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Who the hell did he think he was? Pilar fumed. Summoning her like this. She had enough to think about without being at his beck and call all the time. She was getting tired of his games, calling her whenever he felt like it. He was calling more and more regularly lately and she was pretty damned sick of it.
She hadn't had any choice at first. He knew what she had done. They had produced some very incriminating evidence. She had been trapped and still was but she was beginning to think she could take care of this problem.
Dietz had been blackmailing her since that first meeting when he had told her that he had known what she had done, had in fact seen what she had done. He was at the house that night and saw everything. He also knew of her little pill habit. He had blackmailed her into doing things she hadn't wanted to do.
The first time he insisted she sleep with him, she had threatened to kill him also until he produce sworn statements outlining all of Pilar's wrongdoings along with the proof needed to send her to the electric chair. They were being kept in a safety deposit box with copies to go to Frank Cooper, Danny and Bill Lewis in the event of Dietz's death occurring from anything other than natural causes. She had better hope he didn't even get in a car accident he had told her.
Pilar didn't give a crap what Danny thought. She didn't want Frank Cooper finding out for obviuos reasons, but the thought of Bill finding out what she had become, was the only reason she still kept coming when Dietz called.
He wasn't gross or as bad as she would have thought he would have been but he was so much older and he had been papa's friend. She also knew of his infatuation with her mother and she knew that when he was with her he was imagining being with Carmen and that was creepy even for her.
The only way she could think to make him stop calling her was to end his life without drawing suspicion. A thought had occured to her earlier. Maybe Gino could get his hands on some kind of pill that she could slip Dietz that would kill him and make it look like a heart attack or something. She had heard of such drugs. She was sure he could get his hands on them. That was the answer.
She wanted to get rid of him and she had covered her tracks this long, there was no way she was going to let a hired thug with a bad haircut stand in her way.
She smiled to herself. This would go exactly as planned, unlike that little episode earler at the house. She couldnt believe Danny had taken Michelle's word over jos. She was losing her touch with Michelle around. She was his very own sister and he had taken the word of an outsider. She hadnt liked the way Michelle had looked at her either. She knew what Pilar had done but she hadnt called her on it. She doubted she had told Danny about her little omission in sending her that letter about Danny being in the hospital yet but she felt now it was just a matter of time.
Pilar didnt think Michelle had the guts to pit Danny against his very own sister. She wasnt afraid of Michelle, she still had a few more tricks up her sleeve.
Had she noticed her brush missing yet? She probably would run to Danny tattling. She would deny it and of course Danny would believe her. Wouldnt he? He wouldnt believe his sister would take something as stupid as a hairbrush.
It was worth some money, Pilar was sure of it. She would give it to Gino in exchange for the pills she needed to get rid of Dietz. She would get a few extra in case she needed to take care of Michelle too.
She pulled her car in the back yard of the run down rental house that Dietz had been living in since Carmen's death. Pilar had only agreed to his conditions if he disappeared and didnt stay around the house. She hated meeting him in the seedy little shack but there was no other options.
She had always been a little surprised that Danny hadn't wondered where Dietz had gone. He never even asked. He had been so wrapped up in his precious Michelle not coming to see him.
Pilar could almost understand it though. Dietz was the kind of person you forgot easily. He could disappear off the face of the earth and have noone to mourn him unless you counted to two writers that were always fighting over him, the deuling Sarahs for something weird like that, but they didnt count.
Dietz met her at the doorway and ushered her in. Pilar hated being manhandled by him. Too greasy. Yuck.
"Geesh, Dietz, cant you wait?" she said with a disgusted look on her face.
"Don't flatter yourself sweetheart. We have a problem" he said.
"What kind of problem do we have?" she said already bored with this conversation.
"Oh I'm sorry, Did I say we?" he chuckled, "Silly me, I meant you have a problem" he said and that got her attention.
