TITLE: The Light At The End Of A Dark Dawn:  Chapter Six
AUTHOR: Cindy Wylie (RkieFan1960@AOL.com) 
SUMMARY: Michelle gets drawn even further into the web of a madman while Mike suffers a setback.

AUTHOR’S NOTES: The song ‘I Can Hear Music’ was written by Jeff Barry, Ellie Greenwich and Phil Spector and is sung by The Beach Boys (on a personal note: This is the favorite BB’s song of both me and CTL).
 

CHAPTER SIX: When You’re Thrown Into Deep Water, You Have To Tread Water Or Drown (March 1991)

Michelle was standing in a recording studio with a pair of heavy headphones on her head. If somebody had told her a month ago that she’d be standing where she was standing now, she would have never believed it. It had all started with the phone call she’d made to Roman after getting caught by Mary Kate and Savannah.
 

"Did anybody follow you?" Roman wanted to know.

"No, I’m okay. But, the library’s out. I can’t take a chance on my sisters seeing me and going to my mom and dad," she whispered as she glanced around furtively. The last thing she needed was to be caught on the telephone again.

"Do you have money for bus fare?" He asked.

"Yeah," she replied.

"Okay, do you know how to get to Beverly Hills on the bus?" He asked.

"Yeah, I go there all the time with my mom," Michelle sneered sarcastically.

"Look, do you want to be with me or not?" Roman snapped angrily.

"Yeah, I know how to get to Beverly Hills," she confirmed.

"Okay, take the bus to the Beverly Wilshire Hotel and call me when you get there," he ordered her.

After getting off the bus, she’d called Roman, who arrived about five minutes later in his car. "We’re going to have to work on a few things to keep your parents off of your back. First thing, we’ll work to get your grades back up," he told her as he drove down Rodeo Drive.

"Where are we going?" She asked, staring in amazement at the stores lining the popular street.

"You’ll see," he replied mysteriously. He drove her to a huge house perched high in the hills and laughed at the look on her face. "Come on, Michie," he beckoned her.

He’d started calling her ‘Michie’ after she told him one day how much she hated being called Shelly. He never asked why and she never told him.

"Is this your house?" She asked in an awed voice as she followed him inside.

"A friend’s letting me stay here for a while. It has a recording studio. I thought you might want to play around and record some stuff for the hell of it," he offered, leading her down into the basement.

Michelle had never seen a recording studio except on TV. She walked around, inspecting every piece of equipment. She smiled at Roman, who smiled back.

"Since this place is further away than the library, we’ll only be able to see each other a couple of times a week," he informed her. "But when you’re not with me, I want you to study. I also don’t want you to do anything to raise your parent’s suspicions. That means don’t argue with them."

"Why are you being so nice to me?" She asked anxiously.

"I like you. I like the way you sing but you need to improve your attitude. I don’t like you dressing in jeans all of the time," he admonished her as she made a face. "And stop with the faces. Well-brought up young ladies don’t make faces."
 

Since that day, Michelle had been dressing in either dresses or slacks. She’d also begun wearing her hair slightly different and wearing less makeup. If she thought the changes weren’t being noticed at home, she couldn’t have been more wrong. Mike, who had been fighting more complication from his chemo, didn’t notice, but Jill did.

Jill was cooking dinner one evening when Michelle came in and started helping without being asked. "Are you seeing somebody new that daddy and I don’t know about?" Jill asked, cutting up carrots and glancing at her daughter from the corner of her eye.

"Daddy’s a lot older than you, isn’t he?" Michelle asked, ignoring the question.

"Yeah, why?" Jill wanted to know.

"Is it better being with someone older than, say, somebody my own age?" Michelle pressed.

"I don’t know, Michelle. I was with somebody before I met your daddy. He was also older and that experience was pretty awful. I guess it just depends on the person. Why?" Jill asked warily.

"Oh, I was just wondering," Michelle hedged as Jill continued cutting up carrots. "How did you get away from the other person? The one before daddy?"

