The room was in shambles.
Starsky eased into the room, eyes scanning for movement. He quickly cleared the place. No one was here.
"Hutch?" Starsky knew there wouldn't be an answer but said the name anyway.
The curly haired cop holstered his weapon and reached for the phone. That's when he saw the note.
The words had been hastily scribbled, but Starsky knew that handwriting.
Starsk,
Had to leave
Explain Later
Please don't look
for me
Hutch
Starsky picked up the note and read it again. 'Please don't look for me' Don't look for you? When your apartment looks like this?! Damn it Hutch . . .
"Who is this!?"
Starsky jumped from the shout and realized he'd called Dobey. "Yeah Cap, it's Starsky."
"Starsky? Do you have any idea what time it is?!"
"Cap, something happened to Hutch."
"Starsky it's five minutes after midnight. How can you be sure Hutch isn't home and in bed?"
"I'm standing in his apartment and the place is a war zone. Cap, Hutch is gone."
Starsky watched the lab crew dust for prints. He knew something was wrong. Hutch would never just up and leave without telling someone where he was going.
He would have called me. He always calls me.
But he hadn't.
Starsk had argued with Dobey for some time before the police captain had agreed to come see the state of Hutch's apartment. Upon entering the still open door and seeing Starsky standing alone in the middle of it, Dobey called for a lab crew to process the scene.
The captain was now talking to one of the lab techs who Starsky couldn't remember the name of when the phone rang.
Everyone froze.
Starsky reached for the phone and held it to his ear, "Hello?"
"Starsk?"
Starsky heaved a grateful sigh, "Damn it Blondie where the hell are you?"
"Starsk, I can't talk for long. I figured you found my note. Stick by it. I've gotta go."
And with that the line went dead.
"Well Starsky, where the hell is your partner?"
Starsky looked up at his captain, "He didn't say. He just said to stick by his note."
In a small house outside Bay City
The light in the room was dim, but then most basements are. The room was void of furniture save a single wooden chair in the middle of the empty space.
"Well done, Mr. Hutchinson. You had me convinced."
Ken Hutchinson turned to face the direction of the voice.
Its dark enough in here already, is the blindfold really necessary?
"Now what?" another voice somewhere behind him asked.
"Now we wait."
A hand tangled into Hutch's hair and a hard jerk forced his head back. "Our buddy Mark's gonna pay your partner a visit to make sure he doesn't plan on lookin' for ya. If he ain't you get ta live a few more days while we travel across the state to go see our boss. But if your pal tries to look for you," His captor got closer, his face inches from Hutch's ear as he whispered the last four words,
"Kiss your life goodbye."