She's Not There

By M. Willow

Chapter Ten

Starsky spent the next hour in a desperate search for Hutch. He had gone to all of his partner's usual haunts to no avail. At one point, he'd even gone home to check on Susan. He was happy to find her still asleep in bed. He didn't even want to think what it would have meant if she hadn't been there.

It was dispatch that finally provided a clue. Starsky had called in, asking if there was anything out of the ordinary going on and found out there had been a shooting behind a bar named Gilly's. An officer was involved. Now he was on his way there, mars light flashing, sirens blaring.

He reached his destination quickly; saw the squad cars surrounding the area. There was a body being taken from the alley. Starsky couldn't see the face because it was covered with a white sheet, but he could see the blond hair sticking out from the top.

He parked the car and raced across the streets, a million thoughts running through his mind with every step. An officer stopped him as he approached the body and he flashed his badge. Then Starsky saw his partner coming out of the alley. His shirt was covered in blood, but he looked okay.

"Not mine," Hutch said, as he came up to him.

"Thank God. I thought it was you for a minute there."

"It was someone else." Hutch turned and started walking toward his car. "Got to get to the station. They'll have questions."

Starsky grabbed him by the arm, spinning him around to face him. "Who was it?"

Hutch stood there, his face pale, eyes wide.

"Hutch who was it?"

And then his partner's legs gave out. Starsky grabbed him before he hit the pavement, holding the blond as he sagged against him.

"Hutch, you okay, buddy? You hurt?" Starsky pulled his partner away, visually checking the blond for any signs of injury.

"I'm okay. Just need to get out of here," he murmured.

"Let me get one of the paramedics. We need to get you checked out."

"No, got to get out of here. No hospitals."

Hutch righted himself, but he wouldn't look him in the eye. "Maybe you should drive. Don't think I'll be able too."

"Okay, but I still think you should see a doctor, Hutch."

"No. There's nothing they can do for me." And then he started walking toward Starsky's car.

--

Susan was livid. Johnny had called and told her Hutch was still alive, but that he was pretty sure Kira was dead. She couldn't believe he had missed his shot. The man was damn near perfect, but he had a flair for theatrics. She could well imagine he hoped Hutch would show up in the alley, find Kira dead, and sit there like a lame duck while he shot him. Only Hutch hadn't sat like a lame duck. He'd rolled his body out of the way, actually getting a shot off that had nearly killed Johnny instead. Now the dapper fake Englishman was probably holed up in a sleazy hotel somewhere, waiting for medical attention.

"That damned cop got lucky," Johnny had said. "If it hadn't been for that cat running out of the alley, he wouldn't have known I was there until it was too late. But he rolled out of the way and actually got a shot off. Damn near killed me in the process."

And Susan had listened to Johnny go on about how he'd suffered and his arm would never look the same again. On and on he went, sometimes even losing his fake accent as he described how the perfect plan had ended badly due to the stupid cat.

Susan had hung up the phone and sat on the sofa waiting for Ken to arrive. She knew one thing about Johnny; his theatrical flare could be her undoing. He had watched too many television shows where the killer confessed everything before killing his intended victim. He'd most likely told Kira everything he knew, which wasn't much, but damaging nonetheless. The foolish man probably called her Medusa and said a green-eyed woman had hired him. He probably got his kicks knowing the blonde would be dead long before Ken arrived. But what if she lived long enough to tell Ken about her? Kira would have been smart enough to figure the rest out. And she would have made sure it was the last thing she said to Ken before she died. The cops could be on their way to arrest her even now.

Susan headed to the bedroom, prepared to pack, but then she thought about David and returned to her place on the sofa.

She couldn't leave. She would take her chances and stay. Besides, she doubted Kira lived long enough to tell Ken anything.

She sighed, resting her head against the back of the sofa, planning how she would kill Johnny once she found the man. He needed to die for the crime of stupidity.

Well, at least Kira was dead, she reasoned. Johnny had said the gunshot was to her abdomen. People could survive some gunshot wounds, like one to the arm or even the head, but one to the abdomen was nearly always fatal.

Susan had hired Kira to get information on David. The woman was already working on a case with the two detectives and seemed the best candidate for the job. David would never suspect that the comely detective was gathering information on him.

The assignment changed when Susan received her first report regarding his partner. The men were close. Too close. They weren't homosexuals, but the relationship was just as bothersome to Susan who wanted to be the only one in David's life. It was then that she changed Kira's mission. Now she was to sleep with both men and get Ken to fall in love with her. The blond was to discover that his partner was sleeping with Kira and storm out of David's life forever. The friendship would end on a sour note and Susan would have David to herself. A perfect plan. She didn't like the thought of Kira sleeping with her future lover, but was willing to live with it knowing that he would be hers in the end. But the plan didn't work. David had been the one to fall in love with Kira.

Susan had been angry, planning to kill Kira for the crime of making the wrong man fall in love with her, but again Kira proved that she loved money most of all. Kira agreed to let the men find out about the affair. She would become sloppy, wait for them to discover what was going on, then she would leave town and everything would go as originally planned. At that point, Susan saw Kira as a minor stumble in the game of love.

