Chapter 6

Starsky looked up as Hutch walked back into the squad room and handed his partner a mug of coffee.

'What was that all about?' he asked

Hutch shook his head. 'Nothing. I don't know. It was just Pat being Pat.'

'Mouthing off about me ya mean?'

The blond looked pensive. 'Huh? Oh, no, not really. I mean he isn't your number one fan and I don't think you're top of his Christmas card list but he's cool.'

'Then why do you look like you've lost a dollar and found a dime? You and he…..' Starsky's observations were cut off by Dobey's appearance and the door to his office. He took one look at the bruises marching across the bodies of his two detectives, and the bandage around Hutch's arm and grunted.

'Do I want to know?' he asked

Hutch gave him innocent, blank eyes. 'Know what Cap'n?'

'Why suddenly you two look like a commercial for Rite Aid.'

The blond looked down at his arm. 'This little thing? I cut myself um…..shaving.'

'It's repetitive strain injury from hitting me' Starsky offered.

Dobey glared at the two men and shook his head. 'It's like bloody kindergarten' he muttered. 'I need the two of you in my office, now, if you can manage to limp this way.'

Starsky got up with what was supposed to be an exaggerated groan but was a little too close to the truth for comfort. Hutch followed and they made their way into the smaller office. Morning light made zebra stripes through the jalousies across the carpet and small dust motes glittered in the air, highlighted by the sunbeams. Both men stood just inside the doorway, unsure what to expect. Dobey sat down behind his desk and signalled them to pull up chairs and sit down. For once, they obeyed without comment.

The big black man picked up a file and opened it, frowning at the words on the paper. He looked up and fixed his men with a steely gaze. 'What did you do last night?' has asked without preamble.

'Nuthin…..'

'Slept……' they said together.

'Don't give me that. You went around to Kim's place didn't you?'

Starsky leaned forwards in his seat. 'The time for taking it quietly and observing is past Cap'n. Kim knows we're onto him and he made that pretty obvious yesterday.'

'And he knows that how?' Dobey threw up his hands and let them fall with a slap onto the desk top.

'What do you mean? Up until yesterday afternoon we sat tight and did nothing. What're you implying?' Hutch asked indignantly.

'Not implying anything. I'm saying it seems odd that he took one look at the two of you and high tailed it.'

'Aww c'mon Cap!' Starsky snapped. 'He knew we were onto him long before we saw him yesterday. Otherwise, like you say, why would he have taken off like he did, huh? All we did last night was go eat at a nice restaurant. If Kim happened to be there while we were finishing our dim sum then all well and good.'

'It was Kim's restaurant!'

Starsky smiled happily. 'Really? Wow! Coincidence huh?'

'Did you go along with this Hutchinson, or is that a stupid question?'

Hutch shifted in his seat. 'I was hungry' he offered mildly. He had been in the crossfire of Dobey and Starsky's arguments for long enough to know when to say the minimum. Now was one of those times.

'Eating aside, why are you askin'? Has the slimy bastard complained again?' Starsky asked. 'Coz we did nuthin other than eat. If anyone should be makin' complaints, it's us.'

Dobey shook his head. 'No, Kim hasn't said a word, although if you aren't careful he's gonna get his fancy pants lawyer to file a harassment suit.'

'Then why ask?'

'I'm getting to it. For once you happened to be in the right place at the right time. Was Kim there last night?'

'Yeah, he was there' Starsky replied. 'Him an' three of his goons all gathered round kinda cozy.'

'And he was still there when you left?'

'Where is this goin' Capn? Has he said sumthin?'

Dobey shook his head. 'No. And neither has his latest victim who was found this morning at a bonded warehouse on Pier Six. He couldn't say anythin' because he'd had his throat ripped out.'

'Do we have a name?' Hutch sat forwards in his chair.

'Uh huh. One Marco Amoretti.'

'Shit! The same Amoretti that just finished time for that huge heroin scam. I didn't know he was back outside again.'

Dobey flipped a black and white photograph across the table to the two detectives. It showed a grisly scene with a thin man at its centre. From the amount of blood surrounding the body and the look of sheer horror in those dead, staring eyes, it was clear that Marco had not died peacefully. Silently Hutch handed the photograph back and waited.

'The pace has just stepped up. This is the first vic we can positively connect to Kim and the Red Dragons. Amoretti had been dealing with them in the past in Cincinnati, before Kim came to Bay City. He was released from jail 3 days ago. I knew, some of the men here knew, but that was about it. It wasn't common knowledge, but somehow Kim found out. From what information I have, Kim was into Amoretti for at least three quarters of a million. Someone, somewhere told Kim that Marco was back on the streets. I'm betting my bottom dollar that that same someone also told Kim that he was becoming interesting to us.'

'And you think that information came from where?' Hutch asked.

Dobey sighed. 'There's only one place it could have come from.'

Starsky V'd his eyebrows. 'Dirty cop?' he asked quietly.

Dobey shrugged. 'I'm not gonna say for certain, but there were only a few people knew of Amoretti's release and this department was one of them.

'Do you have any names?' Starsky asked.

