Chapter 11

The interior of the car was quiet, the two men and the small child allowing tensed muscles to relax a moment, the two detectives wondering how this little mite was going to help them, and more to the point, how they were going to help her and what they were going to do with her.

She sat in-between the two men in the front seat, dwarfed by their big bodies, looking up from one to the other her little face alive to their concerns. She seemed so much older than her few years and her hand never left Starsky's.

'So what we gonna do with her?' Hutch asked as she turned her little face to him.

'I dunno, but there's no way I'm leaving her in there' his partner answered, still seething at the mistreatment the little girl had received. He gently ruffled her hair as she looked up at him.

'Ya got a name little lady?' he asked her.

Shyly she answered in a sweet voice heavy with her Chinese accent 'Mae Lin'.

'Well, Mae Lin, ya said you know Mr DeMaine. Can you tell us what he looks like and where he lives?'. The brunette didn't really expect any great detail. This was one very young girl and he was getting fast to the point of no return – too many hours having ticked by with no leads, but a lot of dead ends.

She seemed to ponder a moment. 'He is tall' she began, pointing to Hutch, the taller of the two men, 'like you, but hair is white. He is…..' she seemed lost for the word, but mimed something long and narrow with her hands.

'Thin?' Hutch said. 'He's tall and thin with white hair?'

She nodded enthusiastically.

'Do you mean very white, or pale and blond, like mine?' he pushed. Blond was one thing. There were hundreds of tall blond men in the area. Hell, it described about 50 of the population. But a man with white hair – well that was unusual and much easier to track down.

'Hair is white, like paper' Mae Lin confirmed, her little face screwed up in concentration.

'Do you know where he lives?' Starsky asked, hope hanging on every word.

She shook her head. 'He come to factory two time a day. He make people work hard. He bring in more people to work. But no room for them. Some work day and sleep night. Other people use same beds, but work night and sleep day'. She looked crestfallen that she couldn't give these two nice men an address.

'Thought it'd be too good to be true' the brunette said, looking at his watch 11.30pm. He sighed. 'So what ya want to do with her?' he asked softly, looking at the blond.

Mae Lin sensed she may be separated from her new friend and suddenly her grip on Starsky's hand became vice like.

Hutch saw the grab and smiled. 'I think we have two options. Juvy or your apartment, and I kinda know which you're gonna choose, and what she certainly would want' he smiled at the little girl. 'Do you want to come home with us?' She nodded enthusiastically.

As Starsky disengaged his hand to start the car, Hutch put a call through to Dobey, not surprised for one moment that the big man was still working. When one of his men was in trouble, Edith never saw her husband. Dobey put in more hours than any of his detectives and wouldn't rest until this whole situation was resolved one way or the other.

Having been patched through, Hutch spoke into the mic. 'Captain? Hutch. We found DeMaine's warehouse. You've never seen anything like it. The squalid way those immigrants have to live. I wouldn't put a dog through that. We met a guy there who seemed to be DeMaine's number one fan. Wouldn't give us zip. But we've got our own little snitch!' he smiled down at Mae Lin, now cuddled up to Starsky's brown leather jacket, his arm protectively round her as he drove.

'DeMaine is tall – about 6'2" with white hair. Can you get an APB out on him? We're going back to Starsky's, but we could do with you or Edith coming over here. We've inherited a little girl'.

Starsky could hear his captain over the air. 'What d'ya mean a little girl? What you two playin' at?'

But the brunette knew they had him snagged. Where children were concerned, Dobey was a champion and he'd come through. There was a pause.

'We'll meet you at Starsky's in an hour' and the mic. went dead.

Hutch put it back on its cradle and sat back, running his fingers over his lower lip, wondering where this was going to get them. This was such an unnecessary diversion. He was glad they'd rescued the little girl from the horrendous conditions she'd had to live in and in truth would never have left her there. But the timing was crap and this wasn't solving their ever more pressing problem. He glanced sideways at his partner, watching the handsome face concentrating on the road, one arm round the little body huddled against him and panic clutched at his guts for the first time. They were running out of time and the only good thing from this was that Starsky had something else to think about for an hour or so.

The car drew up outside the familiar apartment and Starsky gently nudged the little form at his side. Mae Lin had dropped into a peaceful sleep in the warm car and her eyes opened just a little as Hutch gently picked her up and carried her inside, following the brunette. He laid her down on the settee where she snuggled into the bright red throw and fell back to sleep.

