Overprotective

Early in their partnership, they have to deal with something horrible. How will they cope?

Warning for implied violence.

“It’s bad, Cap,” Starsky informed his superior.

Dobey took one look at the slightly pale complexion of his young detective’s face and decided not to reprimand him for the informal way he’d been addressed. He looked around, noting that one rookie uniformed officer had been taken ill and was sitting on a wall in front of a house along the street to recover. More seasoned officers were holding back the crowd that was gathering and others had started knocking on doors, asking questions about the house and what had been seen.

“Hutchinson?” Dobey asked, not seeing Starsky’s partner anywhere.

Starsky shuffled slightly. “Just clearing his head. We’ll go back in once the Forensic Team have finished.”

Dobey nodded. “Okay. Give me the bare bones.”

Starsky looked straight ahead. “Five dead. Adult female. Two older victims. Looked like grandparents…Two kids…All shot. The woman was hit in the face… The others looked like they were trying to run away.”

“Shot in the back?”

Starsky nodded tightly.

Dobey pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his face. He remembered all too well what scenes like that could do to young officers. These two detectives, not long partnered, were resilient but that didn’t mean they were impervious to the occasional horror of the job.

“Find out what you can from the canvass. Report back to me at the precinct.” He added softly, “I’m aware this isn’t an easy scene to deal with. If you and Hutchinson need to talk, my door is open. I’ll say the same thing to all of the men.”

Starsky nodded.

“Who was first on the scene?”

“Officer King and his rookie.”

As Dobey walked away to check in with each officer under his care, Starsky hurried away to find Hutch. He found him leaning against the Torino. His colour was better than it had been twenty minutes ago. Hutch looked down as Starsky came up.

“Sorry,” he said, embarrassment at his weakness clear in his voice.

Starsky leaned back against the car next to him, his shoulder briefly touching Hutch’s shoulder.

“Nothing to be sorry for…First time is always bad.”

“It’s not my first homi—”

Starsky interrupted softly, “I meant first time seeing kids and someone shot like…that.”

Hutch ran a hand over his face. “Thanks.”

“You okay now? Dobey wants us to coordinate the canvass and then report back to him.”

Hutch took a deep breath and stood up straight. “Let’s get to it.”

Starsky nodded and the two of them strode side by side back to the house to gather information from the officers who had been asking questions. An hour later, they had everything they could get and headed back to the precinct.

*****

As they closed the door, Dobey said, “What have you got?”

“A couple of neighbours saw the husband driving away. Gary Vaughan. He was laid off from the steel company three months ago. Neighbours say he’d taken to drinking and become very irritable.”

When Hutch stopped speaking, Starsky took over. “Neighbours had heard shouting from the property most days in the last month. We got an APB out on him and his car: a red saloon. Detective Services are looking up the registration details for us. We found a licence for a hand gun.”

Hutch closed his notebook and stood up, saying, “We’ll get back out there, looking for him at his usual haunts as soon as we have the registration details. Neighbours told us places he likes to go.”

Dobey nodded. “He’s got nothing to lose now. Could go one of two ways,” he warned.

Both men nodded at him. Starsky stood up as Hutch opened the door and followed his partner out of the room.

*****

Two hours later, they drove out towards the pier where Gary liked to go fishing at weekends. They spotted his car at the furthest end of the parking lot. Silently, the partners got out of the car and drew their guns. Slowly and watchfully, they walked towards the car, a few paces apart from each other.

As they got closer, Starsky suddenly stiffened and said, “Wait.”

Senses alert, Hutch looked around and then back at his partner. “What is it?”

“You wait here while I get closer…Cover me just in case.”

Hutch went to protest but Starsky was already moving. As he drew closer to the car, Hutch saw his partner shake his head and then look back at him.

“He’s dead.”

Hutch started to move forward.

“No. Stay there. You don’t need to see this,” Starsky said.

Hutch kept moving. “You don’t need to protect me, Starsky. I am perfectly capable—”

“I know you are,” Starsky said, as he moved to intercept Hutch. “But you also don’t need today to be the day you see a guy that’s killed himself. It ain’t pretty. It’s worse than this morning…We can’t do anything for him. I’ll get his gun and then we can let other people take over.”

Half of Hutch wanted to go forward to prove he could handle anything, that he was just as tough as his partner. Half of him already had images in his mind that he’d be seeing for days. Did he really need to add another?

“All right,” Hutch finally acquiesced. “I’ll go call it in.”

Starsky gave him a tight nod and then headed towards the passenger side of the car to retrieve Vaughan’s weapon. He picked it up with a handkerchief and carried it back to the Torino.

“Forensics and a coroner’s wagon are on the way,” Hutch informed him. He frowned at his partner. “Why are treating me with kid gloves?”

“I’m not.”

“You are. You worried I’m going to let you down like I did this morning? That I can’t handle this side of the job?”

Starsky shook his head. “No…it’s just you still got that…innocence about you in some areas and—”

“Innocence? You make me sound like some wet behind the ears rookie. Innocence! What are you talking about?!”

Just then they heard sirens. Irritated at the perceived slight to his toughness, Hutch stepped away and flagged down the coroner’s wagon. Starsky sighed. He knew he’d used the wrong words with Hutch, but he didn’t know what would have been better. How to explain to his partner that he liked the fact that Hutch hadn’t seen everything he’d seen, that Hutch was still sensitive and caring, that he still hoped for the best outcome most of the time and worked hard to make it happen. He sighed again then went over to talk to the Forensic team that had arrived and got the gun logged as evidence.

Uniformed officers took over the vigil once the body had been removed, with orders to wait for the tow truck that was coming to take the car to the impound lot. As they climbed into the Torino, Dobey radioed and told them to go home and write up the report in the morning. Starsky thanked him. He glanced at Hutch, who ignored him. Starsky started the engine and headed away from the parking lot. Starsky turned words over in his head.

After a minute or two, he said, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to act like an older brother protecting a younger brother. You’re my partner. I know you can handle anything that comes up.”

Hutch didn’t move or say anything but Starsky could feel his partner pondering. The silence now was thoughtful rather than awkward.

Hutch spoke quietly. “I can handle what comes up because we’re partners and partners look out for each other. I guess sometimes we’ll try to protect each other from unnecessary pain.”

Starsky nodded gratefully. “Yeah. Yeah, that’s all I meant…You care about stuff that most people don’t. That’s a great quality. I like that.”

“Thanks…I guess.”

Starsky nodded. He wondered how to check Hutch was all right about what they’d seen without seeming to check.

“You wanna go straight home or go get a beer?”

“A beer I guess.”

Starsky nodded again.

Later, as they nursed a beer and waited for the pool table to become free, Starsky said quietly, “The first time I saw something like what we saw today, it came back in dreams for a while afterwards.”

Hutch nodded. “Thanks for the warning.” He tried to sound unflappable.

Starsky took a sip of beer and looked away. “It wasn’t on the job…it was over ‘there’.”

“Oh.”

Hutch thought about what Starsky had said. Knowing how private Starsky could be and how little he ever mentioned his time in the army, he knew that snippet of information would have cost his partner. He decided to meet him halfway.

“What we saw…it keeps popping into my head.” Hutch shook his head and wiped a hand over his face.

“It’ll get easier…If it doesn’t…tell me.”

Hutch nodded.

Starsky looked at him intently.

“I will, Starsk. That’s a promise.”

“Good…Pool table is free. Ready to lose?”

Hutch grinned. “Ready to beat you? Yes!”

They grinned at each other and started the game. Company, laughter and distraction would help with the trauma that needed processing. Time and friendship would heal the rest.