Silent Fall

she’ll want more than you can give. She’ll take everything -- your heart, your mind, your soul. You’ll never be your own person again. You’ll never have complete control over your own life .
    But hadn’t she already taken everything he had? And hadn’t she given him back far more?
    She glanced over at him, offering him her beautiful, generous smile. She held out her hand, and he took it.
    He didn’t have to say good-bye just yet.
    After parking the car in front of his mother’s house, Catherine and Dylan headed across the street to knock on the door of the nearest neighbor. Dylan had certainly recovered the bounce in his step, Catherine thought, following him a bit more slowly. She still felt uneasy. It probably had to do with the fact that she hadn’t really seen her father die, and it was difficult to believe he wasn’t going to pop up out of nowhere and finish the job. She tried to push the bad feeling away and concentrate on Dylan. There were so many things he would never know about his mother, but perhaps she could help him at least find the answer to how she’d died.
    "I remember I used to play over here with a couple of girls," Dylan said as they approached the blue house with white shutters. "I can’t remember their names. I know our parents were friends. We barbecued together on the weekends. There’s a car in the driveway. Hopefully someone is home and can tell me what I need to know."
    Dylan knocked on the door, his rap sending the door ajar. Apparently it hadn’t been closed all the way.
    "We can’t just go in," she whispered. "It’s someone else’s home."
    "This is the island; everyone just goes in. The people are probably at the beach or on a hike. And we won’t find any information out here." He stepped into the living room. Catherine slid in behind him. No one seemed to have heard them. Nor did anyone appear to be in the house. The little living room was very neat and very empty.
    Catherine moved farther into the room, her gaze sweeping over the furniture, the couch, the tables, the photographs on the mantel. From that distance she could see two little girls, a mother and a father. She started across the room, and then stopped abruptly, the picture on the wall stirring her memory.
    A sand castle with turrets and towers, and a moat to protect the prince and the princess and all the children inside. But the waves came and the water swirled through the open doors and windows, drowning everyone inside .
    She drew in a deep breath and moved closer to get a better look at the picture. Next to the sand castle stood two little blond girls and their mother, all wearing bathing suits. Behind them was their father, a tall man also in a bathing suit and a bright yellow T-shirt, a big grin on his face. The man had his arms around all of his girls, and they looked impossibly proud.
    "What are you staring at?" Dylan asked.
    "I saw this picture in my head a while ago -- yesterday, I think. I thought I was connecting to your mother, but this woman isn’t her."
    Dylan crossed the room and took the photograph off the mantel. "I think I remember when this was taken. Those were the girls I played with. What were their names? Shannon was the older one, and Julie was the younger one. Yes, Shannon and Julie." Dylan gave her a pleased smile, which quickly faded as he read her expression, as he reviewed what he’d just said in his mind. "No, it can’t be." He turned his gaze back to the picture. "My God, Catherine. I think that’s Julie Bristow, the woman from my office."
    "So you finally remembered me. It’s about time."
    Catherine swung around as Julie came into the room. Catherine was shocked to see that the woman was in a wheelchair. When she’d met Julie before she’d been sitting at a desk. She’d had no idea that the woman was disabled. There was a blanket over her lap hiding her legs, but there was no hiding the expression of disappointment on her face.
    "He didn’t kill you," she said, as her gaze settled on Catherine. "I had a feeling he would fail. Dylan always wins. He’s the golden boy. He saved you, didn’t he?" She turned to Dylan with pure hatred in her eyes. "You’re always the hero."
    Catherine had thought Julie was in love with Dylan, but now she saw it was the opposite: Julie despised him. She wanted him to suffer. She wanted him dead. She was the one who’d made the plan. The