Chapter 4

It was 8am, and Starsky and Hutch were determined that this would be the day when they would get the information they needed to catch the killer.

They visited the parents of the first girl to disappear again, and asked them anything they could think of to get some more information about the family. One interesting fact that they found was that the girl's father worked for Catherine's father's company; something to do with shipping.

They thanked the family, assuring them that they could call anytime if they needed something, and headed back to Starsky's car.

They visited the other three girls' families next, and discovered that the fathers of these families also worked for Catherine's father, Mr. Mason. Leaving the last house as quickly as they could, the two stopped outside to quickly plan what they should do next. Starsky was looking dejected; obviously the new developments were reminding him of the girl he had loved, and Hutch did his best to distract his friend, although he was now feeling really bad himself.

"Well, Starsk, what do you think our next stop should be?"

Starsky didn't look up, or he might have noticed the pained look on Hutch's face. "D'you think we should talk to her? Get her to take us to see her father?" he asked quietly.

"Yeah, good idea. Let's go."

***

Hutch was the one who knocked on the door of Catherine's apartment, while Starsky waited behind him. When she opened the door, embarrassment clearly crossed her face before she invited them in. Again, Hutch was the one who did the talking. "Cathy, you probably heard in the news about the girls being kidnapped and killed lately?"

"Yeah, I did, it's terrible."

"Well, all their fathers work for your father. Would you take us to him? We need to know if he knows of any reason why his employees might be targeted."

"Well, if it'll help the case, of course I will, but you should know...um, he doesn't like you very much." She looked at Starsky as she said this.

***

Catherine directed the two detectives to her father's workplace and into his office, where she introduced them to him and quickly left the room.

"Mr. Mason," Starsky began, "you probably heard of the girls being killed. You know they're all daughters of employees of yours. They were all killed in the same way; stabbed from behind. Do you know of any reason at all that someone might do this?"

The man seemed to look at him with disdain before answering. When he did answer, he looked at Hutch.

"I seem to remember... a girl who worked for me some years ago... she was murdered, stabbed, as she walked home one night – a terrible tragedy. Her family always blamed my company because we'd had to keep her working late that night. Could that be related?"

"Yes, sir, it most certainly could," replied Starsky grimly.

Mason looked at Hutch again. "Are you alright, Detective?"

Starsky looked at his friend too, and was shocked. He supposed he hadn't paid a lot of attention to Hutch for a while, what with the distractions of Catherine and the case, but looking at him now, he realised that Hutch didn't look too good.

"I'm fine," replied Hutch impatiently, shrugging off Starsky's hand which had found its way onto his arm, "but what was the name of the man whose daughter was killed? We need to find him and find out what he knows before it's too late."

***

The two were in the car again, speeding towards the home of the man that Mason had given them the name and address for. Starsky kept giving Hutch worried glances, which was annoying the blond man no end.

"Starsk, will you just keep your eyes on the road!" he ordered, again. Satisfied that Starsky was following his command for the time being, he voiced another thought that had been annoying him. "You know Starsk, there's no logic to this thing."

"Since when did murderers follow our logic?" asked Starsky in response, and Hutch had to agree.

Luckily for Hutch's temper, they pulled up at the house before long, and quickly made for the door. Unsurprisingly, there was no answer to their knock.

Making use of their almost-psychic ability to know what the other was planning, Starsky headed for the back door while Hutch cautiously knocked on the front.

After they entered the house, it became clear that is was unnecessary to question the man living there. The latest victim of his kidnappings was tied up in a closet, very much alive and trying to make as much noise as she could, having realised that rescue was now possible.

***

The murderer was promptly arrested, and the girl was returned to her very relieved parents. Only after the tension of the case had died down, did Hutch begin to feel guilty, for several reasons. Mainly, that he should have found something out sooner so that fewer young girls would have had to die. In his mind, it didn't matter that Starsky hadn't known anything either; Starsky had been distracted by the business with Catherine. It was also this involvement with her that prevented Starsky from knowing that the victims' parents worked for her father. The man had made no secret of his dislike for his daughter's new man, and so Starsky had never met him, or known what exactly he did, and had actively avoided contact with him, otherwise he might have been able to make the connection between the company and the kidnappings.

If Starsky had known what his partner was thinking, and known of the guilt, he would have criticised his partner's logic, just as Hutch had criticised the murderer's logic earlier.