Danny walked through the casino of the Montecito worrying about his friend Mary. She had not come into work today. She hadn't even called in sick and no one had heard from her. He stopped by her place during his lunch break, but she wasn't there and she wasn't answering her cell phone.

Just then, his phone rang startling him out of his thoughts. "Danny McCoy", he answered.

"Danny, it's Luis."

He furrowed his brow wondering what his old high school friend, who was now a detective, could be calling him for. "Luis, what's up?"

There was a pause, "it's Mary".

Danny felt like he couldn't breathe. 'Oh God. Please ler her be okay'. He began to panic. "What is it? What's wrong?!"

"I need you to come down to the Sunny Motel on Route 4."

"Why?!"

"I'll tell you when you get here."

"No!" Danny swallowed nervously. "Tell me now. Did something happen to her?"

"Just get down here now."

"Luis-", the line was cut off. 'This can't be happening. Not Mary, please God.' Danny ran straight out of the casino and to his car without stopping.

--------------------------

He got to the motel about ten minutes later, speeding the whole way. He jumped out of the car and saw Coroners zipping up a body bag out in front of the small motel.

He wanted to throw up.

Danny ran up to them. "Who is that? Who's in there?"

They didn't answer him. "Excuse us, Sir. We need to get the body to the morgue."

He grabbed one of the men by their collar and repeated through gritted teeth, "who's in there?"

"Danny!"

The young man looked towards the voice of his friend Luis, let the Coroner go and ran up to him. "What happened?! Is that..", he couldn't bring himself to say it.

So the cop finished for him, "no. That's not Mary."

Danny let out a huge sigh of relief and breifly closed his eyes in thanks. He was shaking. "What's going on? You said this is about Mary. Where is she"?

His cop friend put a hand on his shoulder, trying to calm him down some more. "She's inside the room. I'm sorry I scared you. I just couldn't tell you over the phone."

"Tell me what? Who died?"

Luis licked his lips. "Her father."

Danny's eyes flew towards the motel. He began to walk forward. "Is she okay?"

"I don't know. I think she's in shock. She called 911, but... she won't talk. That's why I called you down here. I figured if anyone could get her to talk it'd be you."

Danny entered the room. There was some blood on the carpet, he noted. There were cops taking pictures and dusting for prints. The room was a crime scene now, and it was like walking into a movie. His eyes finally settled on his beautiful friend, Mary Connell.

She was sitting on a plastic chair, hugging her knees, looking down and slightly rocking herself. There were two cops surrounding her as if they were guarding her for some reason.

He approached her slowly. "Mary?", he called softly. She didn't look up, so he bent down. "It's me, Danny." He covered her hands with his. They were cold. "Mary...", he licked his lips and swallowed, "it's gonna be okay. I'm here."

She didn't respond.

He tried again. "Can you tell me what happened, Mary?"

She finally looked at Danny. "I want to go home."

He took a moment to study her face, making sure she wasn't hurt. "Okay. I'll take you home."

They began to stand together when Luis interrupted. "Uh, wait a minute here. Mary can't leave yet."

"Why not?", Danny asked.

"I want to go home", the red head repeated.

"Because this looks like a homicide. And we need to know what happened before we can let you go."

Mary's eyes watered a bit. "You don't think I did this, do you Luis?"

He hesitated before he answered, "No. But you were here, you called 911. We just wanna know what happened. Cooperate with us and then you can go home."

Danny's eyes narrowed. "That sounds like you're threatening her."

Luis sighed. "Look. I bent the rules enough today by calling you down here, Danny. I'm not threatening anyone here, I'm just trying to do my job. We got a dead body and a witness who not only won't talk, but also happens to be the victim's daughter.

"Victim?", Mary whispered.

Danny, who still had one of Mary's hands in his, gave it a tight squeeze. He began to get agitated. He didn't believe for a second that Mary would kill her father. But he also knew that if she had, he deserved it. But he couldn't let the cops know about Mary's past with her father or it could give them a motive and Mary would really be in trouble then. "Luis, let me take her home for now. And first thing tomorrow morning, I'll bring her down to the station myself."

Luis shook his head. "Sorry, Danny. I can't do that. I promise it'll be quick. We just need a statement from you, Mary."

She looked at the cop, who was also her friend. "There's nothing to say. My father's dead. I didn't do it. I swear."

"I believe you, Mary. But it doesn't look good. Either way, I'm gonna have to take you down to the station."

Mary gave a hesitant nod. "Can Danny come?"

Luis looked at the man with the determined glare on his face. "Of course." 'Like I have a choice', he thought.