A Snowy Night

Part 15

By Kellie

Michelle sat straight up, awakened from a dream that left her feeling even more depressed if possible. If only things could’ve happened the way they did in her dream – Carmen confessing the truth to Roger Thorpe. If that could have happened she wouldn’t be sitting in this jail cell awaiting sentencing for murdering Ben Warren. She pulled her legs up in front of her and wrapped her arms around her knees as she began to sob. "How could this happen?"

David Grant was walking past the cell from taking another prisoner into lock-up. "You know exactly how this happened, Michelle. You killed Ben Warren and now you’re paying the price."

Michelle looked up at David. "David, I used to count you among my friends. We grew up together roaming the hospital hallways when our Dads drug us down there with them on emergency pages. Remember the wheel chair races through the solarium. You know me – I just don’t get how you can believe I would murder someone in cold blood."

"Michelle, the girl who was my childhood playmate would never have grown up to marry anyone as despicable as a Santos. I quit understanding you and your actions the day I found out about your marriage. I see no traces of my friend in the person standing in front of me now."

"Oh! I see – if Danny’s last name wasn’t Santos, you would still think I was the good and decent person you knew as a child. Let me tell you something in terms you might just understand – judging a person based on their name is just the same as racism. You don’t know Danny – you know nothing about the type of person he is – everything you believe to be true about him is based upon the actions of his family. If you had met Danny and gotten to know him without ever knowing who his family is, you would consider him a friend, David. That much I am sure of. It seems to me that the person who has changed is you. The David Grant I grew up with didn’t judge books by their covers. He dug deep and tried to see past the image presented by people. It’s really sad that my friend is gone, especially when I look at the judgmental, biased person he turned into."

Michelle turned and sat down on the cot in the cell. Another guard walked up and quietly said something to David. "Well, speaking of your so called wonderful husband – he’s here to see you. The guard will show him down. You only have thirty minutes."

David turned and walked away. He stood in the hallway outside the holding cells and leaned against the wall thinking about what Michelle had said to him. Frank had been saying the very same things to him all through the investigation. David recalled one remark, "David, don’t let your hatred of the Santos family cloud your judgement of this case. Just because the facts add up doesn’t mean they’re true. No case is ever as simple as this one seems to be. My gut tells me there’s more to this whole case that we just don’t know. Good detectives try to be objective and look at all the angles. You seem to be focused on just one, the one that finds Michelle guilty because she's a Santos."

"Maybe I do need to rethink things," David muttered to himself.

Meanwhile, Danny walked up to Michelle and wrapped his arms around her through the bars. She started sobbing in his arms. "Hey, babe. This is just temporary. I will find a way to prove my mother set you up and get you out of this place." Michelle pulled back and looked up at him. He reached up and wiped the tears from her eyes. "You know I have to get you out of this place while there’s still snow on the ground. I want a rematch of that snowball fight we had the other night."

"Yeah, well don’t get your hopes up. I doubt that we’ll be having any snowball fights in our future," Michelle replied.

"Look at me," he said as he put his hand under her chin and tilted her face to look at him. "Don’t you dare give up hope. The woman I married is strong and determined. You’re a fighter – You will not give up. We will get through this and have the future we’ve planned. I promise," Danny replied.

"Danny, we need to be realistic. I may spend the rest of my life behind bars. That’s no future for either one of us. I’m going to ask Ross to start divorce proceeding when we meet tomorrow. I want you to go on and have the life you deserve. I couldn’t bear it if you didn’t have any of your dreams come true because of me."

"Stop it! You are not going to think like that. There’s no way in hell I’ll let you go through with a divorce! I love you, no matter what. One way or another, I will get you out of here. You will not spend your life in jail for my mother’s crime."




Chapter 16

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