"Danny, I can explain" Michelle started to say.
"I dont want to hear it" he said and sat down next to Pilar.
"Well you are going to hear it Danny. Where did you find those? In the medicine cabinet right? Right where you could find them anytime, right?" she said.
"Yeah, so" he said.
"Well Danny, if I were going to hide them I wouldnt have put them in the medicine cabinet that you use and if I put them where you could find them, then obviously I am not trying to hide them" she said.
"Your proud of the damn things. You're proud of sleeping around while we were still married." he asked in total astonishment.
"Danny I didnt.." she saw Pilar then with the smug expression on her face.
"Look Danny lets talk about this in private okay" she said.
"We will discuss it right here" he said.
"Fine" she said and shot a look to Pilar that told her she knew what she was up to. "I had a problem with my period and I have been taking them for awhile to straighten it up, okay. It happens to lots of women. If you like, I can get a notorized letter from my doctor about my condition so you wont automatically assume the worst. And even if I was sleeping around as you say, we were annulled, I had signed the papers, I had no idea you were keeping them around in your desk, okay" she said and turned to leave.
Damn Pilar. She had caused her and Danny to fiight. She was not going to get away with this. She had sent Danny up there knowing what he would find. What in the world was she doing in their bedroom to begin with. She wanted to expose Pilar right then and there but something was telling her to bide her time. It wouldnt solve anything to bring Pilar into it just now. Danny was still absorbing what she had told him and she could tell that he believed her. She would deal with Pilar later.
Michelle had just gotten to the door when Danny asked her to stop. She turned around and saw the aplogetic look on his face. She went into his arms. "I'm sorry baby" he whispered in her ear. "I believe you and I shouldn't have said what I did, please forgive me".
She nodded her head in agreement all the time staring at Pilar. Pilar got up and left the room. Good Michelle thought, get out of here before I tell Danny what you did.
She had talked to Vanessa when she was out of the room and she had told her she had some free time this afternoon. Vanessa had agreed to meet with her.
Michelle walked with Danny back to the sofa. She asked him if he wanted to lie down and he said yes. She helped him to their room and helped him on the bed. She would wait with Danny until he fell asleep and then call Vanessa and ask her to come over.
She heard the front door slam and knew that Pilar had taken her leave again. Good, Dont come back, Michelle thought.
She still was bugged that Pilar had been going through her things. What on earth would make her do something like that. She was a very different person than she was three years ago. She really hoped Vanessa could help her get to the bottom of this.
Danny finally fell asleep. Michelle put the covers over him, kissed his cheek and then went downstairs to call Vanessa.
She had also wanted to talk to Sarah and decided to do that while she waited for Vanessa to come over. She found her in the kitchen making some delicious looking pastry.
"Sarah, have you got time to chat with me?" she said.
"Of course I do. I was just looking for an excuse to have some coffee, want some?" she offered.
"No thanks" she said and they both took their place at the table.
"Whats on your mind MIchelle?" she asked.
"Pilar" she said. Sarah shook her head in understanding. Pilar had changed in the last three years. Bill Lewis had broken her heart and Sarah didnt think she had ever recovered. She had been on duty the night that Pilar had come home devestated from finding him with someone else and had seen Carmen feed her daughter lies about that young man. Pilar had been so desperate for some comfort that she had been vulnerable to her mother's lies.
She should have spoken up that night to Pilar but she knew it wouldnt be wise. Carmen would dismiss her for sure and she needed this position. She had been present the night Bill had come to look for Pilar and had found Carmen instead. She knew the truth.
It was the night before Bill was to leave for college. He had already told Pilar that he thought perhaps they should cool it awhile while he was gone. He didnt want to tie her down while he was away and he wouldnt be able to get back to Springfield as much as he would like. It would be a good time for them to find out if they were really meant to be.
Apparantly he had had a change of heart because he had come to the house looking for Pilar that night. She had not been home and he had been greeted by Carmen who then proceeded to tell him the Pilar had no wish to see him again ever. She had said more to him that night but she had ushered him into the study and closed the door and Sarah had heard nothing else except the front door slam when Bill had left.
