CHAPTER 4

Starsky

I felt all eyes on me, but none were boring into me with the force of my partner's glare. I could feel him pleading with me not to take the case, but how was I supposed to turn it down? The bodies were gruesome and I certainly didn't hanker after another Marcus ordeal; in fact, I felt quite sick at the thought. The problem with dealing with lunatics was that there was no way to predict what they were going to do, or to have a proper back-up for protection. In a large way, I was going into this on my own. But wasn't that what I wanted? A chance to prove to myself that I was still a cop and could function properly. I groaned inwardly, this case would be giving me the creeps anyway, even before Gunther's shooting. Now my confidence was pretty shaky. Oh, God, what could I do? Would Hutch understand? I had to go. I took a deep breath and braced myself before speaking.. I'd never felt as trapped as I did at that moment.

"Okay, I guess I'll do it." God, this was going to be hard. I'd just glimpsed Hutch's face.

"But Hutch has gotta come with me. What about him checkin' into the boarding house, too? It won't seem odd if we check in at separate times." I was rewarded by the slight relief that I could see in Hutch's eyes.

"Out of the question..."

I reached Hutch before he could grab Rafferty again. I figured Rafferty's tolerance of being pushed into a wall would just about be gone. Under other circumstances, I would have been amused by Hutch's behavior, as I was the one who was considered the hotheaded half of our partnership. Normally I was, but Hutch more than held his own when he considered I was at risk. I was both honored and frightened by the depth of his love for me. I hoped that I was worthy of it and wouldn't let him down. I was no longer sure I could hold up my end.

"Hutch has gotta be there. We're partners and we work together--always."

"You didn't mention this before." I could see Rafferty was annoyed with me, but it was nothing compared to the anger I felt emanating from my partner. At least he was letting me speak for myself, although I suspected he was preparing to jump in at any time.

"There was a lot you didn't tell me." I was determined to win this point and that Hutch would be there with me. "Look, this is a really bad business, but I've said that I'll do it. Hutch is my partner and I want him nearby as back-up. That's my one condition." I didn't need to look at Hutch to realize he was relaxing just marginally at this.

"I think it's too risky for him to be in the boarding house with you, but there is a bar up the road. He could probably get a job pouring drinks. That way you'll be close enough. But you definitely can't travel to Las Vegas together. We'll sort something out. Now here's your cover and you make sure you read up on it tonight. You'll be hitchhiking tomorrow morning..." Rafferty looked at me as he spoke, and I realized that we'd won that battle.

"HITCHHIKING?" Hutch's voice rose. It was obvious he was about to lose control again.

"Yes! Hitchhiking, but we're supplying the driver. It's better that you don't arrive on a plane. The driver will be in a truck, details of which are in the file. Hutchinson, we'll get you over there in a few days. We don't know who's involved in this business or who'll be watching. We can't risk anything going wrong."

With that, the briefing was over. After Rafferty and Hanson left the room with Dobey, I turned to look at Hutch.

"It's insane, Starsk," he said to me. "This whole idea is insane. You're gonna be bait for some psycho nuts who don't like dark-haired, blue-eyed men!"

"Hutch, I don't like it either. Do ya really think I want to go through another Marcus nightmare? I don't want to, but I gotta do this."

I could see Hutch was fighting for control.

"I know you want to prove something, but for God's sake, Starsk! Look what state the bodies were in."

I shuddered involuntarily. I didn't need to be reminded of the gruesome sights.

"Only two of 'em were sexually assaulted." I tried to make light of it, make it sound better than it was. I wasn't doing a very good job judging by Hutch's face. I tried another approach.

"I'll be okay. I mean, what's gonna happen to me? You're gonna be there to watch out for me, ain't ya? At least you'll be up the road" I sighed. I couldn't help but feel relief at the knowledge that Hutch would be close by.

"Starsk. You know I'll do everything I can to keep you safe, but these are lunatics. Can't always predict what they're gonna do!" As this was very close to what I'd already been thinking, I couldn't comment.

"If something happened to you..." I could see Hutch was having difficulty keeping calm.

"Nothin's gonna happen to me, blintz." I moved over to where he was standing and touched his arm.

"You hear me?" I wasn't sure I was getting through to my stubborn and frightened partner, but I continued on. "Nothin' is gonna happen. Now we'd better get goin' so that I can read the files. We'll go back to my place and then you'd better get home. I don't think Louise is gonna be too pleased about this." I figured this was probably an understatement, but I had to get things moving. Apart from the fact that I had only that night to get myself ready, I was finding it difficult to resist Hutch's fear. If this kept up, I'd be turning down the case. I couldn't do that, not even for Hutch. Or should I say, especially for Hutch. I wasn't sure.

I decided to try to talk to him about Louise. I did want Hutch to be happy. Even if I didn't particularly like his choice of a wife, I liked the idea of him being married and having kids. Especially as I didn't see much prospect of that happening for me. I knew Terry would have still loved me, but I wasn't prepared to risk being rejected by anyone else. Suddenly I wanted to talk to Hutch about it, but the time wasn't right. Anyway it sounded stupid, telling Hutch I was too scared to date girls. I'd had opportunities, particularly since I'd returned to work and started circulating in the real world again, but somehow I couldn't face it. I wasn't even sure that I could really admit this to Hutch and the timing was off now. I couldn't do it yet. Maybe I should just forget it. We had to concentrate on the job at hand. The job that could possibly bring me into contact with more lunatics like Marcus. I tried to put the thought of the dead and mutilated bodies out of my mind.