Hi All!
Once again, thank you so much for the encouraging and helpful reviews. This the last chapter.
Thanks to Kelli, my wonderful friend and beta.
Extra thanks to Kreek and Eli, two of my muses
To answer Jan in VA's question – I got knock out once and when I came around, I thought bees were swarming around my head, even though it was winter.
Joy Ride Ch. 5
Hutch hopped into his LTD, fired the ignition and stomped the accelerator to the floorboards. The beat up old car's engine moaned in protest and the tires screamed on the pavement. Smoke rolled from the tires and hung in the air for long moments after the car had departed. The sound of the siren rose and fell in volume, beseeching all to get the hell out of the way.
Hutch gripped the steering wheel so hard, that if the wheel had been made less durable material, it would have been damaged. Oh Dear God, Starsky, buried alive… The kid had sounded panicked and very sorry. Sorry wouldn't cut it though.
Hutch's eyes burned with unshed tears. Starsky had been hit sometime before seven p.m. Saturday night. Even if the kids hadn't buried him until sometime Sunday morning, Hutch speculated… Starsky would still have most likely suffocated long before now. Nope. Sorry wasn't gonna even come close to cutting it.
XXXX
"What have you done? What have you done?" Ashley was shaking so hard she had to wrap her arms around herself in an effort to try to still her own quaking movements "What did you promise…? Huh? Remember our saying… no narks, no finks, no squealers! What have you done?" she was nearly on tiptoe as she berated Mel for his stupidity.
"I'm sorry Ashley, ImsorryImsorry" Mel wiped at each eye with the back of his hands and then rubbed his running nose on his sleeve as he shook his head "H-he wasn't d-dead when we b-b-b-"
SLAP! -
Ashley's hand smacked Mel hard across the face; he rubbed at the burning sensation it left as he stared slack-jawed at her.
"You nark! You fink! You squealer! Ashley's voice was barely audible as she hissed the words at him. "Okay, okay…" she inhaled slowly to gather herself, her eyes darted around, looking at anything but the stupid fink; she had to get a grip and calm down right now. Someone might see them together and if they did, they must not see her with this loser. It just wouldn't do.
A quick glance confirmed that there wasn't anyone around, so she reached for his hand and gave it a squeeze as she gently tugged him out of the phone booth "C'mon, let's go for a walk and you can tell me why you called the police"
"That man you hit, the cop…he wasn't d-dead! He wasn't d-dead when we buried him!" Mel could hardly get the words out. His stomach heaved, but thankfully he didn't puke in front of Ashley. It would totally mess up any slim chance he had left of dating her, not to mention remaining her friend.
"How do you know that? Are you a doctor?" She closed her eyes and inhaled, she had to remain calm "Okay, sorry, I'm sorry… I am just… worried about w-what's gonna happen to you" she sniffed hard "You'll end up in j-jail and I won't ever get to see you again" she dabbed at her eyes with a tissue.
"Jail? I don't care about JAIL! The guy wasn't d-dead… he wasn't d-dead-" Mel couldn't stop crying. That poor man… He let Ashley pull him somewhere. It didn't matter, nothing mattered… he had killed, no, he had help to murder someone… such a horrible death too. More tears coursed down his face.
Ashley tugged him into a nearby alley, she had to get him as far away from the phone booth as possible, cops traced calls, especially hotline numbers, she wasn't sure how long it took for them to trace it… The sound of a police siren far in the distance prompted her to tug harder on stupid Mel's stupid arm. She had to hurry so she could get back to class before her lunch break was over. Why did Mel have to be so stupid? He was ruining everything.
She urged him still further down the alley; she could hear more sirens. Not a good sign, not at all. Mel stopped walking, leaned against one of the alley walls and slid down to sit in the garbage. She tugged at him.
"I can't… I can't go any further, what have we done?" Mel leaned over and wretched, soupy bile came out.
Gross. Ashley tugged on Mel's arm again, but was not strong enough to budge him. She crouched beside him and rubbed his arm and watched him cry for a few precious minutes. "Why did you make that call, Mel? You knew you could talk to me… that you could call me, I told you I would be able to listen… Why did you call them instead? Can you tell me?"
