SAVE THE LAST DANCE
                                                                                                         By Tooki





                                                                                    ~Chapter One~


Starsky sat alone at their table in the dance club, Hutch had gone to use the facilities. He watched the other couples dance to the pulsing music and flashing lights until one woman caught his eye. She was dancing in the center of the floor alone; she had beautiful full chestnut brown hair that fell in large curls to the middle of her back. She had on a flowing silver dress that cut off just below her calves and matching silver shoes.
He was so engrossed in watching the woman dance that he didn’t notice that she was coming closer until she held out her hand to him. “Dance with me.”
Starsky sat stunned as he looked at the gorgeous woman swaying her hips in front of him. “I-I can’t dance,” he stammered.
“You can too, I saw you earlier,” she grinned; finally she grabbed his hand and pulled him out of his chair onto the dance floor. After a few minutes she asked, “Now, is this so painful?”
The music suddenly slowed and she placed her arms around Starsky’s neck and moved in closer to him. “Hi.”
“Hi.” Starsky said as he put his arms around her waist.
The woman said nothing further as they danced, Starsky glanced at the table where he had been sitting, he saw Hutch standing there looking around for his missing partner. When the song was over, Starsky pulled away from the woman and smiled at her, “I better get back to my partner.”
She turned and looked at the blond headed man who had just spied them. She waved her fingers at him then linked her arm through Starsky’s and led him toward the table.
“Having fun?” Hutch asked Starsky as they approached him.
“This is…uh.” She had never introduced herself nor had he introduced himself.
“Cole, Cole Jacobs,” She held her hand out to Hutch.
“Ken Hutchinson,” he smiled back at her. “Unusual name, I like it.”
“Thanks, my dad wanted a boy,” She quipped. Starsky pulled out a chair and offered her a seat, “Are you sure you don’t mind?”
“Not at all,” Hutch said.
After Cole was seated, she looked over at Starsky, “I assume you have a name too?”
Starsky blushed, “David Starsky, sorry.”
“Ok, David and Ken, got it.” Cole giggled.
“Did we miss the joke?” Hutch asked.
Cole turned in her seat and pointed across the dance floor to a table of five or six other woman, “Bachelorette party, they dared me to come over here and pick you up, David.”
“Glad I could help out,” Starsky said with a touch of sarcasm.
“I guess I had better be getting back.” Cole said as she got up. “Nice meeting you guys.”
“Nice meeting you,” Hutch said as he stood. Starsky remained rooted in his seat. They both watched Cole as she crossed the dance floor and rejoined her friends. “Wow, what a knock out.”
“Yeah,” Starsky said, his pride wounded. “Let’s get out of here, uh?”
“Sure, you want to grab something to eat on the way home?”
Starsky shrugged his shoulders. “Yeah, whatever.”
As they were making their way to the door Hutch jabbed his friend in the ribs, “She got to you didn’t she?”
“Who?”
“You know who, Cole.”
“Are you talking about me?” Cole had slipped up behind them. “I’m sorry about that back there; you know how stupid those parties are. I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.”
“You didn’t,” Starsky said. “Like I said, glad I could help out, hope you won.”
“Actually, I think I did win,” Cole flashed a dazzling smile at Starsky. She pulled a pen from her purse and took his hand, she wrote her number on his palm, “Call me, uh? I’ll make it up to you.”

Being a Friday night The Pits was jumping, Huggy stood behind the bar making drinks, every booth and table was filled, only two spots at the far end of the bar were open. The two detectives took the spots, Huggy waved to them to let them know they had been seen but it was another ten minutes before he managed to make it to the end of bar. One of the waitress got mugs of beer for them, they had just drained the last drop when Huggy finally came to talk to them.
“What’s up?” Huggy said wiping the bar with a damp rag, “Can I get you another?”
“Sure,” Starsky said rather dejectedly.
“What is the matter with curly?” Huggy addressed Hutch.
“He was the butt of a Bachelorette party earlier.” Hutch said, “But I don’t know what he is so bummed about, the chick gave him her number as we were leaving.”
“It’s probably to a pay phone,” Starsky said looking at the number on his hand.
“What if it’s not?” Hutch said, “You better write it down before it washes off, or you will kick yourself.”
“Or I can bend over and let her kick me in the pants again.” Starsky grumbled.
“Don’t like being taken advantage of by a beautiful woman, uh?” Huggy teased. “She was beautiful, wasn’t she?”
“A total knockout.” Hutch said, “Hey, Huggy, you got a pen?” The bar keeper grabbed a pen from the cash register and handed it to Hutch. The detective picked up a napkin, “Hold out your hand, Starsk.”
Starsky held out his palm without the number, Hutch gave him a look of contempt. “Fine!” Starsky produced his other palm; Hutch quickly wrote down the number and stuffed the napkin in Starsky’s jacket pocket.
“Call the girl, what can you loose?”

“Did you call her?” It was Hutch’s first question when he entered the squad room the next morning.
Starsky ignored Hutch, pretending that he was reading the paper. Finally, he said, “There was another car-jacking last night.”
Hutch forgot about the woman, “What? Why didn’t Dobey call and let us know?”
“Don’t know, I haven’t seen Dobey this morning. His door has been shut since I got here.” Starsky answered, then he looked up at Hutch. “You are late; I am never here before you.”
“I was just running late,” Hutch said vaguely not wanting to tell Starsky he was having car trouble…again. Then he looked at Dobey’s door. “Since when have you ever let a closed door stop you from seeing Dobey?”
“It’s locked?”
“Locked? Dobey never locks his door, but I’m sure there are times when he would like too.”
“I just get the feeling there is a lot more going on here than a few car jacking’s.” Starsky mused.
“Well an officer was killed the other night.” Hutch said.
“Did they ever find out who the civilian was?”
The scene had been horrible three nights’ ago by the time to the two detectives had arrived; the man behind the wheel of a Cadillac was dead, slumped over the wheel, blood pouring from a gunshot wound to the head. An officer lay in the street not far from his squad car, also shot in the head. Even though it was nearly midnight, the streets were full of onlookers, but nobody had seen what had happened or they weren’t talking.
It was a carjacking gone wrong was all that they knew and the fourth in a series, only this one had ended in deaths. They needed to find out what was different about this one. Maybe the man had resisted, or the officer showing up had freaked out the robber, they might never find out the facts if no one was willing to talk.
“I can’t believe they haven’t ID’d the man behind the wheel.” Hutch said. “There had to be a registration in the glove box.”
“Well, if somebody knows who he is, they aren’t talking.” Starsky answered.
“Do you have any details on the jacking last night?”
Starsky shook his head. “Since the shooting, this whole case has been hushed up.”
“Aren’t we supposed to be working on it?” Hutch asked glancing at his captain’s door.
As Hutch looked at the door it was jerked opened and three men in dark suits exited the office, followed by Dobey, he had an angry expression on his face. After the men had left the squad room, Dobey looked over at his two detectives, “In my office.”
“Oh, boy,” Starsky said as he got up.
Dobey was shoving file folders into his desk drawer when they entered. “You want to see us, Cap?” Hutch asked hoping to keep the mood light but knew that he had failed by the look on Dobey’s face.
“Sit down,” Dobey said as he slammed the drawer shut. “You two are off the carjacking case.”
“WHAT?” Starsky blustered as he jumped to his feet and planted his hands on Dobey’s desk. “WHY?”
“Higher powers than me,” Dobey said, he knew the reaction he was going to have from his men. “Sit down, Starsky. There is nothing I can do about this.”
“Do you know why?” Hutch asked always the calmer of the two.
“I’m not at liberty to say.”
“Not at liberty? You have got to be kidding me, Cap.” Starsky was agitated but he sat down next to Hutch.
“I could lose my job,” Dobey said looking at both his men.
“Should we be worried about this?” Hutch asked.
Dobey looked at his hands for a long time then spoke, “Just watch your backs.”
“So, that’s the final word.” Starsky rose from his chair.
Dobey pulled a folder from a stack on the right side of his desk. “Your new assignment.”
Starsky glared at his captain, turned and walked out of the office without taking the folder. Hutch got to his feet slowly as he reached out to take the folder. “I don’t understand this.”
“I know you don’t, Hutchinson, just trust me.” Dobey clung to the folder as Hutch tried to take it. “Don’t keep working on the carjacking case behind my back, it’s totally off limits, I was serious when I said I could lose my job, you boys too.”
Hutch’s eyebrows furrowed, he had never heard Dobey speak in that tone of voice before. “Alright, Cap, we will steer clear.”
When Hutch came out of his captain’s office, Starsky was angrily pacing the squad room. “Can you believe that crap?” he exploded when he saw his partner.
“Starsk, just calm down.” Hutch said as he tossed the file on his desk. “There is nothing Dobey can do.”
“How about trusting us?”
“I don’t think it has anything to do with trust.”
“Then what does it have to do with, uh? Dobey has never held out on us before.” Starsky ranted.
Hutch sat down at his desk and opened up the file Dobey had given him, “I’m sure when he can, he will explain it to us.”
“Maybe that’s not good enough.”
“I think it’s going to have to be, at least for now.” Hutch said as he turned his attention to the information before him.

Starsky was still in a fowl mood when he arrived home that night. He had refused Hutch’s invitation to come over to his apartment for beer and pizza. He just needed some time to fume over what had transpired that morning. He wanted to poke more into the car jacking but Hutch had refused to back him up. So he was force to drop it, at least for now.
He removed his jacket and slung it toward a chair, when he did, something white fluttered from the jacket pocket. Starsky reached down and picked it up. It was the napkin Hutch had written the phone number on. He started to wad up the napkin and drop it in the trash then changed his mind. “Oh, why not?” Starsky said out loud to no one.
Starsky flopped down on the coach and grabbed the phone; he dialed the number half expecting it not to be real, but after several rings a woman’s voice answered. “Is Cole there?”
“Speaking.”
Starsky faltered for a moment, finally, he said, “This is David Starsky, we…”
“David,” Cole said delighted that he had called. “I didn’t think you would call. I’m really sorry about last night.”
His mood lightened. “No problem, I’m glad I could help.”
Cole giggled, “Even if you didn’t know you were helping.”
“I’ve had worse things happen to me than a beautiful girl asking me to dance.” He smiled into the phone as he thought of Cole swaying to the music.
“Why don’t you let me make it up to you?” Cole said. “How about dinner at my place?”
“You don’t need to do that.”
“I want to. How about tonight, have you eaten yet?” She wanted to know.
“Tonight?”
“I’m sorry, I guess I’m being too forward,” He could hear the disappointment in her voice.
“Give me your address, let me clean up and I’ll be there.” Starsky said grabbing a pen to write down her address.


                                                                             ~Chapter Two~


Cole hung up the phone and panicked slightly, she didn’t have anything in the apartment to make for dinner unless it was perhaps peanut butter sandwiches. She cursed herself for being over anxious but she feared if she put David off that he might not call again. Cole picked up the phone, quickly dialed a number and waited for it to be answered. It was a male voice that picked up on the other end. “Listen, I need stuff for dinner.”
“I’m not your errand boy,” the voice informed her.
“He’s on his way over here for dinner.” Cole’s voice turned hard and cold. “I have nothing here.”
“Take him out then.”
“I asked him over for a meal cooked with my own little hands.”
“Can you even cook?”
“Just get me a couple of steaks with the fixing, uh?” Cole snapped. “Be quick about it, I figure I have an hour tops.”
Cole had just put away the last grocery bag when there was a knock on the door. She pulled her silk shirt down over the top of her jeans, smoothed her hair and glanced in a mirror before she opened the door. “David!”
“Cole,” Starsky handed her two bottles of wine. “Since I didn’t know what we were having I brought a bottle of white and red.”
“That is so sweet of you.” Cole said as she ushered him into the apartment. She took the bottles to the kitchen and got two wine glasses. “So, which one do you want?”
“You pick, I’m not much of a wine drinker to be honest.” Starsky said as he surveyed the apartment. He wondered what she did, Cole lived in an expensive part of town and her apartment was not cheaply decorated.
Cole came out of the kitchen carrying two bottles of beer, “Well if we are confessing, neither am I.”
Starsky grinned at her as he took the bottle from her. “Ah…my kind of girl.”
“So, I was wondering, you referred to your friend as your partner, what do you guys do?” Cole wanted to know as she pointed to the couch and they sat down.
“We are detectives with the police department.”
“Oh,” Cole said.
“Are you going to kick me out now?”
Cole laughed, “No, why?”
“Seems when I say the word cop most girls back off.” Starsky answered.
“I can’t believe that.”
“You didn’t have the greatest reaction.”
“Sorry, I was just kind of surprised, you two don’t look like cops.” Cole smiled at him.
“And what do cops look like?” He wanted to know.
Cole looked at him a moment, then she stuck out her hand to him. “Hi, my name is Cole, let’s start over.”
“Is that your way of getting out of an uncomfortable conversation?”
“Yes.”
“Honest again…I like that.” Starsky asked grinning at her.
“I better check on dinner,” Cole got up and disappeared into the kitchen.

Hutch flipped the channels on the television; nothing interested him so he turned it off and grabbed the TV Guide to see if something good was on later. The conversation with Dobey bugged him as much it had Starsky but he hadn’t let on to either his partner or Dobey. He had asked around to see who might have been put on the carjacking case but he couldn’t find any detective that had been assigned to the case which made him all that much more curious. He was sure it had to do with the driver of the Cadillac, there was no other explanation.
Hutch ran the other carjackings though his mind, nothing unusual about them. There was definitely a pattern, they had all happened within the same area, all the cars had been Cadillac’s but nobody had been hurt until the killings before last night's incident. All he could find out about last night's carjacking was that the old pattern had repeated itself again, with no one being hurt. There have been warnings on all the news stations and newspaper’s to just turn over your car, not to resist. But this one guy had resisted or had he? Maybe this was something all together different, maybe whoever shot the officer and the man behind wheel had a different agenda, maybe it was a copycat.
Tossing the TV Guide across the room, Hutch got to his feet, grabbed his coat and gun. He needed some answers, not just because the case was taken from them without justification, but because he had a gut feeling something far beyond a simple carjacking had happened.
Hutch walked into Huggy’s hoping it wouldn’t be as crowded at it had been the night before. It was later and the dinner crowd had thinned out so he was able to get a booth. The detective motioned for Huggy to join him, which Huggy did, bringing a cold beer with him.
“Hey, where is your better half?” Huggy teased as he always did when they came into the bar without each other.
“Home moping.”
“Not about that girl?” Huggy wanted to know.
“No,” Hutch said and he told Huggy about the events that had taken place earlier in the day.
“There is a lot of talk about that carjacking.” Huggy said, he looked around the bar and then slid in across from Hutch.
“So what is the word on the street?” Hutch leaned closer to Huggy.
“The guy behind the wheel was some sort of cop.”
“Some sort of cop? What does that mean?” Hutch wanted to know.
“Word is he wasn’t local, and he was undercover.” Huggy whispered as he looked around again.
“Starsk and I were working that case; we didn’t know anything about undercover work.” Hutch said more perplexed than he had been. “Who would have been brought in to work undercover and from where? This was a few carjackings, nothing big; nobody had even been hurt until this character was shot.”
“That is all I have,” Huggy said almost apologetically. “I can keep my ear to the ground and let you know if I come up with anything else.”
“That would be great, Huggy.” Hutch said as he finished up is beer.
“Can I get you something to eat?” Huggy offered.
“I think I’ll pass,” Hutch said sliding out of the booth. “I need to talk to Starsky.”

Hutch’s phone calls to his partner went unanswered as Starsky was digging into the steak that Cole had put in front of him. “This is great.”
Cole sighed, “Good, I’m not much of a cook.”
“Well, you could have fooled me.”
“So, have you and Ken been partners a long time?” Cole asked as she played with the food on her plate.
“Yeah, I trust him with my life.” Starsky answered.
“Are you guys working on anything special?”
Starsky looked up at the beautiful woman sitting across from him. He was more than surprised that she would even care. “We were working a case but got pulled from it this morning.”
“Why?”
“I’m really not sure to tell you the truth. Our captain just called us into his office and told us we were off the case.”
“Does that happen a lot?” Cole asked trying to sound casual.
“Once in a while, but usually if we aren’t getting anywhere our captain will put a fresh pair of eyes on the case. But this one was different.”
“What was it?”
“Have you read about those carjackings?” Starsky said as he dumped salad dressing on his greens.
Cole nodded, “I think I saw something in the paper, I don’t watch TV much.”
“A cop was killed along with the guy driving the car.”
“That is horrible. Did they catch who is doing it?”
Starsky shook his head, “Not yet, I guess Hutch and I don’t have to worry about it since we aren’t on the case.”
“Hutch?”
“Ken, his last name is Hutchinson, so most everybody just calls him Hutch.” Starsky informed her.
Cole grinned at him, “And what do they call you?”
“Starsky,” he smiled back at her.
“Starsky and Hutch, cute.” Cole looked amused, then asked, “Were you guys on that case long?”
“Since the first carjacking, it’s been several weeks” Starsky squirmed in his seat, he was still mad about being tossed off the case and didn’t want to talk about it.
“I’m sorry,” Cole said she laid her napkin next to her plate as she got up. “You want another beer?”
“Sure, what are you sorry for?”
“I’m making you uncomfortable.”
“It’s not that, I just don’t want to talk about it, it just makes me mad we were pulled.”
“Then let’s change the subject.” Cole flashed him a smile before going into the kitchen to retrieve two more bottles of beer.

It was nearly midnight before Starsky pulled up behind Hutch who had been waiting on his partner for a couple of hours. Starsky knew his partner’s car immediately, he jump out of his own car and walked to the driver’s side of Hutch’s car. He was asleep, Starsky rapped on the window, Hutch’s eyes flew open and he looked around, then through the window. Slowly, Hutch opened the car door and got out. “Scare me to death,” Hutch said.
“What are you doing sitting in front of my place?” Starsky wanted to know, “What’s going on?” He knew it had to be important if Hutch was camping out there.
“I need to talk to you about the carjacking case.”
“I thought we were off that.” Starsky said as he walked toward his apartment.
“I have been doing a little nosing around.” Hutch admitted.
Starsky stopped and turned to look at Hutch. “Dobey said to leave it alone.”
“Oh, don’t get all holier than thou on me,” Hutch blustered. “And where the hell were you anyway?”
“I was at Cole’s,” Starsky said as he continued on to his front door. “I’m not getting all holier than thou.”
“Cole, the girl from the club?” Hutch grinned, “You finally called her.”
“We had a nice dinner, which she cooked for me,” Starsky let them into his apartment.
“Is she is as nice as she seems?”
“I thought you were here to talk about the carjacking case that we aren’t suppose to be on,” Starsky flipped on a light, they were both shocked to see his apartment had been turned up side down.
Hutch pulled his gun, Starsky’s first thought was of his gun that he hadn’t taken with him to Cole’s. But it was where he had left it, he grabbed it and they proceeded to check out the rest of the apartment. When they were finished Hutch asked, “Is there anything missing?”
“Doesn’t look like it,” Starsky surveyed the mess, nothing had been damaged just tossed around as if somebody was looking for something.
“Have you made somebody mad?” Hutch asked as he picked up a knocked over floor lamp.
“Not that I know of,” Starsky sighed looking at the mess.
“Wonder if I struck a nerve?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Word on the street is that the driver of the Caddy was ‘some sort of a cop’ as Huggy put it.” Hutch told his partner.
“We didn’t have undercover working on the carjackings, at least not yet.” Starsky said. “So who was it?”
Hutch shrugged, “Beats me, but I’m starting to get the feeling that the shooting and the carjackings are two different cases.”
Starsky nodded, “And we were told not to pursue the carjacking, so if the shooting wasn’t part of the carjacking, then it’s fair game.”
“I like the way you think partner.” Hutch winked at Starsky. “I’ll help you clean up this mess.”


                                                                       ~Chapter Three~



Hutch returned early in the morning to his own apartment after helping Starsky put back together his place. He opened the door and it was like an instant replay of Starsky’s apartment. Everything Hutch owned had been dumped in the middle of the living room floor. “Son of a….” Hutch cursed as he began looking for his phone; finally after finding the cord and following it to the phone he put in a call to Starsky.
Starsky had just lain down to catch a little sleep when the phone rang. “Yeah.”
“Starsk, my apartment got hit too.”
“What?” Starsky sat up, “Ok if Dobey even thinks we are sitting on our hands he has another think coming, this has turned personal.”
“We can’t go off half cocked, we are going to have to be smart about this,” Hutch said clearing a place to sit down. “Let’s just keep quiet for now, act like nothing is going on and see what happens next.”
“Do you think this is related to the carjackings?”
“No,” Hutch answered, “I think has something to do with the killings.”

Cole was just getting up when there was a loud knock on her door. She slipped a robe on and went to answer it. When she opened the door a man dressed in a dark suit stood there holding a bag of donuts and a cardboard carrier with coffee in it. When she didn’t ask him to come in he said, “May I come in?”
Grunting Cole walked away from the door, “So did you find anything?”
“No, nothing,” the man set the coffee and donuts on the kitchen table.
“I wish you would have waited until I talked to Starsky, they think it’s nothing but a simple carjacking gone wrong. What makes you think either one of those detectives is involved with Thomas’s murder. One of their own officers was gunned down.”
The man rolled his eyes, “You think that would be the first time a dirty cop killed one of their own?”
“I don’t think they are dirty, just caught up in something they have no idea about.” Cole said pulling her robe tighter around her. “I don’t like lying to David; he’s really a nice guy.”
“You know this after one dinner.” He asked.
“Rollins you are a jackass.” Cole snapped.
“Don’t tell me you are falling for this cop.”
“I don’t even know him.”
“My point exactly, you have no idea what he might be capable of, or his partner.” Rollins slipped one of the cups of coffee from the carrier and sat down at the table. “When are you seeing him again?”
“I don’t know, we didn’t discuss it last night but I think he will call again.” Cole joined Rollins at the table. “I don’t like this; I think we are way off base.”
“You don’t have to like it Cole, this is your job.” Rollins said looking at her from across the table. “Don’t get emotionally involved, it might get you killed.”

“So where do we go from here?” Starsky wanted to know as he flopped down next to Hutch on the couch. It had taken them nearly three hours to put Hutch’s place back together.
“I wouldn’t mind getting a little sleep,” Hutch answered, his head was throbbing, he was tired and hungry. “Or a something to eat, I didn’t get dinner last night.”
“So which is it? Sleeping or eating?” Starsky asked yawning himself.
“How about sleep first,” Hutch got up, “You can crash on the couch.”
There sleeping didn’t last long as both men did nothing but toss and turn thinking about the events of the last forty-eight hours. Hutch padded into the living room and looked down at his partner on the couch, his eyes were close, “You asleep.”
“No,” Starsky said without opening his eyes.
“How about Huggy’s for breakfast?”
“Sure why not.” Starsky sat up and rubbed his face with his hands.
On the way to the Pit’s Hutch asked Starsky, “So tell me about Cole.”
“She’s a good cook.”
“Are you going to call her again?”
“Probably.”
“You know you are hard to talk to.” Hutch said.
“Sorry,” Starsky said as he pulled up in front of the bar. “I guess I’m just preoccupied.”
“You should call and ask her to join us for breakfast.”
“You are just a little pushy aren’t you?” Starsky said. “We had a nice dinner last night, I didn’t even kiss her good night. She likes beer more than wine, she has a nice place, what else to you want to know?”
“Man you are in a rotten mood,” Hutch observed.
“Why aren’t you? We just had somebody ransack our apartments looking for god knows what, we were kicked off a case we have been working on since the beginning and something strange as hell is going on. It’s kind of hard not to be in rotten mood.” Starsky grumbled as he suppressed a yawn. “And I’m tired and can’t sleep.”

Cole got into the shower letting the steaming water beat on her head, she didn’t like Doug Rollins he was too gung-ho for her but she had to admit he always got the job done. She knew what she had to do now, prove that Starsky and his partner had nothing to do with the death of Thomas Ackins. She wasn’t sure why their boss thought that the two detectives had made Thomas and killed him, there really had been no evidence to that fact. And even if they had figured out who he was why would they want him dead? They were simple detectives working on a simple case, they hadn’t even been round until after the shooting to clean up the mess.
She dressed quickly after her shower, maybe she needed to do a little of her own detective work to find out just what was going on. Cole opened her top dresser drawer moved around some clothing and pulled out a small caliber gun which she stuck in her purse.
Cole entered on of the many office buildings in downtown Los Angeles and went to the tenth floor. She was kept waiting nearly thirty minutes before she was ushered into her bosses office.
“Cole, good to see you, what do I owe the pleasure of your company,” Alexander Masters greeted the young woman before him.
“Mr. Masters,” Cole said taking his hand which he was holding out to her. He drew her closer and kissed the back of her hand. “I need to talk to you about the case.
“I understand you have made contact with one of the detectives.”
“Yes, actually I have met both of them. And it’s my professional opinion that neither of these men and had anything to do with the death of Ackins.”
Masters sat down and motioned for Cole to do the same. “My facts show that they had Ackins killed.”
“But why, there is no motive.”
“Not that you know of.”
“Is there a motive?” Cole asked. “They are just two hard working cops. I don’t see why they would want Ackins dead.”
“That is what I have you for,” Masters pulled a cigar from a box on his desk. “You need to find that motive.”
Cole was getting flustered, her gut told her that the detectives didn’t kill or have Thomas Ackins killed. “Sir I’m not sure I’m the right person for this job.”
“Cole we don’t have time to put somebody else in your place. You have already made contact, had dinner with Detective Starsky, perhaps forming a relationship with him? NO?”
“Yes, I think we have a connection and that is why I want to be pulled from this case.” Cole stressed.
“You do your job like a good girl. Like I said there is no time. I want these two off the street.”
“But….” Cole began.
Cutting her off Masters said, “No buts. We don’t have much time so make this happen.”
Cole took a deep breath and got to her feet, “Yes sir.”


Monday morning both detectives drug themselves into work only to be called in to Dobey’s office first thing. Dobey’s face was grim as he faced his two men.
“As of right now you two are on vacation.” Dobey said. “Get out of town for a while.”
“Vacation?” Hutch looked at his captain stunned. “What is going on? First we are pulled from a case and now we are being forced to take a vacation?”
“Do you want me to suspend you?”
Their mouths fell open. “How about telling us what we have done?” Starsky wanted to know. “Because as far as I tell we haven’t done one damn thing to warrant a forced vacation or suspension.”
“Just do it,” Dobey ordered.
“No, we aren’t going anywhere until you tell us what is going on.” Hutch stood his ground.
Dobey’s shoulders slumped. “Listen Hutchinson I can’t tell you what is going on. If I don’t get you two off the streets I could lose my job. If I’m gone there won’t be anybody to protect you. So please, take a week, go off someplace with one of your beautiful ladies and let me get this worked out.”
The two detectives looked at each other confused. Dobey had never held out on them or at least not for very long. “Just tell me one thing,” Hutch said. “Does this have anything to do with the driver that was killed.”
“Yes, now get the hell out of here.” Dobey said gruffly. “I don’t want to see you until next Monday and if I so much as hear you have been poking around I’ll throw you both in jail myself.”
After the detectives left his office Dobey leaned back in his chair, he hated doing what he was doing to them with no explanation. It was for their own good, he wasn’t even sure himself what was going on. He did know that somebody was trying to frame them for the murder of the man in the car. But he couldn’t even give them that much information. If there was one thing he did know was how they would react to that news. He was hoping that his plea of them leaving town hadn’t fallen on deaf ears. He hadn’t lied when he had told them that his job was on the line but taking them off the streets had probably sealed his fate also. The powers that be were not going to be happy that he had sent them away.

“Can you believe that?” Starsky fumed as the headed toward the elevator.
Hutch was again strangely calm, “Maybe getting out of town isn’t such a bad idea. How long has it been since we have had a break?”
“A while, but I don’t want a break like this.” Starsky answered, “I don’t like it, Dobey always tells us what is going on.”
“So this is something big, bigger than Dobey and I’m guessing bigger than our police department. Makes we wonder just who this cop is that was killed in the Caddy.” Something had hadn’t been confirmed. Hutch leaned against the wall of the elevator as they moved to the first floor. “Why don’t you take the lovely Cole somewhere for a few days?”
“Why are you pushing her one me?” Starsky wanted to know.
“Why are you resisting so much? This isn’t like you my friend.” Hutch suddenly got a sly grin on his face. “You really like her don’t you. There is some kind of spark there isn’t there?”
Starsky’s cheeks slightly redden. “What if there is a spark nothing ever lasts. So why even try?”
Hutch shook his head, “Oh come on Starsk, maybe it will be different this time. She might be the right one for you. What have you got to loose?”
A slow smile spread across Starsky’s face, “Nothing I guess but I can’t leave right now with all this going on.”
“Let me snoop around, might be easier if I’m alone.” Hutch cocked his head at his friend. “I’ll keep you updated on what I find out.”
Starsky thought for a few moments, “You are making it sound awfully tempting.”
“I insist, Cole really seems like something special. You should find out if there is something there.”
Shrugging Starsky said, “She is probably working and can’t get off anyway.”
“No harm in asking partner.”



