A Snowy Night
Part 1
By Kellie
Michelle silently grabbed Danny's arm and headed through the throng of shouting reporters towards the courthouse elevator. Michelle never acknowledged their questions about Danny's involvement with Len. As soon as the elevator doors closed, she leaned against the wall and put her head in her hands. Danny put his hand on her shoulder and she quickly shoved it away as tears rolled down her face. "Well, this explains why you didn't want Len to testify. I can't believe this. Because of you're need to control everything, things are worse than ever. The jury probably believes I'm a murderer now."
"I was only trying to keep you from going to jail. You needed an alibi, and Len heard you knock - he just didn't look and see you leaving," Danny began.
"Danny, he said you intimidated him into testifying. That poor man felt threatened by you. How far would you go to influence the outcome of the trial, huh?" Michelle continued, "What are you going to do next, track down the jurors and threaten them. Why couldn't you leave things alone and trust that the truth would come out?"
The elevator opened to the courthouse parking garage. Another throng of reporters was waiting as the door opened. Danny grabbed Michelle's arm, held his hand up between them and the cameras and steered her towards the car. Once they were safely inside, Danny started the car and began to drive. A light snow had begun to fall.
"Michelle, I love you. The thought of you going to jail for the rest of your life, or even worse - a death sentence - I can't handle it. I don't trust what's happening. Someone has done a damned good job of setting you up and I can't sit back and hope that the truth will come out."
"Oh! So you decided to manipulate everything to work out your way. Danny, this is MY LIFE you're playing around with. You've done this, arranged for those passports - never even discussing anything with me."
"Michelle, I couldn't tell you what was going on," Danny began. "I had to get you out of that jail and I knew you wouldn't go along with what had to be done. Len heard you knock, that part was the truth, he just didn't turn and see you from the window. I never threatened him. I just asked him if he really believed you could have killed someone. He remembered the knock and he believed you weren't a killer. All I asked him to do was to follow his heart."
"Danny, I hate to say this, but people are intimidated by you - by your family. What did you expect that poor man to do when Danny Santos asked him to lie? You just can't leave well enough alone, can you? You have to be in control, no matter what the cost. First there was that whole fiasco with the bonds. Then, you tried to set Ben up and when that backfired, Bill ended up paying for your manipulations. Once again, your need to control things has backfired - except this time, I'm the one who is going to pay."
"Michelle, it's not like that. I had to do whatever was necessary to get you out of this mess. It's my fault you're life is a wreck. I have to make sure you don't suffer because of me."
"Danny, if you hadn't pushed Len into lying I wouldn't be in this mess. Ross could have stopped with the testimony of that forensic expert. The reasonable doubt his testimony caused would have been enough for an acquittal." Michelle continued, "But you couldn't have faith in the truth. "
"Michelle.." Danny said.
"Don't say a word! I can't even look at you right now."