Mel tried to regain control and stop crying. Ashley was waiting for an answer "I couldn't wait until I got home to call. That poor man… we thought he was dead when we buried him. That was bad enough, b-but then in Biology today, I heard about rigor mortis… that's when I realized… I realized that he wasn't d-dead when w-we put him… when, when we b-buried him, he wasn't dead… I had to tell, I had too! My God, we k-killed him" Mel's tears started anew.
"Wait a minute, how do you know he wasn't dead?… Are you a doctor? Huh? Are you? I touched his neck. I didn't feel anything… he was dead Mel, he really was. Come on now, we gotta get back to school before lunch break is over and they miss us." She looked at her wristwatch. There was a little less then a half hour before break was over.
"He wasn't dead I tell you!" Mel shouted, "He wasn't, he wasn't! We killed him! We buried him ALIVE!" he buried his head in his arms "Don't you get it Ash? We're murders, we deserve to go to jail for that… we buried him alive" his whole body shook with the force of his sobs.
"No Mel, you're wrong, we didn't kill him, it was an accident… we didn't mean it… we aren't murders, we didn't mean for it to happen, but it did" She leaned over and gave him a hug "I still love you Mel, but I can't love you if your in jail… Don't you see? We can't be together if we're in prison."
"But we KILLED a man! That guy wasn't dead. We drove around for almost two hours before we got to the place where we b-buried him. Remember when we put him in the wheelbarrow? He was limp. When we dumped him onto the ground… he was limp… After almost two hours of digging his g-grave" Mel sobbed, then continued, "He was still limp w-when we rolled him in…in the… at least four hours… it was at least four hours from the time you hit him until we b-b-buried… an-an- and covered him up… four HOURS Ash! Four! According to Mr. Schemid, that's how long it t-t-takes for a b-body to get totally stiff… a-arms…legs… back… stiff, but he was still LIMP Ash! Limp! We're murders, Ash… all three of us killed that man. We deserve to go to jail" Mel again slumped down and buried his face in his crossed arms.
Ashley stared at Mel. He was gonna tell. He was gonna ruin everything. She couldn't let that happen "Mel, you're right… let's go… c'mon, get up, we have a call to make"
Mel slowly rose and let Ashley guide him down the alley, tears still streaming down his face. "Okay Ashley… I'm sorry about all this" he waved a hand "It's the right thing to do… we should have done this right away… you know that, don't you Ash?"
"Yeah, I know… I'm sorry too" She opened her purse and pulled out a baseball cap and stuffed her hair up under it than grabbed Mel's hand "Okay, I'm ready now… I saw a pop machine a couple blocks away… can we stop and get a can before we make that call? I'm really thirsty"
Mel smiled at her through his tears "Sure Ashley, I'm kinda thirsty myself"
"Good" Ashley squeezed his hand and headed through the back alleys towards the pop machine.
XXXX
Hutch turned off his siren as he approached the three-block area. The other squads headed to the scene did the same. They didn't want to spook the caller, if he was still in the area. The APB for this area was for an upset, possibly crying, teenage, Caucasian male. Talk about a needle in a haystack.
There were fourteen public phone booths and ten in-store payphones that the call could have come in on. Hutch ran a hand through his hair. They had to find that kid and find out where Starsky was buried. He had to bring his friend home.
To cover as much ground in as little time as possible and so as not to frighten the boy off, or raise suspicions, the responding officers spread out in pairs, with the exception of Hutch. He didn't want a partner. He already had one. Somewhere.
Time slipped away. After over an hour, all of the possible phones and the area surrounding them, had been checked. Several locals had seen boys making calls around the time that the boy in question had called, however, there were always boys in the area at that time. Most of the students of Bay City Central High had lunch break right around that time. There were always lots of teenage boy and girls in that area at that same time.
The search was a failure. Hutch could only hope that the boy would call again and give more details. He had called once; perhaps he would call again. Hutch could only pray that the kid would have another attack of conscience. He reluctantly headed back to his precinct. Maybe, if he listened to the recording, he could pick something else up out of the phone call, the boy might have left a clue in it as to who he was and where he had made the call.
XXXX
"Hey kid! Get up! You shouldn't be back there! Hey! Didn't you hear me? I said get up!" The storeowner set down his bags of trash and approached the kid cautiously; you could never tell how a drugged up teen would react to being woken up.
