Hi All,

Thanks so much for the kind reviews! …I am blushing here…really!

MacCartney – Glad you like the story so far… hope you, and everyone else who reads it, continue to enjoy the story.

Oh FYI, I don't write death stories. Well, not yet anyway. Wink!

Joy Ride Ch. 2

"What are we gonna do? I mean, you just killed a guy" Jake kept rubbing his hands on his pants legs. They wouldn't stop sweating and he couldn't seem to get the feel of the dead guy's weight off of his hands. He rubbed again.

"It was an accident! What was he doing in the middle of road anyway? He shouldn't have been there. Now shut up and let me think" Ashley's finger's whitened as she tightened her grip.

"We are so in trouble… our parents are gonna kill us. We are so dead! We'll be kicked out of school; this'll go on our permanent records" Mel paused to spit more blood out the truck window.

"Permanent records? Don't tell me that you still believe in that old 'permanent records' crap? Do you still believe in Santa Clause and the Easter Bunny too?" Ashley snapped as she maneuvered her way through evening traffic. It was dark now; the last of the sunlight had disappeared over the horizon fifteen minutes ago.

"We gotta tell somebody," Mel whispered.

Ashley glared at him then pulled into a deserted parking lot and stopped the truck "No! We don't have to tell anyone. We ain't gonna tell anyone… got it? We don't tell anybody and nobody but us three will ever know"

"How're we gonna do that? We got a body in the back of the Goddamn truck! A stolen truck..." Mel wiped his nose; it was still dripping a little blood. It wasn't the gusher it had been before, but it still bled. He wiped the blood off his hand and onto the moldering truck seat.

"A truck with gardening stuff in the back…" Ashley looked through the back window at the tarp-encased body. "I've got it! We plant him!" She grinned, "It's perfect!"

"What's perfect? I don't get it, what do you mean 'plant him'?" Jake looked out the back window as well and looked into the shadowy truck bed at the still, tarp wrapped body. None of it seemed real. But, there the proof was, lying there; he ran a nervous hand through his hair. This joy ride was turning into anything but fun.

"Listen carefully dummies, we dig a hole, throw him in and cover it up – we 'plant him'" she clapped her hands in glee "It's perfect!"

"Why should we do that? We can just leave the vehicle somewhere and be done with it" Jake looked away from the body to Ashley.

"Boys are really dumb. I don't mean just you two. I mean all of you. Ever hear of something called 'finger prints'?" she waggled her fingers in his face.

"So? We burn the vehicle, no vehicle, no prints" Jake faced forward and crossed his arms over his chest. "There, Miss Smarty Pants, not so stupid now am I?"

She turned back around as well "That's a good idea, but, if we get rid of the body first then torch the truck, the cops'll just think it was just a joy ride that ended in flames… but, if they find a body in the truck, they'll investigate. It still comes back to burying the body"

"Why not just dump it somewhere?" Mel spit out the window again. His nose was bleeding far less now and that was about the only good thing that had happened to him today. It was totally creeping him out to have a body just a few feet away from him.

"Someone could find it. No. We gotta bury it. I know just the place" She checked the fuel gauge and found it had three quarters of a tank. More than enough to get them there and back, she put the truck back in drive.

"Where're we goin'?" Mel leaned forward to see past Jake to Ashley.

"Some place I know. No one is there this time of year; it's not too far. We should be able to get there, plant him and get back in a few hours, easy" Ashley pulled back onto the street and headed for the spot she had in mind. "Piece of cake"

XXXX

Hutch checked the wall clock. Midnight. Three empty bottles of beer sat on the coffee table before him. He got to his feet and stretched. Might as well go to bed, he wanted a clear head when he got up in the morning. So much the better to yell at Starsky with a clear head, while Starsky would probably have a headache along with other more enviable aches and pains after spending the night with both Cindy and Bambi. The lucky dog.

He brushed his teeth, undressed and set his alarm clock for six in the morning. He might as well take a run before calling Starsky. It would help clear his mind before he gave his friend an earful for his deceit. "I hope you are enjoying yourself right now, buddy… because it all ends tomorrow" he flopped down on his bed and pulled the covers over himself and in minutes was asleep.

XXXX

"Ash, just where the hell are we?" Jake pulled out a pack of cigarettes and tamped them down on his leg to pack them.

"Put those away" Ashley batted at Jake's hand as he tried to light up.

"What?" He moved the lit match around, avoiding her batting hand.

"Those things are gross" Ashley stopped swatting at the match as it burned down to his fingers.

"They make me look cool… ouch!" the flame touched his fingers and he flicked the matchstick away.

"They make you look like an idiot with a smelly cigarette stuck in his face. Didn't any girl ever tell you that kissing someone who smokes is like licking out an ashtray? And what girl wants to do that? Huh?" Her tone was brazen and she batted her lashes at him.