"I’ll tell you about it someday when you’re a lot older. Finish cutting these up and get your sisters to set the table. I’m going to check on daddy," Jill told her, handing her the chopping knife.

Jill quietly went up the stairs to check on Mike. He’d had an especially bad treatment session the day before. She’d called Dr. Olivarez when they’d arrived home because the nausea and vomiting had gotten so bad. He’d told her he didn’t understand what was going on. He assured her that Mike’s white count had been above normal. Mike had finally fallen asleep at two o’clock that morning and had been almost impossible to rouse since that time.

"Mike?" Jill whispered as she approached the bed. Feeling his sweat-soaked forehead, she went across the hall to get the digital thermometer from the girls’ bathroom. Inserting the tip into his ear, she waited for it to beep before removing it to glance at the reading. Picking up the phone, she quickly called 9-1-1. "Come on!"

"911 emergency, this is April. What is your emergency?" The operator’s cheerful voice came over the line.

"I need an ambulance! 2817 Northwood," Jill practically shouted into the phone as Mary Kate and Savannah ran to the doorway.

"What’s wrong with daddy?" Mary Kate demanded tearfully.

"I don’t know," Jill answered in a high pitched voice as she slammed down the telephone. "Go downstairs and wait for the ambulance! I’m going to try to get daddy’s fever down," Jill ordered. Mary Kate stood stock still, eyes huge. "Mary Kathryn, please do what I said!"

Jill went into the bathroom and soaked some towels in cool water before returning to the bedroom and unbuttoning Mike’s pajama shirt, not noticing that Savannah was still standing there.

"He has a rash," Jill jumped when she heard Savannah’s slurred speech.

"Savannah, you scared me! Please go downstairs and help your sister," Jill commanded.

"She doesn’t need help waiting," Savannah pointed out.

"Savannah, please! I don’t have time to argue," Jill begged. After the younger girl finally left, Jill examined the rash more closely. "Damn it, Mike, you’re not supposed to develop every textbook side effect there is."

"Mom! The ambulance is here!" Mary Kate called from downstairs.

"Lead them upstairs," Jill called back, buttoning Mike’s shirt back up.

Jill followed the ambulance to the hospital and spent the next hour pacing back and forth in the emergency room. She was pacing when Eddie ran in.

"Mary Kate called me, crying hysterically. What’s going on?" Eddie demanded.

"I don’t know. Mike was so sick yesterday after chemo. He was throwing up constantly until about two this morning. I stayed home with him today because he was so hard to wake up all day long. I checked on him a little while ago and he was running a temperature of 104. I called an ambulance and now we play the waiting game," she whispered wearily.

"Jill?" Dr. Olivarez called, walking out of the treatment room. "He’s out of the woods. His temp’s down to almost normal. I’m waiting for the lab work on his white count to see if we missed anything yesterday. The rash on his chest is isn’t a rash, it’s shingles."

"I know. I’ve seen it before. Is he awake?" Jill asked.

"He’s starting to come around but he’s still pretty out of it. I’ll let you see him as soon as we move him to a room," he told her.

"How long is he going to be here?" Jill sighed.

"Not long. Probably a day or two. It won’t delay his treatment," he assured her.

"Great. Just what I wanted to hear." She closed her eyes and took a deep breath and tried very hard not to fall apart. "Look, doctor, this is the second time in three months he’s been hospitalized for complications from his chemotherapy. I’m beginning to think that it’s true what they say about the cure being worse than the disease."

"Take it easy," Ryker advised, slipping an arm around her waist and leading her over to the waiting area. "Let’s go over here and sit down."

Jill unconsciously ran her hands over her still flat stomach. They hadn’t told anybody about the baby, yet. Mike wanted to wait a couple of months until he was feeling better. Jill was beginning to wonder if that was ever going to happen. "Eddie, I have to tell you something. Mike wanted to wait, but I have to share this with someone or I’m going to go nuts. We’re having a baby," she confided.

"I’d suspected as much," he admitted with a smile.

