Chapter 18

'Get him out of here. Take him upstairs' Dobey said as Huggy and Joe more or less carried the tall blond along the corridor and up the steps. By the time they'd walked him to the small sickbay and had managed to lie him down on the bed, Hutch was coming around a little and was once again struggling to sit up. Dobey walked into the room, his tie loose around his neck and the top button of his shirt open. He mopped at his brow with a large white hanky and regarded the blond quietly.

'Care to tell me what the fuck you were thinkin' of down there?' he asked, controlling his anger admirably under the circumstances.

Hutch sat up on the small bed and leant back against the wall, running his hand through his hair and scrubbing his fingers down his unshaven face. 'I'm sorry Cap'n. I lost it. But she knows where Starsky is an' I need to find him. You heard what she said - he's hurt - bad.'

'And just what are ya doin' out of the hospital? Don't the word rest mean nothin' to ya?'

The blond's face reddened in anger. 'Tell me how I'm supposed to rest when Starsk is out there somewhere hurtin'. You heard her. You heard what she said. He's bad Cap'n.'

'Hutch she was messin' with ya. She tried to kill you for God's sake. She's gonna say anythin' she can to get ya mad.' Dobey tried to reason with the flaxen haired cop.

'Well she succeeded, but it don't get past the fact she knows where Starsky is. He's still alive Cap'n, but I get the feelin' he won't be for much longer.'

Dobey swallowed down the retort. Hutch had been right about the brunet not having perished in the fire at Ridgeway. It was obvious there was a connection of sorts and although the Captain didn't go with the whole telepathy mumbo jumbo, he couldn't afford to play fast and loose with the brunet's life.

'So what?'

'So ya go back an' make her tell you where the fuck my partner is.'

Dobey sighed. 'So far she's told us squat. She's confirmed the stuff we knew already - the stuff she can't back out of, but she's tight as a clam about other stuff.'

Hutch sat forward, groaning and made to get off the bed before Huggy pushed him back down. He fixed his Captain with a steely gaze. 'Either you make her tell ya where Starsky is, or I will. An' I'm pretty sure that your way don't include blood. So what's it gonna be Cap'n?'

Dobey saw the calm resolve in his man's eyes. Hutch may be weak and should really still be in the hospital, but he was determined where anything to do with the brunet was concerned. He sighed, realising the futility of it all, but still knowing he had to go through with it. 'Ok, leave it with me for half an hour. I need to go downstairs and pump her for more information.'

'I'm comin' along' Hutch said, getting to his feet and standing shakily by the bed. He clutched at his stomach and paled significantly, studying his toes until he had his stomach under control.

Dobey snorted. 'You aint goin' nowhere but home, and if ya don't follow the orders I'll have Joe arrest ya and take ya home, is that clear?'

'But Cap...'

Dobey held up his hand. 'Don't "but Cap" me. There aint nothin' you can do here Hutch. I'll ring you as soon as we've finished with her ok?'

Hutch nodded. It wasn't ok, but he knew better than to argue with his Captain when Dobey was as agitated as right now. Instead he gave a thin smile and leaned once again on Huggy as the barkeeper led him out of the room, along the corridor and out to the car. Once inside, Hutch fell into the seat and clutched at his stomach

'Hey my man, you need to get back to the hospital' Huggy said, trotting round to the driver's side of the car.

'I need to get home Hug. I'll be fine. I just need to sleep then I'll be good to go. I need to find Starsk an' I can't rest till I do. Once he's safe, I'll be fine. Just take me home huh?'

'What'm I gonna do with ya huh?' Huggy asked. It was rhetorical but still, the black man had expected some sort of reply. He looked sideways and smiled to himself. Oh yeah, Mr "I'm absolutely fine". Look at ya, sleepin' like a baby.

Huggy steered Hutch up the steps to his apartment at Venice Place. The living room was even more of a mess than usual because forensics had been crawling all over the place gathering evidence against Susan Gunther. White aluminium powder coated the surfaces, blood from Kiko's nose splattered on the floor and furniture remained upturned. Hutch glanced at the scene without comment and sank down onto the sofa, his head in his hands.

'What time is it?' he asked, his voice muffled by his hands.

'Five minutes since you asked the last time. He'll ring. He promised and when did Dobey ever go back on his word huh?'

'He should have got somewhere by now.'

'Hey, you saw what she was like Bro. These things take time. You ought to know that.'

Hutch snorted. 'Yeah, an' I know what Sue's like too. She...' He was stopped midsentence by the ringing of the telephone and despite his weariness, Hutch leapt up from his seat and grabbed the receiver. 'Hutchinson' he snapped down the line.

'Hutch? Dobey.'

'And? What did ya get? Did she tell you where he is?' the blond asked.

