Part IV

With all of the pacing that Starsky was doing as he waited for Dobey to arrive, Huggy expected that the man would drop into the basement at any second from wearing a hole through his floor.

"Bro, please. Sit down. You ain't doing a thing but using up shoe leather."

Huggy looked back to the cake box still resting on the counter and motioned Christy over to him,

"Go put this in the back in the fridge, girl. Bring out some coffee too."

"Right, boss."

Dobey came in just as Christy was coming back out with the coffee pot. She began pouring it out into cups, holding one out to the Captain as he strode over to the bar. He took it with a nod of thanks.

"Starsky! Get over here and sit down. You want to find Hutch - so do I. But we need to figure out where to start looking."

"Right, Captain."

Going back to the bar, Starsky also took the offered cup, but sat it down without even tasting it. Picking up the note he'd found on Hutch's beat-up LTD, he handed it to Dobey wordlessly as he sat down, his leg starting to 'Thumper' again with pent-up energy.

Reading the note once quickly then a second time while examining the paper it was on and how it was written, the frown grew deeper on Dobey's face.

"Anyone get a good look at him?"

Huggy just gave the Captain a frustrated shrug.

"I was paying more attention to how Hutch was taking the message than I was paying attention to the messenger."

Clearing her throat slightly, Christy seemed a little embarrassed to be speaking up, but she did any way.

"His name was Bambrick. At least that was the name on his name tag."

All three of the men turned their head to look at her, but Dobey was the one that spoke up first.

"Bambrick? Are you sure of that?"

"Yes... it sounds silly, but when I saw it, it made me think of that Disney movie. Bambi? And I wondered if anyone ever messed with him about his name like kids used to twist up my last name to tease - you know, calling him 'Bambi-ick' or stuff like that back in school? So it stuck in my head."

Reaching over, Huggy poured another cup of coffee, offering that one to his waitress.

"Good eyes, Christy. Just sit down and stay close in case you remember anything else or the Captain has any questions."

Starsky's left hand was tapping on the counter as he was looking to the side - not really looking at anything, his eyes were just facing that direction as he was thinking.

"That name sounds familiar. Bambrick... where do I know that from?"

His voice was soft as Dobey answered that question.

"You know that name from a little over two years back. Bambrick's partner was one of the men George Prudholm killed."

Head snapping back around, old guilt rose back to the surface. Part of Starsky could relate to what Bambrick was feeling - all he had to do was imagine how he would have felt if Prudholm had killed Hutch. The other part?

"Why couldn't he just come after me? Why did he have to drag Hutch into this?"

Huggy inclined his head in the direction of the note still in Dobey's hand.

"Old Testament stuff, Starsky. You know, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth..."

Starsky continued, his voice not much louder than a whisper.

"A partner for a partner."