"Oh… so you want to kiss me Ash?" he tossed the unlit cigarette out Mel's window and slipped his arm behind her shoulders.

Ashley gave a throaty laugh "Uh-uh, I just said 'any girl' I didn't say me… Hey! There's our turnoff" She hit the turn signal and took the exit ramp to her destination.

XXXX

"I can't do this Ash, I can't" Mel leaned against the front bumper of the truck and stared up at the stars. He couldn't force himself to touch the dead guy again. He just couldn't.

Ashley walked over and whispered to Jake and asked him to wait by the tailgate and then she headed back to talk Mel into helping them bury the guy. It would take all three to get the man into the woods, even using the wheelbarrow. And, she wasn't planning on doing any digging herself. "What's wrong Mel?" she crooned in his ear and gently rubbed his arm.

"I don't want to bury him, I don't wanna touch him again… this wasn't suppose to happen, ya know? Tonight was just supposed to be fun, not…" he gestured towards the back of the truck and stifled a sob. He did not want to cry in front of her. It wasn't manly and a guy who cries just doesn't get girls.

Ashley was a girl who learned early how to get what she wanted from the opposite sex. She leaned in and kissed him on the cheek and gave him a hug "I know… I didn't mean to hit that guy… but I did and it hurts" she let some tears fall and turned away slightly and wiped at her eyes. "We're all in this together, you're not alone… I feel just awful about it" she felt her voice crack; she really didn't mean to hit the guy. But she had and the only way out was to hide the proof and forget it ever happened.

"Look, you'd be doin' the guy a favor" she sniffled.

"A favor? How is burying him a favor?" Mel looked up at the stars, it amazed him how many there were. The lights of the city drowned them out so only the brightest could be seen, but out here… there were millions visible. The sight of all of them made him feel very small indeed.

"Well, it's the decent thing to do… no one can know about this or we are all in trouble… trouble as in jail… and yeah, we could just dump him, like you said… just dump him on the ground and leave him out for animals to get at… and… and the flies" She swallowed hard at that thought "but we're gonna give him a decent burial… okay?"

"Yeah… I guess your right" Mel kicked the dirt in front of the truck "Let's just get this done"

Ashley leaned in and kissed his cheek again "It's for the best… you'll see"

The three struggled with the limp body in the tarp. All of them were glad it was wrapped in the tarp, that way they could pretend that it was anything but a human body. They got it into the wheelbarrow and with Mel and Jake taking turns pushing it while Ashley helped to steady the load.

XXXX

"I can't believe we did that" Jake wiped dirt off of his hands and tossed the shovel back into the wheelbarrow.

"Well, we did. No one will ever know" Ashley tucked her blonde hair behind her ears then proceeded to spread some leaves and branches over the shallow grave to hide the freshly turned dirt.

"What do we do now?" Mel looked at the grave "Shouldn't we say something?"

Jake and Ashley gave him a strange look.

"Say what? 'Uh, sorry we ran you over, dude?'" Jake said in a mocking tone.

"I was thinking a prayer or something, you know…" he trailed off as the other two rolled their eyes and started back towards the truck. He looked back at the grave "Dear Lord, We're sorry we hit this guy and we're sorry the ground was too hard to bury him deep enough to keep animals from getting at him. Um, maybe You can keep them away… uh, please…? Amen"

He bowed his head and closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them, he saw that his friends were heading further up the trail with out him "Hey guys! Wait up!" He grabbed the wheelbarrow and pushed it up out of the woods and to the hard packed trail as fast as he could to catch up with the others.

They waited up the path until Mel got there. "Jake and I were just talkin', we gotta get rid of the truck… burn it. But first we are gonna go to your house"

"My house? Why?" Mel panted as he pushed the wheelbarrow up a hill.

"So you can get you mom's car and follow us over to the junkyard on Lean road" Ashley slipped on the grassy slope and caught herself on a bush. "Then you give us a ride home, we'll give you gas money so you can fill the tank up so she won't know you used the car… okay?" She looked at Jake "Can you pitch in some money for the gas?"

Jake nodded; eager to get home and forget this whole night ever happened.

XXXX

The telephone ringing woke Hutch up, he answered it with a yawn "Yeah… speak to me" he muttered sleepily into the mouthpiece. The sound of his captain's voice brought him to instantly to fully awake.

"Cap, could you repeat that? His car? Where? I'm on my way!" Hutch dropped the handset back onto the phone and turned the light on. He dressed in record time and grabbed his keys.

A half an hour later he was at the scene where a patrol car had found Starsky's car parked in a no parking zone. The uniformed officer had radioed in the plates before calling a tow truck to remove it. When he heard it was a detective's car, he contacted the man's captain, Harold Dobey.

