Chapter 2

Once he back in his office, Starsk sat back down and finished familiarizing himself with the cases his men were assigned to. He had six teams of two men each. He knew his men would have a hard time dealing with the loss of Lieutenant Stratton and it was up to him to make sure they continued doing their jobs and help them cope the best he could. Today, two teams were off duty but he asked the other eight to come into his office. He would have talked to them out in the squad room, but his men and Hutch's men shared one larger room and he only wanted to meet with his men.

He looked at the men as they filed into his office. "I guess I'd better introduce myself to you first…"

"I know who you are, you're Hutchinson," Starsky heard one of them say. His men noticed Starsky cringe at the sound of his former partner's name.

"Get this straight, I'm Starsky," he wanted to follow up with his usual line of 'he's Hutch' but he let it go. Instead he said, "Lieutenant Starsky." He shook hands with each of his men and told them that over the next couple of days he would be calling them in to be briefed on the cases they were working on. He said that he was looking forward to working with each of them.

Hutch also had six teams of two each under his command. He had eleven men and one woman. Her name was Katrina and she was about 5 feet eight inches tall, had short black hair and dark brown eyes. She was also single and Hutch thought if he wasn't her superior he would ask her out in a heartbeat. But, he was her superior and he had to push those thoughts out of his mind. Two of Hutch's teams were in the office working on reports and he met with each team separately. He told each team what he expected from them. They briefed Hutch on the cases they were working on and chatted a while about their home life. Mitch Davis was married with a three-year-old little girl and another baby on the way. His partner Mike Anderson was just married last month. Davis and Anderson were working at the train station on a theft ring that was new in the area. They had been assigned to the case a couple of weeks before Lieutenant Martin was murdered.

The other team Hutch met was Katrina Gomez and Brandon Miller. Brandon's wife had recently left him and moved back east. He did not have any children. They were working on a string of murders that were all within a three mile area downtown.

It wasn't long before Starsky and Hutch's teams left the station to hit the streets. Hutch picked up a report from Gomez that she had turned in. He read a few lines and dropped it on his desk. He picked up another report, this time it was one of Anderson's report about a bust he made a week ago. Hutch shook his head and set it on top of Gomez's report. By the time he finished reading all the reports his men had turned in he was disappointed and disgusted. He tossed the last report on top of the others and sighed. "Really, this is the best they can do. These reports are awful. They're late, not filled out completely and just plain sloppy." Hutch said out loud. He started rereading each report and made notes as to what was wrong with each of them.

Starsky had a stack of reports he was reading that had been submitted for his approval. He ran into the same mistakes and just plain bad reports that Hutch had. He grunted as he put the last one down. "Dobey would have had my hide if I ever turned in a report like this," he said. Then he chuckled as he remembered that his reports were just like the ones he'd just read. He made a mental note to apologize to Captain Dobey for his reporting techniques.

Starsky's phone rang and it was Captain Dobey asking him to come into his office. It was about a new case and he wanted Starsky to handle it. Starsky met with his captain and decided to assign Stan Mantle and Patrick O'Brien to the case. Both men were married. Mantle had one boy who was nine. Mantle had twin boys who were just turning thirteen. When he called them in the office to brief them on the details of the case, he said, "If my ex-partner wants us to be lieutenants, then I'd like to upstage him every chance I get. You see, he doesn't think I'll be as good a lieutenant as he will. I'd appreciate it if you'd help me out, guys. Whatdaya say?"

"I understand. I'd be mad if O'Brien decided to call it quits without talking to me about it first. We'll do everything we can, Sir."

"I'd never do anything like that to you. I'd talk to you about it first," Mantle said as he nodded at O'Brien.

"It's water under the bridge now. Just solve the case, will ya? I know it sounds a little childish, but I really want to beat him on this one."

O'Brien and Mantle stated that they would get right on it. Before they left, Starsky told them to be careful.

Starsky wanted a cup of coffee and went into the squad room where he saw a couple of Hutch's men working on reports. He started pouring a cup of coffee when Hutch walked up to him. Hutch reached out to put his hand on Starsky's arm as a friendly gesture but Starsky pulled back and retreated into his office. Hutch noticed his men staring at him and told them to get back to work. He didn't bother getting his coffee. He watched as Starsky closed the door to his office and he turned around and went back to his own office.

The rest of the week went the same way. No one saw Starsky and Hutch speak to each other all week or even share a glance. It was becoming quite apparent to others in the department that Starsky and Hutch's friendship ended when the partnership did and that was something no one ever thought would happen. It was as if a wedge had been placed between them and this time, it wasn't fixable. Everyone knew Starsky and Hutch were playing a game of one-upmanship and the men under their command were the pawns. Starsky's team had made an arrest in the case Dobey gave him while Hutch's men were still working on their case. It was a simple case, but Starsky thanked his men for winning round one.

After he left work on Friday, Hutch headed to The Pits. He had a rough week and wanted to see Huggy. He was relieved to see that Starsky was not there. Hutch sat on the last stool at the bar. His favorite booth remained empty. He just couldn't sit in it without Starsky. Huggy noticed the sad, lost look on Hutch's face and set a beer in front of him. "Here you go, Hutch. How long are you and Starsky going to play this game?"

"It's not a game this time, Hug. It's over. He can't understand why I want off the streets and I can't get him to talk to me. Has he been in here?"

Huggy quickly looked around his place to make sure his customers were happy. He leaned closer to Hutch, "He came in Wednesday night. He looked about as tore up as you do."

"Did he say anything?"

"Just that he didn't think you'd ever turn on him."

"Turn on him? I never…," Hutch raised his voice.

"Hey, you and I know that, Blondie, but this is Starsky we're talkin' about. You know how he tends to act first and ask questions later. Maybe it's better this way. A clean break, ya know."

"No sappy goodbyes or see you around," Hutch said as he took a gulp of his beer.

"Something like that. I hope you don't mind if I stay his friend. You both need a friend and since you don't have each other anymore…"

"I'd like it if you'd stay his friend. He needs one." Huggy smiled. Hutch added, "I need one too."

"You got it, Blondie. I can be totally neutral, that's my game."

"Did he say what his plans for the weekend were?"

"He said something about driving around checking out his new turf."

"Thanks, Hug. If he comes back, tell him," Hutch finished his beer, "never mind. I guess it doesn't matter." Hutch paid his tab, told Huggy he would be back in a couple of days and left.

The next two weeks were no better. Everyone that knew them before they had been promoted noticed a huge change in Starsky and Hutch's behavior toward each other. They never spoke and would avoid each other if at all possible. Everyone thought it was sad to watch such a great friendship crumble before their very eyes.

Captain Dobey was still concentrating on the murders of Martin and Stratton. He assigned Simmons and Babcock to the case but it appeared they were not having any luck.

Starsky and Hutch got to know the men under their command and were getting much better reports from them. As their superiors, they couldn't just 'hang out' with them on a regular basis.

Starsky and his men were assigned mostly to the docks and warehouse districts while Hutch and his men had the train and bus station areas. After they left the station at the end of the day, they would drive around to familiarize themselves with their new areas.

At the end of his fourth week in his new position, Starsky left the station and headed toward the docks. He thought he was being followed by a dark blue car but when he made a left turn, the car went straight. What he didn't know was that he was being followed and it wasn't by Hutch. Starsky turned onto Ocean Avenue and the man following him knew that would take Starsky to the pier. He turned on another street so Starsky wouldn't know he was being followed.