Silent Fall

cabin with my cuff link."
    Catherine shook her head, her eyes filling with shadows. "It’s not in her cabin. It’s in water, entwined with something else, something red."
    He swallowed hard. "A scarf?"
    "Yes. Like the one Erica wore around her neck."
    His heart stopped as he gazed into her eyes. "Please don’t tell me you saw Erica in the lake."

Chapter Four

    "No," Catherine said quickly, not because the question was far-fetched, but because she didn’t want to consider the possibility that Erica was dead. Fortunately the brief image in her head had shown only the clothes in the water.
    A glitter of relief flashed through Dylan’s eyes. "Of course Erica isn’t in the lake. She’s fine," he muttered. "She’s the one who started this game. If her scarf is in the water with my tie, it’s because she put them there. And Erica probably broke the window in her cabin to make it look like there was an intruder." He pulled his hand away and reached for his wallet to leave a tip.
    Catherine felt a chill as he broke the connection between them, and the sense of disappointment disturbed and surprised her. She was used to being completely on her own. And it was better that way. Emotions in her life only added to her inner turmoil. Any caring, any intimacy with another human being, made the nightmares worse. She’d lost a boyfriend once because of her unnerving dreams -- dreams that had stopped shortly after he left. She didn’t know if the timing was coincidental, but she suspected not. When she became involved with someone her love made her vulnerable, which was why she needed to keep some distance between herself and Dylan. Because there wasn’t just an emotional connection between them; there was also a physical attraction. She might have been living like a nun the past couple of years, but she could still remember what desire felt like, and with Dylan that desire could be dangerous, reckless.
    Dylan threw a few dollar bills down on the table. "Are you ready to go? What’s wrong now?" His brows knit together in a frown as his gaze raked her face. "Your cheeks are bright red."
    "Nothing is wrong." She got to her feet, acutely aware of his gaze.
    "I don’t get you, Catherine."
    "You’re not the first one. But you don’t have to get me."
    "I think I do. You seem to be mixed up in my life. And I like to know the people I’m dealing with. You’re a mystery."
    "I’m not the mystery you need to figure out."
    "I’m not so sure. And right now I don’t know who to trust."
    "You should hang on to that skepticism."
    "Why do you say that?"
    "Because I think that whoever is a danger to you is someone who matters to you," she replied. "It feels very personal."
    "If you’re suggesting that one of my friends is behind this setup, then --"
    "I’m not suggesting anything. I’m just telling you what I feel."
    "I’m better with facts than feelings." He turned toward the exit.
    "Most men are," she said.
    He gave her a look that said he didn’t appreciate the generalization. "Let’s go back to the lodge. I want to call a friend of mine who’s a lawyer. I think I’m going to need one."
    Catherine followed Dylan out of the hospital and into the parking lot. It was after nine a.m., and the sun was rising higher in the sky, but there was still a cool morning breeze. She loved the mountains, the crisp, clean air, the tall, towering trees, and the majestic peaks that surrounded them. Even now, in late May, there was still snow on some of the highest points, a reminder that winter was not that long ago. Although for her, the darkness of winter was almost a state of mind rather than a time of year. She longed for the carefree days of summer, but she could never seem to escape the dark places in her soul no matter how warm the weather got.
    "Do you mind if I drive?" Dylan asked as they headed toward her car. "I’m not a good passenger."
    "There’s a big surprise," she said dryly as she tossed him the keys and walked around to the passenger side. Luckily for Dylan she didn’t have control issues; in fact, she’d given up trying to control her life a long time ago. Now she just went along for the ride, no matter how wild it might be -- and with Dylan she suspected it was going to get off-the-charts wild.
    She fastened her seat belt as Dylan pulled out of the parking lot. Like he did everything else, he drove with impatient,