Danny followed the sound of the sirens. He spotted one on Lewis street and pulled in behind it and turned on his emergency flashing lights. He didn't need anyone to tell him they were going for Michelle, his gut had already told him that.
They followed Lewis Street until it went around a sharp curve. There he saw a police car, one other ambulance and a brown chevrolet in bad need of a wash. That car looked familiar to him. He stopped his Mercedez and got out as quick as he could. He couldn't make out what was going on in the ditch just ahead. Two officers were standing and talking and there was a stretcher being pulled up the steep incline and one of the paramedics was administering treatment to the victim.
He saw the red pathfinder on it's side with the windshield completely busted out. Dietz was standing and talking to one of the officers at the scene. Danny was trying to take a step down the hill but his hip wouldn't support him to navigate the steep hill so he was forced to stand at the top of the hill and watch the scene unfold like the cripple he was.
Dietz saw him and walked over towards him. He didn't have his shirt on and there were some bandages with blood stains on his chest and arms. Had Deitz been injured with Michelle? He hadnt seen Dietz ever since his mother ran off with Ben Warren. He had always just assumed he went with them.
"What happened Dietz?" Danny said in a panic. He was still limping his way as fast as he could to the ambulance. His hip was going to revolt in pain tomorrow for sure, but he didn't give a damn. Michelle was hurt and needed him.
A uniformed officer came over to Danny to stop him from going to the ambulance. Danny tried to push past him and was restrained and threatened with arrest if he didn't cooperate. Man, Danny thought, some things never changed. The officer no doubt knew who he was and the illustrious Santos history. It wasn't the first time he had to pay for the sins of his mother.
"Let me by, that's my wife" he yelled trying to use his weight to get the burly officer to budge. He had left his cane in the car and wished he had it now. He would hit the officer between the eyes if he had to to get to Michelle.
"Calm down Mr. Santos. She is being taking care of. Getting yourself arrested isn't going to help your wife" he said.
"How is she? Why won't you let me go to her? Is she dead? What aren't you telling me?" he demanded desperately.
From where he was standing, he could see them loading Michelle into the ambulance. Danny was desperate to get to her. He kept pushing against the officer trying to get past.
Dietz saw the exchange between Danny and the officer and decided to step in. "Excuse me officer, but there is something on the car that you need to see" he said and the officer followed him down to the car but not before issuing Danny a warning with his eyes.
Danny jumped at the chance Dietz had made for him and made his way towards the ambulance. They had just loaded her into the ambulance and were getting into the cab of the vehicle. Danny shouted at them to wait.
"Wait, wait, I'm her husband. "I'm going with you" he said and tried to open the back door.
"Mr. Santos, we have to go now. Follow us in your car. Time is of the essence" they said and jumped in the ambulance and drove away.
Danny turned around and started back to his car. Dietz was walking back up the hill with the officer that had been giving Danny such a hard time. "Wait Mr. Santos," the officer called and Danny saw that he had Michelle's purse with him.
He handed Michelle's purse to him and Danny took it with him. Dietz walked up and stood by Danny. The officer told them the wrecker was on it's way for Michelle's car and Dietz offered to stay until it got there.
Danny accepted his offer and thanked him. He also asked him to stop by the house in the next couple of days. He wanted to talk to him. Dietz acknowledged Danny with a nod and went back down to the car to wait for the wrecker.
He took the remnants of his once good shirt and pulled it out of the windshield. He looked down and saw a piece of paper lying on the seat of the car. He reached in and took it to read. Was it something Michelle needed back?
His interest was piqued when he saw what it was. It was a computer print out of someone's bank card transactions and it looked to be Danny's.What was Michelle doing with it? Had she found out about little Pilar's money filchering the last couple of months???
He almost wished she had but that made him wonder if there was any connection with the shattered windshield and the piece of paper in her possession. The very damning piece of paper for Pilar. He opened the door and climbed in to look. He was probably messing with evidence but if she had been shot at there was a good chance that the bullet might still be in the car. He could figure out what happened from there although his gut was already painting him a morbid picture of what had probably happened here.