"I was hoping having this baby would give Mike something to look forward to, but I have these awful dreams that I’m going to lose him," this time she couldn’t hold back the tears and she started to cry.

"I talked to him about retiring and coming in with me and Trap, but he’s still not having any of it," Ryker said as he pulled her close and stroked her back, letting her get everything out of her system. "Maybe if we both talk to him again we can change his mind."

Jill took a deep breath and wiped her eyes. "I’m going to go see if they’ve moved him," she said, getting up and leaving the area.

<><><><><>

‘This is the way I always dreamed it would be,
The way it is when you are holding me
I never had a love of my own,
Maybe that’s why when we’re all alone
I can hear music
I can hear music
The sound of the city, baby, seems to disappear
Oh, I can hear music
Sweet, sweet music
Whenever you touch me, baby
Whenever you’re near
Loving you, it keeps me satisfied,
And I can’t explain the way I’m feeling inside
You look at me and kiss me again
I close my eyes and here it comes again
Chorus’
 

Mike woke up later that night, groggy and disoriented. He lifted his left hand to see that there was an IV running through it. He looked over and saw Jill sleeping in a chair in the corner, her head tilted at an awkward angle. She jerked awake when she sensed that he was awake. She walked over and smiled as she felt his forehead. "Hi," she whispered, leaning down to kiss him.

"Hi, yourself. What time is it?" He mumbled.

"Almost three. Do you need anything?" She asked anxiously as she gently touched his forehead.

"No, but I want you to take my son home and get some rest. Are the girls okay?" He asked.

"Yeah, they’re with Willie and Jen. I talked to them earlier. Are you sure you don’t want me to stay?" She was on edge.

"I’m okay. At least, I THINK I’m okay. Take my son and go home," he smiled, placing his hand on her stomach for emphasis.

"Okay. I’ll be back in the morning to pick you up. Dr. Olivarez said he’d release you as soon as they run some tests. He wants you to stay home for a few days and rest," she informed him.

"I was thinking…you know what I want to do when this is all over?" He asked.

"No, what?" She smiled.

"I want to go to the Santa Monica Pier with a cold bottle of Dom Perignon and watch the sun come up with you," he smiled.

"That sounds lovely and very romantic," she whispered, bending down to kiss him. "You go back to sleep while I take our son home and do the same. By the way, Eddie was here with me tonight. I told him about the baby but I swore him to secrecy."

"I’m glad you told him. We’ll tell everybody else soon. Go home and get some sleep," he repeated, pointing toward the door.
 
 

The next afternoon, Roman picked Michelle up at their usual meeting spot and drove her to the house. He picked up on her morose mood. "Michelle? What’s wrong?" He asked gently.

"My dad’s so sick. My mom had to call an ambulance to take him to the hospital last night. I’ve been so awful to him lately. I’m scared that he’s going to die without me telling him I’m sorry," she wept.

"Michelle, your dad’s going to be fine. You have to have faith. Isn’t that what you’re always singing about on Sunday?" He smiled, hugging her.

"I suppose," she pouted.

"Look, when I was 12 years old, my brother died. I was sad but I got over it. You have to move on," he told her.

"What happened to your brother?" Michelle asked.

"It’s a long story but it taught me one important thing. I’ll never be with a woman who’s less than completely honest with me. Honesty is the most important thing in life," he stressed.

Michelle looked at him strangely for a few seconds. "I can’t stay long today. My mom’s bringing my dad home from the hospital this afternoon and I promised I’d be there when they got home. I think she suspects that something’s going on."

"We’ll have to be more careful then," he admitted, walking over and pulling her to him.
 
 

Jill and the girls picked Mike up at the hospital and took him home. He was slightly upset that Michelle wasn’t with them, but Jill assured her that she’d meet them at home. She helped Mike inside and settled him into his recliner while the younger girls hovered around anxiously. Mary Kate in particular seemed especially anxious.

"Mary Kate, I’m okay," he assured the young teenager.

"Sorry, I’m late!" Michelle called out, slamming the front door closed. "I was studying with Audrey and lost track of time! Hi, daddy!" She ran over and hugged Mike.