"Out with it Dietz" she screeched. Dietz looked at Carmen's daughter. Carmen would have been very proud to see what a conniving, spoiled little bitch Pilar had turned into. That is to say, she would be happy to see it if she hadn't been killed by that very daughter.
He didnt feel guilty about what he was making her do. She had gotten herself into this mess all by herself and he was just low enough to allow her to whore herself for his silence. After all, he could get from Pilar what he never could get from her mother. He had devoted his life to the Santos family and only the daddy had ever given him any kind of respect. No, it was his turn to do the screwing now, literally.
"Dietz, are you listening to me?" she whined.
"No, I wasnt. What did you say?" he asked.
"I said what do you mean I have a problem. What are you talking about?" she said.
"Oh yeah, princess, it seems your favorite drug supplier, Gino scuzbag Cartelli got himself arrested this afternoon." he said.
"So, I have other sources" she said although that was not entirely true. "That's no big deal to me"
"Well, thats where you're wrong. Not only do they have Gino, but they also have his little black book" he said and her expression still didn't change. "His customer book" Dietz said and realization finally hit her.
Oh no, it was going to hit the fan now, she thought. What was she going to do? "Dietz you have to help me?" she said.
"Certainly Pilar" Dietz said flashing a wicked smile " But first things first" he said and led her into his bedroom.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"What do you need to talk to me about Pilar for?" Danny asked Michelle. He felt much better since he had been able to sleep some. He had not had any bad dreams this time.
"Danny, try not to get too upset, okay, but Frank called and he had some information about Pilar that you need to know" she said somberly.
"Tell me Michelle" he said.
"They arrested Gino Cartelli. He apparantly is a main drug peddler in Springfield " she explained.
"I know the name" he said.
"He had a book Danny, I guess it was a customer book and they found Pilar's name in it" she said expecting the blowup she felt sure would occur.
It didnt come though. He was suspicously quiet.
"Danny, did you hear me?" she asked.
"Yes, I heard you MIchelle. There's been a mistake" he said matter of factly.
"Danny, she was arrested for trying to buy drugs from an officer and now her name turns up in a known drug pusher's customer book. Surely you dont think this is a coincedence." she asked.
"What are you trying to say Michelle? That you think my sister is a druggie? Is that it? Well I dont buy it. She knows better than that. She wouldn't stoop to doing anything that low." he said trying to sound convincing.
"Then how to you explain all this? Huh Danny? And just what was she doing in your medicine cabinet Danny?She had been in there looking for something and found those birth control pills. She set you up to find those pills. She knew they were in there. She wanted you to find them. Dont you see Danny? This is not the same Pilar we used to know. I am sure of it." she said.
Danny looked like he was listening to what she was saying but having a hard time digesting it.
"Think Danny, wasn't it it just a little convenient that she happened to be making you tea and she happened to burn herself and you happened to have some burn ointment in the same cabinet that those pills just happened to be in." she said.
"Stop it Michelle, do you even hear yourself?" he said. "That's crazy"
"How many times has Pilar offered to make you tea before?" she said. "Huh Danny?"
"Well none but that doesnt mean........" he stopped talking. Had Pilar set him up to find those pills? Why would she want to hurt him like that?
None of this made any sense. How could someone who was there for him as she had been turn against him like this? He still wasnt totally convinced that all these allegations were true, but it wasn't looking good for her.
"There's more Danny" Michelle said.
"Great" he said sarcastically.
"My silver hairbrush that Josh gave me for for graduation is missing" she said.
"Oh come on MIchelle, couldnt you have just misplaced it?" he asked.
"No, Danny, It was there in the bedroom last night. I used it then and just a few minutes ago I went into the bedroom and found it gone. It's gone Danny, not misplaced" she said.
"Why would she take your hairbrush?" he asked.
"I dont know Danny, maybe she wanted to sell it to buy drugs." she said.
"Michelle, you dont honestly believe....." he said.