A week later and the affair was discovered with the expected outcome. Susan was elated. Ken was finally out of David's life and Kira had already made plans to resign. Now, all she had to do was show up and catch David on the rebound. But again the plan went awry. David forgave Ken and the friendship continued as if nothing had happened. To make matters worse, Susan discovered that Kira had resigned, but was still in town, shacked up with a well-heeled hoodlum. And she was still hoping to get David and Ken back, redefining the word slut.

It had been pure coincidence that Susan had been arriving as Kira left the police station on the day she made her first appearance in David's life. The woman had looked upset, her eyes red-rimmed as if she had been crying. Kira looked at her briefly as they passed in the hallway.

The last time she'd seen Kira, she had been Karen—an overweight woman with blond hair and green eyes. She had given Kira the silly story that David had dumped her a few years ago and she wanted information on him and his partner so she could find a way back in his life. She knew Kira hadn't believed her, but the woman had been greedy. It was easy money, so she took it without question.

For the most part, Karen was an interesting character. She was soft-spoken, almost shy, a throw-back to another age. Susan had spent a lot of time honing this character because it was so close to the way she would be with David. But she hadn't hidden her green-gold eyes. They were her calling card. So now she paid the price for her vanity. Kira had figured out that Karen and Susan was the same person.

Later, that same day, Susan saw her in the grocery store. This time Kira wore a disguise, but the black wig and oversized coat couldn't hide the slim blond woman she really was.

A few days later, Susan saw her looking up at the window at David's apartment. She hadn't looked like herself with the frizzy red hair, but Susan was capable of seeing through disguises, especially that of an amateur. Kira had fallen into the trap that many found themselves in. She had thought putting on a wig and wearing shabby clothes would hide her true identity, but Susan knew that more was required. A true professional became a character.

Susan had spent many years becoming people, hiding inside a person's head, feeling what they felt, living their life. It was difficult and somewhat dangerous because you were always in danger of losing yourself.

Susan recalled the dizzy spells and waking up days later still dressed in the clothes of her latest character. It was both exhilarating and scary. But in all her years, no one had ever seen her face unless she wanted them to. Kira was a problem.

Susan was a retired killer. She was rich ten times over and had wanted to settle down, marry David, have children. She had thrown away her disguises and became the woman she wanted to be. Kira had seen her face and needed to die because of it, but Susan didn't want more blood on her hands. And she had realized that the deaths of two people close to David would be suspicious. That's when she decided to go to Johnny.

She came up with the perfect plan. Johnny would kidnap Kira and have her lure Ken to the alley behind Gilly's. He would kill Kira first and then wait for Ken to arrive and kill him next. Then he was to take their money to make it look like a robbery. Everyone would think Kira and Ken had met in the alley to have sex, but had been surprised by a robber. David would see it as the final act of betrayal. He would mourn the blond for a short time before hatred settled in. It wouldn't matter that he was no longer involved with Kira. It would matter only that his partner had lied. And Susan would end up the sole recipient of David's love.

Susan turned on the television. The news report blazed with the story of the shooting of someone behind Gilly's bar. The name of the victim was being withheld, but it was without doubt Kira. Then the reporter added something Johnny hadn't mentioned: there was an eyewitness.

--

The sun was shining by the time they arrived home. Hutch had changed and put on clean clothing. Now they sat in the kitchen, two steaming mugs of coffee in front of them. Starsky was still waiting to find out who had died in the alley. He was looking at his friend expectantly, but Hutch still seemed closed off, as if he were deciding how to handle what he had to say.

"Just say it, Hutch. Stop walking on egg shells around me."

Hutch looked up, concern in his blue eyes. "I don't know how to 'just say it', Starsk."

"Start by telling me who died."

"Murdered. It was murder." Hutch took a deep breath. "I was standing there watching her die, knowing I couldn't do a damn thing."

Starsky's breath caught in his throat. "It was Kira, wasn't it?"

Hutch nodded his head. "I tried to save her. Tried to keep her alive till help arrived. But she died in my arms and there was nothing I could do about it."

Starsky took a deep breath, remembering the woman he once thought he loved. It seemed so long ago. Back then he saw only the good in her, and maybe a little bit of Terry. Of course, he had been wrong. No one could replace Terry.

But now she was dead, and he would have been lying if he said it didn't matter. And he knew his partner felt the same way.

"Before Kira died, she said something," Hutch continued. "She said to tell you she was sorry and that she wanted the money. And then she said something I think you should know."

Starsky felt a knot form in his stomach. What Hutch had to say couldn't be good. He saw it in his eyes, the grief for Kira, mixed in with something else. "Say it. Tell me what her last words were," he said slowly.

Hutch hesitated for a second. "She said, green eyes, golden eyes. Medusa."

Starsky took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He gazed into his partner's eyes and saw only love there and it was like he was seeing him for the last time. After he told him the truth, he would see only disgust and Hutch wouldn't want to have anything to do with him. It was the end of Me and Thee.

"It's time you know," he said. "It's time you learn what kind of man I am."

TBC