                                                                          ~Chapter Four~


Cole jumped at the sound of the knock on her door. She swore to herself if it was Rollins she just might shoot him. He was the last person she wanted to see after talking to Masters. She had been half expecting Rollins to show up to read her the riot act. Cole jerked open the door ready to do battle but was shocked and surprised to see Starsky standing there.
“David!” Cole said as a smile graced her face. She pulled him into the apartment. “What are you doing here?”
“Well…” Suddenly the newly found conviction to start a relationship with Cole that he had found on the drive over had diminished. “I…uh…” Starsky stammered.
Cole giggled, “What is it?”
Starsky decided to just jump in with both feet. “Would you like to go away with me for a few days?” He said in a rush of words.
“Right now?” Cole felt her heart flutter.
“Forget it, I’m sorry.” Starsky said moving toward the door. “I’m sure you are working or busy or got other plans.”
“I would love to,” Cole squealed and threw her arms around his neck. “Give me two secs.”
Starsky was a little surprised that Cole was willing to come with him that minute, he stood in the doorway of her bedroom as she tossed stuff in a bag. “So what do you do that you can just take off like this?”
Cole only hesitated for a moment, “I work on commission at a small art gallery, so it’s no problem if I need to take some time off. That reminds me, I will need to call them and let them know I won’t be in for a few days.” The lie came much too smoothly, she wondered what was happening to her. She was not any better than the rest of them. Cole would also have to cover her tracks when she got back and set something up in case Starsky came looking for her at the gallery which didn’t exist.
“Where would you like to go?” Starsky asked without questioning her further about her job. “Anywhere you like.”
“The beach sounds good.”
“How about if we just jump in the car and drive down the coast until we find a place we want to hang out for a few days?” Starsky grinned shyly at her.
“Sounds like a plan to me.” Cole handed him her bag, “Why don’t you go put this in your car and I’ll call work then I’ll be right down.” Starsky took the bag pretending that he could hardly carry it. Cole laughed at him as she followed him to the door. “This won’t take long.”
They drove a couple of hours before deciding on a small beach front motel, “I’ll get us a couple of rooms.” He said getting out of the car.
“A couple?”
“We don’t need to rush things.” Starsky winked at her.
“That’s suppose to be my line,” Cole kidded him. “How about adjoining?”
“I’ll see what I can do.”
Starsky and Cole walked down the pathway to their rooms through the ferns and palmed landscaping. “This is beautiful, I can’t wait to hit the beach,” Cole commented glancing toward the ocean.
“Here we are,” Starsky said stopping in front of one of the room doors, he held out two keys, “Lady’s choice.”
Cole closed her eyes and grabbed a key, “Room six, I guess that means you have five.”
“Meet you on the beach in ten minutes?” Starsky asked.
“Make it five.” Cole gave him a seductive look.
“Okay, five,” Starsky inserted the key in the lock wondering how he had gotten so lucky. He dropped his bag and picked up the phone, he dialed Hutch’s number not thinking he would be home.
To his surprise, Hutch answered on the second ring, “Yeah.”
“Is that anyway to answer a phone?”
“Starsk, where are you?”
“We found a great little place on the beach a few hours away,” Starsky said, then gave Hutch the name of the motel and phone number to his room. “You find out anything yet?”
Hutch smiled into the phone. “I thought I would lay low for a day, maybe two before I start poking around. You know Dobey is going to be on the lookout for one or both of us trying to get to the bottom of what is going on. You guys have fun; I’ll let you know if I find out anything.”
“You have a little fun yourself, buddy.”
Starsky hung up just as there was a knock on the door. He opened the door but nobody was there, he could still hear the knocking. He went to the door between the rooms, unlocked and opened it. Cole was standing there in a white and black bikini that left little to the imagination.
Starsky gave a low whistle, “You are a knock out.”
“Why, thank you.” Cole strolled into Starsky’s room.
“I haven’t changed yet,” Starsky said still in his jeans and t-shirt.
“I’ll wait,” Cole plopped down on the bed.
Starsky dug around in his bag and produced a pair of swim trunks which he took to the bathroom.

Rollins sat in Alexander Masters’ office waiting for the man to return from a business luncheon. He wasn’t sure how Masters was going to react to the news of Cole going off with the cop. He heard Masters in the outer office and got to his feet as the man entered his own office. “Mr. Masters.”
“Doug,” Masters shook the man’s hand then took his place behind the desk. “So how goes the case?”
“Well Cole took with off with Starsky.” Rollins informed his boss.
“Where?”
“I’m not really sure, she said that he showed up at her place unexpectedly and ask her to spend a few days with him.”
“Good, good,” Masters said nodding his head, “Means he trusts her and has no idea who she is. Maybe she can get some information from him away from his partner and familiar surroundings.”
“You know, Cole doesn’t think they have done anything wrong.” Rollins said.
“Yes, I know, Cole was in here yesterday. And what do you think Doug?”
“As of right now, we have found no evidence that they are dirty cops or had anything to do with Thomas’s murder.”
“Well then, maybe you need to look a little harder.” Masters snapped.
“Yes, sir,” Rollins answered. “Cole also told the detective that she worked at a small art gallery, so she will need that cover when she gets back.”
“No problem, I’ll make the arrangements and have a packet sent to her apartment.” Masters scribbled a note on a pad of paper, then asked. “What about the other detective, Hutchinson?”
Rollins shrugged, “As far as I know he didn’t go with them so I presume that he is still in town.”
“Find him and follow him.”
“Yes, sir.”

Hutch hung up the phone; he wondered what his next move should be. He wanted to honor Dobey’s wishes but he also had the feeling that all of them were about to be hung out to dry. Huggy hadn’t called, so he figured he didn’t have any new information for him. Maybe he could wrangle something out of Becky from the coroner’s office about the autopsy. She was always over attentive to him when he and Starsky had to visit the morgue. Hutch knew he had told Starsky he was going to lay low for a few days but he couldn’t stand just sitting around.
Beckie was a petite blonde; she barely stood five feet so Hutch towered over her. Her whole face lit up when she saw her favorite detective enter the room. She was behind her desk working on a report from an autopsy the coroner had just completed. “Well, well, what do I owe this visit to?”
Hutch smiled at her, “I was just wondering if I could get a little information.”
“For you, Hutch, anything,” Beckie almost purred. “Might cost you something though.”
“How about dinner tonight, that is, if the information is good enough.”
“Well, for dinner, I’ll tell you anything you want to know cowboy.” Beckie grinned, “So what can I do for you?”
“I need whatever you got on the drive that was brought in from the carjacking a few days ago.”
Becky’s smile fell into a frown the moment she heard the name. “Hutch, that file has been red flagged.”
“Which means?”
“Only the coroner has access to it.” Beckie said, “I could get fired for looking at the file, let alone letting you see it. I guess dinner is off.”
Hutch hid his disappointment. “I don’t want to get you fired, and dinner is still on, what time do you want me to pick you up?”
Beckie’s smile was back, “I get out of here at six, how about if you pick me up at home about seven, I have to shower after working down here.” Hutch nodded in agreement so she wrote down her address and handed it to him. “See you this evening.”
When Hutch pulled up in front of the address Beckie had given him, she was waiting outside for him. She had a manila envelope in her hand; she opened the car door and climbed in handing him the envelope.
“What’s this?” Hutch asked looking at it, nothing was written on the outside.
“The file you were wanting. The man’s name was Thomas Ackins.” She said closing the car door.
“But I thought you said it was red flagged.”
“It was, it is, but right after you left, the doctor went to lunch so I just got the file, copied it and put it back.”
“I don’t want to get your fired because of me.” Hutch said staring at the envelope; he was dying to tear into it.
Beckie tossed her blonde hair over her shoulder, “It’s not that great of a job.”
“Thank you, I think I’m going to owe you much more than a dinner.” Hutch reluctantly tossed the envelope in the back seat.
Even though the company was good, dinner seemed to drag on forever; all Hutch could think of was the copied file and what might be in it that would give him some insight as to what was going on. Finally, the evening was over and he dropped Beckie off at her house with a promise to call her the next day.
Hutch couldn’t wait to get home; he drove several blocks from her house and parked. He grabbed the envelope from the back seat and got a flashlight from the glove box. Hutch opened the envelope and trained the light on the file, the top page had a big red confidential stamped on it. He thumbed past that page and read the coroner’s report on the autopsy. Ackins had died of a gunshot wound, at close range to the side of his head, didn’t sound much like something a carjacker would do. Sounded more like a hit, “Who the hell are you Thomas Ackins?” Hutch wondered out loud. Within moments Hutch’s question was answered. As he began to read the third and final page the words FBI Agent jumped out at him. “FBI?” Hutch was dumbfounded. Why would the FBI be undercover on string of carjackings? He needed to talk to Starsky.



                                                                         ~Chapter Five~


Cole dug her toes into the warm sand as she leaned back on her elbows, “This is nice.”
Starsky sat with his arms around his knees staring at the water. He needed to be at home helping Hutch not lounging on the beach.
“David?”
He swung his head around and looked at the beautiful woman next to him. “Sorry.”
“What’s going on? You weren’t this distracted driving down.” Cole sat up to look him in the eye.
“I guess I’ve had time to think about it.” Starsky said.
Cole looked wounded, “We can go back.” The hurt was evident in her voice.
“It has nothing you to do with you.” Starsky assured her, “There is just some stuff going on with Hutch and me.”
“The carjacking?” Cole said carefully, she didn’t want to give herself away.
“Yeah, it’s only getting worse; this is a forced vacation by our captain. He pulled us off the streets told us to get out of town for a while until things cooled down. But I don’t even know what is cooling down, Hutch and I have no idea what is going on. The only thing our captain gave us was that it had something to do with man that was killed at the carjacking.”
“If you are here, what is Hutch doing?” Cole asked innocently.
“Trying to run down some leads, figure out what is going on.” Starsky said as a cool breeze blew in off the ocean causing Cole to shiver; only it wasn’t the breeze that caused her to shiver. “You want to go back to the room?”
“No, I’m fine.” Cole answered. “Do you think he’ll find out anything?”
“I don’t know, we haven’t found out much yet.”
“I bet it’s frustrating.”
“What?”
“Oh, being a cop, catching criminals and them getting off.” Cole said hoping she wasn’t tipping her hand.
“Yeah, it is at times. We think we do everything right then we get to court and some slim ball lawyer gets them off.” Starsky lay back on the sand, the sky was starting to darken as night approached.
“Ever wish you could do something about it?”
“You mean like a vigilante?” Starsky wanted to know.
“Yeah, I guess that is what I mean.”
“They are no better than the criminals that they kill,” Starsky looked at Cole again.
She was smiling in the growing darkness, “I guess I am getting a little cold and a little hungry.”
“I can fix both of those.” Starsky said getting up. He held out his hand to her. Cole took it and he pulled her to her feet and into his arms. She was almost the same height he was so he was looking directly into her eyes.
Cole leaned forward and kissed Starsky lightly on the lips. “I think I’m falling in like with you David Starsky.”
“Me too, Cole Jacobs.”
After they had dinner, Starsky went back to his room, as he was opening the door the phone began to ring. He grabbed the receiver and sat down on the bed, “Find out anything?” Starsky asked, knowing it could only be Hutch.
“I hope you are sitting down.” Hutch said, he was now in his apartment and had the chance to study the corner’s report in depth.
“I’m sitting…spill.”
“The driver of the caddy was Thomas Ackins, FBI.”
“FBI?” Starsky was confused. It wouldn’t be the first time that they had stumbled upon another agency doing a stakeout but why were they in hot water over it. He said as much to Hutch.
I don’t know.” Hutch said, “I’m going to keep digging.”
“I think I need to come back.” Starsky said as he looked up to see Cole standing in the doorway between their rooms. She had pulled her dark hair up into a ponytail, and washed the makeup from her face making her look even more beautiful.
“No, you just hang out with your lady, let me do more checking.” Hutch said.
“Are you sure?”
“I’ll call if I need you, promise.” Hutch said.
“Alright,” Starsky hung up and looked at Cole.
“Are we leaving?” She wanted to know.
Starsky shook his head. “At least not tonight, I told Hutch to call if he needs me.”
“Good,” She smiled as she strolled into the room. She had changed into shorts and a tank top. “I would like a chance to get to know you better.”
“So what do you want to do?”
Cole shrugged and picked up a TV guide that was lying on the dresser, “We could see if there is a good movie on.”
“Really?”
“Sure, I love old Bogie movies.” Cole flipped open the magazine and began looking for the evenings listings.
Starsky patted the bed next to him, “Come on over here sweetheart and I’ll help you look.” Starsky said in his best Humphrey Bogart voice.
Cole giggled and climbed onto the bed next to him. They both read the listings until Cole let out a little squeal and pointed to the name of a movie, Casablanca, “Perfect! And it’s just getting ready to start.”
“Are you sure this is what you want to do? We could go out dancing or something.”
“Nope, I can’t think of anything better than curling up and watching Casablanca with you.”
Starsky shook his head with amazement; he had never quite met a girl like Cole before. “Whatever you want.”

Hutch hung up the phone and reread the report for a third time. It just didn’t make any sense. He wished that he could call his captain, but then Dobey would know he had been poking around. What if the FBI agent had been undercover for something else and was just unlucky enough to be sitting in the type of car that had been the target of the carjackings? Hutch mused to himself as looked at the type of bullet that had been pulled from Thomas. It was the same type that was used by the police department. Now he wondered if the file on the officer that was shot and killed was also sealed. He thought of calling Beckie to see if she knew but it was far too late. The more information Hutch found out the more confusing things were.
The next morning as Beckie was coming out of her house she saw Hutch’s car. For some reason the young woman was not surprised to find the detective sitting in front of her house. She walked over and tapped on the window, Hutch was drinking a cup of coffee and reading the newspaper as he waited on her.
Hutch rolled down the window, “Good Morning.”
Beckie smiled at him. “What do I owe this pleasure?”
“More info.”
“Why do I get the feeling you only like me for my file folders,” Beckie joked, but she really didn’t mind, Ken Hutchinson was considered a fine catch at the department.
Hutch smiled at her, “Do you need a ride to work?”
“Only if you can bring be home.” Beckie flirted.
“I think I can arrange that, get in.”
Beckie opened the car door, “So what do we need this morning?”
“The report on the officer that was shot at the scene.”
“Carjacking still?”
“Yeah, I just can’t let this one go.”
“This whole case has been strange,” Beckie said. “We have had these official looking guys in suits all over us.”
“Starsk and I got kicked off the case.” Hutch admitted.
“Yeah, I know, it’s all over the department.” Beckie glanced at Hutch to see his reaction.
Hutch wasn’t really surprised, news traveled fast, he asked, “Then why are you helping me?”
“I don’t like what is going on. There is a huge cover up of some sort.” Beckie said. “It’s making me nervous. Maybe I shouldn’t be telling you this but your captain has been with them.”
“Dobey?” Hutch slammed on the breaks and turned to look at her. “Are you sure?”
“He has been in the morgue several times with those suits.”
“I can’t believe Dobey is in on this.” Hutch said finally proceeding down the street. “Beckie, I can’t ask you to do anything more, it’s too dangerous and I’m not just taking about losing your job.”
Fear crossed Beckie’s face for a moment. “I think I can get the file on the officer but you need to stay away from the station. If anybody sees you there, especially with me, we will arouse suspicion.”
“Okay, but you be careful, if you think there is even a slight chance of you getting caught I don’t want you to even try.”
“I’ll be careful, I promise,” Beckie gave him a nervous smile. “Where do you want to meet?”
“A friend of mine has a bar,” Hutch said, he gave her the address, “If you can, meet me there for lunch.”
Hutch stopped a block from the station, and Beckie got out. “I’ll see you soon.” She smiled at him then started toward the station.

The sun shone through the crack between the curtains, Starsky stirred, Cole was still sound asleep, her head on his bare chest and her arm thrown across his waist. The television was still on, the morning weatherman telling what the day would bring.
Starsky kissed the top of Cole’s head; they must have fallen asleep during the movie. “Good morning,” he said softly.
“’Morning,” Cole mumbled, she brought her hand up to the side of his face and into his mussed curly hair. “I guess we fell asleep.”
“I guess so,” Starsky agreed, he kissed her lips as she opened her eyes and looked at him.
“So are we heading back?” Cole wanted to know but made no move to get up.
“Could you stand one more day with me?” Starsky wanted to know.
“Oh, I think so.”
“Good, what do you want to do?”

Beckie pulled open the filing cabinet drawer and searched for the file on the murdered cop. At first she thought perhaps it had been removed but finally she saw his name. She pulled out Robert Dickerson’s file and started to shut the drawer, Beckie was the only one in the coroner’s office at the moment.
“Miss?”
Beckie’s heart jumped into her throat and she laid the file on top of the others and finished closing the drawer. A man in a black suit stood on the other side of her desk.
“I’m Special Agent Masters from the FBI,” he said in an official sounding voice as he showed her his badge. “I need to speak with the coroner.”
“I’m sorry sir but Dr. Gallagher is not in yet. But I do expect him in a few minutes.” Beckie said glancing at the clock on her desk.
“Then maybe you can help me.”
“I’ll do my best,” Beckie gave the man a nervous smile. There was something about him that she didn’t like and she was almost sure as to why he was there.
“I’m looking for the files on Special Agent Thomas Ackins and Officer Robert Dickerson.” He smiled at her showing his nicotine stained teeth.
“Sir, I’m sorry but those files have been red flagged and I can’t give them out with out authorization.”
Masters held out his badge again, “This is all the authorization you need.”
“Sir, I can lose my job if I give you those files. You need to either wait for Dr. Gallagher to come in or find out from the desk sergeant who the lead detective is on the case and speak with them.”
Masters came around the corner of the desk until he was only inches from Beckie. “I need those files and I need them now.”
She backed up against the filing cabinet, “Please, I can’t help you.”
“What is going on in here?” Dr. Gallagher entered.
Beckie slumped in relief, “T-This gentleman is from the FBI.”
She could see the anger on the doctor’s face but in a calm voice he said, “I’m, Dr. Gallagher, would you please come into my office.”
As soon as the doctor’s door was shut, Beckie yanked open the drawer again. She knew it was far too dangerous for her to try and copy the file now so she opened it and began to read what was written there.



                                                                             ~Chapter Six~


Hutch was on his second beer and had checked his watch for the fifth time when Beckie finally walked into the bar. He saw her standing near the front door scanning the room for his face. Hutch stood and waved, Beckie didn’t smile or wave, she walked quickly to the booth and slid in. Her face was pale and her hands shaking.
Hutch put his hands over her trembling hands, “What happened? Are you alright?”
Beckie nodded, “An FBI agent came in this morning demanding the case files of the two dead men. He seemed to think that his badge got him whatever he wanted. If Doc G hadn’t come in, I think he might have hurt me.”
“I don’t want you going back to work for awhile.” Hutch said concerned etched across his face. “Do you have somebody you can stay with?”
“I guess I could stay with my girlfriend Sandra.” Beckie said, not anxious to go back to work.
“Good, I think it might be best if people don’t see us together either.” Hutch looked around the room but no one seemed to be paying them any attention.
“Alright, this isn’t a clever way of not seeing me again is it?” Beckie’s sense of humor was back.
Hutch smiled at her, “No, I promise when this is all over I’ll take you out again.
“I’ll hold you to that,” Beckie said. “Oh, don’t you want to know what the file on Robert Dickerson said?”
“You still copied it?”
She shook her head no, “But I did read it. Dickerson and Ackins were shot with the same gun.”
“Well there is no surprise there; they were shot by the carjacker.” Hutch said.
“There is a twist,” Beckie leaned across the table. “They were shot with Dickerson’s service revolver.”
“What?” Hutch sat back in the booth stunned, it made no sense. “I just don’t know what all this means and I have nobody to ask. I would go to Dobey but you said he was with them.”
“This was the first time I ever saw Masters and Dobey wasn’t there. The other times it was a younger man and a woman, Dobey did talk to them.”
“I just can’t believe Dobey is in on whatever is going on.” Hutch said. He had made up his mind that he would call Dobey that evening at home and he needed Starsky back.

The phone was ringing as Starsky and Cole entered the room, he rushed to grab it. “Yeah.”
“Starsk, I hate to do it but I think you need to get back here. This is huge.” Hutch said into the phone.
“What did you find out?”
“Not on the phone, buddy, okay? When you get back.”
Starsky hung up the phone and turned to tell Cole they had to leave but she wasn’t in the room. Starsky poked his head into her room; she was already packing her bags. “I guess you heard?”
“Yeah, I’ll be ready to go in a few minutes.”
“I’m really sorry, hon.” Starsky said.
Cole smiled, she dropped the shampoo bottle she was placing in her overnight bag and walked over to Starsky. She put her arms around his neck. “It’s alright, I understand.” Starsky planted a quick kiss on her lips then went to pack his own things.
After dropping Cole off at her apartment, Starsky went straight to Hutch’s. Starsky only had to knock once before the door was opened. He could tell that Hutch was worked up and had probably been pacing the room waiting for him to get there.
“What is going on?” Starsky asked.
“To be perfectly honest I’m still not sure. But I think we are about to be hung out to dry for two murders we had nothing to do with. And I think that Dobey has something to do with it.”
“Oh, come on, Hutch, Dobey would never do anything to hurt us, you know that.”
“Yeah, well he is awfully cozy with the FBI and they are trying to take us down.”
“But why? What have we ever done to them?”
“That is what I’m trying to figure out, but I don’t know who to go to. I’m planning on calling Dobey at home tonight and see what I can get out of him.”
“He’s going to know you have been poking around.” Starsky warned.
“At this point I don’t give a damn! If he’s not watching our backs then all’s fair.” Hutch stormed.
“Forget calling him lets just drop by for a friendly little visit.”

Cole had only been in her apartment a few minutes after Starsky left when the phone began to ring. “Hello?”
“I want you in my office immediately,” Masters barked into the phone.
“Yes, sir.” Before Cole could say anything further the phone went dead in her hand. She dropped the receiver back in its place and a feeling of dread overcame her. She was sure Masters’ was angry that she had left with the detective.
When Cole arrived at the office Masters’ secretary ushered her into his office. Alexander Masters was sitting behind his desk sipping a cup of coffee. “Would you care for some?” He pointed across the room to a cart that held coffee and pastries.”
“Thank you,” Cole crossed the room made her self a cup of coffee.
When she sat down in front of him Masters asked “So how did it go?”
“What?”
“Your little trip with the detective?” he leaned across the desk. “Did you get any information out of him?”
It was with this question that Cole realized that she wasn’t in hot water, in fact, Masters sounded pleased that she had gone.
“We had some very nice talks, Mr. Masters.” Cole smiled as she thought of waking up in David’s arms that morning. “You have got David and his partner all wrong. They are good cops and had nothing to do with Thomas’s death. We need to look in a different direction.”
Masters’ face went red and he jumped to his feet slamming his palms down on his desk. “I’ll tell you when we need to go in a different direction. These cops have to pay for what they have done.”
Cole sat back in shock, she had never seen this side of her boss before, sure he had a short fuse but it had never been aimed at any of the agents under his command. “But I don’t think they have done anything.”
“Yes they have and they have to pay for it!”
Getting to her feet Cole backed away from the angry man, “Mr. Masters.”
“They killed him!”
She suddenly got the feeling that he wasn’t talking about Thomas Ackins. “Who? Who did they kill?”
“Alex, my Alex, it was their fault.” Masters sat down heavily in this chair.
Cole backed silently out of the room; she rushed out of the outer office and didn’t stop until she was safely on the street in front of the building. There she stopped to catch her breath and think. She had to talk to David. Cole knew now that they were both in danger, not just having a murder pinned on them but they were probably targets. What would he say when he found out she was with the FBI and working when they met, and still working as they were going out? They had become close in the last few days but there relationship had started under false pretences. Cole knew that she had to go to Ken Hutchinson first; she had too many emotions tied up with David.

It was nearly nine p.m. when the two detectives walked up the sidewalk and rung Dobey’s bell. It was Edith that answered the door. “David, Ken, come in.” she greeted them. “It’s been a long time boys. How are you both?”
“Doing great,” Starsky said kissing Edith’s smooth cheek.
“Cap, here?” Hutch asked as he also kissed her cheek.
“Watching TV,” Edith said, “Can I get you two something to drink?”
“We’re fine thanks,” Starsky said.
Dobey had just settled into his favorite show when the detectives entered his living room. He knew why they were there; neither of them was ever good at following orders when it came to their lives. Dobey had been counting on that and he had been surprised it had taken them this long to come and talk to him. Dobey turned off the TV and turned to face them.
“Are you in with the FBI?” Hutch asked straight to the point.
Dobey looked a little hurt that his men would think he would betray them but he also knew how it looked. He was sure that they had heard he had been with the FBI several times. “No, I’m on your side, you should know that.”
“I thought I knew that until it started sounding like you were in on trying to frame us for the killings of Ackins and Dickerson.” Hutch said.
“The only reason you two aren’t sitting in a jail cell is because I have been playing along. Now, I don’t know who you made mad in the FBI but they are out for blood.” Dobey sat down in his easy chair. “I have been doing everything I can to try and find out what is going on but it’s not easy, I don’t want them to figure out that I’m on your side.”
The detectives sat down next to each other on the couch, “I have very little information,” Hutch said. “I have had some help from the morgue; I know that both Ackins and Dickerson were shot with Dickerson’s gun. That in itself makes no sense. I could see if Ackins was shot with his gun, Dickerson could have thought that Ackins was the carjacker.”
“Maybe the carjacker took Dickerson’s gun and shot them both.” Starsky suggested.
“I don’t think it was a carjacking at all. I think it was supposed to look like one, probably to kill Thomas Ackins and Dickerson just showed up at the wrong time and was killed too.” Hutch said.
“I think you hit the nail on the head,” Dobey agreed. “But why pin it on you two?”
“That is the million dollar question,” Starsky said.
“I know that a Masters from the FBI was at the morgue today demanding the files on the dead men. Do you know him?” Hutch asked.
Dobey thought for a moment, “I have never met him but I think he is the head of the FBI office here in L.A. I have only met two agents, a Rollins and a Jacobs.”
The last name Jacobs went unnoticed by the detectives, “They think Hutch and I had something to do with the shootings?” Starsky asked.
“They kept calling you two vigilantes. I laughed at them and told them they were as far off the mark as they could get.”
“And what did they say?” Hutch wanted to know.
“They didn’t think it was funny.”
“We have no great love for the FBI,” Hutch said, “They always want to come in and take over our cases but I’m sure not interested in killing an agent.”
“Have you talked to Huggy Bear?” Dobey asked.
They were surprised; Huggy was never Dobey’s favorite person. “Yes, I did, he was where I got the tip that the dead man in the car was FBI.”
“And where have you been?” Dobey said looking at Starsky; he had noticed that Hutch seemed to have all the information.
Starsky’s cheeks flushed slightly, “You told us to take a vacation, so I did.”
“I made him go Cap; you should see the girl he took with him.” Hutch winked at Starsky. “Besides, I figured with just one of us poking around it would be less suspicious.”
“I’m doing all I can on my end without tipping my hand.” Dobey said, “I need you two to find out what you can but still keep a low profile. If they find out you are snooping into this it might land you in jail.”


                                                                       ~Chapter Seven~


It was late by the time they finished at Dobey’s and Starsky dropped Hutch at home. He was tired and only interested in trying to get a good night’s sleep although he doubted that was going to happen. Hutch started to put his key in the lock of his front door when he realized it was open a crack. He pulled his gun from under his coat and toed the door open the rest of the way. The apartment was pitch dark and silent, Hutch strained trying to hear movement but there was none. Slowly he reached for the lamp near the door and flipped it on. As he eyes adjusted to the sudden brightness he saw a figure sitting in one of his living room chairs.
“Cole?” Hutch said surprised but he didn’t put away his gun.
“I’m sorry for the dramatics Hutch” Cole said. “I needed to talk to you alone.”
“You could knock on my door or call like normal people.” Hutch said not amused at her breaking into his apartment.
“Again, I’m sorry but this is important.” Cole said, “It concerns you and David.”
“How about if you explain what the hell is going on?” Hutch demanded he was in no mood to play games.
“Put your gun away, I promise you, I’m not dangerous.” Cole gave him a half smile. She reached down to her purse that was sitting on the floor. “I need to show you something.” She pulled a black leather wallet from her purse and handed it to Hutch.
After holstering his gun, Hutch took the wallet and opened it. He looked at the ID inside then looked a Cole, “You are FBI?”
“Yes.”
“Your meeting Starsky at that club was no accident was it?” Hutch wanted to know.
“No.”
“How about you give me more than yes or no answers.”
“It’s complicated.” Cole said as she took back her wallet from Hutch.
“I bet it is. Do you have something to do with this carjacking case?”
“I hate to say it but yes, that was why I was instructed to make contact with the both of you.” Cole said honestly.
“Does Starsky know about this?” Hutch asked but he knew what she was going to say.
“No, I wanted to talk to you first. I really didn’t figure on falling for him.” Cole admitted. “He’s really a great guy.”
“What do you want me to do, tell him his a really great guy but his girlfriend is trying to put him in jail for killings he had nothing to do with?” Hutch said defensively. Why had he push Starsky to see her, if he had just kept quiet Starsky might have not called her again.
“That is why I’m here Hutch; I know that neither of you had anything to do with it. I think you are being set up by my boss.” Cole explained. “My job was to befriend you both and figure out if you were capable of doing such a thing. The more I got to know David, I knew that neither one of you could do this. When I told my boss he went nuts, started talking crazy, not making any sense.”
“What did he say?”
“That you and David had killed his Alex.”
“Alex?” Hutch’s forehead furrowed. “That name doesn’t ring a bell.”
“I don’t know what he is talking about.” Cole said. “I didn’t try to push him; I just got out of there.”
“Who is your boss?”
“His name is Masters.”
“He was the one at the morgue this morning. He wanted the files on Dickerson and Ackins.” Hutch said.
“Hutch, he probably wants to tamper with them. You have got to stop him.” Cole said.
“And what about my partner?” Hutch wanted to know.
“I-I’ll talk to him.” Cole promised. “I’ll tell him everything.”
“If you don’t, I will, know that.” Hutch warned.
“I’ll do everything I can from my end, but you two have to watch your backs,” Cole said as she got up.
Hutch opened the door for her as she was about to leave he grabbed her wrist, “Tell Starsky.”
“I will, trust me.”
Hutch snorted, “Trust you?”
Cole turned and looked at Hutch. “I really like David, I might even love him and I sure don’t want to see anything to happen to him, to either of you.”
“This is going to kill him you know. He really hasn’t had a lot of success with women; it pretty much turns out badly all the time, just like this is.”
“It doesn’t have to turn out badly,” Cole said softly.
“And how would you take it if you found out that your boyfriend was FBI, at least you knew what Starsky was and he wasn’t playing you.”
“The playing stopped after that night at the club.”
“I somehow don’t quite believe that.”
Cole sighed, “I had a job to do.”
“And are you still doing it? How do I know you aren’t playing me right now?” Hutch wanted to know. “And don’t you dare say trust me, I might just puke.”
“Alright, I won’t, I’ll prove it to you.”
“I don’t want his heartbroken.”
“Me either.”

