14
"Anybody home?"
The voice was loud and clear and when he entered the apartment, a strong smell of coffee entered with him.
"You're up early." Hutch said, a bit surprised, while he was putting on a cream-colored shirt.
"Yep. We need to fill in the Captain with the latest news and then we gotta see this Fuentes to finalize the details of our deal. Hey, have you seen the skies?"
"Huh? What skies?" Hutch obviously had awakened only moments ago.
"You know, what's above our heads when we walk outside; and sometimes, there are a couple of clouds floating across. Wake up, you big lummox!"
"Ah!" Hutch looked askance at his partner. "What about the skies?"
"They're clear! It's not raining any more today!"
Hutch went into the kitchen and started to prepare his morning special diet mélange.
"I hadn't noticed."
"I feel great! Finally it's over. I hate the rain."
"I know."
"Too much for this season, don't you think? We've had enough."
"Sure."
"Are you gonna be that talkative for the whole day?"
"Perhaps."
"Great!"
"Huh huh."
"Stop it!"
"What?"
"Stop doing this!"
"What?" Hutch replied while he was mixing various ingredients in the blender.
"This! You're getting on my nerves. Stop this little game, will ya?"
"OK."
"There you go again!"
"No."
"See?"
"Starsk?"
"What?"
"Now it's your turn! Gotcha!"
Starsky twisted his lips in a mocking expression.
"You want some?" the blond asked extending a full glass to Starsky.
The brunet gave the mixture a suspicious look.
"You're kidding?"
"Not really. It'll be good for you, full of vitamins."
"It's not that I don't trust you, but..."
"But... you already had breakfast, am I right?" Hutch said with a smile, finishing his partner's sentence.
"Yeah."
"Don't tell me. I don't wanna know!"
"Too bad, knowledge is to be shared."
"Maybe, but not THAT kind of knowledge."
"Too bad, like I said. I'll stick to my own juice, if you don't mind."
Both drank their respective drinks. When they were done, Starsky threw his plastic cup in the bin while Hutch rinsed his glass and the blender in the sink.
He took his jacket from the coat-peg.
"Let's go."
They both headed for the Torino, parked right in front of Venice Place.
Traffic was unusually flowing freely, as if many city souls had decided to take a day off and go to the beach to celebrate the end of the rain.
It took them a lot less time than usual to reach Metro.
When they entered the squad room, they felt a different ambience, like everyone had been affected by the bit of blue they had seen in the sky. Starsky got rid of his jacket and headed straight for the coffee pot.
Hutch delicately put his own jacket on the back of his chair and sat in front of his perfectly clean desk.
He had no time to take a file, Starsky hardly had time to pour himself a cup of coffee when Starsky's phone rang. The brunet turned to pick it up but Hutch had already reached for it.
"You gotta be quicker than that," he whispered to his partner, then loudly "Yes Captain?" he said, as he had noticed the call was coming from their superior's office.
Starsky gave his partner a nasty look and tried to sip his coffee, but it was too hot.
"Right away." He hung up. "Captain wants to see us, now!"
They both headed for Dobey's office, opened the door. They stopped at the entrance. There was someone sitting with their back to the door. Dobey motioned to them to come in.
What Starsky first saw was a pair of legs, obviously belonging to a woman. He walked a little farther into the room and then abruptly stopped when he saw the person sitting in front of Dobey.
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He stared at her and then at his partner who was standing slightly in the background and could not see the face of the visitor yet.
"What is SHE doing in here?" Starsky exclaimed.
Seeing his partner about to burst, Hutch came closer to have a look at the visitor and recognized the woman who was sitting stiff in the chair facing their captain.
"Calm down, I'll explain everything," Dobey said in a strong voice which signified to his detectives they'd better wait and listen to what he had to say before getting worked up.
"Let me present you Detective Sergeant second class Teresa Harriman, from SDPD Crime Prevention department."
He let his detectives swallow the news.
"Starsky, close your mouth, or else I'm gonna sit in a draught!"