Starsky was in the kitchen uncapping the bottles of beer he'd retrieved from the fridge. He stooped a little as he leaned against the counter top, one ankle crossed over the other, the weight of the explosives playing heavily on his body now. His face was a grey mask of exhaustion, the usually unruly mahogany curls laying a little flatter against his head, the fire dimming in his indigo eyes.

Hutch walked over and took the proffered beer. 'How ya doin, partner?'

Starsky seemed calm. A little too calm for Hutch's taste, but if it helped the brunette, he'd run with it for a while.

The shoulders shrugged, followed by a wince as the action caused pain to shoot across the blistered and bruised skin. 'I think I'm OK. We got a lead on DeMaine, an' we managed to look after her' he nodded at Mae Lin, still sleeping on his settee. 'If we get a call telling us where to find him, we can go, beat the crap out of him, find Emma, and we're home dry'. He said it like it was a given, like he'd convinced himself that that was what was gong to happen.

Hutch nodded, he hoped convincingly. 'Yeah, it's our best lead so far, so we can deal, get this shit off you, then what say you to a nice little Italian?'

The brunette's eyes narrowed. 'Well ya know what happened last time we went to an Italian an' I've had enough drama for a while'.

'OK, so scrambled eggs and toast. No problem, but you buy the beer' his partner responded, glad of a bit of light hearted banter. 'You look all in. Do you want to rest?' he asked gently, already knowing the answer.

'No, enough time for that later' Starsky gave his lop sided smile. 'We'll wait till Dobey gets here, and then maybe check out Huggy. He might know where DeMaine's holed up'.

Hutch nodded, taking a final swig from his beer and placing the bottle by the sink. 'I'll go put in a call to him now, forewarn him. He can maybe do a bit of digging, ya know?' he left to go to the telephone and Starsky was once more on his own.

He did feel calm, although he couldn't for the life of him think why. Time was pressing on now with seven hours to go, all night time hours, all dark and all when most activities go quiet. He was getting into the mind set that said "well you've given it your best shot, but sometimes you have to start making other plans". Just what those other plans were he was unsure of. The list he'd made back in the alley way outside the Pits sprang back to his mind. What had he always wanted to do before he died? Well, sailing round the world was out, as was driving the Daytona 500. Having just one more round of great sex was a possibility, but way down on the list of priorities and short of a visit to Sweet Alice, there were few candidates at this time of night. He'd had his burrito, so that was one to cross off the list. The fact of it was, even though he was getting to want to shut down and forget, he just wanted to find DeMaine, Emma, Grice then go to bed for a week.

He heard Hutch put down the phone in the other room and walk back into the kitchen.

'Huggy says he'll meet us in the next hour. He's heard a rumour that a new guy in town, fitting DeMaine's description likes to get his kicks at that new porn place on the outskirts of town. 'Bound to Please'. The one that advertises all the kinky stuff. He's gonna make some calls and maybe have stuff for us when we get there. It's a lead, buddy. We gotta run with it'.

Hutch looked more cheerful than he had done for hours, so Starsky smiled encouragingly at him. They finished another beer as they sat in the lounge, Mae Lin still sleeping in between them. Within 20 minutes, there was a quiet knock at the door and Dobey and his wife walked in. Immediately Edith walked over to the settee and peered down at the sleeping child a soft expression in her big brown eyes.

'Oh what a cutie' she whispered, mentally comparing the waif thin scrap against her own more robust daughter Rosie. 'She looks like she needs food and cuddles, and lots of them' she continued.

Dobey signalled for his men to follow him into the kitchen as his wife settled herself down to look over the child.

'So whats all this about then?' he asked, his tone commanding an answer right away.

Hutch spoke first, outlining what had gone on at DeMaine Investments and how the Chinese man there had beaten up on little Mae Lin. The black man had listened impassively until that point, but when the blond explained how the man had back handed the little girl, his fist balled and his jaw tightened.

'Well, you did the right thing getting' her out of there. Leave her with us now. You men get back out there' he said. 'You've both got enough on your plate. I'll leave Edith here with Mae Lin an' get back down to the Metro. Co-ordinate things from there'. The detectives nodded and made their way to the front door.

En route, Starsky bent over the little girl and whispered to her.

'Hey, Mae Lin'.

She opened sleepy eyes.

'This nice lady is gonna look after you for a little while. She's a friend and she'll make sure you're OK. We have to go out, but I'll come back, I promise'. He dropped a soft kiss on her brow as she smiled at him and closed her eyes, once again asleep. As Starsky read 12.15 on the clock on his way to the door, he knew he envied her peace and tranquillity.