After taking a shower, Cole slipped in between the cool sheets; she wished that she was back at the motel with David. It had been so simple; she had all but forgotten what had brought her to him.
Cole knew that she had to get to the bottom of whatever was going on with Alexander Masters and she had to come clean with David. At the moment she would rather face Masters than tell David the truth; she wasn’t sure how he was going to react.
It was early the next morning when someone began pounding on her door. Cole jumped out of bed, putting on a robe as she went to the door. “Who is it?” She asked through the door.
“It’s Doug Rollins, let me in.”
Cole opened the door, “What is going on?”
“What the hell did you say to Masters yesterday? He is on a rampage; he got me out of bed at four a.m. so that he could rant at me about you.” Doug looked tired as he sat down on the couch.
“All I did was tell him that I didn’t think that David or his partner had anything to do with Thomas’ murder, he went ballistic on me. Doug I think the man is crazy.”
“He’s crazy because he wants to bring the men to justice that murdered one of his agents? Just because this cop is your boyfriend doesn’t make him innocent.”
“You are crossing the line.” Cole stormed at him. “I did my job, I talked to both to the detectives and they had nothing to do with the killing. Somebody is trying to railroad them and I think its Masters.”
“You are grasping at straws.” Doug snapped back.
“And what are you doing? You have seen all the reports, there is nothing, not one shred of evidence that they were involved in anyway.”
“I-I…” Doug fell silent; he knew that Cole was right. He had looked at every single report; in fact, he had read them over and over hoping to find something, anything that would place the two detectives either as the shooters or as accomplices.
“I told Hutch the truth last night.” Cole admitted.
“You did WHAT?”
“And I’m going to tell David as soon as I can talk to him.”
“Masters isn’t going to like it.”
“Well Masters doesn’t have to know does he?” Cole said as she headed for the bedroom to get dressed.
Dough sighed, “He wants us to speak with Captain Dobey this morning.”
Cole stopped in the doorway and turned to look at Doug. “I can’t go to the station. What if David sees me, he will wonder why I’m there.”
“I thought you were going to tell him.”
“Yeah, I want to tell him, not have him find out.”
“Well, they aren’t supposed to be there, now are they?” Doug said.
“Alright, but we slip in and slip out.” Cole said as she went into her bed room to dress, the phone rang. Cole almost didn’t answer then finally on the fifth ring she grabbed the receiver. “Yeah.”
“Morning beautiful.”
“David!”
“So, are you up for a day out or do you have to work since you have been playing hooky?” he wanted to know.
“Well, I need to go in for a bit, how about lunch?” Cole asked a smile spreading across her face.
“You got it babe, you want me to pick you up at the gallery?”
“Why don’t I meet you somewhere?” Cole suggested. She didn’t know if her cover of working at a gallery had been set up yet.
“Sure, I got a friend I want you to meet.” Starsky said as he gave her the address to the Pits.
“I need to talk to you about something,” Cole said as a feeling of dread filled her heart. She knew that lunch might be the last thing she would ever do with David depending on how he took her news.
“Something good?” Starsky teased.
Avoiding his question Cole said, “I’ll see you about noon, okay?”
“Counting the minutes.” Starsky said then hung up.
Cole hugged the receiver to her chest wanting to keep David’s happiness with her.

Just as Starsky was hanging up from talking to Cole, Hutch’s phone rang, “Hello.” Hutch had come out of the shower and was rubbing towel over his blond hair.
“Is this Ken Hutchinson?” A female voice asked.
“Yes, who is this?”
“Sandra Kerrington, Beckie’s friend?”
“Is Beckie alright?” Hutch was instantly worried.
“No, or I don’t know, she went out to get a few things from the grocery store this morning and never came back. She told me to call you if anything strange or weird happened.” Sandra sounded as if she was on the verge of tears.
“Don’t worry Sandra, I’ll get an A.P.B. put out on her and start looking myself. What store was she going to?” Hutch asked. Sandra told him and then gave him her phone number. “I’ll call the minute I have something.”
Hutch dressed quickly and made a quick call to his partner. Starsky was waiting out front for Hutch when he arrived and jumped in Hutch’s car the moment it stopped moving.
“Do you think Masters would do something to Beckie,” Starsky wanted to know.
“I don’t know, from things I have heard the man sounds unstable at best.” Hutch said as he pulled out into traffic.
“Who told you he was unstable?” Starsky wanted to know.
Hutch shrugged, he couldn’t tell Starsky that he had seen Cole the night before, not yet anyway. He was giving her until the end of the day then he was telling his partner. “Bits and pieces of information I have put together.”
Starsky knew that Hutch was being evasive; they had been partners far too long. But he was too happy to pursue it at the moment, “I’m having lunch with Cole at the Pits.” Starsky grinned, “I guess you will be driving since we are taking your heap.”
“I’ll be glad to drop you off.” Hutch said glad that Starsky had changed the subject of Masters.
“No, I want you to have lunch with us.” Starsky said sounding like a love struck teen. “I want you to really meet her and get to know her. I have a feeling she is going to be around for a long time.”
Probably not after lunch, Hutch thought to himself. “Okay, sure, if that is what you want.”
“That’s what I want, thanks.”
“I need to talk to Dobey about Beckie, he should know what is going on, then we’ll head over to the grocery store where she was supposed to have gone.” Hutch said.
“He’s not going to be happy if we show up at the station,” Starsky said.
“At this point I don’t care. Beckie didn’t have to help me but she did, so I’m going to see that she doesn’t die for it.” Hutch snapped.
“Okay, okay, buddy, I’ve got your back. You need to calm down.” Starsky looked at Hutch worriedly. “We’ll find her, she probably just ran into somebody she knew and went for coffee or something.”

Cole and Rollins had just come out of Dobey’s office and were standing in the hall talking to the Captain when the elevator doors slid open and the two detectives stepped out.
Starsky glanced at the three people standing in the hall then started to follow Hutch into the squad room. But he stopped when he heard a familiar voice. He looked closer at the woman; she had her dark hair up in a bun and was wearing a knee length black skirt with a black jacket. She and the man she was with were talking intently to Dobey whose face was cast with a somber look as he nodded his head.
Starsky took a few steps toward the trio; instinctively Cole turned and looked in Starsky’s direction. She felt her heart break; this wasn’t the way she needed him to find out.
“Cole?”
Hutch, missing his partner, opened the squad room door and looked to see where Starsky went. He also saw Cole, Starsky was frozen in place staring at her.
“David,” Cole started toward him, so much for quick in and quick out.
As she got closer Starsky’s eyes went to the badge that she had pinned to her lapel. He pulled his eyes from the badge to her face. “FBI? You are with the FBI?”
“David, I was going to tell you today at lunch.”
“Tell me what? That I’m your job?” Starsky looked crushed.
“It’s not like that.”
“Sure looks like that to me.” Starsky turned on his heels and walked to the elevator, he managed to slip in the doors just as they closed.
Hutch turned and looked at Cole, then went to the elevator and stabbed the down button.



                                                                     ~Chapter Eight~


Hutch stood on the sidewalk in front of the station and looked up and down the sidewalk, his partner was no where to be seen, “Just great!” Hutch yelled.
Cole ran down the steps and joined Hutch on the sidewalk. “Where did he go?”
“I don’t know, he couldn’t have gotten far, I was driving.” Hutch turned on Cole. “You couldn’t just tell him first thing this morning could you? I know you talked to him.”
“I didn’t think I would run in to him.” Cole flinched at the fury in which Hutch tossed his words at her. “I-I didn’t want to tell him over the phone. We were meeting for lunch; I was going to tell him then.”
“So you came to the place where he works, was talking to his captain and you didn’t think there was even the smallest chance that you might run in to him?” Hutch flung the words at her. “They aren’t too damn smart at the FBI are they?”
Cole’s eyes filled with tears as she looked up and down the street. “I have to talk to him, I have to explain.”
“Don’t turn on the water works for me lady, it’s not getting you any sympathy, I have my partner to worry about and a young woman that seems to have gone missing because she was helping me.”
“What woman?” Cole asked.
“Like I would tell you.” Hutch snapped.
“I’m here to help you, that’s why my partner and I came to see your Captain this morning. I finally convinced my partner that something wasn’t right with Masters and that we needed to look into his back ground.”
Hutch turned to head for the parking lot to retrieve his car and find his partner. “I don’t have time for this right now.”
“Hutch,” Cole called after him but he didn’t stop.
When Hutch got in his car he called dispatch and had an A.P.B. put out on Beckie then he started looking for his partner. After driving around for nearly thirty minutes it suddenly dawned on Hutch where Starsky might be. So he pointed his car in the direction of the park that they often jogged.
Starsky was sitting on the back of a park bench, his feet on the seat; he was staring straight a head and didn’t look in Hutch’s direction when he heard his name called. It wasn’t until Hutch put his hand on his back that Starsky said, “Did you know?”
“Starsky.”
“Did you know?”
“Yes, but I only found out last night. She was waiting in my apartment after you dropped me off. Cole promised me that she would tell you today. I told her that if she didn’t, I would.”
“That was what she wanted to tell me at lunch today.” Starsky shook his head. “Man, I really know how to pick them don’t I?”
“You didn’t pick her, she picked you buddy.”
“Yeah, but I fell into the trap.”
“I think I did a little pushing,” Hutch said. “I’m sorry.”
“I probably would have broke down and called her anyway.” Starsky gave Hutch a crooked smile.
“I don’t know if it counts for anything, but I think that Cole cares about you.”
“I can’t really worry about that right now. We have to figure out why this guy Masters has it in for us and what happened to Beckie. Did you check out that grocery store?” Starsky wanted to know.
“Not yet, I did put out an A.P.B. but I came looking for you first.” Hutch pulled on Starsky’s arm, “Let’s get out here, uh?”
They were approaching the car when the radio came to life. “Zebra three, Zebra three.”
Hutch leaned in the window and grabbed the microphone, “Zebra three.”
“Hutch, that A.P.B. you put out on Beckie Watson, her car was found in the parking lot of King’s Food Town Supermarket but there is no sign of Miss Watson.”
“Thanks, we’re on our way.” Hutch said into the microphone.
“I thought you guys were on vacation?” The voice came back.
“This is personal.” Hutch tossed the microphone in the car and looked across the top of the car at Starsky. “You ready?”
“Let’s go.”
Several squad cars were in the parking lot of the Supermarket when they arrived. The keys were still in the car, but as dispatch said, Beckie was no where to be found.
A police officer approached the two detectives. “I talked to several of the employees inside; none of them have seen Miss Watson. It looks like maybe she was grabbed as she got out of her car.”
“Keep asking questions, somebody had to have seen something.” Hutch ordered. “Get her face on the news too.”

It was late that night before they returned to Hutch’s apartment. No clues had surfaced as to the whereabouts of Beckie. Starsky balanced a pizza on top of a six pack of beer while Hutch opened the door. Hutch stuck his head in the door half expecting to see Cole sitting in his living room again but the room was empty.
Hutch tossed his keys on the coffee table and flopped down on the couch, “This is all my fault,” Hutch said mournfully. “If I hadn’t gotten Beckie involved in this she wouldn’t be missing.”
“You didn’t force her. Hutch,” Starsky put the pie on the coffee table and went into the kitchen to get plates. “It sounds like she knew the danger, especially after Masters showed up.”
“She was scared when she met me at the Pits.” Hutch took the plate Starsky offered him.
“I think we need to have a little chat with this Masters.”
“Oh, that’s not getting involved.” Hutch said as he opened a can of beer.
“I think we are beyond needing to care about being involved. We have a girl missing, some crazy FBI guy trying to pin two murders on us; it’s time we got involved.”
Hutch nodded his head in agreement. “I keep wondering why we haven’t been arrested or at least questioned about Ackins and Dickerson.”
“Because, I don’t think Masters can really drum up any evidence on us. He is grasping at straws, hoping to stumble upon something.” Starsky said. There was a light knock at the door, “Are you expecting somebody?”
“No,” Hutch said looking at the clock, it was nearly midnight. Both men got up and pulled their guns as they went to the door. Starsky went to the left side of the door Hutch to the right, “Who is it?”
“Hutch, its Cole.”
Hutch looked at Starsky who shrugged, Hutch opened the door, Cole and her partner were standing in the hall. “What?”
“We need to talk to you.” She said. “I did some digging, I have this for you.” She held of a folder for the detective to see.
“Come on in.” Hutch opened the door wider allowing the two agents to enter his apartment.
Starsky holstered his weapon and stepped from behind the door. Cole smiled at him but Starsky didn’t return the smile, instead he went back to his place on the couch.
“This is, Doug Rollins, my partner,” Cole introduced her partner. “Doug, this is Detective Hutchinson…Hutch and David Starsky.”
The men nodded at each other. “So what’s in the file?” Hutch asked.
Cole handed it to Hutch but she kept her eyes on Starsky as he chewed on his pizza. “It’s on Masters. I thought it might shed some light on why he is so intent on framing you.”
“Did you find out who this Alex is he was talking about?” Hutch wanted to know taking the file from her.
“Seems Alex was his son,” Rollins answered.
“Was?”
“He died quite a while ago.” Cole said.
“How?” Hutch asked.
“He committed suicide, hung himself.” Cole pointed to the information on paper. Masters had a break down after it happened and was hospitalized for a while.”
Starsky sat chewing and working the name Alex Masters over and over in his head and suddenly he said, “It was Al. Remember, Hutch, that scrawny kid at the academy?”
“Yeah, yeah, the one that didn’t want to be there but his dad forced him.” Hutch nodded his head. “I do remember him; he wanted to go to art school or something like that.”
“We tried to help him out, he could always pass the written stuff but when it came to the more physical things he just didn’t have the strength and he hated guns.” Starsky remembered. “Somebody found him hanging in the bathroom a week before graduation, I guess he knew he wasn’t going to graduate and it was easier to kill himself than to face his father.”
“Sounds like Masters,” Rollins snorted, “He is one tough son-of-a-bitch, but I don’t see why he would go after you two over that.”
“I guess he needed somebody to blame.” Starsky said.
“Maybe because we tried to help his son out,” Hutch theorized. “If this guy has gone off the deep end he probably doesn’t need a real reason to blame us.”
“So is your job over?” Starsky said without looking up. Everyone in the room knew he was talking to Cole, when she didn’t respond Starsky looked up at her. “Is it?”
“No, it’s not, when Miss Watson has been found and the killings of Ackins and Dickerson have been solved, then my job is over.” Cole said keeping all emotion out of her voice as she looked Starsky in the eye.
Starsky didn’t respond her, instead he turned to Hutch, “I think I’m going to head home.”
“Uh..uh,” Hutch stammered, he knew that Starsky didn’t have is car. “Okay, I’ll see tomorrow then.”
Starsky got up put on his jacket and started for the door, “Wait,” Cole called to him. “David, we need to talk.”
“I don’t see what there is to talk about. You were only doing your job.” He put his hand on the doorknob but didn’t open the door.
“I wasn’t just doing my job” Cole walked toward him.
Hutch and Rollins looked at each other; it was uncomfortable in the room with Cole and Starsky. “So what is your boss like?” Hutch asked Rollins. “Do you really think that he has set all this up?”
“At first I didn’t believe Cole but she is right about there being no evidence against you and your partner. The more I read the files, the more I think he is setting you up or trying to, without much success.”
“But why now? We have been out of the academy for years.”
“Has your name been in the news paper recently?” Rollins asked. “Maybe it triggered a memory for Masters.”
“Not that I can think of and if it was, it wouldn’t be the first time.” Hutch looked at the file on Masters again. “I think I know what might have set him off.”
“What?” Rollins asked leaning forward to look at the page.
“It’s the anniversary of his son’s death,” Hutch said. “That could explain why he went of the deep end but why pin it on Starsky and I?”
“We might never know the answer to that.” Collins said.
There was a loud bang, the two men turned and looked in the direction of the door, Cole was standing there by herself staring at the closed door. She yanked the door open and ran down the stairs after Starsky. “David, wait.”
Starsky was nearly a half a block down the street before Cole could catch him. “Stop.” She yelled at him.
He stopped but didn’t turn around. “I don’t see what more there is to say, Cole.”
“B-but, I love you.” She blurted out. “Didn’t the past two days mean anything?”
“The past two days were a lie.”
“No, I didn’t go as an FBI agent, I went because I wanted to be with you.” Cole said.
“And all those questions about how I felt about vigilantes? Who are you trying to kid here? Me or yourself?” Starsky wanted to know finally turning to face her.
“I tried to get off this case but Masters wouldn’t let me.”
“And you couldn’t come clean with me when you decided that I wasn’t the bad guy? You had all that time we were gone to say something but you didn’t. You waited until we got back and went to Hutch. WHY?”
“I thought you would take it badly.” Cole said softly.
“You were right about that.” Starsky snapped. “How would you feel if the situation was reversed?”
“Hurt and betrayed, just like you are feeling.” Cole answered.
“And would you give me a second chance?”
Cole thought for a moment. “No, I guess I wouldn’t, I have had my share of relationships that have ended badly.”
“Well, don’t add this one to your list because we never had a relationship.” Starsky said, then he turned and walked away, this time Cole didn’t follow him.


                                                                        ~Chapter Nine~


Twenty minutes after Cole and Rollins left, Starsky let himself back into Hutch’s apartment. “Are you okay?” Hutch asked.
“I will be,” Starsky said.
Hutch stifled a yawn, “Why don’t you sleep here tonight buddy? I’m too beat to drive you home.”
“Sure,” Starsky agreed, he was grateful not to have to spend the rest of the night alone.
It seemed like their heads had just touched the pillow when the phone rang. Starsky rolled over on the couch and pulled the pillow over his head, thinking that maybe the call was Cole; he couldn’t deal with her anymore that night.
Hutch groaned loudly and snagged the phone from the bedside table. “What?”
“Hutch?”
“Yeah, who’s this?”
“Minnie, from the station.”
Hutch sat up, “What is it, Minnie?”
“I thought you would like to know, it just came in over the radio, that girl you had the A.P.B. out on Beckie Watson? She was just found, bullet to the head.” Minnie said. “She will be in the morgue in about twenty minutes.”
The color drained from Hutch’s face and he dropped his hand holding the phone to the bed.
“Hutch, are you there?”
Hutch brought the phone back to his ear, “Yeah, Minnie, thanks.” Hutch hung up the phone and got out of bed, he walked slowly into the living room.
“Who was it?” Starsky asked in the darkness.
“Minnie, they found Beckie, she’s dead, Starsk.”
Starsky turned on the light, “What?”
“Minnie said they will be bringing her body into the morgue in about twenty minutes. I’m going down.”
“I’ll go with you.” Starsky said and started getting dressed.

The night coroner was waiting for the body when the detectives arrived. “What are you two doing here?” Dr. Jeffery Gordon asked.
“I put the A.P.B. out on the vic that is coming in, she was a friend.” Hutch said. “Has anybody called her friend she was staying with?”
“I don’t know,” Dr. Gordon answered, “You’ll have to ask my assistant when he brings her in.”
The three men waited in silence for the body to arrive, nearly thirty minutes later they heard the coroner’s wagon pull up. “Hutch, are you sure you want to be here?” Starsky asked concerned for his partner.
“Yes, I want to know all the details now, I’m not waiting for a report in the morning.” Hutch said.
A man pushing a gurney came into view; a black bag lay on top of the gurney. Hutch took a deep breath as the body was pushed by him. Dr. Gordon and his assistant moved the body bag to a steel table that was waiting for its victim. Dr. Gordon began to unzip the bag, a wisp of blonde hair peeked from the bag.
Starsky moved closer to his partner, “Come on, Hutch, let’s wait out in the hall.”
Hutch shook his head, “Somebody has to identify her.”
The doctor finished unzipping the bag; he peeled it away from her face and beckoned Hutch to take a look to make sure that they had the right woman. “You want to make a positive ID?”
Hutch stepped closer, Beckie’s eyes were close, dried blood was caked in her blonde hair and there was a bullet hole in her forehead. “It, it’s her,” Hutch said in a strained voice.
Hutch felt an arm go around his shoulders, “Come on, Hutch, that’s enough. I’m sure the doctor will let us know what he finds when he is done.” Starsky said steering his partner toward the door.
Out in the hall Hutch sat heavily on a wooden bench, Starsky sat close to his friend. “I’m really sorry, Hutch, but you know this isn’t your fault.”
“Isn’t it?” he sounded close to tears. “If I hadn’t come down here looking for information Beckie would still be alive.”
“She knew the dangers.”
“She worked in the morgue for god sakes, what danger?” Hutch said, “I put Beckie in danger and now she has paid for it with her life.”
Starsky was about to say something when the sound of heels clicking down the hall on the tile distracted him. He looked up to see Cole walking quickly toward them. “What are you doing here?” he wanted to know when she stopped in front of them.
“I heard that they found Hutch’s friend.” Cole said.
“And just how did you find that out?” Starsky snapped at her, he was tired and she was the last person he wanted to see.
“Your Captain called me.”
“Great, just great.”
“I wanted the details so I can either relate this to the killings of Ackins and Dickerson or dismiss it.” Cole said, sounding colder than she meant to.
Starsky got to his feet and moved closer to her. “You know what lady, my partner feels bad enough about this as it is without you coming in here and treating his friend like a piece of meat.” He hissed at her.
“I-I didn’t mean for it to sound like that,” Cole soften her tone. “It’s business.”
“Isn’t it always?” Starsky got his dig in. “Why don’t you find someplace else to wait or better yet, don’t wait.”
“I kind feel responsible for her death you know? If I had come forward before now, none of this would have happened…none of it.” She looked pointedly into Starsky’s eyes.
“You don’t get to feel bad,” Starsky said harshly.
“Starsk,” Hutch said as he reached up and grabbed his friend’s hand. He knew that was Starsky was hurting but it wasn’t like his partner to be so cruel.
Cole turned on her heels and walked back down the hall but she returned within minutes and sat two benches from the detectives. Starsky didn’t look up as she passed by them.
“I need to call Sandra; Beckie was staying with her, she was the one that alerted me that Beckie hadn’t returned home.” Hutch said, he stood up and dug in his pocket for change. “I’ll be right back.”
“You want me to come with you?” Starsky asked hopefully not wanting to be in that close of proximity to Cole alone.
Hutch shook his head, “I need to do this.”
After Hutch disappeared down the hall, Starsky sat in silence starting at the floor wondering what Cole was thinking. He was being hard on her he knew, but how could she spend two days with him lying on a beach, eating meals and watching movies without telling him? He cast a sideways glance down the hall to see what she was doing. Cole had her head tilted back resting on the wall, her eyes were closed.
Starsky heard the sound of footsteps in the hall and looked to see if it was Hutch coming back, but it was Doug Rollins carrying three cups of coffee. He stopped in front of Starsky, “I thought you could use some coffee, I saw your partner on the phone and gave him one.” Starsky didn’t make a motion to take one. Doug sighed, “Come on man, it’s just coffee.”
Finally, Starsky took one of the cups, “Thanks,” he mumbled.
“You are welcome,” Doug said, “You need to give her a chance, she is a great lady.” The detective didn’t respond to the FBI agent’s words. He sipped his coffee and wished that Hutch would get back. Doug walked down and sat next to Cole, “Man he’s a tough egg to crack isn’t he?”
“How would you feel?” Cole wanted to know.
Doug smiled at her; he wasn’t sure how he would feel. Cole was a knockout even with her hair up in the sever bun she wore for work and the dark suits. “I don’t know, I think I would at least give you a chance.”
Cole smiled back, “Thanks.”
Hutch reappeared carrying the cup that Doug had left him at the phone. “Sandra is going to notify Beckie’s family.”
“How did she take the news?” Starsky wanted to know.
“Pretty good I guess, once Beckie went missing I guess Sandra was expecting the worst.” Hutch glanced at his watch; it had been nearly ninety minutes since they had brought the body in.
At last the door swung open and the coroner came into the hall. “I just sent the bullet to the lab, I put a rush on it and you will probably have the results within the hour.”
“Thanks, doc.” Starsky said.
“Was she hurt in any other way?” Hutch wanted to know, hoping that who ever took her hadn’t tortured her.
“No, from the time line I have from when she went missing until she was killed, I would say was only about thirty minutes or less. She wasn’t sexually assaulted if that is what you are asking detective.”
“Thank god she didn’t suffer long,” Hutch said although the information didn’t make him feel much better.
Again the sound of footsteps in the hall made all waiting look to see who was coming. Dobey, his face grim was walking toward them, be started shaking his head when he saw his two detectives. “Well, since you are going to work this case even after I told you not to, I might as well put you back on it officially.” Dobey said.
“Why did you call her?” Starsky jerked his head in the direction of Cole.
“It’s her case,” Dobey answered. “And now you can work it together.”
“Cap…” Starsky started to protest, then he fell silent in fear that Dobey would pull them off the case again.
As the coroner had said, it was less than an hour when the ballistics test came back on the bullet. The lab tech handed the report to Dobey who had taken a seat next to his detectives. Cole and Doug joined the three men as Dobey scanned the file. “Wait a minute, according to this, the same gun that was used to kill Dickerson and Ackins also killed Miss Watson.”
“That is impossible,” Hutch said. “That gun was locked in the evidence room when it was brought in from the first shooting.”
“Well, somebody must have gotten it out.” Starsky said.
“Masters,” Cole said.
“What makes you think it’s your boss?” Hutch asked.
“Do the math,” Cole said, “You saw him here trying to get information out of Beckie which she wouldn’t give him. He might have followed her and found out that she went to meet you. I think he grabbed her and then killed her, maybe he was trying to get her to tell him what she knew or what you knew. The man is psychotic.”
“But do you have proof?” Dobey asked. “I can’t put out a warrant on him without cause. Just because he was here seeking information does not make him a killer.”
“I want to find out how the gun got out of the evidence room.” Starsky said.
“That is the best place to start.” Hutch agreed.
“And if it turns out it was Masters who got the gun?” Cole wanted to know.
“Get me something solid and then you will have your warrant,” Dobey said. “You know I could go over your head,” Cole looked at Dobey.
“But you won’t, without proof, who at your agency is going to believe you?” Dobey asked. “Masters has been on the job a long time.”
“We will be in the evidence room if anything else turns up.” Starsky said as he and Hutch started down the hall. Cole and her partner followed, Starsky turned around, “Where do you think you are going?”
“With you.” Cole said. “We have as much invested in this case as you do, maybe more; it’s our boss that possibly has gone off the deep end. My gut is telling me that he has already killed three people and I don’t think he is going to stop there to get to the two of you.”
“If he wants us dead then why doesn’t he just come after us?” Hutch wanted to know.
“Only Masters can answer that one.” Cole said.
“Fine,” Starsky huffed and started down the hall again.



                                                                               ~Chapter Ten~



The evidence room had chain link fencing wall to wall, there was an opening cut so that evidence could be passed back and forth after being signed for. Nobody was allowed behind the fencing unless they had special clearance or worked in the room. Toby Tate, fresh from the academy, was behind the wall of fencing when the detectives and two FBI agents entered the room.
Toby got up from the desk where he was cataloging several bags of narcotics that had just been brought in. “Can I help you?”
“Is Jake here?” Hutch asked wanting to speak to the officer they were used to dealing with.
“I’m sorry but Jake is on vacation.” Toby said. “But I will be glad to help you.”
Starsky peered at the young man’s name tag, “Officer Tate, how long have you been on duty here?”
“Started at the beginning of the week, sir.”
“Listen kid…” Starsky began; being called sir didn’t sit with him too well.
Hutch interrupted, “I’m Detective Hutchinson and this is Detective Starsky.”
“Oh, wow!” Toby’s face broke out into a wide smile. “I have heard about you two. It’s really great to meet you.” Toby stuck his hand through the small window to shake hands with them. Hutch took his hand then had to nudge Starsky to get him to shake as well. “This is really an honor.”
Hutch smiled at Toby, “We need to ask you some questions.”
“Sure,” Toby said eager to please.
“We are looking for a gun that was used in two murders; it would have been brought in several days ago. We need to know if somebody signed it out yesterday.” Hutch said.
Toby went back to his desk to get his clip board. “What case would it be?”
Neither of the detectives had the files with them. Cole spoke up, “The number is 9481 Dickerson/Ackins.”
Toby ran his finger down the list of items that had been check out. “Yep, here it is.”
“Who signed for it?” Starsky asked.
“I don’t have a signature.”
“You can’t let evidence leave this room without a signature.” Starsky growled. “How about the request form?”
Toby grew pale and shook his head, “Didn’t have one of those either.”
“Officer Tate,” Hutch looked at the now trembling rookie. “Have you been trained on the procedures of this room?”
“Oh, yes sir,” Toby answered.
“Then why weren’t you following them?” Starsky asked.
“I-I didn’t know if they applied to him.”
“The rules apply to everyone.” Starsky snapped. “What made you think they didn’t apply to this man?”
“He was FBI.”
The detectives turned to look at Cole and her partner. “I knew it,” Cole said. She stepped forward and described Masters to the officer.
“Yes, that’s him. He showed me his badge and said that he needed that gun.” Toby gave Cole a weak smile.