"But Captain, she was... she is..."
"She is helping us to catch Fuentes! Ms Harriman, this is Detective David Starsky," he said pointing at the brunet. Hutch had approached the desk so she could see him too. "And this is Detective Ken Hutchinson. You have already met them as..."
"Burnett and Collins," she whispered in an angry tone. "Yes, I know them, Captain."
Her voice was glacial and the way she looked at both detectives meant she was as unhappy about this encounter as they obviously were.
"I've heard about them, when Fuentes was trying to ascertain whether these," she pointed a finger at Starsky with a contemptuous look in her eyes, "were genuine enough."
"And did he?" Starsky asked with the same kind of look.
"I think he did. I heard him say that this would make a nice finale to his career here."
Starsky looked at his partner.
"That would confirm what Huggy told us."
"Huggy?" Teresa asked, raising an eyebrow. "Another undercover agent, perhaps?"
"No, Huggy is... whatever!" Starsky answered brutally. "Captain, why weren't we notified there was an undercover agent on site?"
"I could ask you the same question?" Tessa grinned.
"I could not tell you." Dobey calmly responded to his men. "This was a special request from SDPD. Sergeant Harriman volunteered to infiltrate Fuentes' network as closely as she could. We had confirmation he had a liking for girls with her type, she could sing and ..." he suddenly stopped, refraining from adding anything more when Tessa granted him with a pleading look. "Well, here we are. She has communicated to me details you may be interested in, like the place he's gonna make his so-called final deal with you. We've learned that Fuentes never gives the location of his transactions in advance. By chance, he spoke of this with one of his bodyguards, huh..." Dobey was looking at Tessa to get a confirmation of the name.
"Sebastian." she simply said.
"Just peachy!" Hutch intervened for the first time since they had entered the room. "What if someone inside finds out that three cops are trying to cheat with them. I think this whole situation is becoming very uncomfortable, Captain."
"You're too close to give up now. And from what Sergeant Harriman has told me, there is a good chance this case will be closed sooner than expected. So I advise you to cooperate. It's time she gets out. She has been deep into this for the good cause."
"Really deep, indeed!" Starsky said aggressively.
Tessa jumped on her seat and turned to him, only to grant him with the darkest look she could give.
"What are you insinuating, Detective?"
"I saw you swallow something at The Rose, between two songs. Did you get that far that you blended in really that deep?"
"I don't know what you..." she started to say, then she remembered and gave her voice a clear and totally reliable tone. "What you saw me swallow are anti-histamines. I'm allergic to dust, smoke, and a few more things. You can check if you want to. I've got prescriptions for these."
And saying so, she reached into her pocket and exhibited a packet of white pills. He started to read from the box.
"Brom..."
"Forget it, Detective. You may further check this with the doctor who prescribed them to me. Excuse me, Captain, are we here to discuss whether I'm an addict or to close this case as soon as possible?"
Dobey cleared his voice.
"Hutch, Starsky, why don't you take Ms Harriman to your office and exchange your data?"
Hutch was the first one to leave the office. Starsky looked at Tessa and remembered how he had felt when he had heard her singing at the nightclub. He felt some relaxation fill his chest. He was simply relieved that she was not on the hook. Yet he was also feeling a bit worried knowing that she was on the front line and so much exposed to danger.
"Can I offer you some coffee?" he said in a totally different tone than the one he had taken with her all along since they met in Dobey's office.
She looked at him and stood up from her chair.
"Yes please." Then she turned to the Captain. "Thank you, Captain. I think...I wish we could close this case, the sooner the better," she said while exchanging a very discreet look of connivance with him, which did not elude Starsky's trained eye. They are hiding something. Why? The Captain has never hidden anything from us before?
"Anything else, Captain?" he asked, trying to catch his superior by surprise and hoping he would disclose whatever he was keeping between him and Tessa. But the black man was far from being a rookie and he simply sent his detective back to his business.
"Now go and try to find the best way to put an end to this case."
"Yes, Sir. Shall we?" he said addressing Tessa.
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