"Hi, yourself," he smiled, hugging her back.

"I’m going to go change clothes," Michelle said, running upstairs.

"How long has she been acting so strangely?" Mike asked as Jill came back into the room with a glass of water.

"Since birth," Savannah assured him as he laughed.

About that time, the front door opened and Willie and Terry came trooping in.

"Hey, the fallen warrior returns!" Terry proclaimed, shaking Mike’s hand. "How you doing, man?"

"I have to stick around here and rest for a few days, then I’ll be back in action again," Mike assured them both.

"If you guys are such great friends, where were you last night?" Mary Kate muttered under her breath before leaving to go out to the back yard.

"What’s going on with her?" Willie asked.

"She thinks you guys don’t care about daddy. You never seem to come over anymore," Savannah informed the three men and Jill.

"Oh, boy," Mike sighed. "Did you know about this?" He asked Jill.

"I know she has a rough time on the days when you have treatment, but she won’t talk to me. I’ve tried. Maybe it’s time the ball was in your court," she told him.

"If you guys will excuse me, I think I’m going to go find my daughter," Mike announced in a weary voice, getting up and walking out the back door toward the gazebo.
 
 

The gazebo had been built by Mike and Eddie a couple of years before. Mike had wanted to build a place so that he and Jill could be alone from time to time. They’d constructed the gazebo and had hung a porch swing from the center of it. This was where Mike found his daughter, lying across the porch swing and swinging back and forth lazily.

"Is there room for two in this thing?" He asked.

"You should be inside resting," she informed him petulantly, reluctantly sitting up and moving over.

"I think I like being out here better. Are you still worried that your mother’s going to marry Trap when I die?" He asked.

"Don’t make fun of me," she glared at him. "Mom was really scared the other night. You’re working too hard, which isn’t helping you get better and then Michelle’s…" she broke off, afraid she’d say too much.

"Mary Kate, if I couldn’t work, then I might as well dig a grave right out here in the backyard and climb into it. Working helps keep my mind off of what’s going on with the chemo and the cancer. I don’t want another young girl to die because I wasn’t doing my job," he explained to her.

"Don’t you ever think about what’ll happen if it doesn’t work?" Mary Kate asked.

"Sure, but the doctor tells me that it is working. And, I have too much to look forward to die now. I have to see you and your sisters graduate from college, get married, have babies," he smiled.

She giggled. "Is the new baby going to be a boy?"

"How’d you know about that?" He asked after staring at her for a few long seconds.

"I heard you and mom talking one night. I haven’t told anybody, not even Michelle and Savannah. Is it going to be a boy?" She asked again.

"It’s too soon to know. We hope it’s a boy. Would that bother you?"

"No. I’ve wanted a brother since after Matthew died. I light candles in church every Sunday for a brother. When are you going to tell everybody else?" She wanted to know.

"Soon, I guess. We’d better get back inside," he suggested.

Mary Kate took his hand and studied him seriously. "Daddy, why didn’t Terry and Willie come over last night when you had to go to the hospital? Willie didn’t even say anything when we went over there to spend the night."

"Mary Kate, men show their emotions differently than women do. Just because they didn’t go to the hospital doesn’t mean they don’t care. We’ve been friends long enough to know what we mean to each other," he tried to explain.

"I guess, but I think they’re like my friends at school. When I told them that you were sick, they started staying away from me, like cancer’s something you can catch. It’s like the way they treat people with AIDS," she spat out bitterly.

"Mary Kate, Willie, Terry and Chris are more than friends to us. They’re family," he said.

"I know that, but they act like they’re scared of you. Why is Terry going out on the street with Chris now? He used to be your partner!" Mary Kate challenged him.

"It’s hard for me to go out and do the leg work. You know how tired I am most of the time now. It’s easier for me to track down leads and do interviews from my desk," he told her.

"Yeah, okay. Whatever," she shrugged, getting up and walking towards the house. "You shouldn’t be out here without your cap."