"Come on kid… a dirty back alley is no place to crash… kid?" The man walked slowly up to the boy and kicked an outstretched leg and got no response. He then looked at the kid's face and saw that his eyes were open. He grew nauseous as he watched a fly walk on an unblinking eyeball "oh shit"
XXXX
Hutch was almost back to the precinct when the call came in about a dead boy found in the area that they had been checking payphones and booths in. Hutch slapped his mars light on the roof of the LTD, hit the siren and pulled a u-turn. He had a very bad feeling about this.
XXXX
Over two hours later, Hutch made it back to his desk. He sat down heavily, put his elbows on the desk and buried his face in his palms of his hands. There was no evidence that the boy was the caller. But it seemed likely. There was no obvious trauma to the boy; it would be up to the coroner to determine the cause of death. Hutch was leaning towards a possible suicide. God help him if that kid was the caller, who, in a fit of remorse hadkilled himself.
'Let it be just some other kid that died, not the one I need to get the information from, please, I need that kid to find Starsky's…to find Starsky' He knew he was being mean spirited in his thoughts, but he couldn't help himself. He might never find the body of his friend without the caller calling back.
His phone rang. Hutch stared at it. It rang again. He closed his eyes and picked up the phone "Hutchinson" His heart stopped when a boy spoke.
"You the cop from the news bulletin on Sunday?" The voice was muffled, as if he had a rag or something over the mouthpiece.
"Yes-" Hutch waved to Dobey as he exited his office, his pointed at his handset and waved that he wanted a trace on the call and a recording if possible. Dobey nodded and set about the task.
"Shut up and listen, I know about tracing calls an stuff, so I gonna keep this short. I know who hit that cop…"
"He was my friend-"
"Well, she killed my friend today, she killed them both" the caller's voice broke.
"Who is 'she'?"
"Ashley Ann Adams, you got that, cop? Ashley Ann Adams" The boy's voice was firm, angry. "I warned him not to trust her… I warned him, I told him she was dangerous… he didn't listen, so she killed him" the voice broke again. "He was my only friend, my only real friend and I let him down… my best friend and that bitch killed him! I saw her! She gave him something… put something in his pop… I-I watched…I was too far away… I watched him drink it… I was watching… and I didn't do a thing to stop her… she's gotta be stopped! Ashley Ann Adams… don't forget it"
"I won't, can you tell me where my-" Hutch's voice cracked, he cleared his throat and started again "do you know where Starsky, my friend is buried?"
"Your friend… I didn't stop to think about the guy having friends… or family… She was driving, Ashley was, she hit him… yeah, we helped her put him in the truck and we buried him, but she was the one that hit him… she was driving, she stole it outta some guy's yard business. She checked to see if the guy was dead… she touched his neck… he was dead, she said so… we buried him at the Girl Scout camp, we put him in a wheelbarrow and pushed him down a path… what was the name of it? It was a stupid name… 'Happy' something… 'Happy…'? I'm gonna hang up now, I'm talkin' too long… you should be able to find him, he's on the left side of that 'Happy' path" –click-
"Wait! Son? Don't hang up… how far do we go down this 'Happy' path?... Hello?" Hutch heard the click then the dial tone "SHIT! Tell me you got a trace… a full trace?" He looked at Dobey. The big man had a smile on his face.
"Yep, we'll do a run down on it, I'll send a squad to the place and I'll put out an APB for this Ashley Ann Adams, with any luck, she'll give us the names of the boys…." Dobey looked up just in time to see Hutch exit the squad room. Dobey would make the calls and have the fire department and local police meet Hutch at the Girl Scout camp, which he knew was almost two hours away. He would tell them that they had a body to search for.
XXXX
Starsky dug at the hole he had made. It was just a little hole. He still couldn't see the sky. But he could hear the birds chirping, so it must be daytime still… not that it mattered. Sometimes he wondered why digging, like now. Hutch had told him that he had been buried. You only buried dead people. So… if only dead people were buried… that must mean he was dead. But he didn't feel dead. He felt pain. Did the dead feel pain?
Maybe he was a zombie… digging his way out of the grave to eat the flesh of the living… Or maybe he was now a vampire… and was going to drink blood when he got out. Yuck, Both options were disgusting. He stopped digging. He didn't feel the need to eat. Drinking would be nice… not blood though, a big glass of water. Cool, sweet water… or maybe a beer… or lemonade… anything like that sounded really good… water sounded best of all, though. He could almost taste it. Mmm, water… Consciousness tiptoed away from him.
