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Frank slammed the door of his police car and ran inside the station. The call had come in just under a half hour ago waking him up. He had jumped out of bed and ran out the door. He had barely put his pants on. He didnt even take time to comb his hair.
This was bad. It could not be worse. His major witness in the biggest drug bust in Springfield had committed suicide in his cell. He had been found just a short while ago hanging from his bed sheets.
Man, he hadn't seen that coming. Gino had cooperated in every way so far and had handed over some very crucial evidence against the whole drug cartel. He never thought for a second he would do something like this. Their entire case was shot to hell now. Months and months of work up in smoke.
At least he could still salvage some of the work with the customer book. The customer book still had some names that would shake Springfield to it's very core. That would have to suffice for now until they could regroup and go after the other pushers.
David Grant met him at the door. "Frank, I'm glad you are here. Come inside, we've got more problems" he said grimly.
"More?" he said incredulously. What could be worse than their star witness taking his own life? "What is it David? What other problems have come up? Believe me nothing you tell me could damage our case worse than what we already got." he said combing his hair with his fingers. "Thank God we got that book" he said.
"Well actually Frank, we don't. That's the bad news. It's gone" he said.
"What do you mean gone?" he said.
"Just what I said, gone, disappeared, poof, not here," he said.
"Allright, allright, I get the message. Great" he said and plopped down in his chair.
Now he had nothing. There was a dirty cop on his force and he had to deal with that too. He had to find out who tampered with the evidence. He had a funny feeling that the disappearance of this essential piece of evidence was directly linked to Gino's suicide.
He hoped Danny and Michelle could talk Pilar into coming in on her own. She might be able to help with some names at least. Otherwise, he had nothing and all of the lowlifes who had been listed in that book would get off scott free.
Sometimes the justice system was one step behind the slime buckets. He would continue his investigation and hope he could come up with something quick. Pilar Santos could be the key to all of this and it looked like he had nothing without her help.
* * * * * * * * * * *
Pilar came downstairs and joined Danny and Michelle for breakfast. Danny was wearing a suit and it looked like he was going into the office. She put on her happy face and she would try to find out what they knew and were going to do.
Danny was drinking his coffee and reading the paper and Michelle was playing with a muffin she hadn't eaten.
"Good morning" she said cheerfully and sat down with them. Michelle eyed her suspiciously. Pilar held back the urge to stick out her tongue at her.
"Morning" they both said in unison.
"Sleep well?" Michelle asked raising her eyebrow.
"Yes, very you?" she asked.
"Very" both of them said in unison again and looked at each other like they had a secret only they knew.
Oh puke, Pilar thought. Sleeping with Danny had to be as bad as sleeping with Dietz. At least Dietz didnt have all those digusting scars all over his body. The only mark he had was a tattoo of his rear of all places. It was a stupid heart with the words Sarah and Deitz going through it. She had gotten brave enough to ask about it and Dietz had told her he didnt talk about Sarah Jane. She had broken his heart and she was the reason he no longer had any scruples. His sense of decency had died when she left to marry that pretty boy Dave.
Pilar hoped that at least for MIchelle's sake that they made love in the dark. She herself had thrown up so many times after she had had to change his putrid bandages. It was the most disgusting thing she had ever had to do. It would have just made her life so much simpler if he had just gone ahead and died.
He had come close so many times but each time they had brought him back. She had wanted to tell them not to bother on her account but then some emotion she had used to feel along time ago, would pop up and she realized she didnt really want him to die. He still had all of the accounts in his name.
Why he had even wanted to live she had never understood. Who would want to go through life looking like that? She knew Michelle was only around because she felt guilty because the accident was her fault and because she wanted Danny's money.
That wasnt going to happen if she had anything to do with it. "Anything interesting in the paper" she asked . Dietz had promised her that he would take care of everything. He better have taken care of it. She wasn't about to go back to the filthy jail again.
"Usual stuff" Danny answered back. "Look peanut, Michelle and I need to talk to you about something. Can you make some time later?" he asked.
Damn, here it comes. She had to make sure the job had been taken care of before she answered any of his questions. "Look Danny, I cant tonight. I have to go to the senior citizen home. I promised I would teach them how to play mah jhong. Can we do it sometime tomorrow?" she asked with her innocent look plastered on her face.
Man, she couldnt believe Gino had been so stupid as to get caught. She regretted his death or course, now she had no supplier. It was very inconvenient for her to have to find someone else now. Damn him to hell.
She traced her long laquered fingernail around the rim of the porcelain coffee cup. "I have some time tomorrow Danny" she said. "I promise we will talk then" she said and was rewarded with a nod from Danny. She had won again.
Michelle glanced at Danny with a stop putting this off look and Pilar took that as her clue to leave before he changed his mind.
"I gotta run, see you guys" she said and she left the table and went flying out the door.
Michelle was disappointed that Danny hadnt make Pilar talk to them today. SHe had a funny feeling that Pilar was up to something.
Danny was going to go back to work today and since he had already arranged for her not to go to work until next week, she would suprise Danny for lunch.
Danny looked at his watch and said " I'm sorry baby, I gotta run too. I'll see you later on " and bent down to kiss her.
Michelle clung to him and made the kiss last. He was breathless when it was over. "I cant right now Michelle" he teased, "you wore me out last night" and she playfull swatted him and he left. She followed him to the front door and watched him drive away to work. She waved and he waved back.