He was still sitting on the swing half an hour later when Jill came outside, carrying the wool Lakers cap in one hand. He grimaced as he reluctantly pulled the cap onto his head.

"Mary Kathryn is at the piano furiously playing Fur Elise over and over again. Michelle is upstairs being very secretive about something and Savannah is over playing with Natalie. Did you have a good talk?" Jill asked, curling up beside Mike on the swing.

"She thinks the guys are scared to be around me. I hate to admit to a 13 year old that she might be right. I keep thinking about Eddie’s offer. He said he’d help me get my license. Maybe after we get this case solved I’ll go in with him and Trap. I just have to get past this case first," he insisted, hitting his fists together.

"No, you have to stay home and rest. Doctor’s orders," Jill told him.

"Oh, by the way, we’re going to have to tell everybody about Michael, Junior, pretty quick. It seems MK overheard us one night and she knows about the baby."

Jill groaned and put her hand to her forehead, closing her eyes.

"Don’t worry. She hasn’t let the cat out of the bag just yet," he grinned.

"Is she okay with the idea?" Jill finally asked.

"Are you kidding? She said she’s been lighting candles in church for a long time now."

<><><><><>

Trap was sitting at his computer at the lake house feeding information into a database that they’d set up regarding the murders. He tore a printout off of the printer and examined it closely before highlighting one part of it with a yellow marker. Eddie walked in to find Trap examining the printout.

"What’s got you so puzzled?" Eddie asked.

"Well, I started looking for relatives of any of our cast of characters in this case. The only thing of any interest that came back is the fact that Jared Whitman has a kid brother. He was only 12 when Jared was killed, which would make him about 30 now," Trap explained.

"So?" Eddie shrugged.

"In Terry and Mike’s interviews with Corey Lacey’s classmates, one of them said there was an old guy watching them during cheerleader practice," Trap went on.

"The operative word here is old, Applegate!" Eddie roared.

"Eddie, we’re talking about teenage girls here. Anybody over 25 is considered ‘old’ to them. Anyway, he matches the somewhat vague description that one of the girls gave Mike and Terry," Trap finished, showing Eddie the printout.

"Then, what’re we standing around here for? Let’s go run a make on this guy!" Eddie ordered his assistant as they ran out of the door.

<><><><><>

Michelle was sitting in Willie and Jen’s living room the next afternoon, helping 5-year-old Eric with his alphabet. She was barely listening as Eric went through the alphabet. She glanced up as Jen entered the room. "Eric, stay here! I need to talk to your mom!" Michelle ordered the little boy as she followed Jen into the kitchen. "Jennifer, can I talk to you?"

"Sure, pull up a chair. I want to thank you for helping Eric with his letters. I know you’d rather be doing other stuff," Jen told her.

"I’d talk to my mom about this, but she’s so busy taking care of my dad that I don’t want to bother her. Did you know Willie for a long time before…before…you know?" Michelle hedged, sitting down in a nearby chair.

"Before what, Michelle?" Jen asked the young girl.

"Before you went to bed with him the first time?" She finally spit out, blushing furiously.

"Michelle, is Thomas pressuring you?" Jen asked, concerned.

"No, it’s nothing like that! I was just wondering! Look, forget I said anything, okay?" She exclaimed, running out of the room.
 
 

A little while later, Jen walked up the street to the Danko’s. Jill was in the living room watching TV while Mike was dozing in his recliner. She was surprised to find Jen standing at her front door. "Jen, please come in," Jill said, leading her into the living room.

"Jill, can I talk to you in private somewhere?" Jen asked, looking around.

"Sure, we can go out back," Jill told her, leading her out back to the gazebo. "What’s going on?"

"I’m worried about Michelle. I’m afraid she might be getting into something she’s not ready for. She was asking me a while ago how long I knew Willie before I slept with him the first time. Then she got highly defensive when I asked her if Thomas was pressuring her," Jen explained.