XXXX
Hutch pulled into the parking lot of the Girl Scout camp. He knew that Dobey had called for the local department to aid in the search and he knew he should wait for them to get there and set up a grid search and a hundred other things. But he couldn't wait. Starsky was out there and he wanted to be the one to find him. It was important.
It would be one small way to make up for his thinking that Starsky had taken Cindy and Bambi out without him. Maybe if he had not thought that, maybe he could have found Starsky sooner, maybe Starsky would have had stood a small chance of being alive, even after being buried. It could have happened. There was no chance of it now, of course. Even if there had been a small air pocket around his body, that little bit of oxygen would have been used up hours ago. Hutch dropped his head and tried to blink the tears away.
He lifted his head. He would cry later. He strengthened his resolve and looked for a directory or something to tell him the trail names… these places always had some. This was especially true of places that were designed for children to use.
He walked around the parking lot. There! He saw a sign and trotted towards it. He stopped and looked at the ground, he continued to check the dirt for a wheelbarrow trail… they would have probably parked close to the trail and then pushed him in… most likely not that far down the trail. He looked about for a path and a sign for that path.
When he saw it, he read 'Happy Trails Path' that had to be it. He found the print of the wheelbarrow. He dashed back to his car and got out his folding camping shovel and his yellow 'Police Line Do Not Cross' caution tape and wrapped it around the area so people wouldn't walk on it and disturb the evidence. It would also alert the searchers to the direction that he had taken.
When he had done that, Hutch continued down the trail, taking care to walk on the grass. So he wouldn't damage any possible footprints the teens had left. He kept his eyes glued on the wheelbarrow tire tracks, but the path was hard packed and the trail disappeared several times. He had to back track and find it again. He kept looking to the left side of the trail, but didn't discount the right side. In his panic, the boy might have been mistaken about which side of the path that he really meant. In the distance, he could just make out the wail of sirens and knew that the search teams would soon be on the scene.
He kept walking. The tracks stopped again. Shit! He was a lot further down the path then he had expected to go. Maybe he had gone too far. Maybe he should go back and coordinate with the search team. He looked up the trail, then back down the trail. He needed to sit down for a minute and think. Just to clear his head. He looked about for a stump or a large rock.
He peered through a break in the undergrowth and spotted a downed log about twenty feet in. He made for it and sat down. He found himself in a small clearing. It was tiny, really. He sat on the log. Such a pretty place and now the beauty of it was tarnished with the body of his friend.
Happy Trail. How ironic. His, bright, boisterous friend had been buried woods just off of a trail called 'Happy Trails' He let out a bitter laugh. He could remember that song from when he was a child; Roy Rogers and Dale Evens would sing it at the end of their TV show… now how did that song go again?
"Happy trails to you… until we meet again…" Hutch's voice broke. That once happy song wasn't so happy anymore. He stopped singing and burst into tears, burying his face in his hands. Though he didn't want it to, the song continued to go through his head. Only it didn't sound like Roy or Dale singing it. It sounded… muffled… quiet. He turned his head and listened intently. The singing stopped. Then he heard.
"C'mon… what's th' next verse… Hutch? I can't seem to remember…"
"Starsky?" Hutch held his breath and listened carefully for an answer. After a few minutes had gone by he shook his head. He must have imagined it.
"What's th' next… part? I can't remember… maybe we could sing 'Kumby yah'… or is it 'Kum Ba Yah'? Or maybe… some other stupid camping song… Could you… hand me that canteen? 'M real thirsty… Hutch? Don't go again… HUUUTCH!"
Hutch shot to his feet and spun in a circle, looking for the source "STARSKY! STARSKY! Keep talking buddy! Keep talkin'" he listened intently for an answer.
"Huh… normally ya want me ta shut up… now yer askin' me… ta keep talkin'… W-wish you would… m-make up your… m-mind…. 'M really thirsty, it's sooo hot… Hutch… could ya hand me that canteen…"
Hutch followed the sound to a small rise in the forest floor. It was well camouflaged with leaves and branches "Starsky? C'mon buddy! Say something…"
"Somethin'… Don't go away… again, Hutch please? I can't… be alone any longer… come back… p-please, please come back!"
