' Hutch asked his partner, ignoring the man in the back.

'I said, you have no right to take me in!' Manny said again, louder.

'I'll never understand these women as long as I live!' the brunet admitted. 'She was obviously beaten and yet he has her so messed up, she's coverin' for him.'

'Hey, quit thinking about that stupid little bitch and start thinkin' about your jobs huh? When my lawyer gets a hold of you he's gonna make sure you never patrol these streets again. My lawyer is….'

Starsky brought the Torino to a shuddering halt by the sidewalk, the tyres squealing in protest and turned in his seat to glare at the man in the back seat. 'Be thankful you're back there, an' I'm here. And be thankful that I hate clearin' blood out of my car, coz so help me there is nothin' I'd like better than to give your lawyer a real good opportunity to fire my ass. What you did to your wife is dirty and cowardly. You're a bully an' I hate bullies. You treat her like….'

'The way I treat my wife is my concern. The silly little bitch is clumsy. She told you she fell. Where's the crime in that huh? You'd be better usin' your time to catch proper criminals instead of making dates with my wife.'

The brunet was half way out of his own seat and into the back before Hutch managed to grab a hold of the waistband of his jeans and haul him back down into the driver's seat.

'Leave it Starsk' he hissed. 'He's baiting ya. His sort would love to see you hauled in before IA.'

'Yeah, listen to your partner' Manny snarled. 'At least one of you seems to have a brain cell.'

It was Hutch's turn to glare at the cuffed man. 'Oh don't flatter yourself. I'm not doin' this to protect you. To be truthful, he's a Rotweiller and I kinda like to see him bring turkeys like you down a peg or two, but we're due to clock off in a couple of hours an' filling in the paperwork for injuries to prisoners is kinda time consuming. If you know what's good for you, you'll just keep it zipped huh?'

'I'm gonna make a formal complaint. I'm gonna…'

Manny's further mutterings were drowned out by both detectives yelling 'SHUT UP' in unison and the rest of the drive down to the Metro was accomplished in relative silence.

Once in the parking lot, Hutch handed Manny over to the custody sergeant while Starsky skipped upstairs to fill in their time log and document the arrest. Hutch joined him a few minutes later and between them they started to type the arrest report.

It took a while. Starsky's typing was not wonderful at the best of times and now, his temper still at simmering point his fingers refused to hit the right keys. After the third form had been ripped from the typewriter, crumpled up and thrown across the office in anger, Hutch looked up from his own work.

'Someone rearrange the keys while you were out?' he asked mildly.

'Someone needs to rearrange his head' Starsky retorted, savagely jamming another pencil between his teeth and starting on his fourth attempt.

'This one's really got to you hasn't it?'

The brunet looked up sharply. 'Huh? Oh, well um…. dunno. I guess I just hate to see big men beatin' up on little women. Mrs. Kralevski in 2nd grade used to tell me I had an overdeveloped sense of injustice.'

'Well you should always listen to Mrs. Kralevski buddy. This is just one more statistic. We've seen it all before. Write the report and move on huh?'

'Is that it? Is that all you've got to say on the matter?'

'It's all I can say buddy. I can see the signs. You're letting it get personal and you know you can't. Just write the damned form and let's get outa here.'

'We gonna interview him before we go?'

'Do you want to? He was getting' ya pretty riled up for a while there' Hutch said doubtfully. 'We're due off in three quarters of an hour. We could hand it over to one of the other guys.'

The smaller man considered for a moment. The twenty-five minutes it had taken to get from Wilshire down to the Metro had not been pleasant. Manny had refused to keep his mouth closed and Starsky found that his knuckles were white around the steering wheel and his head was beginning to pound by the time he's parked up. Did he really want to put himself through that again? Especially when he could so easily hand it over to the next shift. Eventually he shook his head.

'Fine, give it to Knight, he can make mince meat out of the turkey. I need a drink and an aspirin.'

'Good call. I'll go find Knight and brief him and I'll see you in the car. Don't be too long. Cold beer awaits' Hutch said, taking his jacket from the back of the chair and threading his way through the chairs and desks out to the corridor.

Starsky grunted and made a valiant attempt at retyping the form a fourth time. He managed to accomplish the feat with only two minor typos and no more than a dozen curses. He pulled the form from the machine, signed it with a flourish and was just about to file it in the in tray when he saw a small figure walking down the corridor outside his room.

Rushing from the office, Starsky caught up with Melanie in the corridor and put a hand on her shoulder. She jumped and looked around and once again, the brunet winced at the gash on her forehead and the now blossoming bruise over her right eye.

'Dave!' she said, surprised that they should meet again so soon.

'Hey, I saw you walking by and um… I just wanted to….'

'Yes?'

The brunet snorted. How long had it been since he'd been tongue-tied talking to a girl? He felt like a teenager all over again and took a deep breath.

'I just wanted to make sure you were ok?' he asked.

'I'm fine. A little sore, but nothing is broken. Bruises fade.'

'You don't have to live like that you know. You don't deserve to be treated like that.'

She looked at him quizzically. 'You don't know me. How would you know how I deserve to be treated?'

'I know he's a big guy and you can't have a hope of defending yourself if he rounds on you again. I hate to think that he's hurting you.'

'I'm touched that you care' she said softly.

'Of course I care. I wouldn't be much of a cop if I didn't.'

'But this seems over and above. Thank you anyway, it's nice that someone makes the effort to…. I'm glad you were there when I….. fell' she finished.

'Are you sure you don't need to go to the hospital?'

Melanie shook her head. 'No, I'm fine, honest. Manny is with his lawyer now. I'm um… I can't press charges.'

'Can't, or won't?' Starsky asked.

'I can't. Like I said, I fell. Where's the crime in that?'

The brunet sighed, knowing there was no way he would be able to change the woman's mind. In desperation, he reached into his back pocket and took out his wallet. He grabbed a card from it and scribbled his telephone number on the back, underlining it twice. 'Here' he said, handing it to the girl. 'For the next time you "fall down". Don't hesitate, just call me huh? Anytime.'

Melanie took the card and looked at it. "Dave Starsky, Detective Sergeant Bay City Police Department" it read and the Metro telephone number. She looked at the number on the back of the card and up at him with big brown eyes. 'Yours?' she asked.

Starsky coughed self consciously. 'Yeah, my number. We're not always here an'….. I just want you to be safe. Keep it, and use it if you have to. Promise?'

'I promise' she said shyly and turned to walk away just as her husband turned the corner into the corridor.

'Where the hell have you been?' he yelled, his face red and his hands on his hips.

'Manny! I was waiting for you. I was just talking to….'

'I saw who you were talkin' to. What the hell are you talkin' to that moron for? Come away, we're going home woman. I've told you about talking to guys before.' The big man grabbed for Melanie's arm and she yelped. 'When are you gonna start listening to me you stupid little bitch.'

Starsky's hand shot out even before he thought about it. He grabbed a hold of Manny's wrist and pulled him away forcibly his indigo eyes boring into the big mans.

'We don't want any more "falls" here do we?' the cop snarled.

Manny looked at his with scorn. 'Get your dirty hands off of me pig. What happened between me and my wife is my concern, not your.' He wrenched his hand away and pulled Melanie along the corridor with him. She looked back over her shoulder at Starsky who stood with his hands balled into fists, half of him wanting to knock the big man to the ground there and then while the other, saner half told him to stay out of it.

As the couple disappeared around the corner, he let out the breath he didn't know he'd been holding, went back into the squad room to collect his jacket and headed off down to the car and his waiting partner.