"Jen, I don’t think she and Thomas have been more than friends for a couple of months now. I thought you knew that," Jill told her friend. "She has been acting strange lately, though. I just haven’t had time to find out what’s going on. I mean, her grades have improved and we haven’t gotten any more calls from the school, so Mike and I have pretty much left her alone. I guess that’s going to have to change."

<><><><><>

Michelle had arranged for Roman to pick her up after school the next afternoon. She wanted to work in the recording studio but he had other things on his mind. "This isn’t right," she murmured as he kissed her. "I’m a minor. You could go to jail."

"We could always get married," he told her.

"Yeah, like my father’s going to let THAT happen," she scoffed.

"We could always go to Mexico," he suggested seductively.

"I don’t think so, Roman. I don’t want to get married. I’m going to go change clothes," she demurred, rushing into the bathroom and closing the door behind her.

Once inside she leaned against it and willed her heart to stop pounding. She didn’t understand how something that had been so wonderful at first now felt like it was falling apart. At first it was great to have an older friend -- someone who listened instead of blowing you off as if you were just another kid. But she was still 15 years old. She wasn’t ready for a full-blown adult relationship. She looked at her reflection in the mirror and thought she looked a mess. She began searching for a hairbrush but was in no way prepared for what she did find. In the bottom drawer of the vanity was a manila envelope. Michelle opened it and her eyes widened in shock and horror. She knew she had to get out of this house and fast.

"Michelle! Hey, what’re you doing in there?" Roman called out from the bedroom.

"I have to go home," Michelle stated fearfully, coming out of the bathroom.

"What for?" He asked, taking in her pale face.

She tried to dodge past him and hurried towards the front door.

"Michelle, wait!" He demanded, running after her and grabbing her by the arm. "What is it? Are you sick?"

"I found the pictures, Roman! The ones you had hidden in the bathroom!" She shouted, jerking her arm out of his grasp.

"Michelle, I can explain!" Roman pleaded, blanching. "See, those other girls all lied to me! I was hoping that they’d be different than my sister-in-law was. She lied to my brother and that’s why my brother ended up dying. Those other girls all seemed so innocent when I first met them, but they were nothing but liars, too," he stammered.

Michelle cautiously backed away from him. Her progress was stopped when she backed against the bar. She very carefully felt around, searching desperately for a weapon. She gratefully found a heavy brass candlestick and wrapped her fingers around it. "Who did you get your information from about me?"

"I asked people in your church. They told me that you’d been singing in the choir for almost three years and they explained that your father had been ill. Michelle, please believe me when I tell you that I love you. You have the voice of an angel. I fell in love with that voice," he pleaded.

"Did anybody bother to tell you that I was adopted? The Danko’s aren’t my real parents! My real father’s in prison for assaulting me and my little sister. That must be where I got my violent temper from!" She screamed, swinging the candlestick across Roman’s head and knocking him to the floor.

<><><><><><>

Mike and Mary Kate were at the piano when the house was suddenly invaded by the guys, Eddie and Trap.

"What’s going on?" Mike demanded.

"The killer’s name is Daniel Whitman. He was 12 years old when his brother, Jared, was killed. We talked to Brigitta Lacey. She told us that apparently he was locked up for a short time after Jared’s death. The last known address we have for him is in Riverside," Trap answered breathlessly as the phone started to ring.

"Mary Kate, get the phone," Mike told her, not taking his eyes off Trap. "Are we sure it’s him?"

"Yeah. His description matches the one that Corey Lacey’s friend gave to us," Terry told him.

"Daddy, you’d better take this. It’s Michelle," Mary Kate interrupted tentatively, holding the receiver out.

Mike grabbed the receiver. "Michelle?! Where are you?"

"Daddy! I need help! I knocked him out and tied him up but I can’t get out of the house! There’s an alarm system and it’s activated!" Michelle’s hysterical voice came over the line.

"Michelle, do you know where you are?" Mike demanded, forcing himself to sound calm for her sake while he signaled to one of the guys to pick up the extension.

