He had been pacing the length of his hotel room for more than an hour. He had followed and watched Starsky from a distance for weeks now. He knew where he lived, what time he left for work, and what time he arrived home. He knew what he did for a living, where he enjoyed hanging out, and who he spent most of his time with. He knew Starsky had a new girlfriend, and Stephen wanted her back. A week ago, while Starsky was on a date, Stephen had managed to make his way into Starsky's apartment by telling the landlord that he was Starsky's cousin. At a quarter to nine, Starsky had walked through his front door and was greeted with a shot into his arm and into his stomach. Usually Stephen had better aim, but he had been expecting Starsky home much later and had been startled by his early arrival home.
For the past seven days, Stephen had been waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike again. He had tried to figure out just how to get rid of Starsky while keeping his partner uninvolved. He knew, however, that it would be difficult. He had observed over the last several weeks that they were much more than partners; they were good friends. Stephen couldn't afford to get caught by the police, especially a cop this close to his victim, because he wasn't supposed to have left Colorado. He was on probation for drunk driving. Of course, he reasoned, I suppose that would be a small price to pay to protect what is rightfully mine.
Stephen and Melissa had been married ten years ago. They had only been dating a few months when he gave her the ring. Three months later, they were married, and two years following that, they had a baby girl named Ashley. But in that two years' time, Melissa had begun to say he had changed. He'd started coming home later and later from work, and he had started drinking. As Ashley grew older, he became more irritable, often taking his anger out on Melissa and Ashley. A week after Ashley's fifth birthday, Melissa said she'd had enough, and she left with Ashley, threatening to divorce him. That had been three years ago. He had hired a private investigator to find them, and when the man reported that they had moved to California, Stephen left Colorado to reunite himself with his past.
He knew Melissa hadn't been happy with him when she left that night. He also knew that he was still in love with her. And if Dave Starsky thought he was going to take Melissa and Ashley away from him, the detective had another thing coming.
Stephen's only concern now was what to do and how to go about it. He knew Starsky's partner would be spending most, if not all, of his free time at the hospital, and after that bouquet of flowers that Stephen had sent, the blond's guard would be up.
As Stephen finished his thought about the hospital, an idea came to him, and he knew exactly what his next step was going to be.