Dobey shook his head. 'No-one as yet, and I haven't voiced my suspicions with anyone else but the two of you. I want you to keep your eyes open.'

Hutch shivered. 'God I hate this. If there's one thing that freaks me out it's a dirty cop. If I get my hands on…..' The blond stopped mid sentence and said nothing more although his mind was trying to comprehend what he'd just thought. Dobey looked at him expectantly.

'You were going to say?'

'Huh? Oh, nothing Cap'n. Just like I said. I hate dirty cops. Sure, we'll keep our eyes open. In the mean time, what do we do with Kim?'

'There's no need to be covert any more, but at the same time, we can't go in there with all guns blazing. We have nothing to pin on him yet and we need to be careful. He has enough money at his disposal that he can hire any lawyer he needs to shake off charges unless they're water tight. We step up the pace, we put a bit more pressure on him and we wait. The thing with flakes like Kim is that sooner or later they get complacent and they make mistakes. If we watch him carefully enough……'

'We just happen to be around when he makes the big mistake huh?' Starsky asked.

Dobey nodded. 'You got it. And I know I can rely on you two to snoop around some.'

Starsky threw his hands up in mock despair. 'Again with the snooping! What is it with my reputation all of a sudden?'

'It precedes you buddy' Hutch snickered. His partner scowled at him.

'Fine. I'll snoop. Tonight.'

The Captain dismissed them with a wave of his hand. 'Remember, not a word about Amoretti or the fact that we suspect a cop. That's between these four walls. Whatever else you do, be careful……..and I want a full report.'

The duo left Dobey's office, took a quick drink of coffee, gathered together the files on Kim and headed out back down to the car. Once inside, Starsky drove out towards the beach and parked up on a small headland overlooking the ocean. It was the one place they knew no-one would overhear them and it was the one place they knew they would be able to see anyone else coming. Uptight? You bet. That's' what had kept them alive and at the top of their game for all these years.

The drive had been accomplished mostly in silence, each cop caught up in their own thoughts so that by the time the engine was switched off and the only sound coming through the open windows was the crash of waves along the shore and the sweet susurration of the breeze through the Mallam grass, they were ready to get down to details.

'You were gonna say something back in Dobey's office' Starsky said.

Hutch nodded. 'I know, but I couldn't bring myself to say it.'

'What?'

'Think on it Starsk. There is one man who knows we've been working on the Red Dragons. He also happens to treat you like some kind of social pariah and I am almost certain I saw his car drive away from the Royal Pheonix last night. Tag onto that the fact that he damned near knocked my lights out in the bathroom an hour ago.'

Starsky's jaw slid open. 'Patterdale? You're talking about Clay Patterdale?'

'The one and only.'

'Shit! No, it can't be. If you took Patterdale and split him down the middle, he'd have BCPD written right through him. He's got more medals than anyone I've ever met and…..' The brunet's voice tailed off into silence.

'And there's no escaping the facts' Hutch finished.

'I just can't believe it. You're seriously saying Clay Patterdale is a dirty cop?'

Hutch nodded sadly. 'I don't want to think it any more'n you do, but the facts add up. Who else would have access to all that information? Who else would have a boot in both camps?'

Starsky ran his fingers through his hair and stared out to the ocean. 'Jeez. It's always the ones you least suspect huh? What do we do now?'

'Well as I see it, Patterdale is gonna be keeping a close eye on us, so whatever we do, we do it out of the office.'

'Unless we want concrete evidence, in which case we feed him a line and watch him take the bait' Starsky said slowly.

'That's an option, but we have the other problem too.'

'Huh?'

Hutch turned in his seat and took the buff coloured file from its place below the dashboard. 'We also have Mu Yong Lin, A.K.A. Kim to consider. I thought Marco Amoretti was a slimy piece of work, but he didn't deserve to have his throat ripped out. We need to nail Kim as well.'

'Then we need to keep him under surveillance. Sharply under surveillance.'

Hutch cocked an eyebrow. 'And what's that supposed to mean?'

'It means that suddenly Chinese is the only sort of food I want to eat' Starsky replied happily.

'And that is gonna get us precisely where?'

'It's gonna let Kim know that we're onto him. We pile on the pressure and eventually he's gonna make a mistake. Along the way, we may also let slip to our friend back in the squad room certain little bits of insider information?'

The blond cop snickered as he flicked through the file of papers. 'Nice one. But all this eating at the Royal Pheonix……this wouldn't have anything to do with a pretty little waitress, would it?'

Starsky looked shocked. 'I don't know what you mean!'

'Like hell. But I think you may be onto something buddy, although I'm not sure you're gonna want to hear this.'

'Try me.'

Hutch looked up from the file. 'What was the waitress' name?'

'Jade, just like her eyes' the brunet sighed dramatically.

The file was thrust into his lap, forcing Starsky to look down at the picture of the waitress in question. 'Bingo' Hutch muttered. 'I don't know whether this is a good thing or a bad thing Starsk, old man, but the apple of your eye just happens to be Jade Lin, the daughter of the owners of the Royal Pheonix. Jade is Kim's little sister.'

'Well aint that convenient' Starsky replied, looking carefully at the beautiful face captured in full Technicolor in the photograph.