Cole along with her partner and the two detectives stood outside the office building where the FBI offices were. She had a warrant for Alexander Masters in her hand. “I’m going in alone.”
“Like hell you are,” Hutch said. “If he has really killed three people what’s to stop him from killing you?”
“I’ll just play along; see what I can get him to tell me.” Cole said. “If he is really after you and David, seeing you two could push him over the top. Do you really want to chance that in an office building full of people? He has killed a young woman that has gotten in his way already.”
“That’s the biggest reason for you not to go in there alone.” Hutch said. Starsky stood silently, listening to the two of them argue.
“Cole is the one that needs to go in. Maybe she can bring him out without it turning in to a mess.” Rollins finally stepped in.
Cole looked at Starsky then went into the building. She waited for the elevator impatiently, when the doors opened and everybody got off, Cole entered and pressed the floor number. She tucked the warrant in her purse and took out her gun which she slid into the waistband of her skirt underneath her jacket.
Master’s secretary smiled as Cole entered the outer office. “I didn’t know you had an appointment, Miss Jacobs.”
“I don’t, is he in?”
“Yes, he just got back from lunch.” The woman depressed the button on the intercom, “Mr. Masters, Cole Jacobs is here to see you.”
“Send her in,” the reply came.
“Go on in, would you like some coffee?”
“No thanks,” Cole smiled at the woman.
Cole tapped lightly on the office door then opened it. Masters was sitting with his back to her looking out the window. “What brings you here today Cole?”
“I was just wondering if you set up my gallery cover yet, sir.” Cole asked she didn’t want to tip him off that she knew anything.
He swung round in his chair, “I though that you didn’t think those detectives had anything to do with Thomas’ killing.”
“I want to do some further digging, that is, if it’s ok with you.” Cole said. “Sometimes people can deceive you, even people you have known a while.”
Masters gave a deep laugh; his eyes went to a gun that was lying on his desk in front of him. “You just never know about people do you. I think everybody has a deep dark secret.”
“I’m sure you are right.” Cole’s eyes followed Masters’ line of vision, her breath caught in her throat when she saw it. Cole was sure it was the murder weapon.
“Of course, I’m right; you just never know what is going on inside somebody’s head.” His eyes flicked to her face then back to the gun. “What’s going on in your head, Cole, my dear?” He knew that she had seen the gun.
“I just want to get these detectives.” Cole said.
“Do you now?” Masters got up and came around to the front of his desk, he perched in front of Cole, “You have had a chance of heart.”
“I don’t want to keep you sir; I was coming to see if you had set up my cover.” Cole said as she got up.
Masters leaned back and picked the gun up off his desk. “Maybe I have some evidence that will help you.”
When Masters turned his back, Cole slipped the warrant from her purse and held it out. Masters turned around pointing the gun at Cole, he laughed when he saw the warrant. “I have a warrant for your arrest, Mr. Masters, suspicion of murder.”
Again Masters laughed at her, “I knew you were a traitor all along.”
“Sir, I’m not a traitor, I’m doing my job. You need to get some help.”
“Help? Help for what?” her boss wanted to know. “You are in love with the detective and you can’t see what is in front of your face.”
“Your rage and sorrow have unhinged you.” Cole said. For a moment Masters stopped and looked at her. “Yes, I know about your son, sir, and I’m very sorry for your loss but the detectives had nothing to do with his death.”
Masters face began turning red with rage, he advanced on Cole who dropped the warrant on the floor and pulled her gun from under her jacket. “Please, Alexander, don’t make me shoot you.” Masters lowered the gun as a smile spread over his face. Cole heard a gun cock behind her; she turned to see Doug Rollins standing behind her. But he didn’t have his gun aimed at Masters, he had it aimed at her and only inches from the back of her head.
“Doug, what are you doing?” Cole said fear entering her voice.
“My job,” he said as he reached around and took Cole’s gun from her.
“B-but you said you believed me, you said that you thought that Masters was cra…” Cole stopped; she realized she had been played. “Where are David and Hutch?”
“We can’t all be partners like they are now, can we?” Rollins sneered in her ear.
“But you have seen the evidence; you know who is right here.” Cole said.
“You, being the right one? I don’t think so. You were only seeing what you wanted to see.” Rollins said, he shoved Cole into a near by chair.
Masters stood and watched his two agents not saying a word. Cole looked at Masters then at her partner, “You are both crazy.”
Rollins laughed at her, “I might a whole lot of things but crazy is not one of them.”
“How do you expect to get away with this, David and Hutch are outside.” Cole said hoping she was right.
“We will be long gone before they figure it all out and come up here.” Masters finally spoke.
“They will come after you.” Cole angrily hurled her words at him.
“Yes, they will come to save the fair maiden, Cole, and then I will have them right where I want them.” Masters gave her an evil grin.
“Doug, h-how can you be a part of this?” Cole asked her partner.
“Money talks loudly.” He answered.
“Masters is paying you to do this? To make it look like the detectives killed Thomas and that officer? What about that poor girl, Beckie Watson?” Cole asked.
“What about her?” Rollins said.
A slow horror dawned on Cole, she looked at both men in front of her, “Oh, my god, Doug, it was you; you killed the officer and Thomas. And even though Masters got the gun from the evidence room you killed that girl too, didn’t you?”
“Money will make you do the strangest things sometimes.” Rollins grinned at her.
Cole knew that she wasn’t getting out of the situation alive, they had told her too much just to let her walk away, Masters and Rollins were planning on killing her and both detectives.

“They have been up there a long time,” Starsky said looking at his watch.
“Too long,” Hutch agreed. “Let’s take the elevator to the floor below and walk up the rest of the way.”
Starsky nodded, neither of them had liked the idea of letting Cole go alone but it had made sense. But why had they let Rollins talk them into letting him follow her up there while they stayed behind in the lobby? Starsky knew the answer, if the circumstances had been different and it had been Dobey up there, he and Hutch would have wanted to try and bring out their boss.
“Do you think they are okay up there?” Starsky asked.
“Cole is just fine, she is a tough lady.” Hutch smiled knowing his partner was worried about her.
The door slid open; there were stairwells at both sides of the building, Hutch motioned for Starsky to take one while he went to the other. Quickly they climbed the steps to the next floor and opened the doors, peering out, the hall was empty. The two detectives met in the middle of the hall, “Which office?” Starsky wanted to know.
Hutch shrugged, he had never read the warrant, Dobey had handed it over to Cole in the office, they just knew the office was on the twelfth floor. There were no names on any of the doors, only numbers. “This is great,” Hutch said.
“We can’t start opening doors we will lose the element of surprise.” Starsky said. “I guess I could go back down and find out which office is Masters’.”
Hutch nodded, they really had no other choice. “Hold up a sec,” he whispered to Starsky. Hutch walked to a door, and pressed his ear to the door then waved Starsky over. “Listen, is that Cole talking?”
Starsky put his ear to the door and held his breath, loud voices were coming from inside. Two male and one female, it was Cole’s voice. Starsky nodded. “It doesn’t sound good.” It was impossible for the detectives to understand what we being said but from the loudness, it was clear that things were not going well.
Hutch opened the door; a woman was sitting at a desk in the outer office. Her face was white and she jumped when they entered. Hutch put his finger to his lips; Starsky walked over to her and crouched down next to her. He pulled out his badge then took her by the hand and led her into the hall.
“What is going on?” The frighten woman asked.
“You go down to the front desk and call the police, tell them that Starsky and Hutch need back up.” Starsky still held her trembling hand. “Will you do that?”
“Y-yes,” She stammered as she ran for the elevator glad to be away from the office.



                                                                  ~Chapter Eleven~


Masters office door opened, the first one out was Cole, her face was not filled with fear but with anger. At first the detectives thought the situation was under control when they saw Rollins with his gun drawn. That was until they realized he had it pointed at Cole, not Masters.
“Get back,” Rollins yelled, “Get out in the hall.”
Starsky and Hutch backed through the open door and into the hall. “Rollins, what the hell?!” Hutch exclaimed.
“I said MOVE.” Rollins hollered when they didn’t move right away.
“I’m sorry,” Cole mouthed at them silently.
The detectives moved out in the hall, Rollins pushed Cole out after them, with Masters following. Once they were out in the hall and Masters had time to study the two officers he realized who they were, it had been years since he had seen them. They hadn’t been much more than teens the first time he had laid eyes on them.
“YOU!” Masters stepped out from behind Cole and Rollins, “You killed my boy.”
“Alex hung himself, we had nothing to do with it,” Hutch said as neither detective lowered their weapons.
“You promised to help him, you let him down.” Masters said in a choked voice.
“You were the one that let him down,” Starsky said.
“I loved my son.”
“I have no doubt about that,” Starsky said, “But you never listened to him, he didn’t want to be a cop. He wanted to go to art school. Alex was good; he could have had a promising career.”
“You are a liar,” Masters advanced on Starsky with the gun that had killed Beckie, Ackins and Dickerson in his hand.
“Am I? How many times did he show you his artwork when you came to the academy?” Starsky wanted to know. “And how many times did you dismiss it as a hobby?”
“Starsk,” Hutch hissed at this partner.
Starsky waved Hutch away, “Alex killed himself because he knew he was not going to graduate and he didn’t want to disappoint you.”
“NO.” Masters yelled, his finger beginning to depress the trigger.
Hutch wasn’t sure what to do; if he shot Masters he was sure that Rollins would shoot either Cole or one of them.
It was Cole that leapt into action, she brought her elbow back catching Rollins in the gut throwing him off balance, she heard the cock of Masters’ gun and knew that he was about to fire at Starsky. She got in front of Masters, “Alexander, you have got to stop, enough people have died. Do you think that your son would want you to kill the two men that tried to help him?”
Masters was transfixed his eyes locked on Starsky. Rollins regain his breath that Cole had knocked from him; he looked at her, “Get out of here, Cole.”
She shook her head, she knew in her heart what was about to go down. Masters and Rollins were going to kill the detectives then themselves. They were both trapped and knew it. “No, Doug, I’m not letting this happen.”
“You can’t stop it, so just save yourself.”
Cole went and stood in front of Starsky blocking Masters’ view of him. As if in a trance Masters then pointed his gun at Hutch. “NO!” Starsky yelled as he tried to push Cole out of the way so that he could fire at Masters to keep him from killing Hutch but she held her stance.
At the sound of Starsky’s voice Masters swung the gun in their direction and fired. Cole crumpled to the ground, Hutch fired at Masters killing him instantly. Doug Rollins dropped his gun and laced his hands behind his head, “Don’t shoot,” he cried out.
Starsky dropped to his knees next to Cole, her eyes were open and she gave him a weak smile. “I’m so sorry.” Starsky said.
Cole moved her head slowly from side to side, she grimaced in pain, “You have nothing to be sorry for.”
Starsky unbutton the top few buttons of Cole’s shirt so that he could get a look at the damage, her lacy white bra was turning a crimson red as the bullet hole just above her left breast bled. “I love you Cole.”
She smiled again and joked, “You are just saying that because you know I’m dying.”
Sadness filled his eyes, “You are not dying.”
Hutch kicked Rollin’s gun away, forced the man down onto his knees and handcuffed his hands behind his back. Then he went to check on Masters who was clearly dead. When he was sure that there was no longer any danger he went to Starsky and Cole. He knelt next to Starsky who had pulled Cole’s head into his lap. “You are going to be alright, Cole, help is on the way.”
“Thanks, Hutch, you take care of him uh? He’s a pretty special guy.” Cole grimace in pain again.
“You take care of him yourself; I think you could do a better job of it than I could.” Hutch patted her hand and looked at Starsky.
Starsky’s face was pale and full of sorrow; he shook his head at Hutch not thinking that Cole would make it. “She really needs to get to the hospital.”
“I’ll go down and check,” Hutch said, he walked over to Rollins and yanked the man to his feet. “I’ll be right back.”
After Hutch had gone with Rollins in the elevator. Starsky looked into Cole’s face, her eyes were closed, “Cole,” Starsky called to her in alarm.
“I’m still here,” she said in a drained voice.
“Why did you do that? Why did you get in between me and Masters?” Starsky wanted to know.
“I couldn’t let him kill you,” Cole managed to get out, it was clear she was getting weaker by the moment. “I love you.”
Starsky leaned over and barely brushed her lips with his. “I know.”
“Hey.”
“What?”
“Save the last dance for me uh?” Cole gave him a final smile then fell unconscious.
“Cole?” Starsky felt for a pulse, he could scarcely feel one. “Hutch, where are you?” He called to the empty hallway.

Starsky felt numb as he sat in the waiting room of the hospital, he had been in there too many times. He wished that Hutch was there for support but his partner had to take Doug Rollins to the station then meet with the director of the FBI. He knew that Hutch would be with him if he could.
Cole had barely been alive when she had finally been wheeled into the Emergency room; she was resuscitated once on the trip to the hospital. Starsky had clung to her hand until the doctors had wheeled her to an area where he could not follow.
He was totally lost in thought and didn’t hear Hutch enter the waiting room. Hutch sat down next to his partner and put his hand on his leg. “How is she?”
“I don’t know, they took her into surgery two hours ago.” Starsky answered as if he was on auto pilot.
“Cole must have a chance if they took her to surgery.” Hutch said.
“Yeah,” But Starsky didn’t hold out much hope that the woman he loved would be alive come morning. “I have been such an idiot.”
“Don’t beat yourself up Starsk,” Hutch said. “You were hurting, you felt betrayed.”
“But I wouldn’t even listen to her, Cole tried to explain but I just wouldn’t listen.” Starsky looked at Hutch sorrowfully. “Hutch, I think she was the one, you know.”
“Cole is one tough lady; I wouldn’t count her out yet.” Hutch squeezed Starsky’s knee and got up. “You look like you could use something to eat.”
Starsky shook his head; he didn’t feel like he could choke down a mouth full of anything. “I’m okay.”
“She is going to need you when she comes out of surgery.” Hutch encouraged. “Come on, I’m sure we can scare you up something disgusting to eat.”
Starsky sighed; he knew his partner was right. After telling the nurse at the desk where they would be the two detectives walked to the cafeteria. “So how did it go at the station?” Starsky wanted to know.
Hutch shrugged, “You know how the drill goes.”
“There was no question on how we handled what went down.”
“No,” Hutch assured him. “Rollins stepped up and told the whole story. It seems that Masters had been under a doctor’s care for a while.”
“And they let him keep working?” Starsky was horrified.
“The doctor didn’t think he was dangerous.” Hutch shook his head.
“Let’s check the body count.”
“I called Beckie’s friend and let her know that Beckie’s killer had been caught.” Hutch informed Starsky. “Her funeral is in a couple of days. I think I’ll try to go.”
“I’ll come with you if I can.” Starsky wondered who would be planning Cole’s funeral; she had never spoken of any family. As they neared the cafeteria the smell of food wafted into the hall. He had to admit that he was a little hungry; it had been a long time since either of them had eaten.
They had just sat down with trays when a man in scrubs entered. He looked around the room then came toward the detectives. “Excuse me; did one of you come in with Miss Jacobs?”
“Yes, I did,” Starsky said, standing up, his food forgotten. “I’m David Starsky; this is my partner Ken Hutchinson. Is she alive?”
“Dr. Adams,” the doctor shook hands with both men. “Yes, it was touch and go for a while. Miss Jacobs lost a lot of blood and the bullet did some extensive damage but unless she has an unforeseen complication she should have a full recovery. It will take a while.”
Starsky closed his eyes and took a deep breath, “Thank you, doctor.”
“Can he see her?” Hutch wanted to know.
“It will be several hours, before she wakes up. You should really get some rest.” Dr. Adams told them. “Come back in the morning.”
“I can’t leave her here alone,” Starsky said after the doctor walked away.
“Why don’t you eat then we’ll see if you can get in to see her.” Hutch knew that his friend wouldn’t believe it until he could see that Cole was still alive. Starsky nodded and sat back down at the table.

Cole opened her eyes for the first time since she had passed out in the hallway of the office building. She looked around the room trying to assess where she was. After figuring out she was still alive and in a hospital room she began taking inventory, she could wiggle her toes which was always a good thing. It was when she went to hold up her hands that she noticed the dark curly head laying on the bed next to her. She could feel a hand in hers which she squeezed, the head, blurry eyed, came up and blue eyes stared at her.
“David?” Cole was surprised to find him sitting at her bedside.
“Hi, Sweet Heart,” he did in his best Bogey.
Cole gave him a pained smile; her chest felt like large weight was sitting on it. There were tubes going in to her left arm and machines blipping behind her head. “Am I going to live?”
Starsky stood up and leaned over the bed to kiss her forehead. “Doctors say you will.”
“How long have I been out?” Cole wanted to know; as she came more awake she became more aware of how much pain she was in. She tried to bring her left hand to her chest, which seemed to be the source of her pain.
Starsky reached out and took her hand and held it. “You are going to be okay.”
“How bad?” Cole asked.
“I’m no doctor honey, let them tell you.”
“I want to hear it from you, David,” Cole searched his eyes wondering if her career was over and possibly the life that she had known before.
“It was pretty bad, from the way the doctor explained it, the bullet ricocheted around in your chest, doing some damage.” Starsky said.
“My heart?”
“Only a nick, they are letting it heal on its own. But you lost part of your right lung and had some internal bleeding they had to go in and stop. The surgeon had to crack your chest.” Starsky said. “That is why you are in so much pain.”
“How long have I been out?” Cole asked again.
“Two days.”
“Have you been here that whole time?”
“He never left your bedside,” Hutch had been standing in the doorway of Cole’s room watching them.
“Hutch!” Cole held her hand out to him. Hutch crossed the room and took it kissing the back of her hand. He was dressed in a dark suit and tie so Cole said, “My you are looking handsome, much better than your partner here.” She winked at Starsky.
“I just came from Beckie Watson’s funeral.” Hutch said, the happiness at seeing Cole awake faded.
“I want to send the family some flowers,” Cole said sadly she took and squeezed Starsky’s hand.
“I already did.” Starsky said, “From both of us.”
“So there is an us, now?” A small smile formed at the corner of her mouth.
“If you want an idiot for a boyfriend,” Starsky grinned at her.
“I think I can handle that.”



                                                                    ~Chapter Twelve~


Starsky came into the squad room whistling, Hutch looked up from the work he was doing and smiled at his partner. “You’re happy this morning,” Hutch commented.
“Cole gets out of the hospital today,” Starsky went to get a cup of coffee. It had been three long weeks, most of which Starsky spent at her bedside. “She will still need some physical therapy before the doctor will give her a clean bill of heath but at least she gets out of that hospital. I don’t care if I ever see the inside of another one.”
“I’m glad that you two could work it all out,” Hutch said, “It’s not often you find a girl like Cole.”
“She is great isn’t she,” A smile spread from ear to ear on Starsky’s face. “Can I show you something?”
“Sure.”
Starsky perched on the edge of Hutch’s desk and took out a square black velvet box from his pocket and handed it to his partner. “Open it.”
Hutch opened the box to reveal a glittering diamond ring. “Oh, Starsk, you shouldn’t have,” Hutch joked.
“It’s for Cole, dummy,” Starsky shook his head at his beloved friend.
“Some rock, buddy.” Hutch closed the box and handed it back to Starsky.
“When are you going to ask her?”
Starsky shrugged, “When the time is right. I want her to get settled in at home and let things get back to normal. I saw the ring last night and something told me to buy it, so I did.”
“I’m really happy for you.” Hutch said getting to his feet and hugging Starsky.
A few of the detectives who had been watching them snickered, it was too much, first the ring then the hug. “Oh, cut it out,” Starsky admonished them. “It’s for my girlfriend.”
“Congratulations Starsky, about time some lady took you off the market,” one of the detectives said.
“Yeah, now maybe the rest of us will have chance,” another quipped.
“Very funny,” Starsky said.
Dobey’s office door opened and he stepped out. “Starsky how is Agent Jacobs?”
“Coming home today, Cap,” Starsky said. “Call her Cole, she asked you to in the hospital.” The day after Cole had regained consciousness Dobey had shown up with a huge basket of flowers to show his gratitude for what she had done for his detectives. “Besides, she is going to be my wife.”
Dobey’s eyebrows shot up. “You mean she actually said yes?” He said in his gruff voice then smiled.
“Well, I haven’t asked her yet.” Starsky pulled the ring from his pocket to show his captain.
Dobey gave a low whistle when he saw the ring. “I think the department is paying you too much.”
Starsky shrugged, “She’s worth it, even if I will be paying it off the rest of my life.”
“Don’t forget you have court tomorrow. Doug Rollins’ murder trial starts, you two will be testifying, Agent…Cole will be called, is she up for that?” Dobey wanted to know.
“I think so. Rollins really threw her for a loop; they had been partners for five years.” Starsky said.
“It would be like you turning on me, old buddy,” Hutch clapped Starsky on the back.
“That would never happen.” Starsky stuck the ring box back in his pocket.

Cole was dressed and ready when Starsky showed up at the hospital to pick her up. He fingered the ring box as he rode up in the elevator thinking that he might just ask her then and there, but when he got to the room he changed his mind.
“My parents are coming,” Cole was all smiles. She hadn’t told her parents anything until they had been sure she was completely out of the woods.
“Parents?” It was the first time Cole had even mentioned them, when Starsky had said something about letting her family know she had been hurt Cole had just brushed him off.
“They live in Florida, they should be here any minute.”
Starsky’s heart sank, he had worked up the courage to ask Cole to marry him and now her parents would be there any minute, he took his hand out of his pocket and went to kiss her on the cheek. “That’s wonderful. I can’t wait to meet them.”
“They insisted on coming to the hospital to pick me up. I told them just to meet me at the apartment, that I already had a ride, but they insisted so what could I do?” Cole moved around the room slowly packing her things and reading the flowers that had accumulated in her room. “I can’t wait to get home.”
Starsky suddenly felt insignificant, he had come to take her home and have a little alone time with her but that was shot. He put on a smile and tried to act excited, this wasn’t the way he wanted to meet her family. “Maybe I should go.”
Cole looked horrified, “No, David, I want you to meet my mom and dad, they are going to love you.”
“If you are so excited that they are coming, why wouldn’t you let me call them after you where shot?”
Cole turned solemn, “I’m third generation FBI, my grandfather, my dad, even my brother were all agents. Just over a year ago my brother was killed in a shooting; it nearly killed my parents so I just wanted to wait until I was sure the news was good before I called them. I couldn’t put them through that again so soon.”
There was a knock on the door, Starsky stepped forward and opened it to reveal a couple in their sixties, the woman, he knew right away, was Cole’s mother, they looked so much alike they could have almost been twins if it hadn’t been for the graying hair. Cole’s father was a tall, powerfully built man; a mass of silver hair adorned the top of his head.
“Daddy!” Cole called out and moved as quickly as she could to greet them. “Mom, you both look great.”
“You are looking good, button.” Her father addressed her by her childhood nickname.
“Daddy, Mom, this is David Starsky.” Cole introduced them. “David, these are my parents Ben and Maggie Jacobs.”
“Good to meet you,” Starsky shook hands with them both.
“Let’s get you out of here kiddo, I’m sure you have had enough hospital food to last a life time.” Ben Jacobs said.
Cole giggled, “David would smuggle food in for me.”
Ben looked around the room, “Looks like you are going to need a moving truck. Are you ready?”
“I have to wait for my wheelchair, hospital policy,” Cole smiled at her father.
As if being summoned there was a knock on the door, it opened and a young man pushed a wheelchair into the room. “Your chariot awaits, Miss Cole.” The orderly bowed deeply to her.
“Greg, you are so silly.” Cole grinned at him. She went to sit in the chair while her mother started gathering up as much as she could carry.
Starsky started to grab the handles of the wheelchair when Ben asked, “David, could you bring some of those plants?”
“Sure thing.” Starsky said casting a disappointed look in Cole’s direction but she was beaming at her father. Starsky grabbed as many arrangements as he could carry and followed Cole and her parents down the hall.
Once outside Starsky started to sit his load on the curb so that he could bring the car around to pick up Cole but her father had other ideas. “You wait here with Cole, Mags I’ll go get the car.”
“Daddy, David was going to drive me home. He took off work just to come and get me.” Cole said smiling up at Starsky who took her hand in his.
“And we came all the way from Florida and haven’t seen you in ages.” Ben said as he started across the parking lot to get their rental car.
“I’m sorry,” Maggie apologized to her daughter and Starsky. “Cole, your father hasn’t been the same since Danny died and then when your phone call came.” Maggie just shook her head.
Starsky knelt down next to Cole’s wheelchair. “It’s okay, I’ll just see you at dinner tonight, that is if we are still having dinner tonight.”
“Of course you are still invited to dinner tonight, our treat,” Maggie smiled at Starsky and took his hand. “Thank you for taking care of our little girl.”
“It was my pleasure,” Starsky said, he saw Ben pulling a large sedan toward them. “I better get back to work.”
“David,” Cole called after him but Starsky was nearly sprinting across the parking lot.

Starsky returned sullenly to the station, when he walked into the squad room Hutch was still sitting at his desk, he was now reviewing their next case. “How did it go? Cole all settled?” Hutch asked without looking up as Starsky sat down at his desk.
“I wouldn’t know,” Starsky snapped.
Hutch looked up from his reading, “What happened?”
“Ben and Maggie showed up to take Cole home.”
“Who are Ben and Maggie?” Hutch wanted to know
“Cole’s parents, they got in from Florida right as I was picking up Cole.” Starsky said. “Her father hates me.”
“How could he hate you already, he doesn’t even know you.” Hutch said
“I think just the fact that I breathe in and out makes him hate me.” Starsky grumbled.
“It can’t be that bad,” Hutch chuckled.
“We are having dinner tonight, why don’t you come see?” Starsky invited.
“Starsk, I don’t think that is a good idea.”
“I need an ally.”
“You have Cole,” Hutch said.
Starsky grunted, “I don’t know how long that will last. I think she is daddy’s little girl and if daddy don’t like me I probably don’t have a shot.”
“I think Cole has more brains than that, buddy.”
“Dinner?” Starsky gave his partner a pleading look. Sighing Hutch agreed to join them for dinner.

Dinner was a nightmare, Ben Jacobs wasn’t any more enamored with Hutch than he had been with Starsky. If he wasn’t ignoring the two men then he was making cutting remarks in their direction. Cole, as did her mother, tried their best to smooth things over but nothing worked.
Finally, Starsky folded his napkin and placed it next to his plate. “Hutch and I have to get up early we are starting a new case in the morning.” He tossed some cash on the table, he wouldn’t think of letting Ben pay for his meal. “Don’t forget we have to testify at Rollins’ trial tomorrow, Cole, are you up for it?”
“Yeah, I’ll be fine,” Cole’s eyes were sad as she looked at him. She kind of shrugged her shoulders, how could she explain her father’s actions? He was never like this before.
“Do you need a ride to court?” Starsky asked already knowing the answer.
“I will see she gets to where she needs to be.” Ben answered without looking at Starsky.
“No, Daddy, David will take me.” Cole said firmly then she looked back at Starsky. “Are you sure you and Hutch have to go?”
“Sorry,” Starsky turned on his heels and left.
“It was nice to meet you both,” Hutch said to Cole’s parents then to Cole, “I guess I’ll see you in the morning.”
As soon as the two detectives were out of ear shot Cole turned to her father. “Daddy what was that all about? Why are you being so rude to them, especially David?”
“They are cops.” It was the only excuse that Ben gave his daughter.
“What?” Cole’s face turned angry. “Since when do you hate cops, besides they weren’t here as police, they were here as my friends, friends that I wanted the two of you to get to know.”
Ben made a noise in the back of this throat, “I think that David is more than a friend.”
“How perceptive of you, yes, he is more than just a friend. He’s my boyfriend and I’m hoping someday, that is if you don’t screw it up, he might just ask me to marry him.” Cole was furious.
“Marry?” Ben looked appalled, “You can’t marry him.”
“And why not? He’s a good man.” Cole snapped.
“I have no doubts about his character but he is not who you need to be marrying.”
“Daddy, I’m thirty-two years old, I will marry whoever I want.” Cole got up from the table.
“We haven’t ordered dessert yet, Button,” Ben said.
“This dinner is over,” Cole turned to her mother and in a sarcastic voice said, “Thanks for backing me up mom and daddy stop calling me Button.”
“Cole, is that anyway to speak to your mother? Or to me for that matter, we are your parents.” Ben was angry now. “See what he has done to you? You were never disrespectful to us before.”
“And you were never disrespectful to me.” Cole said. “I’m going home, I have to be in court in the morning to testify against the man that was going to kill me. So, if you will excuse me, I’ll get a cab.” Cole stormed from the restaurant leaving her father gaping after her.

