Silent Fall

out of the drawers and dragged her suitcase from the closet. "I’ve been running from my dreams my whole life. I think it’s time I chased one down."
    "If you come with me, you’ll be an accessory." He had to state the obvious. She was so caught up in the events going through her head, she wasn’t looking at the big picture. "You could be charged, put in jail."
    "I’ve made my decision. I’d like my visions to be worth something good, just once." She paused, taking one last look around the room. "I think I have everything. Should I check out?"
    "When did you say you were going to leave?"
    "I was planning to stay until Tuesday."
    "Then don’t check out. I’ll pay if you wind up having room charges, but I’d rather not have anyone looking for you yet." He drew in a quick breath. "We’ll have to take your car, since I don’t have my keys. It’s probably better that way anyway. If I leave mine in the lot, it should buy us a little time. Although it won’t take much for someone to figure out we’re together. The detective already knows we’re friends. Still, I’d rather delay the inevitable."
    "So you go down the back stairs with the bags and I’ll leave through the front," Catherine said. "On the way out, I’ll stop at the front desk and tell them I’m interested in taking a boat tour of the lake. I’ll make it clear that I’m planning to spend my day on the water, and no one will see me leave with you."
    Her words surprised him once again and also reminded him that whatever had happened in her past had taught her how to think ahead, especially when it came to the police. He must have stared at her too long, because her eyebrows pulled together.
    "What’s wrong? You have an odd look on your face," she said.
    "That’s admiration. You think very fast on your feet."
    "Which is good for you. Speaking of thinking ahead, why do you want to go to San Francisco?" she asked as they turned toward the door. "Won’t that be the first place the police look for you?"
    "Yes, but if I can get a head start, perhaps I can learn something about Erica that will at least point me in the right direction. I need to find her alive before the cops can prove that I killed her. And I have a feeling it’s going to be close."
    ***
    They were forty-five minutes out of Tahoe but still in the mountains when Dylan pulled out his cell phone and called Mark. He didn’t want his friend to make a wasted trip to Tahoe, but he also hadn’t wanted to give Mark a chance to talk him out of leaving. Mark’s voice mail picked up, and Dylan was relieved. It would be easier to leave a message and not get into explanations.
    "Mark, I’m going to find Erica on my own," he said. "I can’t sit in Tahoe and wait for the hammer to drop on my head. I’ll be in touch. Just hang tight and wait for my call." He hung up and set the phone on the console between the seats. Mark would have a fit when he found out that Dylan had run, and to be honest he was already having second thoughts himself, but it was too late. He wasn’t turning back.
    "How long will it take to reach San Francisco?" Catherine asked.
    "About three more hours." He checked the rearview mirror. It was ridiculous to think the police might already be on his tail. They wouldn’t even have the blood tests back from the hospital yet. Nor had Erica been missing for twenty-four hours. He had a little time. He just had to use it wisely.
    Unfortunately, he didn’t have more than a vague idea of what he would do when he got to the city. He could check out the few places he knew Erica frequented, but she probably wouldn’t be there. If she was hiding, she’d go where he couldn’t find her. She could be anywhere in the world. If Ravino was behind the plan, he certainly had plenty of money to make sure Erica disappeared. And if it wasn’t Ravino, then who else would use Erica to set him up?
    He’d done a lot of stories over the past few years, investigated plenty of crimes, reported on murderers, rapists, burglars, bank robbers. Any one of them could be behind this plan to take him down, but since Erica was involved, it seemed that Ravino was the most likely choice. He was the one person they had in common. But Dylan didn’t want to make the mistake of focusing on one target, only to realize someone had deliberately pointed him in the wrong direction.
    "I wish I knew