Hutch sighed and tossed the folder down, covering his eyes. "Poor Mickey. Why didn't she contact me?"
Starsky was thinking about the date Jed was killed. "Hutch, you were recovering from being shot in the bank robbery. You developed an infection and were very ill. It took three months for you to recover completely."
Hutch put his head in his head, heart aching for Mickey's pain.
SHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSH
The janitor pushed the cleaning cart down the hall to clean the offices in the posh building near the center of town. In the middle of the night, the offices were empty. The janitor worked quickly and quietly through each office, per usual. The largest office was given especial care. The woman who worked in this office was very particular and noticed every speck of dust. After emptying the trash and tidying up, the janitor pulled out a file and jimmied the cabinet, searching as usual. Several weeks of searching and copying any documents of interest had yielded some, but not all answers. Careful to replace the papers, she shut the cabinet. One last look around at the usual pictures on the wall and on the desk, and she gasped, picking up a new picture. A boy with dark hair and green eyes smiled while petting a dog. Her heart began to thump loudly. She heard the ding of an elevator and hurriedly left the room, pushing the cart as fast as she could down the hall. From around the corner, she heard the click, click of high heels and the sound of the woman whose office she had just cleaned.
"It's just hard to get any reliable help these days." Her voice was cold and harsh.
The murmurs of two male voices was in distinctive.
"But the information Alex got was up to date as far as he, Vince and Harry knew. They did what they were supposed to do."
"Yes, and Vince and Harry were killed. Not that I care. Alex was very careless. He paid for that with his life. And I made sure he didn't die easily."
The hiding janitor could almost picture the smile on the woman she knew as Francine Astor's face.
"I would hate to be on your bad side," one man muttered.
"Then you will show loyalty to me and me only. You only take my orders, no matter what Hans says."
"He'll have us killed."
"Not if you are careful. Why should Hans have his children when my son is dead! He will find out what it feels like to find your child, only to lose him. Alex should have killed the Hutchinson girl."
"She wasn't the target then."
"Well, she and her brother are now. Now that Carlton Hutchinson let it be known they are Lena's children. Lena! Hans has been obsessed with her for years. I thought her death would bring that obsession to an end." She gave a bitter laugh. "He still keeps pictures of her around his bedroom. I would like to shred every one of them. Lena, his beautiful Nordic blond. I've heard the girl looks just like her."
"Here's the picture of her and her brother Ken at Ingrid Hutchinson's funeral. He was playing and singing a song at the funeral and she stood beside him."
"That's one of Lena's dresses! She wore it in the picture on Hans' nightstand!" Francine's voice was filled with hate.
A quick glance and the janitor saw long nails painted red and curled like talons. "I want them dead! Lena's children!"
"Both are cops, Miss Astor. Killing more cops will bring more trouble."
"Get creative. Make it look like an accident. Anything. I want Hans to suffer as well."
More clicks and the sound of an office door turning and then being slammed.
"What do we do, Robert? She's like Cruella DeVille."
The other man punched the elevator button. "Let's go. If we don't do as she says, I don't want to die like Alex did."
The two men exited the elevator and walked towards the front doors.
"I just want to get this over with and leave the country."
"Oh, I don't think you're going anywhere. You're both under arrest. I won't hesitate to shoot the both of you, so hands on your head. Your ride should be here any minute."
"Who are you?" Robert asked, obeying her command as did his companion.
"Just one of the people you were going to murder. Officer Mickey Hutchinson."