“Wow,” It was the only word Hutch could think of at the moment as they walked across the restaurant parking lot. “That guy has a lot of anger.”
As they walked Starsky began to cool down, “I’m not sure it’s really at me though.”
“Sure looked like it from my point of view. I get the idea its just not you he doesn’t like but cops in general.”
“I don’t,” Starsky sighed. “They lost their son just over a year ago, he was an FBI agent too, the dad is retired FBI and Cole said her grandfather was an agent too.”
“Hard to compete with all that.” Hutch said as he got into the passenger side of Starsky’s car.
“Maybe I don’t want too.”


                                                                            ~Chapter Thirteen~


The courtroom was filled mostly with police officers and FBI agents; Beckie Watson’s family was there to see the man that killed her and the others brought to justice. The reporters were being kept at bay; neither the FBI nor the Police force wanted the trial to be turned into a three ring circus. Doug Rollins was pleading innocent; he was hanging the three murders on Alexander Masters. With Masters dead there were only Starsky, Hutch and Cole to dispute his claim, from the moment they had entered the courthouse that morning, the three of them had been separated and would remain that way until after each had testified.
Cole wanted to nail Rollins to the wall; she had never felt so betrayed in all her life. She thought she had known her partner; they had been together for five years and worked well together. She also had trusted Alexander Masters, both had disappointed her.
She was the first one called to the witness stand; Cole was glad that Starsky wasn’t in the room to hear her detailed account of the case that Masters had her and Rollins working on. How she had been undercover when she had met the two detectives, how she had been ordered to get close to one of them in order to prove that it was them that had killed Officer Dickinson and Thomas Ackins. Cole’s testimony seem to go on forever, she kept her eyes on her parents who had slipped into the back row just before the session had started.
Cole was exhausted by the time the cross examination was over and she was allowed to step down. She made her way out of the courtroom and took a seat in the hall. Her parents got up and followed her; Maggie sat down next to her daughter and put her arm around her shoulders. “I had no idea, honey that was horrible.”
“So, this is how you met this David?” Ben wanted to know, “He was your job?”
“Daddy, don’t say it like that, but yes, that is how we met. I wish it could have been some other way but you can’t always control how you are going to feel when you meet somebody.” Cole said.
“You don’t date people you are supposed to be investigating.”
“He’s not being investigated anymore. It was Masters and Rollins, weren’t you even listening to the trial?” She got to her feet and squared off with her father, “Daddy, if you can’t be civil to David then you and mom can just go back to Florida.”
Ben Jacobs was speechless for the first time since he had arrived in California. It was Maggie that finally stepped in, “Ben, this has got to stop, you are going to drive our daughter away. She loves David; anybody can see that or is that what is bothering you? If she gets married you won’t have your little girl anymore?”
“That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard.” Ben blustered.
Starsky came walking down the hall; he was the next one to be called to the stand. As he passed by Cole he caught her hand in his but didn’t speak, then he disappeared into the courtroom. It was nearly an hour before he exited the courtroom. Cole was still waiting sitting on the wooden bench with her mother, Ben was several yards down the hall leaning against the wall, his back to his wife and daughter.
“Is everything alright?” Starsky glanced in the direct of Cole’s father.
“I don’t know,” Cole answered honestly. “I really don’t know what is going on. That man standing down there is not my father.”
“Don’t say that Cole,” Maggie said, tears standing in her eyes.
“Mom, he has changed so much that I don’t even know who he is,” Cole took her mother’s hands, “Can’t you see it.”
“Of course I can see it,” Maggie burst out, several people in the hall turned to stare. “I live with him; you don’t know the half if it.”
Cole watched her mother pull at the material of her dress nervously, “Mom, what is going on?”
“I can’t, I just can’t,” Maggie got up walking hurriedly toward the exit.
Cole looked up at Starsky, she was afraid, of what she wasn’t sure. “Is Hutch going to testify today?”
“I don’t think so,” Starsky said looking at his watch “It’s getting late and they have your state director on the stand now.”
“I need to talk to my mother,” Cole said getting up, she glanced down the hall to where her father was standing but he was gone.
“Let me find Hutch and I’ll take you where ever you need to go.” Starsky said.
Cole nodded; a feeling of dread filled her as she waited for Starsky. He was back within minutes. “I guess take me to their hotel.”
When they arrived at the hotel where her parents were staying Starsky asked, “You want me to come in with you?”
“No, I don’t think that would be a good idea,” Cole leaned across the seat and kissed him. “I’ll catch a cab later.”
“I can wait.”
“No, please just go, I’ll call you later, I promise.”

Hutch had just leaned his head back and closed his eyes on the couch when there was a knock on the door. “It’s open,” He called to lazy to move. It had been a long day in court and he would have another long one since he hadn’t been called to testify.
The door opened and Starsky stepped in, “Hey ya, Hutch.”
“What is going on with Cole and her parents?” Hutch wanted to know sitting up.
“I have no idea, other than he hates me. But I think there is much more to it than that, have you noticed how Maggie acts round him?” Starsky asked as he joined Hutch on the couch.
“Yeah, I did notice it at dinner, she almost seems afraid of him.”
“At least it’s not my imagination.”
“Bet you are wishing they would go back to Florida.”
Starsky snorted, “You have no idea. I almost asked Cole to marry me yesterday.”
“What stopped you?”
“Her parents showed up.” Starsky said. “I can’t even image what her father would have done if she had told him she was marrying me.”
“I might be overstepping my bounds here but why don’t we run a background check on him,” Hutch suggested.
“He’s an FBI agent.”
“Was, I thought he was retired.”
“He is but still,” Starsky said, “I can’t do a background check on my girlfriend’s father.”
“Fine, then I will,” Hutch said getting up and going to the phone. “There is something going on and by the way you talk Cole doesn’t even know what it is.”
“Alright,” Starsky relented.
Hutch placed the call to the station giving them all the information they had on Ben Jacobs. “I’ll be here.” Hutch said into the phone and hung up. “I called Minnie; she’ll get back to us here.”
“Thanks, buddy.”
Thirty minutes later the phone rang and both the detectives jump then looked at each other. “Hello.” Hutch said after he grabbed the phone. He listened for a few minutes, “Thanks, Minnie, we’ll get the file in the morning.”
“File? There is a file on Cole’s father?” Starsky asked but somehow he wasn’t really surprised.
“Seems like quite a long one,” Hutch dropped the phone back in its cradle and sat back down next to his partner. “Most of it is domestic calls, seems Mr. Jacobs is beating his wife.”
“Super,” Starsky shook his head, “You know, I just think that Cole and I aren’t meant to be together you know?”
“What does this have to do with you and Cole?” Hutch wanted to know.
“You don’t think this is going to affect her?” Starsky asked. “You know she can’t go back to work yet so what is to stop her from going back to Florida with her parents.”
“She would do that too, wouldn’t she? Just to try and help out.” Hutch knew Starsky was right.
“And what if she doesn’t know? What if her mother tells her nothing, which is what I’m figuring is going to happen.” Starsky looked at Hutch, “Am I supposed to tell her?”
“Let’s just wait until morning and see what the files say, maybe it’s not as bad as it sounds.” Hutch suggested.
“You know what? I don’t want to wait until morning. Let’s go now.”
Hutch looked longingly at his bed through the door, “Alright.”
Unfortunately the files on Ben were worse than Minnie had made them sound. He had been arrested dozens of times and tossed in jail for beating his wife with a hand full of the beatings landing her in the hospital.
They were both stunned, “Why isn’t he in jail?” Starsky wanted to know.
“She has never pressed charges,” Hutch pointed to report.
“When did this start? If it has been going on a long time Cole would surely have known about it.”
Hutch examined the papers closer, “Looks like first report was filed just over a year ago.”
“About the time her brother was killed.” Starsky stated.
“What are you going to do?” Hutch asked his partner.
“Pray that Cole’s mother tells her,” Starsky said. “I guess I’m going to have to if she doesn’t. It would destroy Cole if something happened to her mother, especially at her father’s hand.”

It was late when Starsky finally got to his apartment, Cole was sitting on her car as he pulled up. “What are you doing out here?”
“Waiting for you,” Cole put her arms around him.
He rubbed her bare arms, “You’re cold, you shouldn’t be out here like this.” Starsky took off his jacket and threw it over her shoulders. “You’re still recuperating; you sure don’t need a cold on top of everything.”
“Then why don’t you take me inside?” She smiled coyly at him.
“Only if we are going to watch an old movie, you aren’t up for anything else.”
“And just what are you suggesting. sir?” Cole slid off her car.
“You are something else, you know that?” Starsky put his arm around her shoulders and walked her to his front door. “Have you had anything to eat?”
Cole shook her head no; she had tried to talk to both of her parents and got nowhere. Her father refused to speak to her while her mother hid in the bathroom. “I’m starved, how about one of those pizza’s that you kept smuggling into the hospital?”
“Sounds good,” Starsky keyed open the door and flipped on the light.
With only a few cold slices of pizza left in the box Starsky bravely asked Cole about her parents. “Oh, I don’t know,” Cole sighed. She was tired of thinking about it. She almost wished they hadn’t come to California. “I couldn’t get either of them to talk to me. David, I’m really worried about them.”
Starsky took a deep breath, “I might be able to shed some light as to what is going on.”
“Well, do tell.” Cole looked at him with her big brown eyes.
“You aren’t going to like it.” Cole didn’t speak just waited for him to go on. Taking another deep breath and realizing that he was probably killing any chance of a happy life with the woman he loved Starsky plunged in. “We ran a background check on your father.”
“What?”
“I’m sorry I know we…I overstepped my bounds but I was worried about you and your parents, especially your mom. Cole we are on the streets everyday, Hutch and I have learned to read people and what your mother wasn’t saying was speaking loud and clear.”
“What the hell are you trying to say, David?”
“You father has been beating your mother, badly enough that she has landed in the hospital.” Starsky blurted out. He expected that Cole would be mad but he wasn’t expecting the resounding slap that she planted across his face.
“How dare you!” Cole jumped to her feet. “Is this your way of trying to get back at me for what I did?”
“Cole, you can’t believe that, why would I want to hurt you?” Starsky got up and followed her to the door and started to take her hand. “I have the files in my car.”
“Don’t touch me.” The look in her eyes was deadly. “Don’t call me; don’t come by my place again. Daddy was right about you, we are through, you hear me, David Starsky?”



                                                                                    ~Chapter Fourteen~


The call came over the radio just after the boys had hit the street, a woman had been found beaten in a hotel room. “Nawww,” Starsky shook his head knowing that was the same hotel that Cole’s parents were checked into. “You don’t think, do you, Hutch?”
“That it could be Cole’s parents, it’s a big city buddy.”
“Let’s take the call.”
Hutch picked up the microphone and responded to the call. Then he looked over at Starsky, “You didn’t say much about your talk with Cole last night. I’m taking it that it didn’t go well?”
“That’s putting it mildly; she slapped me so hard my face still hurts.” Starsky rubbed his jaw.
“You know it’s a hard thing to accept. I read the report and find it hard to believe that Ben beats his wife. Sure, there seems to be something going on with them but I would never have guessed that.”
“I do truly believe that Cole and I just aren’t meant to be, something always seems to stand in our way. Starsky pulled the ring box out of his pocket while they were sitting at a red light. He handed it to Hutch, “Lock it in the glove box would ya?”
Hutch took the velvet box; he opened it and looked at the ring again. “She’s a lucky girl you know.”
“I don’t think she thinks so right now.”
Starsky pulled up in front of the hotel, an ambulance was already there, the back standing open and empty of its gurney. The detectives were directed to the eighth floor, they didn’t need the room number to find which room the beaten woman was in, there was a sizeable crowd gathering.
“Get back,” Hutch ordered, “This isn’t a sideshow, go back to your rooms.”
Nobody moved they all remained firmly rooted in their spots, craning their necks trying to get a glimpse of the beaten and bloodied woman.
Starsky pushed his way past the throng of people and into the room. A paramedic was taking the woman’s pulse. “She’s alive,” the paramedic addressed Starsky. The woman was laying face up on the bed; her right arm was lying at an odd angle, clearly broken. Bruises were starting to form on her arms, neck and face. There was a cut about her left eye that was bleeding profusely.
When the detective got a better look at the woman his worst fears were realized, it was indeed, Maggie Jacobs. “Hutch,” Starsky called to his partner who was still in the hall trying to get the people gawking to return to their rooms. Hutch stepped into the room, “It’s, Maggie.”
“Dammit,” Hutch said under his breath then turned to the hotel manager who was standing in the corner of the room ringing his hands, “Where is her husband?”
The hotel manager shrugged his shoulders, “The maid found her this morning. Mr. Jacobs wasn’t in the room.”
A uniformed officer entered the room, “Get an A.P.B. out on a Benjamin Jacobs, he is wanted for assault.” Hutch ordered
“Sure thing, Hutch,” the officer disappeared.
“Let me through.” Hutch knew the voice before he even saw Cole appear in the doorway. “Hutch?” Cole called to him not seeing Starsky who was bending over her severely beaten mother.
“Cole, you need to stop right here,” Hutch said blocking her way into the room.
“What happened? Is it daddy, did he have a heart attack?” Cole wanted to know as she tried to push the detective out of her way.
“No, it’s not your father,” Hutch answered.
“Let her in,” Starsky said, he was angry, if Cole would have just listened to him last night this might have been avoided.
“What is going on, David?” Cole demanded, Starsky moved so that she could see her unconscious mother lying on the bed. The blood drained from Cole’s face when she saw her mother, “Mom?” Cole moved toward the bed but Starsky stopped her.
“You need to let them work on her,” Starsky said in a firm voice.
“W-what happened?” Cole wanted to know.
“Your father happened,” Starsky said looking the woman he loved in the eyes.
“You’re a liar,” Cole yelled at him and raised her hand to strike him as she had done then night before.
Starsky grabbed her hand and held it to his chest, “Cole, I am not lying, the maid found your mother like this and your father is nowhere to be found.”
Cole jerked her hand away, “That doesn’t mean he did it. Maybe somebody broke into the room, beat my mother and kidnapped my father.”
“Do you really believe that?” Starsky said as Cole looked at the floor, “Look at me! Cole raised her eyes to meet his, “Answer me, do you really think that is the way it went down?”
“I-I don’t know,” Cole’s angry façade melted away and tears began to stream down her face.
Starsky pulled Cole into his arms, at first she resisted then relinquished herself to him. “It’s going to be alright,” Starsky soothed as Cole sobbed.
The paramedics loaded Maggie onto the gurney, Cole pulled away from Starsky, “I want to see it.”
“What?”
“The file, you said you had a file on my father, I want to see it,” Cole said, “I have to go with my mom now.”
“I’ll meet you at the hospital,” Starsky said.
“Bring it.” Cole followed the paramedics pushing her mother out of the room.
Cole was sitting by her mother’s bedside, holding her hand, when Starsky first knocked then pushed open the door. Cole looked up at him. “She is going to be alright, her arm and a few ribs are broken and she has a concussion but there was no internal damage.”
“I’m glad,” Starsky said keeping his distance from Cole; he didn’t feel like doing battle with her again if she was so inclined.
“Did you bring it?”
Starsky held up a fairly thick file that had been faxed to the station. He walked over and handed it to Cole. She took the folder, setting it on her lap she opened the cover and began to read, by the time she was done Cole was weeping. She looked up at Starsky, “Why didn’t she say something to me? Why didn’t she get help?”
Starsky squatted next to Cole, “We see it all the time, I’m sure your mom thought that it would stop, he was going through a bad time and when it was over he would stop.”
“But he didn’t, did he?” Cole said finally believing that it had been her father who had beaten her mother so badly.
“I’m sorry, baby,” Starsky said taking her hand, Cole squeezed it.
“And I’m sorry for not believing you.” She reached out and gently touched his face where she had slapped it the day before.
Another knock on the door interrupted them; Hutch opened the door and poked his head in. “Ben has been located.”
“Where?” Cole wanted to know.
“The airport, their security is holding him. He was walking around in a daze in blood splattered clothes.” Hutch said. “My guess is that he was trying to head home.”
Cole got up, “Let’s go.”
“You stay here with your mother, let Hutch and I handle this,” Starsky said.
“I’m probably the only one he will listen to,” Cole bent over and kissed her sleeping mother’s bruised cheek.
“In the state they say he’s in, she is probably right, Starsk.” Hutch said backing her up.
Arriving at the airport they found Ben Jacobs pacing back and forth in a holding room, Cole watched him through a small window in the door. “Has he said anything?” She asked the security officer.
“No, ma’am,” he said, “But he came willingly with us.”
Cole softly opened the door and closed it behind her. Starsky didn’t like the idea of her going in there alone, he was afraid her father might try and attack her. He stood watching through the small window ready to go in if Ben made a move on his daughter.
“Daddy?” Cole quietly called to her father.
Ben stopped pacing at the sound of her voice. “Button?”
“Yes, daddy, it’s me.”
“I-I think I did something horrible.” Ben broke down into tears.
Cole pulled her father into her arms and rocked him as if he were small child with a skinned knee. She had been furious on the ride to the airport but when she saw her father all the anger left her. “It’s going to be alright, daddy.”
“Your mother, I think I killed her, I didn’t mean too. We were arguing and and…” he stammered.
“Mom is going to be fine, she is in the hospital.” Cole reassured her father. “It’s going to be okay, I’ll find you some help, daddy.”
Ben slid through her arms and sat on the floor, he put his head in his hands, “I don’t know why I hurt her. I love her…I love her.”
“I know you do,” Cole sat down next to her father, then she looked at the door, she could see Starsky’s face there, he gave her a brief nod and disappeared from the window.
Ben was taken into police custody, the detectives made sure he was put alone in a holding cell away from any of the other prisoners. They recommended a good lawyer to Cole, hoping to strike a deal allowing Ben Jacobs to go into a hospital instead of jail. In court the judge had been reluctant after seeing Ben’s record but Cole had assured the judge that her father would be put into the best hospital money could buy and he would stay there until he was well. Finally, the judge agreed to the deal but Ben would have to be in the hospital for ninety days then come back before the court. He was not allowed to leave the state until he was released by the court.
After nearly a week in the hospital Maggie Jacobs was sent home with Cole, she had very little to say about her husband’s sentence, in fact, she said very little at all even though Cole tried to get her to talk. Finally, at the end of the second week, Maggie informed her daughter that she wanted to go back to Florida.
“Mom, why don’t you stay here where I can take care of you,” Cole was distressed by the idea of her mother going clear across the country just to be by herself.
“Cole, I have my friends, I want to sleep in my own bed; I want to put my life back together again.” Maggie said looking at her daughter. She had talked to a physiatrist several times while she had been in the hospital and a few times since she had gotten out.
“Are you going to divorce daddy?” Cole wanted to know. She knew her mother had every right in the world to want to rid herself of the monster her husband had turned into.
Maggie reached out and put her hand on her daughter’s cheek, “Baby, I don’t know. I need time to think.”
Cole nodded as tears formed in her eyes, how had her parents come to this? They had always been so much in love with each other and now it looked like they might be heading for a divorce. Not that Cole could blame her mother.
Two days later Cole took her mother to the airport, kissed her goodbye and made her promise to call everyday. On the way back to her apartment she called Starsky; they had barely seen each other since her mother had been hurt even though they had made up once again.
“Detective Starsky,” he said in the phone.
Cole giggled, “Hello, Detective Starsky, how about some dinner tonight?”
“Cole,” Starsky was delighted to hear her voice. “Did your mother get off okay?”
“She is on her way home. Daddy is settled into a nice private hospital where he can get help so I guess that just leaves you and me cowboy.”
Starsky smiled, “So, where do you want to go?”
“How about here?” Cole suggested, “I could cook you a nice meal and maybe we could have a slumber party.”
“Sounds like fun,” Starsky glanced at his watch. “I won’t get out of here until after six.”
“That will give me plenty of time to get everything ready then.” Cole said trying to sound mysterious.



                                                                       ~Chapter Fifteen~


It was nearly seven p.m. before Starsky pulled up in front of Cole’s apartment. He had showered and changed into fresh jeans, a button down shirt with a sport coat over it. Before getting out of the car, Starsky reached over and opened the glove box, the velvet covered box sat right where Hutch had place it several weeks before. He sat and thought for a few moments then grabbed the box and put it in his coat pocket.
Cole answered the door wearing a very flattering rose colored halter dress accenting her beautiful tan, her hair hung loose around her shoulders and her feet were bare. The room was dark except for the soft glow of candles that seemed to fill every square inch of the apartment. On the table sat a large bouquet of flowers, Cole walked over to the table and picked up two wines glasses and handed one to Starsky.
He took a sip then a smile spread across his face, it wasn’t wine or even champagne, it was beer. She had remembered their first date even if she had been “working”. He shook his head as he looked at her, “I love you, you know that?”
Cole merely smiled at him as she crossed the room to the kitchen. She had prepared a dinner very similar to the one that she had made them the first time. Starsky helped carry the plates to the table. After they both were seated Cole said, “I hope we can go a couple of weeks without any drama.”
“I wouldn’t count on that,” Starsky fingered the ring box in his pocket. He wanted to wait for just the right moment to present it to Cole.
“So you are telling me we are going to spend the rest of our lives in chaos?”
Starsky grinned, he liked the way she had said our lives as if they planned to be together forever, he knew that was what he had in mind. When they were finished eating, Cole went into the kitchen to retrieve two bottles of beer then invited Starsky to join her on the couch.
Their conversation during dinner had been light and fun but now Cole turned a serious face to him. “I hope my mom will be alright by herself.” Cole worried. “I don’t think she has ever been on her own before.”
“I’m sure she will be fine, you had to get your strength from somebody and I think it was your mom.” Starsky slipped his hand in his coat pocket again; he felt the soft top of the box.
He was thinking of pulling it out and handing it to Cole when she said, “I’m not sure I ever want to get married.”
Starsky felt like someone had just dropped a bomb in the room. He pulled his hand out of his pocket as if he had touched something hot. Trying to keep the tremble out of his voice and the disappointment from his face he asked, “Why do you say that?”
“After what my parents are going through and you even have to ask?” Cole rubbed her finger around the top of the beer bottle making a ringing sound. “They have been married since they were both twenty-two years old and now what do they have? Nothing, their lives are falling apart.”
“But that doesn’t have to happen to you honey.” Starsky said taking her hands in his. Cole noticed that he was trembling and looked into his yes. “They went through a very bad time when your brother was killed.”
“I know but their marriage should have been solid after all this time to withstand it.”
“It wasn’t their marriage that fell apart Cole, it was your father.”
“And he took it out on the woman he loves.” Cole pulled her hands from his and moved slightly away. She had noticed not only how his hands had been shaking but the disappointment on his face even though she knew he was trying to hid it. “I don’t know if I could take a chance like that. I have lived this long without having a man permanently in my life I don’t see why I need to start know.”
“W-what about children?” he wanted to know.
Cole shrugged, “I never gave much thought to kids, I love my job and as you know it can be dangerous at times. Why bring kids into that?”
“You may be sorry someday, Cole,” Starsky said as his dream of him and Cole along with a couple of kids vanished.
“I guess that is a choice I have to live with.” Cole got up and set her beer on the kitchen table and began clearing the dishes away. She knew that she had just ruined the perfect evening that she had planned and that he had expected. But when she had opened the door her gut had told her that he was going to ask her to marry him that night. She wasn’t ready for that and might never be, so instead of turning him down flat, she hoped that she was letting him down easier and with no embarrassment for either of them.
Starsky followed her into the kitchen carrying the basket of bread he, set it on the counter and tried to take Cole in his arms but she brushed by him to get the rest of the items on the table. He knew their evening was over and perhaps their relationship, not that there was much of one to began with, they had never really gotten a chance.
He looked at his watch, “This has been really nice,” He tried to keep his voice from quivering as he spoke. “I have to be up early.”
Cole made no move to persuade him to stay and when he was gone and she was alone, only then, did she allow the tears to spill down her cheeks. She loved him like she had loved no other man but the thought of them turning out like her parents was too much for her to bear.

Hutch was surprised to see Starsky at his door so early in the evening. “I thought you and Cole had a hot date.” Hutch said as his partner sat down listlessly on his couch. Hutch shook his head, “Now what happened?”
Starsky took the ring box out of his pocket and handed it to Hutch. “Find some place for this.”
“She turned you down?”
“I never asked.” Starsky said as he curled up on one end of the couch.
“Then what happened, did you guys have a fight?”
Starsky shook his head no, “Out of the blue she started talking about how she didn’t want to get married or have kids. I think maybe she sensed what I was going to ask and was trying to let me down easy.”
“Starsk, Cole has gone though two very traumatic events in her life. Her partner let her down and then her parents. She will come around, just give her some time.”
“I don’t know if she will ever get over her parents, it has really sent her into a tail spin.” Starsky said closing his eyes and leaning his head back, he was exhausted.
“At least that bastard partner of her’s is in jail for the rest of his life.” Hutch said but he knew that was little comfort to Starsky. “So, did the two of you break up?” When Hutch got no answered he looked over at Starsky who was sound asleep. Hutch smiled as he got up, he pulled a quilt from the back of the couch and placed it over his partner.

Cole lay in bed staring at the ceiling, she had been planning on asking Starsky to spend the night, but she hadn’t been planning on watching movies this time. She loved him so much it hurt but there was no way that she was going to get in a situation like her parents, marriage was not for her. Her brother had only been two years older than she and he left behind a wife, no children. They had only been married several months when Jason had been killed in a gun battle between the police, FBI and several bank robbers. Jason hadn’t been the only one killed, another agent, three police officers and one of the robbers had been gunned down.
Marissa, his wife nearly had a breakdown and soon left town to live with her parents in another state while she tried to get her life back together. She heard that Marissa was now engaged, Cole had been angry that she had moved on so quickly with her life but the girl had only been twenty-three and still had her whole life ahead of her. She wished that her father could have moved on as easily, Cole wondered why he had become so violent with her mother.
Tears slid down the sides of her face and wet her pillow as she wondered if she would ever see the man she loved again. She wouldn’t blame David if he never spoke her again.

When Starsky awoke the next morning he was stiff from sleeping on Hutch’s couch, he was still curled up when he opened his eyes. At first he wasn’t sure where he was then the memory of the night before came flooding back. He glanced at his watch and found that it was only five a.m., he didn’t want to wake Hutch at such and early hour so he slipped out of Hutch’s apartment and headed home. Only Starsky made a detour, he drove past Cole’s apartment building slowly not knowing what he would find. Her standing outside maybe, he doubted it, for he was pretty sure that they were finished. Or at least he was sure it was over for him, he didn’t want a relationship that he knew couldn’t to lead to something permanent.
Starsky cleaned up and decided to go into work early hoping to get Cole off his mind. Dobey was already in his office when Starsky arrived; he poured himself a cup of coffee and poked his head into the office. “Morning, Cap,” Starsky said as he sipped his coffee.
“Is Hutchinson here yet?” Dobey asked looking up at this detective.
“Not yet, it’s still early.”
“Why don’t you come in and take a seat.” Dobey said as he handed two case files to Starsky. “I’m going to put you two on this case.”
Starsky took the files and opened the top one, he read it silently then looked quickly at the second one, two young women had been raped at Westwood College and it was feared that they had serial rapist on their hands. “We will get on this as soon as Hutch gets here,” Starsky promised.
“Starsky,” Dobey called after his detective who was leaving his office. “Did you ever ask your lady to marry you?”
The look on Starsky’s face when he turned to answer his captain made Dobey wish he hadn’t asked, “No and I don’t think we will be seeing each other anymore.”
“I’m sorry it didn’t work out.”
“Thanks, Cap,” Starsky walked out of the office shutting the door behind him.
Hutch knew that his partner was hurting when he found him already at his desk studying what he guessed was their new assignment. He had decided that he wasn’t going to bring up Cole unless Starsky did, instead he asked, “So, what are working on?”
Starsky handed him one of the files, “Looks like we might have a serial rapist.”
“Great,” Hutch sighed as he took the file Starsky offered him. “Where?”
“Westwood College,” Starsky responded. “The first girl, Tara Morris, is nineteen and was raped three days ago in a stairwell, she was going to class when someone came up behind her, dragged her in the stairwell and raped her, then he knocked her out. The second girl, Isabella Santiago, twenty, was raped late yesterday afternoon the same way. She is still in the hospital.
”I guess that is where we start,” Hutch said as he made some notes in his notebook and slipped it in his pocket.
“Think we should pick up a female officer?” Starsky suggested, “Miss Santiago might not want to talk to us.”
“Good idea, Starsky,” Hutch said as they walked out into the hall. “Let’s see who is available.”
Once they got downstairs they went to the desk Sergeant to see which female office they might be able to take with them. The Sergeant jerked his thumb to a young woman in uniform standing in front of a bulletin board reading what was posted there. “Take Ashford.”
The detectives looked toward the woman the Sergeant motioned to; she looked like she was barely out of the Academy. “She looks a little young,” Starsky commented.
“Ashford, come over here,” the Sergeant called to her.
The young woman turned from her reading and crossed the room to stand in front of the desk. “What do you need, Serge?”
“This is Detectives Starsky and Hutchinson, they need a female officer to go on a run with them, do you mind?” the Sergeant asked.
“Not in the least,” Officer Ashford stuck out her hand for the detectives to shake, “I’m, Jenna, Jenna Ashford.”
“I’m, Starsky,” Starsky introduced himself, then nodded at Hutch, “And this is my partner, Hutch.”
“Good to meet you.” She smiled and pushed a blond wisp of hair from her blue eyes. “So what’s up?”
They quickly explained to Jenna what they needed. “I’ll be glad to talk to her.” She said. “And for the record, I have been an officer for ten years; I just transferred here from Seattle.”
Starsky felt a slow blush creep up his face; he hadn’t known she had heard him. “I’m sorry Officer Ashford.”
“No problem, I get it all the time, and call me Jenna.”



