Silent Fall

Erica. She had an obvious tie to Ravino, a link to his father through the club and possibly Blake. That was one connection he could check out right away. Setting down his pencil, he typed out a quick e-mail to Blake’s assistant, Rita Herriman, asking if Blake was a member of the Metro Club. He made it appear as if he were also interested in joining the club and wanted a sponsor. That might get him a direct answer to at least one question. He wanted to ask Rita if Blake had received any phone calls from Erica, but he had to consider how she would view the question when she found out Erica was dead and he was the prime suspect.
    How could it hurt? He typed in the question and hit the send button before he could change his mind. Like most newspeople, Rita would no doubt check her messages before the end of the day.
    Clicking out of his mail program, he pulled out the tapes of his interviews with Erica, slipped them into his minicassette player, and pushed play. Erica’s nervous voice gave him a jolt. It was eerie to hear her speaking and know that she was now dead.
    Turning off the tape, he got to his feet and returned to the kitchen. Catherine was reading the newspaper.
    "I’m going down to the corner," he told her. "There’s a pay phone there. I didn’t have any e-mails from Mark, but I want to check in with him."
    "Do you want me to come?"
    "I’ll just be a couple of minutes."
    "Be careful," she said, concern in her eyes. "I’m almost afraid to let you out of my sight. It’s strange, because I’ve been living on my own for years, but I’m getting kind of used to having you around."
    To his surprise, he felt much the same way. "Don’t worry; I’ll be back."
    ***
    Mark answered on the third ring. "What’s up?" Dylan asked.
    "I was just about to e-mail you. The woman in the park has been positively identified as Erica Layton. The Lake Tahoe Sheriff’s Department is now working with the San Francisco Police Department. They’ve officially turned over their information to our guys here, including the circumstantial evidence that they have against you."
    "That evidence shouldn’t mean anything, since Erica didn’t die in Tahoe."
    "Unfortunately we’re going to have to wait for the coroner’s report to establish time and date of death, and that she wasn’t killed elsewhere and then left in the park. There’s more. The drug screen you had done yesterday came back negative."
    Dylan couldn’t believe what he was hearing. "That’s impossible. Erica put something in my drink."
    "There are certain drugs that leave the system fairly quickly without a trace. Fortunately DNA will take some time to get back, so if your blood was planted in Erica’s Tahoe cabin or here in Golden Gate Park, it will be a few weeks before anyone figures that out. But I have to warn you, Dylan, that the SFPD has requested a search warrant for your house, which means they think they have enough evidence to show probable cause. Once they analyze your phone records, it will be clear that you were here in San Francisco at least near the time of Erica’s death."
    Dylan’s stomach began to churn. He’d been expecting the other shoe to drop, and now it had. He was going to be an official suspect in a murder investigation.
    "I talked to a friend of mine in the SFPD," Mark continued. "He told me you should turn yourself in as soon as possible so that they can clear your name."
    "They’re not going to clear my name; they’re going to clear out a cell with my name on it."
    "Dylan, Erica is dead. The police may be the least of your worries. Whoever killed her could be coming after you next."
    "They want to frame me, not kill me."
    "Are you sure about that?"
    He wasn’t at all sure. He had no real idea what the next move in this game would be. But Erica’s murder had certainly upped the ante. Someone was playing for keeps, and depending on who was calling the shots, it wasn’t impossible that they also wanted him dead.
    "Do you know anything about the way Erica was killed?" he asked.
    "She was shot -- that’s all I know."
    "Any evidence at the crime scene?"
    "Not that anyone wanted to share with me, but if her murder was part of your setup, then I’m betting something was there to tie you to the crime. I don’t think you have a choice, Dylan. You have to turn yourself in."
    "Not yet. I need a little more time. But listen, next