5

The city was still painted in some washed out greyish color. Everyone in town was hoping for a truce in the rainy season, at least for a day or two. September had never seemed so depressing. When Hutch and Starsky arrived at the Pits, they tried to shake their clothes and get rid of most of the water that had poured on them during the short distance they had walked - or rather run - between the Torino and the Pits' back door. Even choosing to enter that access had not prevented them from being totally soaked when they entered the bar.

"Hey hey, my man, look what the cat's dragged in!" Huggy spoke at the top of his voice when he saw the two detectives enter his establishment and head for a table at the back.

Huggy approached them slowly, almost like a feline assessing his future lunch. He was obviously in a very good mood and the positive feeling that seemed to emanate from him was reinforced by the flashy orange shirt he was wearing. He looked at both detectives with a funny smile on his face, as his friends were desperately trying not to swamp the place. Starsky's curly hair was plastered down around his unpleasantly grinning face. If there was one thing in the whole world the brunette hated more than anything, it was being cold and wet. He sneezed a couple of times and uttered some curse that made the other two smile to themselves.

Hutch was not in a better shape. His mid-long blonde hair was hanging around his indigo blue eyes which made him look like a touching golden Labrador puppy.

"I was about to ask you what could possibly be brought to my favorite clients that could dissipate the depressive look from your faces, gentlemen, but I guess two good hot toddies would be the best option."

"I think something like that would be nice." Starsky said in a rush right before sneezing a couple of times again.

"With or without?" Huggy answered.

"With or without what?"

"A liqueur."

"No thanks, Hug. Just a soft warm drink. We're on duty."

After they had got rid of their wet jackets, Huggy headed for the kitchen and ordered the drinks for his friends. Starsky started to sneeze again.

"Gee, I hate the rain." he said.

"Yep. Looks like it's gonna last for a while. Why do you say we quit and go to Bolivia on vacation?" the blonde replied with an amused smile.

"Hutch... I don't think Bolivia would be the place I'd choose. And would you please stop mentioning that place. What about the Riviera?"

"What Riviera?"

"The French one," the brunette said.

"France?"

"Okay, forget it. Anyway, we couldn't afford it." Starsky said. He went on sneezing again.

"Unless we go and rob some banks in Bolivia first."

Starsky pulled a tissue from his front jeans pocket.

"Yeah... sure..."

Huggy came back and looked at them.

"You two really look like you need a vacation." The black man laughed.

"How do you know?" Hutch replied. "Do you have a good idea? Now, let's be serious for a moment, Hug, we are on a new case and Dobey wants this to be solved by yesterday, if you know what I mean. Have you heard about Alejandro Fuentes?"

Huggy seemed to think intensely for a moment and looked at the detectives with an intrigued smile.

"Yo, have I heard about Alejandro Fuentes? News is fast, buddies. The guy settled down in the neighborhood only a couple of months ago. Directly imported from Miami. Runs a business of a rare variety of roses. He's also the happy owner of a very switched-on night club called The Rose. And the guy seems to be fond of young brunettes with a lot of character and possibly a nice voice to perform on stage."

Starsky raised his eyebrows then frowned. His eyes were sparkling in amusement.

"Huggy, I may have known you for years, but you still manage to amaze me. How do you know everything so fast?"

"Hey, whadaya think, my man, how da ya want me to deserve mah reputation of "The Bear" if I'm not able to nose around and lend a very attentive ear to what's cookin'? But don't ask me to tell ya my sources or any of my secrets."

"Don't worry. Now, Hug, what do you know about his... side business?"

"I've heard that he did not want to expand in Florida. Though it seemed to me that the place is ideal for his little transactions with South America. For whatever reason, he decided to come here instead. Dunno why."

"Do you know by any chance ... - atishoo!...- what kind of network he has organized already?" Starsky asked, between a series of sneezes.

"He supplies some local distributors but in my opinion he is not the biggest boss in town. If you want my professional opinion..."

"Go ahead, make our day!" Starsky replied amusingly.

"The guy has had enough of the business, man."

Hutch raised an eyebrow, somewhat perplexed. Huggy usually was a predictable and reliable source of information on anything happening in town, but this time, the black man had succeeded in taking him by surprise. Huggy did not necessarily have the psychological profile that Hutch was expecting to find at the Pits. But then again...

"Hug, have you suddenly become a psychic or something?" Hutch asked.

"Nah... But... how could I say this... a guy like him, with all the connections he has... he should've buried all the competition down here in a matter of weeks. Which is not the case. Last time I heard through the grape vines, he wanted to make one last deal, but no record to be broken. I think he's got enough money already to retire to some shiny place."

Hutch was staring in front of him as an idea popped in his head.

"Hug, how much do you think he would jump on a deal?"

"What do you have in mind, Blondie?" Huggy had a vague idea where the blonde detective was leading at.

"What if we go into business with the man. How far do you think he would be ready to go? I mean, if we propose something too big, according to what you've just said, he might reject us."

"Yo, my man, do you mean you intend to get involved in some undercover adventure with these guys?"

"Yeah, that's the general idea." Hutch confirmed very quietly.

"I gotta tell ya, be careful, Blondie. He's got a couple of tough guardian angels around all the time. And these weasel faces don't look like sweet angels to me. You'd better watch out your butts and get the most solid cover ya can get."

Starsky gave a reassuring look to the black man. He thought of all the occasions when Huggy was there for them, more than a friend, someone they could trust a hundred percent, even more than that. He remembered the day he had found Hutch crawling down a deserted alley, his veins full of heroin. Huggy had accepted to hide both men at his place, during the time necessary for the blonde to cope with withdrawal symptoms and for the brunette to find and bust Monk and the gang that had hurt his friend so bad. He had offered shelter and discretion more than once, willingly most of the time, and for that the two detectives would always be grateful and ready to give him a hand whenever the black man would ask - if he ever asked. Because the least one could say is that Huggy also had a developed sense of pride of his own. On the other hand, he would not hesitate one second to get into trouble because he had decided to help people who mattered to him, even to the point of getting hurt himself.

Starsky appreciated all Huggy had just told them and the fact that he was showing concern for their safety.

"Don't you worry, Huggy. We'll be all right. We'll pay a visit to Fuentes at his night club. And then we'll propose him a business deal he will not refuse."

Hutch went on with his idea.

"We will call you as soon as we're ready to make our move, and tell you which names we'll use. In case anyone sneaks around, you'll know what to answer... let's say... for securing our cover a bit more."

"No problemo, Gringo."

The waitress brought the toddies and they celebrated their friendship in their usual way, just by sharing a good moment together, around the table, talking about the new investigation, about the way the detectives could set the best trap to bust Fuentes. Their conversation soon turned onto the black man's anecdotes he never failed to narrate to the detectives, and which would feed their files for another case, later on.

When all glasses were empty, Starsky had finally stopped sneezing and seemed to feel a bit better. Both cops stood up, grabbed their jackets, which were still somewhat humid, and said their goodbyes to their friend.

"C'mon, Starsk. Let's do some brain stretching before jumping into the pool. Bye Huggy. We'll keep in touch."

"Bonne chance, both of you!" Huggy called out laughing as his friends were heading for the exit.

Huggy watched the two detectives and he silently made a prayer that nothing would go wrong with them this time.

S*H ~ S*H ~ S*H ~ S*H ~ S*H ~ S*H ~ S*H ~