                                                                         ~Chapter Sixteen~



Isabella Santiago was of Mexican decent, she had dark hair that curled around the bruised, cut and frightened dark brown eyes that looked at the three detectives standing in her room. “Miss Santiago, we have brought Officer Ashford to question you about the rape.” Hutch said gently but the young girl still flinched at the word rape. Hutch turned to Jenna, “We’ll be out in the hall if you need us.”
Jenna nodded as she brought a chair next to Isabella’s bed and pulled out a small notebook from her jacket pocket, there was a pencil jammed in the end of the book which she took to write with. “Miss Santiago,” Jenna began. “I know this will be hard but could you please tell me what happened?”
At first Jenna thought the girl wasn’t going to talk to her but finally, in a halting voice, she began telling Jenna about the rape. “I-I was in between classes, I stopped at the drinking fountain, it’s close to the door.”
“To the stairwell?” Jenna asked as she made notes.
“Yes, as I was drinking I heard the door creak open but I didn’t think much of it. A lot of the students take the stairs because it’s sometimes quicker than the elevators if it’s crowded.”
“Do you ever take the stairs?”
“No, and since the rape a few days ago all the girls stopped using the stairs, they were scared.”
“Were you scared?” Jenna asked.
“I’m not stupid Officer Ashford,” Isabella said indignantly.
Jenna smiled, the girl still had spunk, she liked that, “I didn’t think you were.”
“Anyway, I heard the door creak open and then someone grabbed me from behind, put their hand over my mouth and dragged me though the door and down the first flight of stairs to the landing.”
“What did he look like?”
Isabella took a deep breath, “He had on a mask, you know one of those ones with the eyes, nose and mouth holes? All I can really tell you is that he had blue eyes.”
“Did he say anything?” Jenna held her pencil poised above the pad ready to write.
“Yes, he said if I screamed he would kill me.” Isabella closed her eyes as she remembered his hot breath in her face and his hands roaming her body. “Then he tried to pull up my skirt but I struggled, that was when he hit me, I thought he broke my nose and it started bleeding. He cursed at me because blood was going everywhere but that didn’t stop him.” Isabella stopped for a moment then she continued. “He ripped my skirt and pulled off my underwear, then he raped me. When he was done he hit me again, I guess trying to knock me out like he did the other girl but I didn’t go unconscious. So he shoved me down the next flight of stairs and I landed against the door on the floor below I guess. I passed out as I was going down the stairs, I didn’t wake up until I felt someone pushing on the door trying to get to the stairwell.”
“If we brought in a sketch artist do you think you could describe him again?” Jenna asked closing her pad and inserting the pencil into the spiral.
“Sure, but I don’t know what good it would do, like I told you, he had on a mask.” Isabella said.
“I understand that but anything could help us catch him, the shape of his eyes and you said they were blue right?” The girl nodded. “I’ll get somebody down here.”
Jenna found the detectives leaning against a coffee machine down the hall, “She is a strong girl, told the story without a tear.” Jenna said with admiration. Starsky held out a cup of coffee to Jenna which she took gratefully. “I’m going to stay here until the sketch artist is finished if you wouldn’t mind calling for one.”
“I’ll go call,” Starsky offered and headed toward the nurse’s station to use the phone.
Jenna leaned against the wall as she sipped her coffee. “Are you going to try and talk to the other girl? What was her name?”
“Tara Morris,” Hutch said after checking his notes. “We will have to take a road trip to talk to her. The girl’s parents took her home.”
“Where?”
“San Diego.” Hutch replied.
“I’m game if you guys are.” Jenna finished her coffee and dropped the paper cup in the trash next to the machine.
“Why don’t we head down there tomorrow since you have to wait for the sketch artist? Starsky and I can check out the college, can you get a ride back to the station with Joe?” Hutch asked.
“Sure, no problem,” Jenna said.

Cole sat on the edge of her bed, her hand on the phone. She had started to dial Starsky’s number dozens of times but never completed the call. Cole hadn’t heard from him since he had left her apartment. As she sat there with her hand on the phone it rang, she jumped then hurriedly picked it up. “David?”
“Cole, it’s your mom,” Maggie Jacobs said into the phone.
“Mom, how are you?”
“I’m doing well, a bunch of my friends came over last night I guess to console me,” Maggie chuckled; she seemed to be the talk of their retirement community. “Is everything alright there, you sound…” Maggie let her words trail off, she didn’t know how to say how her daughter really sounded but it wasn’t good.
“Yeah, mom, I’m fine,” Cole lied.
“How is that young man of yours?”
Cole closed her eyes, she wasn’t sure how he was, “Mom, we sort of had a fight last night, I don’t know if we will be seeing each other again.”
“What? He seemed like he was so much in love with you. I could tell by the way he looked at you whenever you were in the room.” Maggie wished she had the same thing with Ben as they had once.
Cole’s eyes filled with tears and she sniffed a little, “Mom, I really don’t want to talk about this.”
“Honey that is how your father ended up the way he is, by not really talking about anything after Jason died. Don’t hold it all in, it’s not good for you.”
Cole broke down sobbing, “M-Mom, I think David was going to ask me to marry him.”
“That is wonderful,” Maggie smiled into the phone, Ben might not have liked David but she thought he was a nice man.
“You don’t understand, before he could ask I made it clear that I wasn’t interested in getting married, now or ever.”
“Why in the world would you say that?” Maggie wanted to know horrified to think that her daughter might spend the rest of her life alone.
“Just look at you and daddy, I don’t want to go through that.” Cole’s voice cracked.
“Cole, just because your father and I have fallen on bad times does not mean that I wish I had never gotten married. That is just the way it is sometimes. Not every single day of a marriage is going to be roses and sunshine. You work through the bad stuff and enjoy the good.”
“But I thought you said you might leave daddy.”
“If he gets help and can be the man I once married I will stay with him. But I won’t allow him to beat me again.” Maggie said into the phone. “I know it’s probably hard for you to believe but I still love your father.”
“I know but…” Cole began.
“You make up with David, you hear me? Tell him you were being silly or emotional, I’m sure he will understand.” Maggie encouraged her daughter.
“We’ll see, mom, after what I have put him through I doubt he will ever want to see me again.”
After a few more words mother and daughter hung up. Cole did notice that her mom didn’t ask about Ben but she was sure the wounds were still too fresh for that. Cole made a mental note to go to the hospital to visit her father later.

“Are you going to call her?” Hutch asked Starsky, he had held out as long as he could without asking about Cole.
“I don’t know,” Starsky said. “What’s the point?”
“The point is, you are doing nothing but moping around.”
“And you think that calling Cole, so that she can tell me how against marriage she is, will make me feel better?” Starsky looked at Hutch. “We aren’t getting any younger.”
“Thanks for that,” Hutch said as he checked address for the college.
“You know what I mean,” Starsky looked annoyed at his partner wishing he wouldn’t have brought up Cole.
“She might change her mind if you give her some time.”
“I’m tired of waiting, I want a family, the house, white picket fence, kids, a dog in the back yard, is that too much to ask?”
Hutch sighed and pointed to the entrance of the college, he was glad they had arrived and sorry he had brought up Cole. “Here’s Westwood.”
Starsky found a parking place; inside they were quickly ushered into the Dean’s office. The Dean was a tall distinguished looking man with silver gray hair, he stepped forward offering his hand to the detectives. “I’m Dr. Greg Meloy.”
The detectives introduced themselves then got down to business. “We would like to see where the attacks took place.” Hutch said.
“No problem, the stairwells are empty now, since the second attack we have asked all students to take the elevators and if it wasn’t for the fire ordinances I would have all those doors locked.”
“We can understand your frustration,” Starsky said, “My partner and I are here to make sure this doesn’t happen again and to find out who is doing it.”
“Do you think it might happen again?” Concern filled the Dean’s face.
“Hopefully not but we don’t want to take any chances.” Hutch answered. “Can we speak to some of your students?”
“Anything to help,” the Dean called his secretary on the intercom telling her to outfit the detectives with the badges they would need to roam the building freely. “If you would like I could call one of the students to show you around. I would do it but I have a very important meeting that I can’t miss.”
“That would be great.” Starsky said.
They waited in the office until a young fresh faced girl showed up; she couldn’t have been more than eighteen and giggled when she saw them. “I’m Callen Smith,” She said.
“Nice to meet you, Callen,” Hutch smiled at the girl. “I’m Hutch and this is my partner Starsky. Would you mind showing us around?”
“Sure, at least I’ll feel safe with two police officers with me.” She looked at them somberly. “My mom wants me to come home until this guy is caught. But this is my first year in college and I don’t want to leave and miss classes.”
“Did you know the two girls that were attacked?” Starsky wanted to know as they walked.
“Tara and Bell, sure, Bell was my big sister when I arrived and Tara is in a couple of my classes.”
“Big sister?” Starsky asked confused.
“You know, she took me under her wing when I arrived, showed me around, she is a junior here.”
“I see,” Starsky said as his mind drifted to thoughts of Cole, he wondered what she was doing. She still hadn’t been release to go back to work yet.
Callen took the detectives to where both attacks had occurred; they were in the same stairwell on the same floor. As the detectives opened the door to the stairwell, Callen hung back. “I don’t want to go in there.”
Hutch looked up and down the hall, it was completely empty. “Miss Smith, we would rather you not stand in the hall alone. Could you just step right inside and wait on the landing?”
Callen nodded nervously, she hadn’t thought of being out in the hall alone but she didn’t want to be in the stairwell where her two friends had been attacked either. “Alright,” she said reluctantly.
Starsky held open the door for Hutch, Callen followed the blond headed detective. Then Starsky stepped in and allowed the door to close. The three of them stood staring down the first flight of stairs to the landing where they all knew the attacks had taken place. Callen turned her head away from the sight; there was still a faint blood stain from where Isabella had been beaten.
Hutch walked down the stairs and stopped on the landing, he knew there would be nothing as the crime lab had already been over the area with a fine-toothed comb. But they just wanted to see where the attacks had taken place. Hutch looked up at Callen and Starsky, “Miss Smith, if so many students use this stairwell then why would anyone drag somebody down here? Wouldn’t they be afraid of getting caught?”
Callen shook her head, “If you time it just right, when everyone is in class the stairs are empty for the most part. You might have a late student trying to get to class but they would probably use the elevator.”
“So, it would be a good bet that it was somebody that knows the schedule.” Starsky surmised.
“Probably,” Callen agreed. “Do you think it’s a student?”
“It could be anybody that could get a hold of a schedule,” Starsky told her.
“Why would a guy want to rape a girl? Heck most of the girls I know would give it away.” She said.
“It’s not about the sex,” Hutch said his voice echoing in the stairwell; “It’s about power and control.”



                                                                ~Chapter Seventeen~


Jenna Ashford stood in the parking lot waiting for the two detectives to pick her up for their road trip to San Diego to see the first rape victim, Tara Morris. She was dressed in her street clothes feeling that it would be less intimidating for Tara if she wasn’t in uniform. She had her blonde hair pulled up on a ponytail, bellbottom jeans and light pink tank top on; she looked more like one of the college students than a cop.
Starsky pulled his bright red Torino in front of Tara once they had spotted her, Starsky had given a low whistle at the sight of the female officer out of uniform and made some comment to Hutch about her being a looker.
Hutch got out of the car and pushed the front seat up so that Tara could climb in the back. She had a file with her that contained the drawing of the suspect that Isabella Santiago had described to Joe the day before.
“How long do you think we will be gone?” Jenna asked.
“Well, it’s about ninety minutes down, talk to the girl, stop for lunch and ninety minutes back. I would say we should be back late afternoon.” Starsky said as he looked at his watch to check the time, it was a few minutes past nine.
“Good, I didn’t schedule my sitter for longer than regular work hours, if we were going to be longer I was going to have to call her.” Jenna said as she settled into the back seat. “Sitter?” Hutch asked turning around to look over the front seat at her.
“Yeah, I have a three year old daughter, Emma,” Jenna said then added, “Her father isn’t in the picture.” She was sure that was going to be the next question. She and John had never married and as soon as he had found out she was pregnant he had joined the Army and she had never heard from him again, which was fine with her.
Hutch looked at Starsky and hiked his eyebrows, although he knew she was in her late twenties she sure didn’t look like she had a three year old child. “Well, let’s hit the road,” Hutch said facing forward.
The woman that answered the door at the Morris house looked uncertain when she saw the three officers standing on her porch. “Tara has already told her story a number of times.”
“I know, Mrs. Morris, but we called yesterday and you said it was alright to drive down and talk to your daughter,” Starsky said, “We have been on the road an hour and a half.”
Jenna stepped up to the door; she had been lagging behind the two men. “We have a drawing of the man that attacked a girl just a few days ago,” Jenna held up the folder she was holding.
“A-Another girl has been attacked?” the girl’s mother looked sickened.
“Can we please come in?” Hutch asked.
Mrs. Morris held the door open wider so that they could enter the immaculate living room. “Who was attacked?”
“A young woman by the name of Isabella Santiago, she wasn’t quite as lucky as your daughter,” Starsky said, that was if being raped and knocked out was luck, but Tara hadn’t suffered the injuries that Isabella had. “She is still in the hospital with broken ribs and internal injuries.”
“Bell? Bell, was raped?” Mrs. Morris sat down hard on a nearby chair. “I didn’t know, as soon as Tara had answered all the officer’s questions I brought her home.”
“So you know Isabella?” Jenna asked.
“Yes, she is my daughter’s roommate; they have a house close to campus, two other girls share it with them.” Tara’s mother explained. “This is just horrible.”
Hutch and Starsky looked at each other; nothing had been said about the two girls being roommates. “We really need to speak to your daughter.”
“I promise, I will be gentle,” Jenna promised.
Mrs. Morris scrutinized Jenna; she looked like she could be one of Tara’s classmates. “And you are?”
Jenna knew what the woman was thinking, “I’m Officer Jenna Ashford, the detectives brought me along thinking it would be easier for Tara to talk to a woman.”
Mrs. Morris nodded but still looked uncertain at the young woman. Finally, she sighed. “Tara is in her room, that is where she spends most of her time. It might take you a while to get her to talk to you but she will talk.”
Jenna nodded, “Which way?”
“I’ll show you,” Mrs. Morris got up and led Jenna down a hallway, “Last door on the right.”
“I will be careful with her,” Jenna touched the woman’s shoulder. Mrs. Morris left, Tara’s door was open a crack so Jenna knocked softly. She stood in the hall for a long while before she finally heard a bare whisper allowing her to come in. Jenna opened the door; Tara was lying on her bed clutching a fuzzy brown teddy bear. The girl’s room was just as it had been the day she graduated high school, pompoms in the corner, favorite stars plastered on her walls and a bulletin board full of photos of her friends.
Tara was more than surprised to see a girl she didn’t know standing in her door. “Who are you?”
Jenna stepped in, “My name is Jenna.”
“Are you from the school,” Tara asked as she came to a sitting position on her bed still clutching the bear.
“No, I’m from the police department.” Jenna smiled as a surprised look registered on Tara’s face. “I know, I know, I look young.”
Tara gave her a tentative smile, “I have told the police everything already, I just want to forget it ever happened.”
“I know you do,” Jenna said as she looked around the room, she spied a picture of Tara and a good looking young man. “Is this your boyfriend?”
“Yeah, he went to college in Denver,” Tara said, “We wanted to get married but our parents said we had to go to college first. He probably won’t want me now.”
“Don’t say that, guys can surprise you from time to time.” Jenna said, boy could they surprise you; buy hitting the road to escape their responsibility but she wasn’t going to tell Tara that.
“He doesn’t even know what happened yet, I haven’t been able to bring myself to tell him.”
Jenna sat down on the end of Tara’s bed. “I’m really sorry but I do need to talk to you again about the attack, there has been another one.”
“What?” Tara looked at Jenna as tears filled her eyes. “Who?”
Jenna didn’t want to tell her that it was her roommate but they needed some answers, “Isabella Santiago.”
“No, no,” Tara dropped her head in her hands and began to sob.
From the living room Mrs. Morris heard her daughter’s sobs and started to go to her but Starsky stopped her, “Officer Ashford can handle it.”
The woman nodded, “It’s just so hard.”
“We understand,” Hutch said but how could they really, neither of them had had a daughter beaten and raped before. “Is there anything at all that you can tell us? Maybe something that Tara has shared with you that she didn’t tell the police?”
Mrs. Morris shook her head, “Tara has barely said a word since she came home. I’m not sure she will be able to go back to college.”
“Give her some time,” Hutch said trying to comfort the woman.

It was early when Cole awoke; too early to get up, without work the days seemed endless. She reached for the phone then snatched her hand away, why did she want to start something that she might not be able to finish. She needed to just leave it alone, Starsky hadn’t called her and it had been two days now since he had left her apartment. Maybe he was waiting for her to call him but what would she say to him now?
Her thoughts turned to her dad; she hadn’t been allowed to see him since he had been admitted to the psychiatric hospital, the doctor had said that Ben needed to be there with no distractions for a few weeks. But it had been nearly that long and Cole needed to see her father.
Standing outside the Oak Woods mental facility, Cole nearly changed her mind. She wasn’t sure that she could see her father now; the last time was when they had cuffed him in court and taken him to a waiting ambulance where he was transported to Oak Woods.
“Daddy?” Cole approached her father who was sitting on the end of a couch staring out one of the barred windows.
Ben Jacobs turned when he heard his daughter’s voice, “Cole.”
“Hi, Daddy, I’m sorry I haven’t been to see you but they wouldn’t let me until now.”
“It’s alright; they explained that I wasn’t allowed to have visitors.” Ben patted the spot next to him. When Cole joined him he asked, “How is your mother?”
“She is doing alright I think,” Cole twisted the end of her hair, it was a habit she had from the time she was a little girl. “She went back to Florida.”
“I guess I couldn’t expect her to stay here and wait for me.” Ben looked sad as he thought about what he had done to his wife. He knew it was wrong when he was beating his wife senseless but he couldn’t stop himself. He had just snapped when Maggie had defended Cole and the man she was with. “Is she going to divorce me?”
Cole gave her father a sad smile. “Daddy, I don’t know.” She couldn’t lie to him. “I think it depends on if the treatment works, you can’t hit her anymore.”
“I know, it’s just that when Jason died everything started to spin out of control,” Ben sighed. “I took it out on your mother, the only other person that was feeling the same thing I was.”
Cole put her arms around her father, “I think she will wait for you daddy, I really do.”

Jenna held up the sketch of the man Isabella described, Tara took the drawing and studied it for a few moments then handed it back to the officer. She nodded her head, “It looks like the same guy that attacked me. You aren’t going to find him are you?”
“We sure are going to give it our best shot and the more information you can give me the better the chances are.”
“There just isn’t much to tell, he grabbed me, drug me into the stairwell, raped me and knocked me out.” Tara closed her eyes as she relived it for the millionth time. Every night she had the same dream of being attacked.
“Did he say anything?”
“That if I screamed he would kill me.” Tara shuddered.
“Did you recognize his voice?” Jenna asked.
Tara thought for a moment then shook her head no, “Do you think he might be a student?”
“It’s possible.” Jenna said, “Had there been any guys hanging around your house?”
For the first time Tara cracked a smile, “Are you kidding? It’s college, that is all the guys do, hang around where ever the girls are.”
“I guess I forgot,” Jenna smiled back at Tara.
“Just how old are you anyway?” Tara asked curiously.
“Twenty-nine.”
“Wow, you sure don’t look that old.” Tara blurted out, “Not that twenty-nine is old.”
“Seems old when you are your age and you have your whole life ahead of you.” Jenna said as she smoothed her jeans with her hands for the lack of anything else to do.
“I don’t feel like I have my whole life ahead of me anymore, I feel like it’s over.” Tara frowned.
Jenna took the girls hand, “You will get through this, maybe you need to talk to somebody about this to help you get over it.”
“You mean like a shrink?”
Nodding Jenna said, “Yeah, like a shrink.” She hated that term but she wasn’t going to debate it with Tara. Jenna took out a business card and flipped it over; she wrote a number on it and handed it to Tara, “This is my home number on the back, if you think of anything or just need to talk, call me, okay?”
Tara nodded; Jenna got up from the bed and started from the room, “Jenna?”
“Yeah?” Jenna turned and looked at the girl.
“Thanks.”



                                                               ~Chapter Eighteen~


Jenna slid into a booth, Hutch sat next to her while Starsky sat across from them. After leaving the Morris’ they all decided that they would have some lunch before heading back. They found a roadside diner not far outside of San Diego. Starsky sat watching Hutch and Jenna as they talked about Jenna’s conversation with Tara.
Starsky pointed and waved his finger at them and said, “You know with all that blond hair and blue eyes you two have got going on, your kids would be amazing.”
They both stopped what they were saying to stare at Starsky. “Starsk!” Hutch snapped at his partner.
Starsky’s hand dropped to the table, he had a surprised look on his face as if he hadn’t meant to say what he had out loud. He got up quickly and headed toward the back of the restaurant where the bathrooms were.
Tara giggled as she turned slightly pink; she had actually been thinking the same thing. “I’m sorry,” Hutch apologized for his partner. “I don’t know what has gotten into him lately.”
“It’s alright,” Tara said. “You said he’s having a tough time with his girlfriend.”
“That’s no excuse.” Hutch said shaking his head.
“You two are really close aren’t you?”
“We have been partners longer than some couples have been married,” Hutch said. He saw Starsky come out of the men’s room but he didn’t make a move to come back to the table.
Hutch waved at him, Starsky slowly made his way back to the table. “You aren’t going to make me walk are you?” Starsky asked.
Laughing Hutch shook his head, “You got the keys my friend, remember you are driving?”
“Oh, yeah.” Starsky slid back into the booth just as the waitress brought them glasses of water and menus.

“Come on, Cole, you can’t mope around your apartment forever.” Carol, one of Cole’s closest friends, had been trying to get her out on the town. It had been nearly a week with no word from Starsky.
“Carol, I just don’t feel like it.” It had been her pat answer for the last three nights.
“I’m not taking no for an answer.” Carol tossed her some cloths from the closet, “Get dressed, we are meeting Sharon and Gail at the dance club.
Cole shook her head, that was the last place she wanted to go. It was where she and Starsky had first met even if it was under false pretences. In fact, it had been her three friends, along with a few female agents that had made up the fake Bachelorette party.
“Get dressed,” Carol commanded, “Or I’m dragging you there dressed like that.”
Cole looked down at her pajama pants and had to smile, that would be a sight. She sighed and knew that Carol wouldn’t leave her alone until she went out, so Cole headed to the shower.
The dance club was pulsing to the music when the four women arrived and the place was fairly packed. Once they got inside and found a table, Cole began to relax and was actually glad that they had forced her to come. But her happiness was short lived, as she looked around the room, at first the couple at the table across the dance floor didn’t catch her attention but when the man stood up and led the girl with the long blond hair out onto the dance floor, she realized it was Starsky.
Cole caught her breath as she watched them dance and remembered she had just about had to force him onto the dance floor. She didn’t know what to do; surely if she stayed there he would see her. But so what if he did, at least she wasn’t out with another man.
When the song was over, Starsky and the young woman sat back down and moments later Hutch joined them. He leaned over and kissed the woman on the cheek before he sat next to her.
Cole couldn’t stand it one moment longer, she had been sure that he was going to ask her to marry him only a week ago and know he was out with another woman, not even a woman; she looked almost like a child.
“Cole where are you going?” Carol called after her but Cole was so intent on the table across the dance floor she didn’t answer.
Starsky didn’t see Cole until she was standing next to him. “You sure didn’t waste anytime,” Cole said in what she hoped was a calm voice but her heart felt as if it would slam out of her chest.
Jumping up Starsky exclaimed, “Cole!”
“David,” Cole said coldly, she wasn’t sure why she was so angry, after all it had been her that had made it clear that he had no future with her.
“I’m sorry I haven’t called but we have…” he stopped, Cole held up her hand.
“You don’t need to explain, it’s pretty clear why you haven’t called,” Cole eyed the blonde girl, how could he have moved on so quickly, maybe she didn’t mean as much to him as she had thought.
Jenna quickly figured out who the gorgeous woman was, from what Hutch had told her about Starsky and his FBI agent. Jenna quickly got to her feet and stuck out her hand, “The boys can be so rude, I’m Officer Jenna Ashford,” Jenna made sure that Cole heard the officer part loud and clear. “You must be Cole, I have heard so much about you.”
Starsky looked a little surprised because he hadn’t mentioned Cole to Jenna; he guessed Hutch must have filled her in. “I’m sorry; Jenna is working with us on a case. That is was what I was trying to tell you, I have been working long hours all week.”
Cole’s tough façade broke as she took Jenna’s hand and shook it. “I-I’m sorry,” Cole stammered her face turning red. “I’m acting like a crazy person.”
Cole dropped Jenna’s hand, made an abrupt turn and started back across the dance floor to where her stunned friends were sitting. Starsky jumped out of his seat and caught her halfway across the floor. He grabbed her hand, “Cole.”
“Let me go,” Cole said refusing to look at him.
Starsky pulled her into his arms, “I’ve missed you.”
Cole still hung her head; she was so embarrassed that she couldn’t look into his eyes. “Please, I had no right to do that just let me go back to my friends.”
But he wouldn’t release her. “For someone that doesn’t want to get involved you sure get awfully jealous,” Starsky kidded her.
“Don’t tease me, David,” Cole finally looked into his blue eyes, her heart was beating fast again but not from anger this time.
“Dance with me,” he whispered in her ear, “I saved a dance for you remember?”
Cole nodded as she slipped her arms around his neck; they swayed to the music without taking their eyes from each other. Finally, she said, “So what’s this big case?”
“I really don’t want to talk about work right now,” he said as he covered her mouth with his.

Cole stretched then curled up against Starsky next to her in bed. He smiled without opening his eyes and pulled her even closer against his bare chest, “Good morning, beautiful.” He said sleepily, they hadn’t gotten much sleep when they had arrived back at Cole’s apartment.
“Hi,” she said in a husky voice, she turned in his arms to face him and kissed his lips and rubbed her face on his stubbly chin. “I sure missed you.”
“Ah, but we made up for lost time didn’t we?” He couldn’t help but smile as he remembered they barely made it back to her place before they started ripping each other's clothes off.
“Do you have to work today?” Cole wanted to know, she was hoping to have a repeat performance of the night before.
“Believe it or not, unless we have a break in the case, I’m off until Monday.” Starsky gently touched the side of Cole’s face then traced her lips with one finger. “We have been working non stop all week that was why we were out last night. We just needed a break.”
“Are you going to tell me what you are working on now?” Cole asked as she propped herself up on one elbow.
“I can think of something better to do than to talk about the case I’m working on.” Starsky kissed her and ran his hands down her naked back.
Cole giggled, “Later then?”
Starsky propped himself up on his elbow too and looked into her face. “You are really interested in what I’m doing aren’t you?”
She flopped back on her pillow, “I’m stir crazy. If that doctor doesn’t release me soon so I can go back to work I’m going to go nuts.”
“We are working on the Westwood College rapes.”
“Really? I have been following that on TV and the papers.” Cole’s interest was peaked. “Do you have any suspects?”
Starsky shook his head, “We have talked to both girls, that is why Jenna is with us. But the guy wore a mask so we don’t have any leads on his identity. But we did find out that both of the girls live in the same house, they have two other roommates. We questioned them but didn’t get anything.”
“If you want I can look over everything you have, sometimes a fresh pair of eyes might see something you missed.”
“We’ll see,” Starsky nuzzled her neck making Cole giggle.
She suddenly jumped out of bed and ran in the direction of the bathroom, she stopped in the doorway and gave him a seductive look, “You coming?” It was a question he didn’t have to be asked twice.
It was afternoon before they came up for air again and only because Cole’s phone started ringing. “Don’t answer it,” Starsky begged as she reached for the receiver.
“It could be my mom or dad, I have to get it.” Cole said as she snagged the phone. “Hello? Good Morning Hutch…oh, ok, well good afternoon…yeah he’s here.”
She handed the phone to Starsky then got out of bed, put on a robe and padded to the kitchen. “Yeah,” Starsky said after she left the room.
“We got trouble,” Hutch said without asking about his partner’s night.
“Please don’t tell me another girl was raped.”
“Sorry, partner, but a girl was found in the stairwell of the first floor by a janitor this morning.”
“Dammit,” Starsky swore as he got out of bed, he began slipping on his clothes from the night before. “Where do you want to meet?”
“They are waiting for us at Westwood; they haven’t removed the body yet.” Hutch said grimly.
“Body?”
“Starsk, she’s dead.”
Starsky closed his eyes and sat down on the edge of the bed feeling sick to his stomach, “I guess our guy just took that next step. Do we know who the girl is yet?”
It was a while before Hutch answered. “Callen Smith.” Starsky knew the name instantly; it was the girl that had showed them around the college earlier that week.
“She knew both of the other victims too, are we seeing a pattern here?” Starsky wanted to know. “Where did she live?”
“I haven’t gotten all the details yet. Can you meet me in twenty?” Hutch asked.
“Yeah, I’ll be there.”
“Sorry to break up your party.”
Cole was making coffee when Starsky entered the kitchen fully dressed. She pouted when she saw him, “Do you have to leave?”
“I’m sorry, they found another girl at Westwood, this one is dead.” Starsky finished buttoning his shirt and started looking for his jacket.
“Let me come,” Cole headed for the bedroom before Starsky could say yes or no.
He found his coat near the front door on the floor, his holster and gun were on the coffee table, he picked it up, strapped it on, then put his coat over the gun and holster. Cole emerged from the bedroom, dressed in record time; she had on no makeup and was putting her hair up in a ponytail. “I’m ready.”
“You have to hang back, honey, you know that don’t you?” Starsky said.
“I will, promise, I just have to get out of here.”
“And I thought you were having fun.”
“I was with you here but it’s going to be boring after you leave.”
Starsky wasn’t sure what Hutch would think of him bringing Cole along but at least she was an FBI agent and would understand what was going on.