Bill had left that night with a pack of lies in his head fed straight from Lucifer's mistress herself and Sarah had felt so badly. It wasnt until that night when Pilar had come home crying did Sarah put all of what she had overheard together. Carmen had known Pilar was going up there and had set that girl up in Bill's room. Bill hadnt even been at his dorm that night but at the library studying. Pilar had had her heart broken and her life changed forever because of Carmen's lies and she felt somewhat responsible for never speaking up about what she knew.
Bill had gone on to marry one of the girls he had met in school and they had a newborn son but Sarah had always suspected that Bill Lewis never got over Pilar any more than she had gotten over him.
She turned her attention back to the matter at hand and that was how to explain Pilar's personality makeover since she and Bill had separated. Danny had gone through a similar change since he had believed Michelle had deserted him but there wasnt the evil streak in him that Pilar had invited into her life.
"What is it that you want to know" Sarah asked.
Michelle went on to tell her of her conversations with Pilar since she had been back and about the letter that she never got and about the one she had sent and received back. Pilar had admitted to doing all of those things and she didnt know how to tell Danny. She also told her about Pilar's latest stunt with the birth control pills.
Sarah just shook her head in astonishment. She had indeed been such a sweet girl. "The only thing I can say is that she never got over Bill Lewis leaving. Love does strange things to people you know" she said.
Michelle knew exactly what Sarah meant. Love had made her stay faithful to a man that she had thought she had been annulled from, had made her dream of him every day and even had made her agree to come live with him even though he had not said he loved her. It was still revenge to Danny and she was so much in love with him that she would let him have it.
"Do you think that Pilar has changed so much that the charges against her could actually be true?" Michelle asked. She hadnt wanted to put Sarah on the spot like that but there was still so much more to the story than anyone knew, she was sure of that.
"I dont know" Sarah answered honestly. " I am not sure what Pilar has become. I am going to tell you something that I have never told anyone and I have nothing concrete to back it up, but I think there might be more to Carmen and Ben leaving town than we know" Sarah said.
"What do you mean?" Michelle asked.
"I cant put my finger on it but Carman has never made contact at all with her children since she left. That is not like her. She left Danny while he was still hurt, again not like her. Carmen has a way of knowing things and I cant believe she hasnt said anything about you moving back here with Danny." and Michelle shook her head in understanding.
Sarah was right. Carmen had never wanted her with Danny and had done so much to keep them apart. It was not like her to completely ignore this situation. She had a lot of thinking to do about this. She was now convinced there was more to this than met the eye too.
"Sarah, you have given me a lot to think about. Has Danny ever questioned the fact that his mother hasnt been in contact with him at all" she asked.
"Not so far as I know' she said. "I hesitate to say this because I dont want to upset you, but ever since the accident and he believing that you hadnt come to him, he hasnt cared about anything at all. You are the only person he called for Michelle. I think that may have made Pilar feel a little jealous and maybe reminded her a little of Bill's deserting her or something. Anyway, Danny hasnt even asked about her since they have been gone. Everything is still in her name and Danny has done nothing to change any of that because quite frankly he has been half alive, but now with you being back Michelle, maybe he will care about the things that he has left undone" she said.
The phone rang then and Sarah went to get it. Michelle decided she needed a cup of coffee after all and went to get her one.
Sarah brought the cordless phone to her. "Michelle, its Frank Cooper, he says he needs to talk to either Danny or you" she said.
Michelle didnt want to wake Danny after he had finally been able to sleep so she took the call. "Hi Frank, what can we do for you?" she said.
"MIchelle, I need you to get down here. We just arrested Gino Cartelli the biggest drug pusher in Springfield" he said.
"Thats great Frank but I dont see what that has to do with Danny" she said confused.
"It has plenty to do with Danny since we also have his customer book in our possession and his number one customer just happens to be Pilar Santos" Frank said and Michelle dropped the phone in shock.
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Michelle told Sarah she would be going out for a while and if Danny woke up to tell him she would be back shortly. She then called Vanessa to postpone their talk and made her way to see Frank Cooper.
