Silent Fall

as that moment when I realized you were gone. I shouldn’t have sent you even ten feet away from me. You told me he was coming after you. I should have kept that in my head."
    "It’s all right. I’m okay. But there’s something you don’t know about that man."
    Dylan’s hands dropped to his sides, his gaze narrowing on hers. "What did he tell you? Did he say who hired him? Who wants us dead?"
    She shook her head. "I asked, but he didn’t answer." Mentally she replayed the scene between them, feeling once again the horror of recognition, the realization that he would kill her, even knowing who she was.
    "Catherine," Dylan prodded. "What else?"
    "I know why I was connected to him now. I know why I could hear his voice in my head, why I could feel his evil all the way into my soul. That man who was going to kill me was my father."
    Dylan’s jaw fell open, his eyes widening in amazement, disbelief. "That’s... that’s unbelievable."
    "He didn’t know it was me," she said quickly. "Not until we got down here to the dock, and he finally looked me in the eye. Before that I was just a job to him. That’s what he does. He kills people. All these years... all those nightmares... all those victims... they were his victims. I saw them die. I saw him kill, and I couldn’t stop him. I couldn’t save anyone, not even my mother." Her eyes filled with tears. "I remembered the night she died, everything -- how I crept out of bed when they started yelling, the awful things he said to her. He thought she was crazy. He was high on drugs. He was wild, like an animal, a vicious animal intent on ripping his prey apart. I tried to throw my arms around his leg once, but he shook me off, and after that I just stood there and watched. How could I do that, Dylan? How could I just stand there?"
    "Oh, Catherine, you were a little girl." He pulled her into his arms, pressing her face against his chest, stroking her hair. "You did try to stop him, but you couldn’t. No one could have."
    She wanted to believe him, and in her head she did, but the emotional guilt would run through her veins for a long time to come. "Maybe I wouldn’t have succeeded," she admitted. "But I should have tried harder."
    He held her away from him so he could look at her. "You tried damn hard to save me, and you did. Think about that, Catherine. Let the past go. It’s over. He’s dead. He’s gone."
    "I wish I could be sure he’s not going to come out of that water. What if he just swam away?" She could see by Dylan’s expression that he’d considered the same possibility.
    "I don’t think he did. I saw his eyes bug out when I had my hands on his neck. He couldn’t get his breath. He was going down."
    "But you said you hit something hard. He must have knocked your head into the pillar under the dock. You were unconscious when I jumped in the water. He could have gotten away."
    He inclined his head in agreement. "I guess it’s possible. But you didn’t see him, did you?"
    "No. I didn’t see him. I just saw blood everywhere."
    "I think he’s gone, but you don’t have to believe me. You know what’s in your heart. What do you feel?"
    What did she feel? She shook her head, not sure she could go there so soon. "I don’t know. I’m confused. And I don’t really want to try to reach him again."
    "Well, that’s understandable."
    "You finally trust my connections, don’t you?" she asked, a little amazed at the idea that Dylan had come around to believing in her so completely. She’d thought that there was a part of her that his logical brain wouldn’t ever be able to accept.
    "They brought me to you," he said. "I heard you talk to me. You described the house, the bird feeder, the stone chimney."
    "Oh, my God. Really? So you’re saying you heard voices in your head? You’d better not tell the police that. They’ll take you to the loony bin."
    "Not voices, your voice." He gave her a slow smile. "Apparently you’re not the only one who might be a little psychic, but why don’t we keep that between the two of us?" His smile dimmed, his eyes turning more serious. "I also remembered the place from a long time ago. My mother used to come here. I think she met him here, my father. There has to be a meaning to this location. That’s all I can think of."
    "I wish I could have made my father say who hired him."
    "We know,