                                                                                ~Chapter Nineteen~


Hutch was standing near the entrance of the college when Starsky arrived with Cole, Jenna had also just parked and was heading up the walk but she had her three year old in tow. Hutch saw them all and rushed to meet them, he first looked at his partner and girlfriend, a smile tugged at the corners of his month. But when he saw Jenna and her daughter his face dropped into a frown. “This isn’t a place for a child.”
“Don’t you think I know that?” Jenna sounded distressed, “I couldn’t find a babysitter. But I had to be here, I’ll hang back with her.”
“Don’t be silly,” Cole said smiling at the child, “I’ll watch her for you.”
“Are you sure?” Jenna glanced at Starsky who looked slightly surprised.
“Of course,” Cole squatted down so that she was eye level with the child with the big blue eyes and blonde curls. “I’m Cole. How old are you?”
The child ducked behind her mother and peaked around at Cole, she held up three fingers. “This is Emma,” Jenna said then she pulled her daughter in front of her and also squatted next to her, “Would you stay with this nice lady while I work a little?”
Emma nodded her blonde curls bouncing and looked shyly at Cole. Cole held out her hand, “Come on, Emma, we will wait over there.” She pointed at bench a ways from all the commotion.
Jenna put her hand on Cole’s arm, “Thank you.”
“No problem,” Cole said as she led the little girl away.
Once inside the college quiet enveloped them, the heels of the uniformed officer leading them to where Callen Smith lay clicked on the tiled floor. The door to the stairwell was propped open and Callen’s body could be seen sprawled in a large pool of blood.
“Shit,” Hutch said when he saw her body. She had been so full of life and eager to help them the last time he and Starsky had been there. Hutch was finding it hard to believe the young girl was now dead.
Starsky put his hand on his partner’s shoulder knowing how he was feeling since he felt the same thing. “Let’s get this over with.”
Cole sat down on the bench, Emma crawled up next to her, “Are you a policeman too?” the little girl wanted to know.
“Well kind of, I work for the FBI, do you know what is?” Emma shook her head no. “I pretty much do the same thing your mommy does.”
Cole watched as the group of people grew larger by the doors leading into the college, she was itching to be in there, to feel useful. Emma slipped off the bench to follow a pigeon that landed close to them. Cole got up and followed the little girl in order to keep a close eye on her. She noticed a man hanging back from the crowd; he was dressed in dark clothing and had a black sweatshirt on with the hood pulled up over his head even though the day was warm.
Emma was talking to the bird and wandering closer to the crowd. Cole pulled her attention away from the man to tell Emma to come back; when she glanced in the direction of the man again he was gone.
“Come here, Emma,” Cole held out her hand to the girl. She picked up Emma and carried her to where the man had been standing. Cole scanned the crowd but didn’t see him. As she was starting to walk away she noticed something on the ground, she set Emma on her feet and stooped down to get a better look.
Emma looked at Cole, startled when the woman who was watching her sucked in her breath quickly. “What is it?”
“Nothing, honey,” Cole looked around franticly, she needed to find Starsky…Hutch… any officer would do. There, on the ground, was a faint outline of the man’s shoe—in what appeared to be blood.
“Alright, get her out of here,” Hutch said after the coroner was finished with Callen’s body. “I want this building searched from top to bottom and I want clear photos of these bloody footprints.”
It looked as if Callen’s neck had been broken but they weren’t sure if she had fallen or it had been snapped by the rapist, they would only know for sure after the coroner was finished. Either way, the rapist had just turned murderer.
Jenna was questioning the security guards and a few of the professors that had Saturday classes. No one had seen or heard anything. Dean Meloy stood just outside the door; his face was ashen as he watched the student’s body being loaded on a gurney.
“Dr. Meloy,” Starsky took the man’s elbow and steered him away from the grisly scene. “Can we get Miss Smith’s contact information?”
“Y-yes, it’s in my office, but if you don’t mind, Detective Starsky, I would like to place the call to the family myself.” The Dean said.
“Sure, but we still need it.”
“Fine, if you will come with me.”
As they were heading toward the Dean’s office Starsky noticed several drops of something on the tile near the men’s bathroom. “Hold on a minute and watch where you step.”
“What is it?” The Dean peered at the spots on the floor.
Using his elbow so as not to add more prints to the door Starsky pushed open the bathroom door and looked in, there were more drops on the floor and one of the sinks had a pink cast to as if somebody had washed off blood from something but not gotten it all cleaned up. Starsky stuck his head out the door and yelled, “HUTCH.”
Hutch looked up from something he was writing down. “What is it?”
“You need to look at this and bring the crime team with you.” Starsky stepped carefully out of the bathroom.
Jenna followed Hutch down the hall, “Blood,” Hutch said pointing to the spots.
“This doesn’t make sense,” Jenna said, “There are shoe prints all in the stairwell but only drops out here and way down the hall too.”
“What if he realized that he had blood on his shoes, took them off so he didn’t leave a trail but as he got close to the bathroom to wash them off they started dripping. Maybe he had something wrapped around them that got saturated with blood.” Starsky theorized.
The crime team finished in the stairwell then proceeded to the bathroom to collect evidence. Hutch instructed them to empty the trash receptacle, a thin white sweater was found in the trash soaked with blood.
“Detective Starsky.”
Starsky looked up to see who called his name; a uniformed officer was coming toward him. “Yeah, what is it, Mac?”
“There is a woman outside that says she needs to speak with you. She seems kind of agitated.”
“Thanks,” Starsky knew it must be Cole; he hurried to the front door and outside to look for her. He found her standing toward the back of the crowd holding Emma.
“Thank God,” she cried when she saw him. “David, look at this.”
Starsky crouched down to examine the spot that Cole pointed to with the toe of her shoe. Then he looked back up at her, “Did you see who was standing here?”
“Yes, but I don’t think I could identify him, he was really very nondescript. I just thought it was odd because he was wearing a sweatshirt with the hood in this warm weather. I didn’t get a look at his face, I looked away for a second and when I looked back was gone. That was when I came over here and noticed that print.” Cole said.
“What’s a print?” Emma said giving Starsky a bashful smile.
“Nothing you have to worry about sweetie,” Cole said hugging the little girl to her.
Starsky couldn’t help but smile as he watched Cole with the child. He patted Emma on the back. “How about if I go find your mommy?”
Emma nodded, “I’m tired.”
“I’m sure you are.” Starsky said, “I’ll be back.”

After sending Jenna home with her daughter, Starsky, Cole and Hutch went back to the station, they had put a rush on the samples of blood they had brought back from the scene. They wanted to know if the blood that Cole found outside matched that of Callen’s.
“If they match, that means the bastard was standing outside watching like a bystander.” Cole shook her head at how sick some people could be.
“Sure wouldn’t be the first time,” Hutch said as he poured himself a cup of coffee, he held up the pot, “You guys want any?”
They both shook their heads; the only thing Starsky wanted was Cole. He couldn’t stop thinking about last night. “You sure are a lady of contradictions.” He moved closer to her so that no one else in the room could hear them.
Cole smiled at him, “And how is that?”
“Well you tell me you aren’t interested in me.”
“I didn’t exactly say that.”
“Okay, you said you weren’t interested in marriage.”
“Fair enough.” Cole grinned.
“But then you track me down and freak out because you thought I was with another girl.”
“I did NOT track you down,” Cole tried to look offended but it wasn’t working. “It was a coincidence.”
“Ok, I’ll give you that one, but you have to admit you did freak out.”
“You got me.” Cole agreed, “So what other contradictions are there?”
“You said you didn’t like kids,” Starsky hiked an eye brow at her. “But yet you stepped right up and took Emma.”
“I didn’t say I didn’t like I kids, I said I didn’t want to have them with the job I had.”
“You are full of excuses.” Starsky stole a quick kiss from her.
“Don’t think you are going to break down my defenses, David Starsky,” Cole looked at him slyly.
“I think I already have, Cole Jacobs.” He kissed her again and this time didn’t care who saw.
Hutch leaned on one of the filing cabinets and watched the couple. “When you two come up for air, we have some work to do Starsk.”
Cole blushed, “What can I do to help, Hutch?”
“Give her the files,” Starsky suggested, since Cole had mentioned it before. “Fresh eyes and all.”
“Sure, they’re on my desk, help yourself.”
The doors to the squad room slammed open and Dobey blustered in, “Why wasn’t I called?”
“Sorry, Cap,” Hutch answered, “We just got back here ourselves, we’ve been at the college.”
“You still could have…” Dobey stopped his rant when he noticed Cole. “Agent Jacobs.”
“Captain Dobey, it’s good to see you again.”
Dobey stood staring at his detective and Cole; he suddenly put it all together and realized that Cole was the woman that Starsky was in love with. “I…uh…didn’t realize the FBI was on this case.”
“They aren’t, I’m just helping out,” Cole smiled, “As a favor, if that is okay with you, sir.”
Dobey shrugged, “I’m not above having extra help, especially with this case. I’m sure it’s about to go high profile now that a girl is dead. I’ll be in my office if there is any word.”
After Dobey had gone Hutch said, “Why don’t you two go ahead and leave, we don’t all need to hang around and wait for results from the lab. I’ll call you.”
“But I was going to look at those files,” Cole said.
“It will wait.” Hutch answered.
“Are you sure?” Starsky wasn’t used to leaving his partner.
“Yeah, go on.” Hutch urged it was clear that the couple wanted to be alone.
Starsky grabbed his jacket from the back of his desk chair and after making Hutch promise to call no matter what time it was, he and Cole left. They were waiting on the elevator when Cole said, “I think you should stay, David.”
“Are you trying to get rid of me already?” Starsky nuzzled her ear.
“Stop that,” She giggled and slapped at him. “If you don’t stop I can’t be objective.”
“Objective?”
“David, you need to be with Hutch right? You two are working on a big case, we can see each other later.”
“But you were going to help.”
“I think I’m more of a distraction right now.” Cole winked at him.
Starsky squinted at her to see if she was trying to brush him off but the look on her face was one of love, caring and understanding, something he wasn’t used to with the women he had dated in the past. “Are you sure?”
“Yes, I’m a big girl; I think I can find something to do for a few hours.” Cole winked at him again. “And just think, we can make up for the time we are apart,” She lowed her voice to a seductive volume.
The elevator doors slid open and Cole stepped in, Starsky took his apartment key out of his pocket and tossed it to her before the doors slid shut. “Meet at my place.” He called.
Hutch was more than surprised when Starsky came back into the squad room alone. “Where’s Cole?”
“She left,” Starsky grinned, “Told me I needed to be with my partner.”
“I’m sure she understands how it is,” Hutch said, “After all, we are kind of in the same line of business.”
“It’s nice not to have some chick mad at me because I have to work.”
“Are you going to want that ring back?” Hutch enquired.
Starsky shook his head no, “You hold on to it for a while, uh? I think if I have learned anything, it’s not to rush Cole. I think I’m going to tread very lightly, I don’t want to give her a reason to shut me out again.”
“I hope it works out, the two of you make a good pair.”
“Do we?”
Hutch clapped his partner on the back, “Yeah, you do and I think I can even live with her.”
“Well, we all know that is the most important thing, don’t we.”
“Don’t be a wise ass,” Hutch grumbled but he had a smile on his face.




                                                                      ~Chapter Twenty~


Starsky opened his apartment door, it was dark inside but it was also after midnight, he wondered if Cole had stayed or gone back to her apartment. It had taken much longer to get the results of the tests and find out how Callen died, it was conclusive that her neck had been snapped by human hands. Then the detectives went over all the information with their captain before they called it a night and went home. All the blood evidence from the stairwell, hall and bathroom matched the victim but there wasn’t as much as a hair to identify the culprit.
He crept in just in case Cole was there and sleeping, the last time he had talked to her she hadn’t said anything about leaving his apartment for her’s but he knew his had to be boring for her. He did see her touches even in the darkness; there was a vase of fresh flowers sitting on his kitchen table and everything had been straightened up. Cole had been busy, Starsky smiled at the thought of her bustling round cleaning his apartment, he was also a little embarrassed for the mess that he had.
Starsky made a detour to the kitchen before heading to the bedroom, after the day he had just had a beer sounded good, plus it would help him relax and sleep. When he opened the refrigerator the bulb from inside cast enough light that he could see a plate covered with foil sitting on the counter and a note propped against it. Starsky picked up the note, ‘thought you might be hungry’; he pulled off the foil covered plate to reveal a slice of apple pie.
The phone rang startling Starsky; he grabbed it before it could ring a second time. “Yeah,” he said softly into the receiver.
“Hard day wasn’t it?”
It was Hutch on the other end. “Yeah,” Starsky held the receiver between his ear and shoulder while he fished a fork from the drawer. He picked up the plate and began eating the pie that Cole had left for him.
“What are we going to do?”
“I guess talk to Jenna tomorrow.”
“I hate to put her undercover.” Hutch said, he was half reclined on his pillow in bed. “Somebody might have seen her at the college today.”
“With so much going on do you think anybody would remember her?” Starsky wanted to know, he looked up to see Cole standing in the doorway. She had on one of his shirts, her dark hair hung around her shoulders, he smiled at her and held up the pie.
Cole smiled back but didn’t move toward him; instead she just leaned in the doorway and watched him carry on his conversation. “Do we want to chance it?” Hutch asked, “I’m sure we can find somebody else to do go undercover.”
“I’m thinking Jenna is going to want to do it.” Starsky replied as he finished up his pie and put the plate and fork in the sink.
“We can decide tomorrow,” Hutch said. “Try to get some rest.”
“You, too.” Starsky hung up and walked toward Cole who held her arms out to him. He allowed her to fold him in her embrace, she smelled like shampoo and soap. “I am so tired.”
“Come to bed,” She released him then grabbed his hand and led him to the bedroom, “Why don’t you take a hot shower first?”
Starsky had the water on as hot as he could stand it and had just lathered up when Cole stepped in the shower with him. She had a wash cloth with her and proceeded to wash his back as he stood letting the water run over his head. He felt as if he hadn’t slept in years. She pressed her naked body against his and put her arms around him when she had finished with the wash cloth. They stood that way until the water started going cold, Starsky turned it off, then they got out and took turns drying each other off. Cole slipped back into his shirt that she was wearing earlier, while Starsky crawled into bed without anything on.
Cole cuddled up to him, “So what was the word on the blood?”
It was the last thing that Starsky wanted to talk about, he wanted to lose himself in her at the moment, but he was just too tired to do anything but lay next to her. “It all was a match to Callen,” He reached over and touched her cheek. “The guy snapped her neck; the coroner said that type of injury couldn’t have been caused by a fall.”
“I wonder why her and not the other two?”
“Maybe she recognized him.”
“Could be.”
“We are talking about sending Jenna in undercover,” Starsky divulged.
“You can’t,” Cole came up on her elbows. “She has Emma, it’s too dangerous.”
“Jenna knew what she was getting into when she became a cop, honey,” He closed his eyes and let his tired body sink into the soft bed and enjoyed the warmth of Cole’s body next him.
“But she didn’t have Emma when she first became a cop.” For some reason Cole felt protective of Jenna and her daughter.
“She could have asked for a desk job, but she didn’t.” He yawned as sleep was starting to overtake him.
“There has got to be somebody else that could do it.”
Starsky mumbled something incoherent and drifted off to sleep. Cole smiled as she leaned over and kissed his lips, but he didn’t respond.
As Starsky slept Cole came to a decision, she would be the one to go undercover at the college. She didn’t look as young as Jenna but she could perhaps pass for a graduate student or maybe she could say she had decided to go to college finally. She would come up with a cover story; after all, it was something she was good at. As she lay there in the dark, Cole also decided that until she had established herself at the college that she wasn’t going to tell Starsky and if they did send Jenna in, she would be there to look out for her.

Hutch was just as tired as his partner but for some reason sleep would not come. He lay staring at the ceiling trying to think of another way of catching the killer besides sending Jenna into danger. He knew she was a policewoman and had been trained to handle herself but she was all that little Emma had. He thought of the pretty little girl with the blue eyes and curly blonde hair. Then he thought of the comment Starsky had made about him and Jenna making amazing kids, he could feel himself blush at the thought. Jenna was a beautiful girl and he could easily fall for her, but as long as they were working together he wouldn’t allow himself to even think about it.
His thoughts then turned to the man that Cole had seen standing on the outskirts of the crowd. What if the guy was a student? It would make sense, whoever it was knew too much about the college’s schedule and when the stairwells would be empty. It could also be a professor but Hutch doubted that, or somebody else that might have access to the college. He made a mental note to find out who would have access to the buildings other than the obvious.
Finally, Hutch’s eyes began to slide shut and he could feel himself slip into that space between being awake and sleep. Jenna’s face appeared in his mind’s eye and he smiled to himself. Yes, he might just ask her out when this whole mess was over with. Even the thought of her having a kid didn’t detour him. As he slipped further into the realm of sleep his final thought was about Starsky, Cole and the ring he had put away for his partner.

Early on Monday morning Cole was sitting in the Dean’s office explaining that she would be going undercover as a student to try to catch the rapist. She had asked to be set up in the classes that the victims had been in, hoping that maybe the killer was in one of them. Maybe she could spot the man she had seen at the crime scene on Saturday. The Dean was happy to help in anyway he could, for he wanted the man stopped before he lost anymore students, the female students were starting to skip classes in fear of their lives, others were dropping out completely.

A young woman stood in the hall getting a drink at the same fountain where Isabella had been drug from the week before. She didn’t hear the door to the stairwell open until she felt a hand grab her arm and pull her toward the open door. She let out a gasp and would have screamed if she hadn’t recognized the face, she smiled at him. “Toby, what are you doing?”
“Come on, Meg, it won’t take long.” Toby gave his girlfriend a sly look.
“What if somebody catches us?” She wanted to know.
“Who is going to catch us, the Dean made the stairs off limits, come on.” Toby pulled Meg into the stairwell allowing the door to close; he kissed her and tried to unbutton her blouse.
At the same time that Toby and Meg were in the stairwell, Starsky, Hutch and Jenna were in the Dean’s office; Jenna had agreed to go undercover as a college student. She had taken Emma to her mother’s until the assignment was over.
“So, you are putting two officers undercover?” Dean Meloy asked.
“Two?” Hutch was confused as he looked at the Dean.
“Yes, a woman came in early this morning said she was working with you and that she was going undercover as a student.” He looked the two detectives, “Should I be concerned about this?”
“What did she look like?” Starsky wanted to know.
“She had dark hair, almost as tall as you detective, let me see…” the Dean pulled out a file, “Her name is…”
“Cole,” Starsky finished for him.
“Why, yes, so you do know about her.”
“Is she here now?” Starsky got to his feet.
“Yes, she asked to be put in some of the same classes of the girls that had been attacked.” The man glanced at the schedule he had made for her.
Starsky reached across the desk and snatched the paper from his hand. He looked at his watch then ran his finger down the paper until he came to the corresponding time, English Lit was listed and it was nearly over. Starsky dropped the paper on the Dean’s desk and left the office, leaving the two men and Jenna staring after him.
Starsky barely recognized Cole as she came out of the classroom chatting with a young woman; she had her hair up in a ponytail, bellbottoms and a tube top with a white shirt over it and an arm full of books. Starsky grabbed her by her elbow and guided her away from the girl she was talking to “What do you think you are doing?” He hissed at her.
“I’m undercover.” Cole whispered in his ear.
“On whose authority?
“My own.”
“Cole, you haven’t even been cleared to go back to your own work let alone do this.”
“I’m fine.”
“That is not the point; the Dean thinks you are with the police department.”
“Are we going to fight about this?” Cole wanted to know, she noticed that a group of girls were watching them.
“Yes.”
“Then we will do it tonight,” Cole turned and left Starsky staring at her as she went over to the group of girls.
“Who is that?” One of the girls asked.
“My older brother,” Cole said loud enough for him to hear.
“Wow, he is cute,” another girl chimed in.
Cole shrugged, “I never really thought about it.”




                                                                               ~Chapter Twenty-One~


There was the faint sound of a door latching just below Meg and Toby, Meg grabbed Toby’s wandering hands, “I heard something.”
“You heard your imagination running wild,” Toby said as he went back to kissing her neck.
“I’m telling you, I head somebody come in the door below us.”
Toby sighed, “Nobody is supposed to use the stairs.”
“We are.”
“Come on Meg, we don’t have long before my next class starts.” He began pulling up her skirt. That was when Meg saw a figure move up the stairs toward them. All she got was a glimpse of a hooded head before she let out a blood curdling scream that echoed through the stairwell and into the hallways.
Everybody in the halls that heard the scream froze, Starsky was the first one to leap into action, and several other boys followed him to the stairs. Cole resisted the urge to follow not wanting to blow her cover. Starsky yanked open the door and dashed into the stairwell, all he saw was a male figure standing in front of a young woman who was still screaming on the landing below. Starsky leaped onto the guy’s back, knocking him to the ground, as the other boys piled in to help.
“No, no, you don’t understand,” Meg yelled at Starsky, “This is my boyfriend, I saw somebody down there.” She pointed to the doorway to the floor below them. Starsky took the stairs two at a time, he pulled open the door and looked in the hallway, but it was empty.

Starsky leaned in the doorway of Cole’s apartment, his arms and legs crossed. Classes at the college had been cancelled for the rest of the day. By the time that Hutch and Jenna had reach stairwell, along with the Dean, Meg had finished buttoning up her shirt and Toby had been pulled to his feet, suffering from a bloody nose, from being tackled by Starsky. Meg was taken to the Dean’s office to be questioned about what she saw and Toby was told to go home.
When they had gotten back to the station Dobey hadn’t been happy about Cole going undercover on her own but he put in a call to the director of the FBI and explained the situation. It was agreed that Cole could remain undercover for the department as long as her doctor said it was ok.
Cole paused when she saw Starsky, she didn’t want a battle, she unlocked her door without speaking to Starsky. Dropping her books on a nearby, chair Cole headed to the kitchen for a beer and brought one to Starsky who was now sitting on her couch. He was starting to make her nervous since he hadn’t said anything either. “Okay. go a head, yell at me.” She flopped down next to him.
“I’m not going to yell at you,” Starsky tilted the beer back; drinking half of it in one gulp, he wasn’t happy that Cole was on the case. “Besides, if your doctor clears you, you are on the case.”
“Really?”
Starsky nodded, “I’m not thrilled.”
“I didn’t expect you to be, just like I wouldn’t be thrilled if it was you.” Cole said, “But it’s all part of the job.”

“But I don’t understand,” Jenna stood with her hands on her hips in Captain Dobey’s office the next morning.
“Jenna,” Hutch said gently, “We are just afraid that somebody might have seen you helping at the crime scene. We can’t take the chance that the rapist might recognize you.”
“But its ok for Cole to go undercover, she doesn’t even work for the police department.” Jenna snapped.
“We aren’t taking you off the case Officer Ashford,” Dobey explained. “We just felt it is safer if you didn’t go undercover.”
Jenna glared at Hutch, “Is this your doing?”
Hutch was taken aback, “I—uh—no, it’s not.”
“Why don’t I believe you?” Jenna stormed at him then looked at Dobey, “Is it because I have a three year old daughter? You have children, Captain, did that ever stop you from doing your job?”
“This has nothing to do with Emma,” Hutch smiled thinking of Jenna’s daughter.
“Officer Ashford, this is simply a matter of you being at the crime scene on Saturday and then again yesterday. We don’t need to raise any suspicions that we might have a cop undercover. This guy might move on to another college.” Dobey answered. “If you wanted to be undercover then you should have stayed away from the college.”
“So now this is my fault?”
The woman was starting to wear on Dobey’s nerves, “Nobody is at fault it’s just a fact.”
“Fine.” Jenna turned her on heels and left the captain’s office.
Hutch followed, “Jenna, I’m sorry.”
“What are you sorry for?” Jenna looked at him. “I thought it was nobody’s fault. I guess I need to join the FBI if I want to go undercover.”
“It has nothing to do with Cole being in the FBI.”
“She bypasses protocol and gets rewarded for it.” Jenna sat on the edge of Hutch’s desk.
“Have dinner with me?” Hutch took her hand. “What?” Jenna was completely taken off guard.
“Dinner tonight, uh? I was going to wait until this case was over but I can’t.”
“Well, Emma is at my mother’s, so sure.” Jenna smiled at him; she almost forgot why she was so angry.

Cole sat in English Lit; she had a clean bill of health, which also meant when she was finished with this case, she would be able to go back to her job with the FBI. Cole had her book open as the professor droned on, but her eyes roamed the room looking at each male student in the room, wondering if he could be the rapist. That was when her attention was drawn to a young man sitting off the left of the professor’s desk who appeared to be grading papers. A dark, hooded sweatshirt hung on the back of his chair.
He shifted in his seat and looked in Cole’s direction as if he knew she was watching him. Cole quickly cast her eyes on her book and made a quick scribble in a notebook as if she were taking notes. As soon as she felt he had gone back to what he was doing, Cole glanced at him again and made a mental note to find out who he was.
After class Cole made her way to the Dean’s office to inquire about Professor Dingus’ teaching assistant. “That would be Colin Sanders.” Dean Meloy informed her. “He is a second year grad student.”
“And maybe a first class rapist.”
“Just because he had a black sweatshirt on the back of his chair does not make him a rapist,” Dean Meloy said, worried that she was jumping to conclusions.
“I would still like any information you have on him.” Cole persisted.
“Alright, Miss Jacobs, ask my secretary. I want to catch this man as much as you do but I don’t want this turning into a witch hunt.”
Cole left the building and hurried to a payphone several blocks away. She spoke quickly giving Colin Sanders’ name to Captain Dobey.

“What have you got there?” Hutch questioned Starsky, who was studying several pieces of paper.
“The rap sheet on a guy named Colin Sanders, Cole called in his name a while ago, he is a TA for her English Lit professor.” Starsky showed Hutch the man’s photo.
“So what has our Mr. Sanders done?” Hutch walked over and grabbed and empty coffee cup, he peered inside it then filled it with coffee.
“You name it, he has done it.”
“Is he a rapist?”
Starsky shrugged, “Well, his girlfriend two years thought so, she filed a complaint but it was dropped, she said it was a misunderstanding and that he didn’t rape her that it was consensual.”
“I wonder what changed her mind.”
“Why don’t we ask her, she lives right here in L.A.” Starsky said.
“Let’s go.”
Andrea Wright was a beautiful girl even though she was far to thin, her brown eyes looked huge in her head as she peered out the small window on her front door. Hutch held up his badge, “Can we talk to you Miss Wright?”
There was a muffled response from behind the door then it slowly opened. “Have I done something wrong?”
“No, Miss, we need to ask you some questions about a Colin Sanders.” Starsky said.
The girl went pale and she started to shut the door. “Go away.”
“Please, we need to know why you dropped the rape charges against him.” Hutch put his hand on the door to keep her from closing it.
“It was a mistake.”
“A mistake?” Starsky asked, “You mean he didn’t rape you?”
“Yes—I mean, no, I mean…” She dissolved into tears. “H-He told me that he would kill me if I put him in jail.” Andrea opened the door wide enough for the two detectives to enter. “I can’t go through this again, he nearly destroyed me.”
“You don’t have to see him again we just need to know what happened.” Hutch said as he put his hand on her shoulder. “We think he might be involved in a series of rapes.”
“At West Wood College?” she asked knowing what the answer was going to be.
“Yes, but how did you know that?” Starsky looked at her.
“The day I heard the first report, I wondered if it was him. He goes there you know.”
“We do know that, but why would you think it was him?” Hutch asked.
“He did the same thing when he was in high school.” Andrea dropped down on the couch. “I accidentally found out when I found all these old newspaper clippings in a shoe box in his closet. He was fifteen and raped five girls from a neighboring school, but his daddy was rich and powerful so he got his son off and his record expunged, saying that he would put him in a hospital until he was eighteen where he would get treatment.”
“Doesn’t sound like the treatment worked.” Hutch said.
“He never went to a hospital; his father shipped him back east to stay with an aunt and who knows what he did there.” There were tears running down her face. “He caught me with the shoebox; he asked if I wanted to know what it felt like to be raped.” Andrea closed her eyes and took a deep breath, it was the first time she had told her story since the rape two years ago.

Cole was about to go to her last class of the day when she felt a hand on her elbow. She turned to find Colin Sanders standing next to her; he had the black sweatshirt tied around his waist. “Miss Jacobs, isn’t it?”
“Yes, but call me Cole,” She smiled at him.
“Are you enjoying Professor Dingus’ class?”
“Yes, very much.”
“Did you just transfer here?” Sanders asked. “I haven’t seen you around before.”
“I didn’t transfer, just decided it was time that I went back to college and get my degree.” Cole answered; her gut was telling her that this was their rapist.
“Would you like a tour of the school?” Colin Sanders was charming, which was how he got most of his victims and if that didn’t work on them, he took them anyway.
Cole glanced at her watch, “My Bio class is about to start.”
“Oh come on you can miss it for today.” Colin urged.
“I don’t know, I just started yesterday I really don’t want to get off to a bad start.”
“Heck there are so many people in those classes the professors don’t know who is there and who isn’t besides I know old Professor Ryan’s TA I’ll tell him to say you were there.”
“I don’t know,” Cole stepped away from him, she thought she could take him if she had too but she didn’t really want to find out. He wasn’t just raping now, it was murdering.
Colin stepped closer to Cole and looped his arm through hers, “Come on I’ll give you the grand tour that is unless there is a reason you are afraid of me.”
“Should I be afraid of you,” Cole asked in what she hoped was an innocent tone of voice.
He tilted his head back and laughed. “No, I wouldn’t hurt a fly; do you think I’m the rapist?”
His question caught her off guard and made her wonder if perhaps he wasn’t the man they were looking for. “Of course not.”
“Then come on. I know where they keep all the skeletons.” Colin winked at her.