He combed every inch of the pathfinder's leather interior. It was black so it would be hard to find....there it was. Lodged in the side of the seat on her side. She had been shot at. Shotgun looked like. The Santos family had a collection of guns, some antique and some plain old hunting rifles.
There was no end to what Pilar Santos was capable of. She had cold bloodedly killed her own mother and had wanted her seriously injured brother to die and now this. She was trying to kill Michelle. Why? Had Michelle stumbled onto her secrets?
He wasn't so stupid to not know that it was only the threat of that evidence being exposed that was keeping her from trying to kill him. He was making things worse by helping her. He already had so much on his conscience and she just wasn't worth it anymore. She never really had been worth it, but she reminded him so much of her mother. He had worshipped Carmen Santos for so many years and it had gotten him nothing. She was a cold hearted woman who had chosen her lawyer 10 years her junior to share her bed.
He pushed back the painful thought and concentrated on the situation at hand. Danny's wife was seriously injured and Pilar was responsible. He had to stop her before she tried anything else. The pills and the stealing were bad enough but the attempt on Michelle's life was the last straw. He was through saving her butt. It was a cute butt granted but he was through playing her lapdog. He had much more scruples than he had thought, he laughed to himself. because as of this moment, Pilar Santos was on her own.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Finally, Pilar thought. Someone was talking about the accident. The news was grim. It didn't sound like Michelle had survived. Perfect. Her secrets were safe and her standard of living was secured. Danny would be so mired in grief that she could get away with anything now. Oh, she would play the part of the supportive sister, heaven knows she had a lot of experience doing that the last couple of years, and try to console him but she would secretly be building her future. She could get him to sign anything she wanted while he was in his grief. If her supposed desertion brought him dispair, just wait until her death hit him. He would be so weighed down that he just might drink himself to death. One could hope couldnt they?
She tried not to sound too interested in the conversations going on around her about Michelle. Best not to draw any suspicion to herself. She wondered what it was that did her in. The gunshot? The impact of her head hitting the windshield? The shock of it all making her heart quit? Any of them would do but she secretly hoped the bullet hadnt done it. She didnt want it to be traced back to her.
She decided to wait another hour before she made her way to the hospital. She needed to have time to allow the liquor to dull her senses enough so she could actually pull off the greiveing sister in law act. She would show up at the hospital despondant over the news she had heard at Millenium, and Danny would buy it without hesitation.
She ordered another drink with the pretty umbrellas and got her game face on. She was enjoying this much more that she should and she was feeling momentarily guilty, but the drink would help with that. She wanted to pull off the act of a lifetime and her little freinds here would help, she thought as she stared into her drink.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
Danny was screaming at anyone who would listen. He finally found Lillian and begged her to take him to Michelle. She told him that Rick was in with her now and that all they could do was wait. There was nothing he could do but wait.
He found a seat in one of those hard plastic orange chairs that they kept in the waiting area. Why did they have to make this as uncomfortable as possible? He was going to make a huge donation when Michelle got better for the hospital to buy some comfortable chairs. There was no way he could sit in this without hurting his hip and he had already hurt it trying to jump out of the car.
He watched the clock which was a stupid thing to do. The seconds moved so slow they seemed to stand still. He tried to walk around a little at a time but the pain was too bad. He was very near the point of collapsing himself.
He needed to stay strong for Michelle. She needed him. She was hurt. He sat down in the hard chair again fighting the pain. The pain was intense and he had no medicine. He knew if he didnt fight the pain that he could end up passing out on the floor.
Sweat started to bead on his forehead and he got out his handkerchief and wiped it away. He as feeling weak. Oh God, not now, he pleaded, not now.
He saw the automatic door open and saw Pilar come in the emergency room. She sat by him and he promptly collapsed in her arms.