Floodlights lit the scene. Dobey intercepted Hutch as he trotted towards the Torino. He grabbed the blond by the elbow. "Do you know where your partner is?"

"He was suppose to pick me up last night, we were going on a double date" He craned his neck in the direction of the Torino, as if looking at the car could give him all the answers. "He didn't show… I thought maybe he… never mind what I thought. Where is he? Is he here?"

"Hutch, son… no he's not here, but it looks like there was an accident, we found some windshield glass, part of a amber turn signal and some blood – not a lot of blood, not a fatal amount-"

"Fatal!" Hutch lurched towards the Torino again, only to be pulled back by Dobey.

"NOT a fatal amount of blood. There is no sign of Starsky. I think it was a hit and run, we're checking all the hospitals, whoever MAY have hit Starsky, may have taken him to one. No ambulances made any pickups in this area for the last week, I checked."

"Maybe someone else was hurt and Starsky helped them" Hutch was grasping at straws, he knew it but couldn't stop himself. The alterative was too disturbing.

"He would have called you to let you know, you said you two were double dating tonight" Dobey squeezed Hutch's arm. "We found his Nikon camera… it's damaged, but the film may still be okay… some pictures were taken-"

"You think that maybe he took a picture of who hit him?" he cut Dobey off and his eyes burned into his captain's.

"We won't know until the film is developed, it's a possibility. The camera is already on its way to the lab. We should know shortly." He released his hold on the blond's arm and let the man go to look at the scene.

Hutch wandered over to the well-lit area. Dawn was breaking; it would be daylight in a little while. He surveyed the scene, looking it over with a practiced eye. He looked at the Torino's position and then he looked over his shoulder toward the ocean. Starsky had probably been taking pictures of his car again. He shook his head. He just never really understood the brunet's passion for his red parade float.

A flash of a camera caught his attention, he saw George from the crime lab team "George, what kind of camera is that?"

"It's a Nikon, it's got the-" George was always happy to talk about cameras.

Hutch cut him off "Is that the same kind as Starsky's?"

"Yeah, it's the-"

"Can I use it for a minute? I want to check something out" He held out his hand and George shrugged and handed it over.

"Don't take any pictures with it" George cautioned.

"No, I just want to see something" Hutch moved to the curb, opposite of the Torino and looked through the lens at the car. He then moved forward, bit by bit until the car was in good frame. He stopped and looked up and down the road. Then he looked down at the pavement. A damaged lens cover lay in the road. He almost picked it up, but it was evidence, so he left it there. A scenario played in his mind.

Hutch could see it all plainly as though it were a movie, Starsky was taking photos of his car in the setting sun, it was a nice setting, the background plain enough that it would not detract from the car. Starsky moved to an optimal distance for a good shot, he hears something… the vehicle bearing down on him… he moves… did he drop the lens cover? Or was he headed back to his car wasn't paying attention? No, that didn't seem right. His friend might be a little careless but he wasn't stupid. Something slowed Starsky down and he was hit.

The distance of the skid marks indicated that the vehicle was not going very fast when the brakes were applied. Whatever the speed, it was fast enough to do damage, as indicated by the debris. Starsky hadn't been run over, there would have been a lot more blood.

Hutch choked back the vomit that rose in his throat. Glass and parts of turn signal meant that Starsky was thrown up and onto the hood. Blood on the pavement indicated that he had landed on the pavement and lay there for a little while, a few minutes' tops.

Whoever hit him, must have taken him to a hospital. Or… Hutch looked around; maybe his friend had staggered off after being hit. "Hey George! Did you find any more blood that that?" He pointed at the small dried patch.

"As in a blood trail? Nope, we looked; then again, some vehicles drove through the blood, so there's not a lot to tell, just that it's not a fatal amount. 'Course, he maybe bleeding internally, or…" George broke off. The dead don't bleed. He did not want to be the one to say it. He changed the subject "We know that the vehicle is a Dodge truck, an older model, 65 or 66, judging from the turn signal lens. The windshield is damaged, as these bits of glass show, oh and we found this, its really odd"

Hutch wandered over to where George was pointing, "Looks like potting soil"

"Yeah, that's what I thought. But what's it doing in the road?" George scratched his head.

"Perhaps it came from the truck…" The blond pinched the bridge of his nose with his pointer finger and thumb. "It's a long shot, but let's put out an APB for a 65 or 66 Dodge truck with damage to the front left turn signal, hood and windshield. Any idea of the vehicle's color?"

George shook his head no.

Hutch proceeded to call for the APB on the Dodge truck and as an afterthought added a bit about gardening supplies, specifically potting soil. It was a really long shot. But it was the only shot he had.

TBC