AN UNEASY ALLIANCE
Chapter 2
The LTD was parked along Main Street. Hutch scanned the opposite sidewalk, flicking his shirt open in hopes that the sweat would evaporate and somehow cool him. The day was hot and sticky and it was only a little after nine in the morning. Starsky seemed unaffected by the heat as he continued to scan the morning newspaper.
"Did you see this Hutch? It says here that the crime rate is down in the city. But seems to me we're working our butts off lately and getting nowhere fast." Disgustedly, Starsky crumpled the paper; frustrated at the inaccuracies the public was often given.
Hutch rubbed the crease between his eyes. It was too early to get into a political discussion. Or maybe it was too late. They'd been up almost twenty four hours doing a double shift because of the stomach virus that had spread through the precinct.
Hutch kept his attention focused on a young boy across the street.
"Starsk, what do you think the temperature is today?" He continued to watch the boy who just seemed to be loitering in front of a convenience store.
Hutch flinched as the paper rustled in Starsky's hands. He heard his partner mumble under his breath, looking for the weather report.
"Says here it's gonna be ninety-five degrees and dry all week." Starsky continued to fold the paper in a neat square, suddenly interested in the horoscope section.
"Then wouldn't you say it's a little too hot to be wearing an over sized army jacket?"
Across the street, the boy seemed to be scanning the people around him. He suddenly stood alert as an older woman came towards him.
Hutch nudged Starsky in the side, who responded with a grunt. But looking in his partner's direction, Starsky picked up on the scene out the window. They both watched as the young boy, dressed in jeans and a too big camouflage coat began to stalk the older woman. The gray-haired lady shuffled along, clutching her purse, walking cautiously, looking at the ground.
Hutch slapped Starsky's knee; the signal for them to make their move. After Starsky slipped out of the car, Hutch slowly drove down the road a bit before making a U-turn in the street. This gave Starsky enough time to get across and follow the little thief without blowing their presence.
Starsky followed the boy, getting more of a description in his head. The boy had dirty blond hair that ran down his back. He figured the kid to be about fourteen. As he got closer, Starsky noticed that not only was the jacket too big, but the pants were too long. The bottoms were rolled up a few inches, showing once white sneakers.
Behind him, the LTD crawled along, keeping pace with Starsky. Suddenly, the youngster picked up speed, and attempted to reach around the old lady. Anticipating the move, Starsky caught up with the kid who seemed to sense that he was in danger. Instead of completing his intended crime, he dropped back, darted in front of Hutch's car, ran through the rest of the traffic and sped down an alley. As the blaring horns and shouts of anger died down, the boy disappeared, forgotten about by everyone but Starsky and Hutch.
The old lady, completely unaware that the scene around her had just changed, only knew about the scruffy looking man standing in front of her who seemed to be reaching for her purse. With more energy than Starsky would have expected, the woman raised her purse and struck him with it several times. She hit him once on the head, once on the shoulder and connected not only her purse but landed her fist which was holding the purse in a direct hit in Starsky's belly, causing him to grunt and bend forward. He held up his hands in an effort to hold off any more attacks. But for good measure, she stomped on his foot with her chunky heeled, sensible shoe.
"Lady, wait.. I was only trying…" His breath left him as another blow to his stomach knocked the wind out of him.
"I know what you were trying to do, you hooligan! You need to learn some manners!" By this time, Hutch had gotten out of the car but stood back, enjoying the misunderstanding on Starsky's behalf.
"Help! Help! I'm being robbed. Call the police." The woman stood back, waving her arms, as she screamed for help. Hutch took that opportunity to make his presence known and to help the poor woman.
"Ma'am, I'm a policeman! But it wasn't this man who…" Hutch flashed his badge, trying to calm the woman and at the same time reach out to Starsky.
"Officer, this man was reaching for my purse. I saw him. There are witnesses…" She rattled on but her demands faded as Starsky fished his badge out of his pocket to show the woman. She suddenly quieted, standing with her hands on her hips.
"Ma'am, we stopped a kid from stealing your purse. It's just he got away and then you thought I was him and…" Starsky spluttered, indignant that the little thief had gotten away but more annoyed that such a small, old woman could pack such a wallop with her purse.
The little group had moved towards Hutch's car. They intended to ask the woman to give a statement. This was the third time in two weeks that robberies occurred in the open, during the day, with older women as the target. This time they were lucky enough to have seen the thief so they were anxious to get to the station, get the woman's statement and meet up with a police artist in order to get out the description of the young culprit.
Hutch helped the woman into the back of his car. He stopped her progress long enough to move aside two days of newspapers, a blanket and an empty thermos.
Starsky scowled at his partner's messy car. He longed to be in his own Torino with the sparkling leather interior and pristine paint job on the outside.
The two men stood by the car, talking about the young man who had slipped past them.
"The kid was about fourteen with dark blond hair." Starsky searched his pockets for a pen, then saw one sticking out of Hutch's shirt. He grabbed it, ignoring the look of contention on his partner's face. He quickly wrote out what they were brainstorming about the little thief.
Hutch shifted on his feet and turned to look in the direction the boy had taken off. "He went down that alley, but he stopped long enough to check to see if we were following him."
Starsky wrote down the street names, snapped the notebook shut and stuffed it in the back pocket of his jeans. He slipped the pen behind his ear but it was confiscated with quick fingers as Hutch claimed his pen back.
Both men let out a long sigh and stared at each other. Hutch slapped the other man on the back as Starsky went around to the passenger side of the car. As he shut the door, the window handle dropped to the ground. With a grunt of annoyance, he picked it back up and closed the door. He turned to face the woman in the back seat. She sat primly holding her purse, staring straight ahead.
"If you don't mind, I'd like to get this over with quickly. I have shopping to do."
"Yes ma'am." Starsky answered. "We'll get you to the station, take your statement then one of our officers will drive you anywhere you need to go." He gave her his best smile and with that, she relaxed and leaned against the seat.