                                                                                  ~Chapter Twenty-Two~


Starsky sprinted out to the Torino and radioed for Dobey, when he got his Captain on the horn he said, “Call the college and get Cole out of there, we have a pretty good idea who the rapist is. Hutch and I are headed over there right now.”
“Is it Colin Sanders?”
“Yes.”
“I’ll meet you there with a warrant for his arrest,” Dobey said then hung up.
Hutch got in, “Dobey is meeting us there with a warrant.” Starsky informed his partner as if he hadn’t heard their captain’s words.
“Starsk, don’t panic, Cole is fine.” Hutch said knowing that Starsky was worried. “She is smart enough to stay away from him if she suspects he is the rapist.”
“Or try to go after him,” Starsky said as he shoved the car into drive and screeched away from the curb as Hutch slapped the light on top of the car.
The radio suddenly came alive, “Zebra Three, patch through from Captain Dobey.”
Hutch grabbed the microphone. “What is it Cap?”
“Cole can’t be located and Sanders is also missing.” Dobey said. “I have called back up; Jenna is on her way too.”
“Shit, we are thirty minutes from the college.” Starsky pounded the steering wheel.
“Somebody will get there before us and start searching for her.” Hutch said trying to calm his agitated partner. “She is a trained agent, she can handle herself.”
“It hasn’t been that long since she was shot, Hutch.”
“And the doctor gave her a clean bill of health, if he didn’t think she should could handle it, he wouldn’t have signed off.”
“But still.”
Hutch reached over and squeezed Starsky’s shoulder, “I understand, we’ll get there in time.”

“Owww, you are hurting me,” Cole tried to pull free of Colin.
“Don’t be such a baby,” He playfully scolded her.
“I think I need to get to class,” Cole drug her feet.
“Too late.”
“Too late for what?”
“Just move,” His voice turned hard and cold.
Cole was done playing with Colin Sanders, “That is enough.” She tried to twist out of his hold but she couldn’t so she brought her foot down on his instep as hard as she could. Generally that made a person let go but Colin only squeezed tighter.
“Do that again, bitch, and I’ll snap your neck right here.”
She looked down the hall to see where he was taking her, at the end; Cole could see the exit sign and knew he was heading toward the stairs. That was the last place she wanted him to take her. Cole tried to sit down but he just drug her the rest of the way. She opened her mouth to scream, but Colin slapped her hard cross the face.
Suddenly, a rage filled Cole that she didn’t even realize was in her. With adrenaline pumping through her veins, Cole pulled Colin down on the floor with her. He was so surprised that he released the hold he had on her. Cole jumped to her feet and headed toward the stairwell on her own. Colin was right after her the moment he scrambled to his feet, “I’m going to kill you, bitch.” He hissed under his breath.
Cole pushed open the door and disappeared into the stairwell. Colin hit the door with enough force that he nearly fell down the stairs. Cole had been standing next to the door; she planted her foot on Colin’s butt and shoved him down the stairs to the landing where there was more room. She had decided that this man would never hurt another woman even if it meant her going to jail.

Jenna pulled her car in front of the college entrance and jumped out. She went straight to the Dean’s office where she was informed that Cole hadn’t’ been found yet.
“Are you checking the stairwells?” Jenna demanded.
“We only have two security guards, Miss.” Dean Meloy informed Jenna.
“It’s Officer Ashford,” Jenna corrected. “This man, Colin Sanders, is probably the rapist from the information we have on him and you are sitting on your ass? Have you even looked for them?”
“I thought the police were coming to do that.” The Dean at least looked embarrassed for not taking Cole seriously. He had found it hard to believe that Sanders could be a rapist.
“Forget it,” Jenna yelled at him, she drew her gun but before she left his office she tossed over her shoulder. “I want this campus locked down. Do you think you can at least do that?” “Sure,” Dean Meloy picked up his phone as Jenna stormed out of his office.
Two more squad cars pulled up and four officers dashed into the building. Jenna told them what was going on and had them begin searching.
Dobey wasn’t far behind the officers and he huffed up to Jenna. “Anything on Cole?”
Jenna shook her head, “The Dean wasn’t even really looking for her or Sanders.”
“Terrific, where are Starsky and Hutchinson?” Dobey wanted to know.
“I guess they aren’t here yet, I didn’t see Starsky’s car out front.”
“They were coming from across town.” Dobey said.

Starsky was stuck in a traffic jam that he couldn’t get through even with the siren blaring. “Dammit!”
“I’m sure the other officers are at the college by now, they will find Cole,” Hutch said trying to ease his partner’s panic.
“I knew I shouldn’t have let her do this.”
“You and what army was going to stop her once her boss said it alright?” Hutch wanted to know, he admired Cole’s spunk.
“We should have been there as back up.” Starsky stewed as he watched the traffic move along at a snail’s pace. “What the hell is going on up there? It’s not rush hour.”
“You carrying on is not helping, buddy, be calm we will get there.”
“Not in this jammed up mess.” Starsky got out of the car put his foot inside the car to boost himself up high enough to see what was going on. He could see flashing lights a block away. He got back in the car, “Looks like a wreck or something.” Suddenly, Starsky pulled over and got out of the car and began running up the street.
“Starsky, where are you going?” Hutch yelled after him.
“To get one of those squad cars.”
Hutch shook his head but ran after his partner.

Colin Sanders lay on his side on the landing dazed, his nose was bleeding as well as a gash on his forehead, “Can’t take it, pretty boy, when somebody pushes back can you? Get up you piece of shit.” Cole yelled at him. He slowly got to his feet; rage filled his face as he barreled up the stairs to where Cole was standing. “You are going to wish you had never been born.” Colin seethed.
She didn’t wait for him to come to her though, as Colin came up the stairs Cole started down, she wasn’t going to let him get the best of her again. She went to kick him but this time he caught her foot in his hands and they both tumbled down the stairs to the landing again. He grabbed a hand full of hair as Cole tried to untangle herself from him and pulled her back on top of him again. He grabbed for one of Cole’s breasts but she kneed him in the groin, Colin cried out and released her. Cole got her feet and stood over him wishing she had her gun, he would be dead if she did.
Cole brought her heel down on his chest as hard as she could; Cole heard ribs crack as she did it. Then she got down on the floor next to him and took his head in her hands, she was about to slam Colin’s head on the floor when she heard her name being called. She turned to look up the stairs; Jenna was standing there, her gun pointing toward them.
“COLE! Cole he’s not worth it,” Jenna said. “Reinforcements are here, let him go. Come up here with me. I won’t let him escape.”
Cole could not let go of Colin Sanders she wanted him dead for what he had done. She realized that a lot of her anger had to do with her father and that she was taking it out on Sanders, but after all he deserved it. “If you kill him, he wins,” The words sounded funny even to Jenna’s ears but she knew that Sanders wouldn’t like anything better than for Cole to go to jail for his murder.
It wasn’t until she heard Starsky’s voice that she loosened her grip on the man’s head. “Cole,” Starsky called to her calmly as he descended the steps toward her. Starsky touched her back then slid both of his hands down her arms until they came to rest on her hands. “Come on, let him go.” He said softly.
Cole looked into his blue eyes, “Jail is too good for him.”
“I know, but that’s not your call, let him go,” Starsky put a bit of pressure on her hands.
Cole leaned over until her lips were by Colin Sanders ear, “If you ever touch a woman again, I’ll rip your dick off and shove it up your ass.” She shoved his head down but not hard enough to crack his skull; it made a dull thud on the floor.
When Cole got to her feet, Starsky put his arm around her and led her back up the stairs. “Are you alright?” He was worried since she had blood on her but she shook her head no.
“Just some bruises, I think,” She looked back at Sanders, he hadn’t moved from where she had left him laying. “It’s his blood.”
Jenna walked down the stairs after Starsky and Cole passed her then she took her out handcuffs and rolled Sanders over on his back. Putting the cuffs on him gave her great satisfaction but she was a little envious of Cole, she wished she could have kicked his ass too.

“Are you sure you aren’t hurt?” Starsky asked Cole again once as they got outside.
“No, I’m okay.” It was mostly the truth, she had cracked her elbow when she and Sanders had fallen down the stairs but she was afraid Starsky would make her go to the hospital if she told him that.
Hutch and Jenna passed them pushing Sanders toward a waiting police car, the man could barely walk. “I don’t think he’s going to be doing much of anything anytime soon.” Hutch said as he walked by Starsky and Cole.
A smile spread across Cole’s face. “Good.”
“And to think I was worried about you.” Starsky shook his head as he watched Sanders hobble to the squad car. “I bet he was glad to get the hell away from you.”
“Just goes to show you, you had better not mess with me,” Cole said sternly but there was mischief in her eyes.
After putting their captive in the car, Jenna and Hutch headed back to where Starsky and Cole were standing. “Remind me not to mess with you.” Jenna teased Cole.
“I didn’t mean to step on your toes,” Cole apologized to Jenna.
Jenna held up her hands, “Don’t apologize, I don’t think I could have done that, I’d probably been the one laying on that landing.”
“You would be surprised what you can do when you have too, or get mad enough.” Cole said.
“At least this is all over,” Hutch said as he put his arm around Jenna’s shoulders. “How about that dinner after we wrap up this mess “Sure,” Jenna said then looked at Starsky and Cole, then back to Hutch.
Hutch smiled, “Would you two like to come with us?”
“As long as I can clean up first,” Cole said, an angry bruise was forming on her cheek; she was just starting to feel her bumps and bruises. “I have a feeling I better have fun tonight because I don’t think I will be able to get out of bed tomorrow.”
“Hum, I kind of had the same plan for tomorrow myself.” Starsky said as he gave Cole a seductive wink.


                                                                             ~Chapter Twenty-Three~


~three weeks later~

Starsky started to knock on Cole’s apartment door when he noticed it was opened a crack. He pushed the door open as he called out to her, but there was no answer, although he could hear movement in the bedroom. The first thing he noticed was a dozen or so brown moving boxes stacked against one of the living room walls. On each box was Cole’s neat handwriting as to which room they were from, or maybe going to.
He had just come from Hutch’s, Starsky finally had felt that it was time to ask Cole to marry him so he had stopped to get the engagement ring he had entrusted to his partner. Jenna and Emma had been there, Emma was watching a cartoon while Hutch and Jenna cuddled on the couch.
Starsky pulled his hand from his pocket; he was beginning to think that the ring was cursed. He wanted to take it out and fling it down the apartment building hallway and pretend that he hadn’t brought it with him.
Cole pulled her head out of her closet, she thought that she heard someone come into her apartment; the moving truck was late which was going to make her late. Cole stashed the items she had in her hands in one of her many suitcases and called, “You can start with the boxes there in the living room.” When she didn’t get any answer Cole walked down the hall and out into the living room. She wasn’t all that surprised to find Starsky standing in the middle of the room staring at the boxes. She knew her luck was never that good.
“Where are you going?” Starsky asked without looking at her, he couldn’t pry his eyes from the stack of boxes.
“Chicago.”
Finally, he dragged his eyes from the boxes to her face. “Why?”
“I’m being transferred to missing persons at our bureau in the Windy City.” Cole said as she remained rooted where she was as did Starsky.
“You weren’t going to tell me?”
“Of course I was going to tell you.”
“When,” The word almost sounded as if the wind had been knocked out of him.
Cole paused, this was the hardest thing in her life that she had ever done. Finally, after years and years, she had found a man that she loved and trusted and he loved her back, but it must have not been enough since she was packing up to leave. “I was going to call you…”
“Where, from Chicago?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t understand, I thought we had something here. I thought we might spend the rest of our lives together.” Starsky said in a rush of words, his eyes went back to the boxes.
“We did—we do.” Cole wasn’t sure she could explain it to him because she wasn’t sure she understood it herself.
“I love you, Cole.”
“I love you too, David.”
“Then don’t go…or I’ll go with you.”
“And leave Hutch?” Cole smiled and shook her head, “You would never be happy without Hutch.”
“I won’t be happy without you.” His eyes were pleading with hers to change her mind.
“I just found out yesterday, I have been up all night packing.” Cole explained. “I was going to call you but—but I knew if I saw you I could never leave.”
“So you are just going to sneak out of town and that is the end of us?” Starsky wanted to know, he was beyond hurt at this point. He felt like turning around and leaving without looking back, he didn’t feel like his heart could take it again.
Cole wanted to tell him that they didn’t have to break up, that they could still see each other but she knew better, long distance relationships didn’t work. “I wish it didn’t have to be this way but it’s not fair to either of us to hang on to each other.”
“But why Chicago, why now?” Starsky started to move toward her but Cole held up her hand, there was no way she could let him get too close to her.
“I put in for this job a long time ago. Working missing persons has always been my dream job and not many openings come up. I know this is horrible timing but I just can’t turn it down.” She hoped he would understand.
Starsky wanted to yell at her that he had wanted her for a long time and that he had been waiting but he didn’t. How could he stand in the way of a career move that she wanted so desperately?
Again, he started toward her, “Please, don’t,” Cole was barely able to choke out. She knew that if he took her in his arms that she would tell the FBI go to go hell and then where would she be? Maybe, Mrs. David Starsky, but something was still holding her back from that type of commitment. If she went away, she would forget.
“Alright, if this is the way you want it,” Starsky said and backed off. “When are you leaving?”
“Eight o’clock tonight.” Cole answered, “I’m flying, a moving truck is taking my stuff.”
Starsky nodded woodenly as he looked at the woman he loved. “You have a good flight,” He said as if he were telling an acquaintance he had just met, goodbye.
“David,” Cole said, she knew she had hurt him terribly for she was hurting too.
“You know where I am if you ever need anything.” Starsky turned and walked out of the apartment closing the door.
He stood in the hall for a long time, Starsky wasn’t sure why, maybe he was hoping that Cole would open the door and fall into his arms but it didn’t happen. Finally, he trudged out of the building and to his car.

Hutch was just washing the last glass from his lunch with Jenna and Emma when there was a knock on the door. He threw the tea towel he was drying with over his shoulder and went to answer the door. He found Starsky standing there, a look of devastation on his face. “She said no?”
Starsky shook his head, “I never got the chance to ask her. Cole is leaving for Chicago, she was transferred.”
“Don’t you think asking her to marry you might change that?”
Sadly, Starsky shook his head no, he knew Cole’s stance on marriage. He had been hoping that she had changed her mind, but if she was leaving it clearly meant that she still felt the same. “She knew that we were heading toward marriage, this is her way of not having to say no.”
Starsky dug in his pocket and produced the ring box and handed it to Hutch. “What do you want me to do with it?”
“I don’t care, throw it way, sell it, hell give it to Jenna.” Starsky said. “I just don’t want to see it again.”
“Why don’t you hang on to it, buddy?”
“So that every time I see it I think of what I lost…over and over again?” Starsky shook his head, “No thanks.”
“When is she leaving?” Hutch wanted to know, he turned back to finish drying the dishes.
“Tonight at eight.”
“Why don’t you go to the airport and ask her?” Hutch said, “What can happen that hasn’t already? You never know, it might just stop her.”
“I don’t think so; she wouldn’t even let me touch her at her apartment this morning.”
“That isn’t such a bad thing, Starsk, probably means she is on the fence about going. Maybe, if you popped the question, that would make up her mind.” Hutch tossed the towel on the edge of the sink.
“She will probably only run faster.” Starsky sat down on the couch and put the ring box on the table. “I think I just need to forget about her.”
“If you don’t go, you will never know for sure.”
“And what if she turns me down?” Starsky said sadly, “Then it will really be over.”
“If she gets on that plane it will be over anyway.”

Cole stood in her packed up living room staring at the door, she half expected him to come walking back though it but he didn’t, he was gone. She only had herself to blame and she knew it. Cole sighed as she looked around her apartment; it was time to move on. Slowly, she went back to the bedroom to finish packing her things.
She was nearly finished when Cole heard a knock on the door; she dropped what she was doing and rushed to the door. “David…” She began as she opened the door but it was only the movers, none of which were named David. They looked at her quizzically, then starting carrying the boxes that Cole pointed out to the waiting moving van.
Cole sat down on her stripped bed, she had one small carry on sitting by the bedroom door that would go with her, the rest of her bags would go with the movers.
“Miss?”
Cole looked up to find a man standing in the doorway of her bedroom in a white t-shirt. “Yes?”
“We need to take the bed.”
“Oh,” Cole got up slowly. Another man placed the phone on the floor and took her nightstand. Cole eyed the phone for a long time, then picked it up and listened for a dial tone, it hadn’t been disconnected yet. She ran her fingers over the keys, tempted to call him…but what would she say?
The man in the white t-shirt was back again, she was now standing in her empty bedroom. He held out a clipboard with a form for her to sign, which she did. He thanked her and left with the rest of his crew.
Cole walked into the living room, it was also empty, the whole apartment was empty. The only things that were left were a few nail holes in the walls and some dust bunnies that had been under the couch. Her whole life was in the moving truck sitting in front of her apartment building. But in her heart, she knew that wasn’t true, her life was across town with his heart breaking.
A tear slid down Cole’s cheek as she closed and locked her apartment door for the final time, she would mail the key to the owner. As she walked down the sidewalk the cab she had called pulled up. With a final glance back, Cole got into the cab and instructed the man to take her to the airport.

Starsky sat alone in his apartment; Cole’s touches were everywhere he looked. He glanced at his watch, it was going on three p.m. Starsky sighed; he couldn’t believe that she was leaving. They had been through so much together in such a short time, he had been sure that asking her to marry him was the right thing to do. But he had guessed wrong. Maybe Hutch was right though, maybe he should go to the airport and beg her to stay. Could that be what she was waiting for? He blew out a long breath as he leaned his head back on the couch, he was so tired, he would just close his eyes for a little bit then maybe he would get up and go to the airport. He had left the engagement ring at Hutch’s apartment but that didn’t matter.
Starsky jerked awake, he wasn’t sure what had woke him, he looked around the room then at his watch, it was nearly seven p.m. Cole’s flight left in an hour, that would barely give him time to get to the airport. With his heart racing Starsky jumped up from the couch and sprinted out to his car. It was the last chance he had to at least ask her to marry him, say the words out loud to her.
The traffic slowed to a crawl, Starsky looked at his watch for the millionth time, he wasn’t going to make it. But just when he thought he would miss Cole’s plane the knot of traffic finally loosened and began to move.
Ten minutes…he had ten minutes to park the car and find the gate Cole would be leaving from. He panicked again; he didn’t know her gate number and trying to read the large ever changing board of flights would take up precious time. Starsky entered the terminal on dead run, he quickly surveyed the board and found that Cole was at gate 25A, he wasn’t sure how far that was and he only had five minutes to get to her.
Damn, damn, Starsky thought as he dash down the corridor looking at each gate number as he went. Finally, he saw gate 25A in the distance, he put on a final burst of speed and closed the expanse quickly. People carrying suitcases turned to watch him as he ran by them.
Starsky screeched to a halt at the gate, the waiting room was empty and the ticket taker was closing the door. He leaned on a column trying to catch his breath; he saw a plane taxiing down the runway through the large windows that looked out onto the field. Starsky looked at his watch, it read 8:03. He pushed himself away from the column and walked toward the window; he put his hands on the glass and watched the huge plane take off.


                                                                        ~Chapter Twenty-Four~


If she gets on that plane it will be over anyway, Hutch’s words echoed in Starsky’s head, he turned and pressed his back against the glass, he couldn’t watch anymore. Pushing himself away from the window he caught sight of a woman walking toward him, she had dark hair. Could it be? He walked toward her, wasn’t this the way it always was in the movies, the lover always came back, changed their mind at the last second and come back?
But as the young woman came closer, Starsky realized that it wasn’t Cole, the woman smiled in his direction and continued on to the next gate where she found a place to sit. Starsky turned and looked out the windows at the empty runway then he slowly left the waiting room.

Hutch was worried, it was late and he hadn’t heard from Starsky, he wasn’t sure if that was good or bad. He had called his apartment several times with no answer. If Cole had said yes, she and Starsky were probably hold up in his apartment not answering the phone, if she had said no, then he was probably sulking some place, perhaps drowning his sorrows at their favorite watering hole.
He picked up the phone and dialed the number to the Pits. A female voice answered. “Hey, Angie, it’s Hutch,” Hutch said to the waitress. “Have you see Starsky there tonight?”
“Sorry, handsome, I haven’t seen him and it’s a pretty light crowd.”
Hutch thanked her and hung up; he grabbed his keys, he had to find out what had happened. He pulled behind Starsky’s Torino; at least he knew his partner was at home. Hutch started to just drive away not wanting to interrupt the couple if she was indeed there. But something told Hutch that Starsky was alone and needed him.
He walked up the sidewalk and stood in front of the door, instead of knocking Hutch turned the doorknob, it was unlocked. He entered the dark living room, “Starsk?” He called softly.
There was no answer but he heard movement from the couch, Hutch flipped on a light to find his partner curled up on the couch. “Oh, Starsk.” He sat down next to his friend, “She turned you down.”
The head of dark curls shook, “I was too late, she was gone.”
“Go after her.”
Starsky raised his head up and looked at Hutch. “It’s over; if she loved me she wouldn’t have left. Why should I keep banging my head on a closed door? Did I tell you that I offered to go to Chicago with her?”
The idea of Starsky leaving sent a jolt through him. “What did she say to that?”
“That I couldn’t leave you.” Starsky swung his legs over the edge of the couch and sat up. “She was right, I couldn’t. What the hell would I do in Chicago? Join the FBI?”
“They would be lucky to get you.” Hutch said and silently thanked Cole for not encouraging Starsky to go off with her. Although he would have supported his partner’s decision to go, it sure didn’t mean he would have liked it.
“What are you doing here?” Starsky suddenly realized the lateness of the hour, “I thought you would be with Jenna.”
“Emma had a birthday party earlier in the evening,” Hutch said. Jenna never stayed the night; in fact, most of the evenings were over early since Emma was generally with Jenna. A few times they had let her sleep on Hutch’s bed but he and Jenna had never gone further than kissing. Hutch was quickly becoming attached to Emma and her mother.
“You are sounding rather domestic,” Starsky smiled. “I’m happy for you.”
“I wish things would have worked out for you and Cole,” Hutch reached over and squeezed Starsky’s shoulder, he knew his friend was hurting by the look on his face.
Starsky shrugged, “I’ll get over it, I have before.” But he wasn’t sure he could this time, Cole wasn’t the kind of girl you got over easily.
“Hey, how about a little late night pizza?” Hutch suggested.
Starsky forced a smile to his lips. “I think I’ll pass if you don’t mind. I’m going to head to bed. You are welcome to the couch.”

Cole had been the last one to leave the waiting room; she felt that Starsky would show up. She wasn’t sure what she would do if he did show up. She had her job waiting in Chicago, she couldn’t stay or could she? But the point was moot when he didn’t come to stop her from getting on the flight.
She sat in her seat, feeling that she was making a mistake as she waited for the plane to taxi down the runway, but it was too late now and maybe she had finally pushed him away one too many times. A stewardess offered her a pillow which Cole accepted, maybe if she slept she wouldn’t think about what she was leaving behind.

~nearly two weeks later~

Hutch couldn’t stand to see Starsky mope around anymore. He and Jenna had tried everything to cheer him up. But Starsky refused their invitations to dinner and trips to the park with Emma; he needed to grieve for what he had lost and no dinner or trip to the park, especially with Jenna, was going to make him feel better.
“Come on, Starsk,” Hutch tired for the umpteenth time. “You can’t just sit at home alone every night. I’m not trying to set you up with anybody but you need to get out.”
Starsky shook his head, “I’m fine.”
“Have you heard from Cole?” But Hutch already knew the answer to that one.
“No.”
“Why don’t you call her?” Hutch wanted to know. Starsky just looked at him without responding. “Come out with Jenna and me, just for a little while. You can drive separately, so that if you feel like leaving, you can.”
“How can going out with you and your girlfriend possibly make me feel better?” Starsky asked.
“Then it will be just you and me, uh? Please?”
“Hutch, I really appreciate what you are trying to do but I really need to work this out for myself. I’m going to be fine, I just need some time.” Starsky answered.
Usually, Hutch let it go by this point in the conversation because they had almost the same conversation daily. “Starsky, I’m going to insist that you go out with us tonight. You are getting more depressed by the day. I don’t like what I’m seeing. This just isn’t like you.”
“Cole was one in a million.” Starsky got up to get himself a cup of coffee. “I’m going to be fine, I promise.” He repeated.
Hutch sighed and gave up for the moment, he was going to get Starsky out that night if he had to cuff him and drag his friend.

Starsky had just sat down with a warm TV dinner when there was a knock on his door. He almost didn’t answer the door fearing it would be Hutch and he was right. Jenna was with him and they were dressed in clubbing clothes. He started to shake his head the moment he saw them, “Hutch, would you please just give up? I don’t feel like going out.”
“I’m not taking no for an answer this time. Look at you, sitting at home eating TV dinners like you are ninety. Go get your ass dressed before I do it for you.”
Starsky knew the look in Hutch’s eyes and decided it wasn’t worth arguing the point any longer. “Fine, give me a few minutes.”
Hutch looked at Jenna and gave her a wink. A broad smile spread across Jenna’s face. “You did good.”
“Yeah, I know my partner,” Hutch smiled back to her. “I know how to motivate him, just drive him nuts until he gives in.” Jenna giggled; they sat down on the couch to wait for Starsky get ready.
After nearly twenty minutes, Starsky appeared in the bedroom door, he was dressed in jeans, a white button down shirt and a light brown corduroy jacket, “Let’s get this over with.” He looked over at his uneaten TV dinner wishing that he hadn’t answered the door, but he knew that Hutch would have just kept knocking if he hadn’t.
Being a Friday night the dance club was hopping, Starsky made a face when they pulled into the parking lot. This was the last place he wanted to go; it was the same club where he and Cole had first met. “I don’t know about this.” Starsky said.
“Oh, come on,” Jenna pushed Starsky out of the car; she had been sitting between the two men. “It will be fun and if you are good, maybe I’ll dance with you.”
Once they were inside they were lucky to find a table close to the dance floor, a waitress took their drink order and the trio sat watching the mass of humanity on the dance floor. Hutch got up and held out his hand to Jenna, “Want to dance?” Jenna smiled and took his hand.
Starsky’s dark mood settled over him even more. They had dragged him out and now they had left him alone. He downed his drink and was thinking of calling a cab when he felt a hand on his shoulder. “Wanna dance?”
He started to refuse but there was something familiar about the voice. Starsky turned in his seat to see who belonged to the hand. Cole stood there smiling down at him. “Cole?” He wasn’t sure he was seeing what he thought he was seeing.
“Did you save that last dance for me?” She wanted to know.
Emotions swirled around inside Starsky, he was afraid to let his defenses down again. They had been on this road so many times. “What are you doing here?”
Cole sat down at the table. “I missed you.”
“So, what does that mean? Are you here for the weekend?” Starsky wanted to know. “I haven’t heard from you since you left.”
“I waited at the airport you know, I was the last to get on the plane,” Cole confessed.
“And I was there, but too late, the waiting room was empty. If I would have asked you to stay then, would you have?”
“I don’t know,” Cole said honestly, she put her hand over Starsky’s hand “Ask me now.”
“Am I going to like the answer?” Starsky wanted to know letting his guard down a little.
Cole shrugged, “Why don’t you ask and find out?”
“Hey, Cole,” Jenna had just come off the dance floor; Hutch leaned over and kissed Cole’s cheek.
Starsky looked at them both, “Why do I have the feeling you both knew she was going to be here?”
Hutch just shrugged then winked at Cole, “It wasn’t easy girl, so you had better work fast.”
Cole smiled at him and got up, she held out her hand to Starsky, “How about that dance?”
Starsky took a deep breath and stood, “Is this going to be our last dance?”
She grabbed his hand and pulled him out onto the dance floor just as a slow song began. Cole put her arms around his neck and pulled him close to her. “I really missed you, you know. I never even unpacked.”
“What about your job?” Starsky wanted to know as he tightened his embrace round her waist.
“I resigned.”
“From the FBI?”
“No, silly, from that position. I told them I needed to come back here.” Cole said pulling away from him so that she could see his face.
“What are you going to be doing?”
“I’m taking over Masters’ job.”
“So, you are going to be the big boss, uh? Should I be intimidated?” Starsky said as smile was beginning to tug at the corners of his mouth.
“Only if you work under me.”
“I think that can be arranged.” Starsky gave her a sly look and he wasn’t talking about work.
“Will you just ask me already?” Cole met his blue eyes with her brown.
“Ask you what?”
Cole pushed him away from her. “Marry me already, will ya?”
Starsky grinned then grabbed Cole and held her close to him again, “Cole Jacobs, will you marry me?”
Cole put her hands on the sides of his face and pulled his mouth to hers as she said yes.


THE END