"No, he was picking me up in Beverly Hills and driving me down somewhere off of Rodeo Drive! Daddy, I’m scared!" Michelle shrieked.

"Who was picking you up? Michelle, you aren’t making any sense!" Mike snapped.

"Let me call and see if we can get a trace," Trap told Mike in a quiet voice.

"Use the phone in my study," Mike told him. "Michelle, try to stay on the phone. We’re going to see if we can trace the call."

Mary Kate remembered the license plate number they’d written down that day and ran up to her room to look for it. Searching around, she found the scrap of paper and ran back downstairs to give it to her father.

"What’s this?" Mike asked, staring at the paper blankly.

"I think this is his license plate number. We wrote it down the day we followed her," Mary Kate hesitantly replied.

"Eddie, run this! Michelle, lock yourself in somewhere! We’re going to be there as soon as we can! Mary Kathryn, how long have you known about this?" Mike demanded, hanging up the phone.

"Two months. Savannah and I blackmailed her. She agreed to do our chores for a month in exchange for our silence. Thomas, too," she added as Willie glared.

"Mike, we’ve got an address! It’s in Studio City!" Eddie shouted.

"I’ll get some units on it. What’s the address?" Terry asked.

"I’ll deal with you and your sister later!" Mike warned.

Mike sat in the backseat of Eddie’s car reading the information on the guy Michelle was with. His name was Daniel Whitman, he was 31 years old and was more than likely a deranged lunatic.

<><><><><><>

Michelle had locked herself in the recording studio with the lights turned off. The recording studio was sound proof so she had no way of knowing if anybody entered the house.

The neighborhood was already full of flashing lights when the guys arrived on the scene. They explained what the situation was. One of the officers explained that the alarm company had deactivated the alarm so they entered the house. They found Whitman on the floor of the living room, hog-tied with duct tape over his mouth.

Terry untied him and quickly handcuffed him before removing the tape from his mouth. "Daniel Whitman, you’re under arrest for the murders of Corey Lacey, Sara Lassitur and Karen Montgomery," he told him before reading him his rights.

"Michelle!" Mike shouted in a panic-stricken voice. "Michelle!"

"Down here!" One of the officers called out from the basement.

Mike ran downstairs, terrified of what he might find. Instead, he breathed a sigh of relief as one of the officers led Michelle out of the recording studio.

Michelle flew into his arms and started to cry, holding onto him as tightly as she could. "Daddy, I’m sorry! I didn’t know! Can we please go home now?"

"Let’s get you checked out first, okay?" He begged.

At the hospital an hour later, Mike told a very shocked Jill the entire story. The doctors assured them that except for a mild case of shock, Michelle was fine. They wanted to keep her overnight for observation to be on the safe side.

Jill entered Michelle’s room quietly and saw that Michelle was curled up on her side of the bed. "I heard you had a rough day," Jill said softly as she sat on the edge of the bed and rested her hand on her daughter’s back.

"Tell daddy not to be mad at MK and Savannah. It wasn’t their fault. I thought I was being grown up. All I wanted to do was sing in a real recording studio," she explained tearfully.

"Michelle, it’s going to be okay," Jill assured her, pulling her close.

"Thomas isn’t going to want anything to do with me ever again!" She continued to cry.

"Michelle, listen to me. Even if things are over with Thomas, that’s not the end of the world. One day, you’ll meet someone wonderful who won’t care about the things you did when you were 15. I know that because I did," she smiled as Mike walked into the room.

"Hey, I just had a long talk with the doctors and they say we can spring you from this joint after all," Mike bantered as the two women smiled. "What do you say?"

"I want to go home," Michelle admitted. "Daddy, what’s going to happen to Roman?"

"Roman? Oh, there’ll be a trial and he’ll probably go to prison for the rest of his life," Mike told her.

"Will I have to testify?" She asked fearfully.

"We’ll talk about that when the time comes. Let’s go home and see if your sisters are still there," he smiled. "They blackmailed you, huh?"

"Yeah, and they were good at it. That’s what was so scary," Michelle grimaced.
 

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