Hutch's heart broke as he heard his friend start to cry, "I'm here partner, I'm here! I'll get you out… just hold on for just a little bit" Hutch pounced on the little mound and started to push the leaves and branches off of it. When something grabbed his hand, he let out a startled yelp.
He looked down and saw a dirt-encrusted hand clamped around his wrist. Starsky had dug a little hole out of his grave. Hutch stared at it in dumbfounded and aghast. "Oh God… my God… Starsky…" Hutch found himself staring at his friend's hand the fingernails were damaged, some of them down to the quick; one finger was missing its nail entirely. Dear God in Heaven… Starsky had attempted to dig himself out of his own grave…
Hutch swallowed hard "I gotcha, Starsk… I'm right here… I'll get you out" the tears flowed and he carefully dug his friend out of his premature grave with his free hand. The little camping shovel made quick work of the loose soil. It would have been quicker to let go of Starsky's hand and dig with both hands, but he just couldn't do it. Starsky's hand was hot and damp with sweat. Hutch continued to dig one-handed.
The stench that wafted out of that horrible little pit was powerful, poor Starsky had had bodily functions in there… this was a good sign as far as things were, it meant his kidneys and other vital functions were still working or at least had been working… but Dear God in Heaven… to have to have lived… lived Hell, to have existed in your own grave…? Hutch choked back his anger at the teens. He would deal with them soon enough. "I got ya Starsk… I've got ya…" he gave the hand a squeeze.
"Don' go… Hutch… don' go again… I-I can't do… do it… can't make a-any more…" Starsky clawed at his friend's hand "P-please… don' go…" he clamped his hand harder onto the blond's.
"Shush… I've got ya buddy… 'm not goin' anywhere without you… you hear me? I don't want you to go anywhere either?" Hutch carefully eased Starsky out of the horrible hole in the ground. Then realizing he was going to need help getting Starsky to the hospital, he pulled out his gun and shot three times in the air to bring the searchers to him.
Hutch then very carefully pulled his friend's head and shoulders into his lap and he gently stroked the dirty curls "I've got ya, buddy. I've got ya" his tears started to flow again.
Hutch looked downat Starsky's dirty face, tears had cleaned two small tracks down his cheeks and Hutch gently stroked them with the backs of his knuckles. The lashes fluttered and the midnight blue eyes tried to focus on the light blue ones.
"P-please don' leave me…alone again… p-please?" more tears trickled down the brunet's face and his hand scrambled for a hold on Hutch's shirt.
"Never" Hutch heard the voices of the searcher calling and he hollered back. Once he was sure that they were bringing a stretcher, his returned his attention to Starsky. "Help's on the way, Starsk… help is on the way" His carefully ruffled the dirty curls.
Dark lashes fluttered and midnight eyes focused on his blond friend for an all-to-brief moment "I th-think it's all ready h-here" and he smiled at Hutch as he lost consciousness once more.
XXXX
2weeks later, Memorial Hospital, Bay City
"Well, I'm ready to bust outta here! Get a nurse and grab a wheelchair!" Starsky smiled at Hutch "C'mon… what's the hold up? A hold up?"
"Oh, ha - ha, nope… I've got someone who wants to say something to you" Hutch looked back out of the door "It's okay, c'mon in…"
Jake Smith stared hard at the floor as he entered the room. This was the hardest thing he had ever done. Bar none.
Starsky stared at the teen. Part of him was very angry. The other part was unsure of just how to feel.
"Well?" Hutch prompted the boy.
"I'm s-sorry, I – I … I can't do this!" Jake wheeled about on one heel and prepared to make a run for it.
Starsky found the words "Jake? What you did was wrong. But you saw the error and you tried to fix it. You were too late to save your friend. But you saved me… I forgive you"
Jake stood there his head down and with his back to the detectives. He realized then that a great deal of what he had thought about the world, was wrong. Not everyone just looked out for themselves and he had learned that if you did nothing, you could lose your friends.
Ashley Ann Adams would be tried for the murder of Melvin Wagner. She had poisoned him. He could have stopped her. Jake's head dipped even lower. Detective Starsky had yet to say if he would be dropping his charges against him.
"The question now is… can you forgive yourself?" Starsky looked at Hutch and Hutch knew that those words were meant for him as well as Jake Smith; he smiled and nodded at Starsky. Starsky smiled back at him "That's enough soap for one day, whaddya say we go for pizza? Hutch is buying!"
"WHAT?"
The End.
