Chapter 12

At the little cabin in the hills, Dave was gathering the supplies he needed to take with him to go hunting. Sassy was doing what she could to help. When he was ready to leave, he wrapped his arms around Hannah's slender waist and gave her a long, lingering kiss.

"I should be back sometime tonight." He told her with a crooked smile that made her heart melt even after all these years.

"I'll make fried chicken for supper." Hannah said "And Sassy can pick some berries for a pie."

Sassy clapped her hands excitedly. She loved going to the berry patch behind the barn to pick berries. She ate almost as many as she picked coming back to the house with her face and hands stained with berry juice.

Dave grinned as he knelt down to his daughter's level and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "You be good while I'm gone and mind your mother." He said in a stern voice that was softened by the twinkle in his eye.

"I will, daddy. I promise." She said solemnly as she wrapped her little arms around her father's neck and buried her face against his neck, breathing deeply of the scent that she always associated with her father and home. Leather, wood smoke, coffee and a hint of her mother's homemade soap.

Dave gave her a hug and then straightened up, reaching up above the fireplace to grab the twelve gauge shotgun from the hooks mounted on the wall. The weapon was kept loaded and safely out of Sassy's reach. With one last fond glance at his family, he went out the door and trudged across the yard to the woods. Hannah and Sassy stood in the doorway of the cabin watching him until he disappeared from sight.

"Let's go find you a pail for those berries." Hannah said as she turned to go back into the cabin with her daughter. Finding a bucket for her to put the berries in, she send Sassy out to pick berries while she gathered the ingredients she needed to make a pie crust.

She left the cabin door opened as she worked, enjoying the soft spring breeze and the sound of the birds singing in the trees. Soft footsteps on the front steps alerted her to someone else's presence. Startled, she looked up to see the tall blond man that had been at the cabin a few days ago with the Sheriff standing in the doorway. Although the man's eyes were kind and gentle, Hannah's heart began to pound with fear. She hadn't had much contact with outsiders living here on the mountain and automatically associated strangers with danger. Her mind flashed back to the day she had found her Dave so gravely injured.

She hid in the bushes, instinctively knowing that the three men were looking for the man that she had found. The sound of their angry voices was loud and unpleasant, an air of danger surrounding them that terrified Hannah. One of them wore a badge pinned to the breast pocket of his shirt and seemed to be giving the other two men orders. Hannah stayed hidden until the men tromped through the woods heading in the opposite direction. When she was sure that it was safe to come out of hiding, she ran back to the safety of the cabin.

This man on the porch was a threat to her husband and her family. She had to get him to leave. "You're not welcome here." She said with more confidence than she felt. "I'd like for you to leave."

"I just wanted to talk to your husband for a minute." Hutch said in a quiet, gentle voice. He could tell that the woman was afraid of him even though he hadn't done anything to threaten her.

"He's not here." Hannah said firmly. "But he'll be back soon and he won't like it if he finds you here."

"I don't mean either one of you any harm," Hutch said uncertain as to how much he should tell the woman about his reasons for wanting to talk to Starsky. "I just have a few questions I wanted to ask the two of you. How long have you have lived here?"

"I know why you're here," Hannah said, her eyes narrowing suspiciously as her protective instincts kicked in. "And I won't let you hurt him…not again…"

"I don't want to hurt either one of you." Hutch reassured her. "I've been looking for an old friend…my BEST friend! I've looked for him a very long time…"

"You won't find him here, mister!" Hannah said her tone still calm even though she was certain this stranger could hear her heart pounding frantically in her chest.

Hutch looked at this woman…a woman he felt sure had saved his partner's life…the woman he KNEW that Starsky loved and had made a life with here on this mountain. He knew that if he could win Hannah's trust or at least get her to listen to him, Starsky would be more apt to listen to him too.

"Mrs. Dobbs…Hannah…I think your husband is in fact my friend." Hutch took a cautious step forward "Please...please I just want to talk to him."

There was no mistaking the terror that filled Hannah's eyes at his words and this stranger's approach. "GET OUT! GO AWAY AND LEAVE US ALONE! I want you off our land and our mountain! You stay away from my family…I'm warning you, Mister!"

Hutch took another tentative step towards the hysterical woman but she backed away from him in fear. Her fingers fumbled on the table behind her until they wrapped around the large knife lying there. Holding it in front of her for protection, she screamed "I want you to GET OUT of my house NOW!"

Hutch lifted his hands, palms out, in a non-threatening gesture to show her that he meant no harm and took a step backwards. "Please…" he tried again in a soft, soothing voice. "I don't mean any harm…"

"I DON'T BELIEVE YOU! YOU WANT TO HURT HIM AGAIN!" Hannah screamed, dangerously close to losing control. She didn't know what she would do if he challenged her. She knew that she didn't have the courage to use the knife she just hoped he didn't realize that. She took a step forward forcing Hutch to take another step back.

"It's okay…" he soothed her "I'm leaving. I didn't mean to scare you." He turned to leave and then paused. "But, make no mistake…I WILL be back. I'm not going to just leave and pretend that the most important person in my life is gone forever. HE IS ALIVE…and he's YOUR husband!"

Hutch turned and walked back across the yard towards the woods. Hannah stood in the doorway watching him until he was gone and then she fell to her knees, the knife falling from her hand, as she began to sob hysterically. She didn't notice a frightened Sassy watching her from the corner of the cabin.

When she heard loud voices coming from the cabin, Sassy had dropped her pail and ran to see what was wrong. She saw her mother yelling at 'Mr. Ken' and telling him to leave. The fear in her mother's voice frightened Sassy. She couldn't understand why her mother was afraid of her new friend. When her mother began to sob hysterically, Sassy wanted to run to her and comfort her but she was afraid to. The last time she had seen her mother so upset was when her baby brother died. So, she did the one thing she did when she was afraid of something she didn't understand. She ran into the nearby woods to find her father. He would fix things and make it all right again.

Sassy ran…she ran deep into the woods towards what she thought was safety…security…her father, but she was so scared…so without thought she neglected to look for the familiar landmarks. She paused to catch her breath and looked around at the unfamiliar terrain. She whimpered in fear when she suddenly realized that she was lost and didn't know which way to go to find her way back home.

"Daddy." Sassy whimpered feeling so small and insignificant in the woods that she had known as home. "DADDY!" she screamed. She trembled with renewed fear when the only sound that answered her was the sounds of nature that filtered through the woods. "DADDY!" she screamed again as her heart began to pound in her tiny chest. She choked back tears as she stumbled through the overgrown grass. She tripped on a hidden tree root and fell to the ground, skinning her knees. Scrambling to her feet, she began crying in earnest as she wandered deeper and deeper into the woods.

She never felt the strange eyes watching her or heard the stealthy footsteps as the man followed her from a safe distance.