"Yes, I do Danny. Will you look around you. She is not the same Pilar.The mood changes, the not going back to school, getting arrested, all of it. It fits Danny. You just dont want to see it" she shouted.
She took a few deep breaths and put her arms around him and rested her head against his shoulder. "I know you don't want to see, Danny, because she is your sister and you love her, but she has changed Danny. She has. I loved her too remember and she admitted to me that she never sent me a letter telling me of your injuries. The letter didnt get lost in the mail Danny, it never got sent" Michelle said.
"What about the phone call?" Danny said with hope in his voice. Michelle shook her head no. "No, Danny, I didnt want to bring Pilar into any of this since we were moving on and you beleived me when I said nothing would have kept me away if I had known. There was no need to bring her childish stunt into this" she said.
Danny was silent for a little while. When he finally spoke he said. "She admitted not sending you the letter about my being hurt?" Michelle nodded. He continued. "She denied me the one thing I needed when I was dying?" Michelle nodded again.
"Why would she do that? She denied me the peace of mind only you could give me" he said sadly.
"Yes Danny and she admitted to sending my letter I wrote asking about you back to me" she said.
"What letter?" he asked. Michelle could clearly see that he hadnt known about the letter. She began to tell him.
"I had been in Portland about two weeks. I had already realized that I had made the biggest mistake of my life giving you back my wedding ring. There was a reason I chose Portland University Danny besides it's excellent medical program. It was about as far away as I could get without actually having to leave the country. Anyway, being that far away from you only made me love you more and I was missing you so much. Well, I wrote a letter to Pilar asking about you. I asked her if you missed me as much as I missed you. I had already made up my mind that I would come back if she told me that you did. I get the letter back about two weeks later marked return to sender and I knew I had my answer. I gave you up for good that day and I buckled down and worked hard to get where I am. I worked every chance I could get so I would have something to think about besides you and it worked. I finished college in three years. You were never far from my mind though Danny. You would invade my thoughts even though I tried to push you out of them" she admitted.
Danny put his arms around Michelle and drew her close. "I wish I had known you had written me a letter" he said. It would have meant so much to him to know she still cared about him " I kinda did the same thing you did. I buried myself in work making the real estate portion of our business the primary operation. I worked day and night to make that happen and to push you to the back of my mind. And you know what Michelle, I did it. We are now completely legit" he announced proudly.
"I shouldn't have been on the docks that night. Mother had asked me to oversee this one last shipment. She had fought with me for so long about going completely legit but finally relented. This was our last shipment she promised. I was going to celebrate the end of the Santos family involvement in the crime busiess when I lit that damn match" he said.
"It's okay Danny, I'm here now. We have gotten through so much together. We will get through this I promise" she said.
"What's going to happen to my baby sister?" he said tears forming. He was remembering the Pilar of old and not the bitter, young woman she had become.
"Frank said it would be better if she turned herself in. They might be able to work out a deal for her if she comes in on her own. Thats where we come in Danny. We have to convince her to do that, otherwise they are going to come and arrest her and they will probably hold her in jail until her court date." Michelle said. "One way or another, we have to convince her to give herself up and then we will deal with it as it comes" she said and held Danny close.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Pilar came in the back way of the house so she could sneak up to her roon unnoticed. She needed a shower badly. She heard Danny and Michelle talking in his bedroom. She had to go right past that room to get to hers.
Taking off her shoes she tiptoed down the carpeted hall. She froze when she heard her name. They knew. They were going to arrest her. Her own brother and his wife were going to try to convince her to turn herself into the police. That werent even going to hear her side of the story.
She was glad Dietz had found a way to help get her out of this. If all went well, sometime tonight that customer book would be missing from the police station and Mr. Gino Cartelli would be found swinging from the rafters in his cell.
Then they would see who was going to jail. Michelle was not going to get away with this. She only thought she had faced the wrath of Pilar Santos. This was not over by a long shot.
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