© by Elsa
During the day, the girl was somewhere in the back of Hutch’s mind, but after their shift was over, the blond remembered her and decided to pay her a visit. Through the calm autumn streets of Bay City, he asked Starsky to drive to August Avenue. He let him park the car at a distance and checked the cars in the street. All of them were parked near the kerb, all of them were empty. No hiding stalker, as far as Hutch could tell.
He took the eight steps that led to the door of the apartment block, where Miss Kowalski lived, looked for her name plate next to the bell but found none. He did however find number 82 and pushed the buzzer.
No answer.
Starsky’s eyebrows went up. “What now? Home or do you still want to go up?”
“Up. Although I can very well understand she doesn’t want to answer the door if she’s being stalked.”
Starsky pushed several buttons at once, until a tinny voice cracked through the speaker. “Yes?”
“Flower Service,” Starsky said jolly and immediately the door buzzed open. “Easy. Come on Hutch. After you.” Behind the men, the tinny voice angrily wanted to know what Parcel Service, but then the door fell shut. Starsky chuckled.
Number 82 was on the third floor. It could be reached by either elevator or staircase. The detectives took the elevator. When they found the right apartment, Hutch rang the bell, took a step back and held his ID up, next to his face, so that the woman inside could look through the peek hole and see who he was.
“Open the door please, ma’am. My name is Kenneth Hutchinson. I’m with the Bay City PD. This is my partner, David Starsky. We’re here to talk about the complaint you were about to file at the station.”
For a minute he thought he’d been talking to the door only and that the apartment was empty. But then a few bolts cracked and the door was opened slightly. Through the small opening, behind a chain, a face was visible.
“Badge please?”
Hutch introduced the two of them once again. The woman looked at their badges and then the door was closed and opened again, a little wider this time.
“Come in. Quickly, please,” a worried voice said.