Shadows

By M. Willow

Chapter Nine

Several hours later they were sitting in the morning room, the scent of coffee and freshly baked muffins mingling in the air.  Starsky was reading a newspaper, but his eyes darted to Hutch almost every time he turned the page.  It warmed Hutch’s heart to have someone care so much about him.    It was a feeling that had been totally alien in his life until he was about ten years old.  That was when his uncle had married and moved to Lamb House.  Before that he hadn’t even realized he had an uncle.  The brothers had never been close.

His uncle had no other children, so he warmed to Hutch the minute they met.  Soon he spent all his summers with his aunt and uncle and some weekends. He was so happy, but when he turned thirteen, his father refused to let him go.  At fourteen, he moved in with them.  He’d never been happier.  He had the parents he’d always wanted and there was Sandra his first girlfriend.

He remembered the afternoons now, when they would go to the hidden room in the library.  They would open a panel over the fireplace and in minutes would have the privacy they wanted.  It was 1957 and good girls didn’t do what they were doing which amounted to nothing.  Still, in that year of innocence, a girl didn’t even kiss on the first date and a girl didn’t let a boy touch her in certain places.  That’s why they needed the privacy.

“Hey, I remember where that room is,” Hutch announced suddenly, making his friend look up.  He was happy to see the child-like excitement in Starsky’s eyes.  Maybe the brunet was going to let it go after all.  He would spend the day hunting for treasure, and within the next few days, Starsky would leave for Bay City secure in the knowledge that the blond was perfectly okay.

“Okay, let’s go treasure hunting,” and Starsky dropped his book and headed for the house.

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The hidden room was in the library of the house.  The sizable library had two sections—one old, holding books that went back centuries, and a new section that housed books that were no more than a hundred years old. 

Hutch remembered his uncle spending hours in the library. “There’s nothing like an old book to sink one’s mind into,” he’d once said, handing Hutch an original edition of a book he couldn’t recall.  Hutch had been enthralled by the sense of the past, the smell of old books.  He’d enjoyed spending time with his uncle in that library, even if he didn’t share his love for ancient books.  At that age, he wanted comic books, not something William Shakespeare had written.  Still, he loved his uncle enough not to tell him that. 

Now Hutch looked at shelves loaded with books.  It was hard to believe twenty years had passed.  The smell of the books, the feel of the soft leather chairs, his uncles hand tapping the table, as he told him how he had gotten this or that book.  It was all there in this room—the past mingling with the present.  He could almost see his uncle sitting in front of a roaring fireplace, glasses perched on his nose, book firmly in hand.  He smiled at the memory.

“You okay Hutch?” Starsky asked as Hutch approached the fireplace.

“Never been better,” he said and truthfully, at this moment, he was.

 Hutch reached into a tiny corner in the fireplace and pulled a lever.  The fireplace immediately moved, revealing a dark room with cobwebs scattered throughout.  It was apparent that no one had been there in years, probably since he and Sandra had been there.

“So this is where you did the deed,” he joked.  Hutch laughed at the light tone in his friend’s voice.

“Better turn on the flashlight, Starsk.  This is just the entryway.”

Hutch turned on his flashlight and scanned the room.  He headed to a far corner and ran his hand along the middle of the wall.  The false wall moved back revealing yet another room.

“That’s the way you find them, Starsk.  One room leads to another.  You just have to find the switch and you’re in.  You could probably travel through this whole house using hidden passages.”

“Wow,” Starsky said the delight in his voice almost intoxicating to Hutch.

The dark-haired detective entered the room, his flashlight moving around as he entered.  On the floor Hutch could see a blanket still laying there as if it expected the occupants to return.  Starsky focused his beam on the blanket, before turning and moving to the other side of the small room.

“Not much to see here,” Starsky said.  The room was empty except for the blanket.

“Pretty much the condition of all the rooms.” Hutch said.

“Except for the room with the stolen paintings,” Starsky added watching his partner.

Hutch shrugged, focusing his attentions back on the blanket.  “You know, Nelson was wrong.  I never slept with Sandra and I’m pretty sure she wasn’t seeing anybody but me.”

“You don’t have to tell me that, Hutch.  I already know that if somethin’ liked that happened, you woulda told me.”

Hutch smiled gratefully, but beneath the smile was a tiny seed of doubt.  The fact was that summer was way too vague to be sure about anything.  He was pretty sure that if he’d lost his virginity he would at least remember it, but he wasn’t so sure about Sandra.  He’d thought he was the only one she was seeing, but how could he be sure?

“Starsky, this is a lot of fun, but I’ve got to hire some men to do some work around here if I ever hope to sell this place.”

“Okay,” Starsky said.  “Are you gonna need me to do anything?”

“No, not now.  Just enjoy your treasure hunt and don’t get lost.  Make sure you don’t close any doors behind you and you should be okay.” He wanted to add and be there for me, because I’m scared.  Instead he said, “You can take the car and explore the town if you like.  Not much to see, but it’s probably better than sitting around here all day.”

Starsky cast him a puzzled look, no doubt picking up on his need to be alone.

”Okay, Hutch, but if you need me, you know where to find me.”

Hutch smiled briefly and left the room.  Yes, he needed his partner more than ever, but he had to keep things in perspective. 

TBC