She had made the rash decision not to tell Danny yet about Franks call. She wanted to go talk to him first then she would decide what to do. She knew it was Danny's sister and his decision to make but she didnt think he could be objective about the situation. She only prayed that she could be. Pilar hadnt been her favorite person of late, but her conversation with Sarah this afternoon had shed a little light on how Pilar had been manipulated and had in fact been acting out because of her deep hurt over losing Bill.
She would still talk to Vanessa but right now Pilar's problem was the most important thing to deal with. What was she going to do with this information? Pilar had been buying drugs from a sleazy street pusher. What was it? Cocaine? Marijuana? pills?
Pills, that was it. That was why she was snooping around in their medicine cabinet. Had she taken some of Danny's medicines? Danny needed every bit of that medicine to get him through each day of his painful life. If Pilar were stealing his necessary medicine to get a high.....
Michelle shuddered to realize exactly what Pilar had become. She had let one event of her life destroy everything that had once been good in her. She had become addicted to pills, she was sure of it.
Portland University Hospital had a drug rehabilitation center and Michelle had seen what the power of drugs did to a person. She had seen so many broken families and broken people. People started to embezzle from their job to support their habit and they ended up losing their job. She had seen people who had sold themselves for one hour of blisfullness that only drugs could give them.
How had Pilar bought her drugs? She didnt work that MIchelle could see. Did she help Danny at the Realty Company?
She must not have had any money to buy them if she had stooped so low as to try to take some of Danny's medicine. Had she stolen from Danny? It would be easy to do if what Sarah said was true about him not caring about anything. Danny had never done his own banking before she doubted he did it now either.
Suddenly, she thought of something she hadnt yet. Where was Dietz? He had been a constant in the Santos household and yet she hadn't seen him and noone had mentioned him either. There was some funny stuff going on at that house and she was determined to get to the bottom of it. She would not let Danny be taken advantage of and especially not by his own sister that he adored.
Her thoughts of Dietz were put on the backburner for now. She was here. She pulled into the parking lot of the Springfield Police Station and got out of her car. She went to Frank's office. He was on the phone and motioned for her to come in.
He hung up as she entered and told her to have a seat. "Where's Danny?" he asked and Michelle told him of Danny's episode after they had left here earlier and that he needed to rest.
"Tell me what happened Frank" she said.
"Well, I really should tell Danny too" he said. and Michelle assured him she would tell Danny everything. "I am back for good Frank. Danny and I are still married and we are living together." she explained. She thought that might be the reason he was hesitating to tell her without Danny being present.
"Alright MIchelle, here it is. It doesnt look good. Pilar has made some very serious accusations against the arresting officer in her case. She has claimed that he tried to make sexual advances and when she refused, he planted those pills on her. That is a very seruios offense in itself but now that we have the proof we need to show she had been buying drugs off the street, well you can figure out the rest " he said.
Michelle took time to absorb all of what Frank was saying. Pilar was in deep, deep trouble.
"Are you going to arrest her Frank" she said.
"That is why we called. I dont want it to come to that. We were hoping you could talk her into turning herself in so that we didnt have to bring her in here like that. Can you talk to Danny about this please and get back with me. If you cant convince her to come in on her own then yes, we will have to arrest her and I really would like to save her and Danny both the embarrasment that could cause" Frank explained.
Michelle stood up, shook Franks hand and said she would talk to Danny as soon as she got home. She left the station feeling both relieved that she knew the truth and devestated for what she was going to have to tell Danny and despite her earlier feelings about Pilar and her antics, she was not going to take any pleasure in telling him any of this.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
She went into the house to find Danny still asleep. Bless his heart, he was so worn out. She pulled the covers back on him and went into their bedroom to put her purse up. Tonight they would sleep in this room instead of the one down the hall. They were going to have a real marraige from now on.
She walked into their bedroom and felt strange. Something was missing.She looked on the night table and saw that her hairbrush Josh had given her was gone. Pilar had stolen her brush. Damn, what she going to tell Danny.
Knowing it wasnt going to get any easier by putting it off, she went in to where Danny was and gently knudged him awake. "Danny, I am sorry to wake you up" she said.
"Thats okay baby" Danny said and reached for her and brought her down to him. "I dont mind being woke up by you" he said and tried to kiss her.
"Danny, Im sorry but we really have to talk about Pilar and it can't wait" she said