There was a pause and then a deep, heartfelt sigh. 'I'm sorry son. She clammed right up. The only thing she'd say was that she wanted her lawyer. We got zip out of her

Hutch sank to his knees on the carpet, his whole world suddenly grey. Sue wouldn't tell them where Starsky was and he knew his partner was dying. No, this couldn't be happening. To find that Starsk wasn't dead and then to have to live through him dying all over again. It wasn't fair. It wasn't right. Gently Huggy took the phone from Hutch's hand, spoke softly with the Captain and then put down the phone. He helped Hutch to his feet and steered him back to the bedroom, setting him down on the bed.

'I can't lose him again Hug. I can't. Someone's gotta know somethin'.'

The lanky black man nodded, unsure what, if anything he could do or say.

'Try an' sleep Blondie. 'Somethin'll turn. It always does. I'm stayin right here. Just try an' rest huh?'

oOoOoOoOoOoOo

Across town, Danny regarded the unconscious man on the ground levelly. During the morning while she'd been with him, Starsky had drifted in and out of consciousness. The injuries on his body seemed to have turned a funny colour and the burn on his hand looked red and green and was markedly swollen. Bruises stood out black, purple and green all over him and when he breathed she heard a funny gurgling rattle in his throat. It made her want to cough and she thought that Dave probably needed to cough too. A few times, when the brunet had woken up, he'd looked at Danny as though he'd never seen her before and had asked her if Hutch was there. He didn't seem to make any sense and at first Danny had found it funny that he talked nonsense. None of the other grown ups she knew did that and for a while she'd tried to join in with his conversations, playing along with what he said, but recently they'd started to get a little scary.

Once or twice now, her friend had woken up screaming and clutching at his stomach, pulling his knees up to his chest. He whimpered as well, and that wasn't something she'd liked either. She'd tried to listen carefully, but could only make out odd words. He seemed to say "no" a lot and sometimes he said "please...no more" like he was pleading with someone to stop doing something. Danny's ten year old mind tried to make sense of what was happening to Dave, but try as she might, although she knew he was sick, she didn't know how to help him. Once or twice she thought that maybe she ought to call the hospital, but she'd done that in the past, when she'd wanted to play a practical joke. Then, a cop had come to her house and spoken to her Mom and said she'd be in trouble if she did it again. It had scared Danny, and so she dismissed that idea and concentrated instead on feeding more of the popcicle to the injured man.

She'd tried to put her arms around him when he dreamed, thinking that maybe this was a bad dream, like the bad dreams she sometimes had about her Daddy never coming home. When she had bad dreams, her Mom cuddled her and so now Danny tried to do the same thing. At first Starsky had quietened down a little when he'd felt the warm body at his back. As Danny had put her arms around him, he'd snuggled into them with a sigh. Once or twice she'd played with his curls too. They were like her own, dark and springy and as she touched them, they wrapped around her finger. But Starsky's hair was dirty and felt greasy under her touch and eventually she stopped, eliciting a whimper from the man at the absence of the comforting stimulus.

Playing Mom had been fun for a while, but Starsky kept falling asleep and Danny was getting bored. He didn't even look at her picture that she'd drawn for him any more and so she folded it up and put it into her pocket to take home.

She looked at the man again. His body was hot, as though he had a fire raging inside him and his skin was dry to the touch. Several times, as she touched him, he flinched away from her and now she reached out and shook his shoulder gently, to get his attention.

The reaction was instantaneous.

'Nooo, please...gonna kill ya...Gonna fuckin' kill ya' the brunet moaned in his delirium.

Danny thought he meant her. So far Dave had been nice to her. He liked her and he talked to her. But now, his words scared her and she backed away, leaving the feverish man alone. As he continued to mumble under his breath, Danny hurriedly packed up her bag, deciding to leave him the melted popcicles just in case he grew thirsty.

'Um...Dave I'm gonna go now' she said softly. 'I um...do you want me to come back?'

There was no direct answer, although the mumbling continued

Shivers wracked his body although he was no longer aware of his surroundings. The brunet found blessed relief in his delirium, although the dreams he had were all painful and terror filled. Hutch wasn't there any more. He seemed to have lost his partner somewhere and the pain of the loss was something that he felt acutely. The brunet tried to reach out with his hand to search for his big blond buddy and his eyes flashed open as his hand came up empty.

'Ut...sh' he moaned softly. 'Don't ggggo. Hutch...Huuuuutch' he breathed into the concrete.

He felt so alone and his fever clogged mind told him that someone else had been with him. A girl. A pretty young girl with a riot of curls. Had he imagined her? Was she real? With an effort he opened his eyes and tried to look around. But Starsky was alone and he moaned once to himself. He'd imagined her. His mind was playing tricks and he felt it was time to just give up and let the pain take him away. With a final sigh, he closed his eyes and prepared himself.

Sorry Blintz. I tried to hang on for ya, but it's just too tough. I can't stand this any more. I'm sorry. Bye Hutch...bye buddy.