She went into the dining area and started clearing the dishes. Sarah was at the market so she decided to give her a hand.
Her mind went back to the previous night. Danny had believed her about Pilar and they had decided to talk to her together. They had gone to bed last night and spent their first night completely together.
He had been in so much pain for most of the day that Michelle had expected him to fall asleep right away despite his nap. Instead they lay in each others arms and talked for over three hours. He asked her about Portland and about Josh and her other freinds. She asked him about the realty business and the deal he was working with Josh Lewis about. He had admitted that he had been working that deal hoping that one day when she returned that she would head the urgent care clinic. That was why he had started that deal to begin with.
She had been touched by his admission. She had told him how much that meant to her. The tender moments shared by them in the still of the night suddenly took on a different feeling. Danny began kissing her. Soon they were discovering each other all over again.
Michelle blushed at the memory of last night. They had found several different positions in which to make love that would not put any strain on Danny's hip. They had explored each others bodies and discovered the places which the other derived the most pleasure.
Michelle had found that Danny was extremely sensitive on the back of his neck and he discovered that kissing the back of her knee make her dissolve like a package of lemon jello.
They had spent the whole night like this and Michelle had been very surprised to find Danny ready to go to work. She naturally had been worried that he had been rushing things but he told her he hadnt felt this good in a long time.
She had reluctantly agreed to let him go but only with the promise that he brought his pain medicine with him and that he used his cane. He had grumbled a response that she took to mean Yes Maam.
She found herself with nothing to do once she cleaned the dining room so she decided to make herself useful. She would see if she could help with any of the book work around the house. She knew everything was on computer and she could post checks and payments. It would give her a feel for the business and for their personal accounts. She made a mental note to transfer all of her funds to their joint account that he had opened for them three years ago.
She turned on the screen and waited for the computer to warm up. A window came up that asked for a password. She didnt know the password. HMM. Maybe she could figure it out. She didnt think Danny was gullible to use his first name but she tried it anyway. Access denied flashed across the screen.
Well that was dumb she thought. She had known he wouldnt use his name. Let's see, the Atlanta Braves were his favorite baseball team so she typed in Braves, Access denied again. She tried his mothers maiden name, access denied. She tried his father's first name, access denied. What in the world did he choose?
Just for the fun of it, she typed in her name. The window opened. Danny had used her name as a password. The sweetness of the gesture was overwhelming. It was really was a little thing but he had used her name each day that he said he hated her as a password for his computer system. He had kept her with him even though he thougth she didnt love him.
Michelle frowned when she realized that even though last night was the most glorious night of her life, the word love had never passed his lips once.
She had told him she loved him time and again last night but she had yet to hear the words herself.
Did Danny love her? Did he love her even a little? She didnt know. He acted like he did but he hadn't said it.
She watched all of the icons pop up one by one on the desktop. She double clicked his personal bank account. He had quite a substantial personal account. She couldnt believe he didnt put any of this in CDs or IRAs. Why did he keep so much in one account.
She began to study the account. There were many deposits but very few withdrawals. The only withdrawals that she could see were made by his bank card. Thats funny, Danny had told her earlier that he didnt use the bank card because he hated having to remember writing down what he withdrew. It was just easier to use his credit card and pay it off each month.
She began to study the withdrawals. All made at the same location. She mentally pictured the location. It was on the other side of town. Why would Danny go all the way over to the other side to town to withdraw money with his bankcard when he said he never used it. Why would he....
Suddenly it dawned on her. Danny wasnt using his bank card at all. Pilar was. Somehow she knew his pin number and had been making withdrawals on his account and since Danny hadnt been keeping up with his records, she had been getting away with it for a long time.
She was stealing from her own brother. Why? Did she spend all of her money on drugs??
Michelle knew the answer already, Of course that was what she was doing. She would print out this transaction register and bring it with her when she surprised Danny for lunch. If she ever had any doubt about Pilar's guilt, this put it to rest.
Was there still time to help Pilar? She hoped so. Maybe they could get her in rehab and get her life back together.
She decided to run to Rick and Abby's house and grab the rest of her things before she met Danny for lunch. She needed some time to think also.
She called Jimmy and asked him to take her somewhere when he told her that Danny had left instructions with him to give her something. She followed him into the garage where he gave her a set of keys.
She asked him what they were for and he walked her out into the driveway where she saw a red Pathfinder. She asked JImmy who it belonged to and he told her that Danny had had it delivered this morning for her.
She pushed back the tears that threatened. Thank you Danny, she thought. He was such a wonderful man and she would devote the rest of her life to making him happy.
Well, no time like the present she thought and got in her new car and went towards the direction of Rick and Abby's house. She had exactly an hour before she could meet with Danny. She would call him from the phone she saw attached to the dash.
They had much to discuss when she saw him. She prayed for the strength to get through this lunch because when it was over Danny would be hurt and she wanted to avoid that more than anything but he needed to know.
She pulled her new pathfinder onto the road. She was thinking about how she was going to tell Danny about the withdrawals when suddenly she heard something that sounded like a gunshot. There was noone around her so it had to be a car backfiring in the distance.
She continued her drive when suddenly her windshield shattered into a million pieces and she went careening off into a ditch, then blackness.............
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