Silent Run

calling to me, reaching for me, and she was so scared. I couldn’t sleep for months. I kept thinking about how she hated the dark. I used to be the one she’d climb into bed with when she got scared, and that was a lot of the time. She didn’t have it easy when she was a little girl."
    â€œWhy not?” he asked.
    â€œJessie’s parents died when she was nine years old. She had no relatives willing to take care of her, so she went to foster care. I met her when she was eleven. We ended up in a home together in LA. We were there for almost four years, from the time Jessica was eleven and I was thirteen until we were fifteen and seventeen. Then the foster parents ran into hard times, and they split up all the kids in their care and sent us to different homes. I aged out of the system about six months later. We tried to keep in contact during the next year or two, but I had to work and Jessie was still in school. The next year I won a scholarship to an art school in New York, so I wound up moving across the country."
    â€œAnd Jessica attempted to meet up with you a couple of years later, but got sidetracked in Chicago and disappeared,” Dylan said. “And you think she looks like my friend Sarah. Is that pretty much it?"
    â€œYes.” Catherine shrugged. “I might be wrong. Her hair color is different. Jessica’s hair was blond. The woman on TV last night had dark hair."
    â€œSarah’s hair used to be blond. Do you have any other pictures besides this painting?"
    Catherine shook her head. “Sorry. No one takes pictures of foster kids, and even if they do, you usually don’t get to keep them."
    Her tone was matter-of-fact, but he could hear the edge of bitterness in her voice. “What happened to Jessica’s parents?"
    â€œThey were killed in a car crash. It was a shock to her to suddenly wind up an orphan. She’d actually had a happy childhood until they died. She had a lot farther to fall than the rest of us when it came to expectations. I had to teach her a lot about survival. But I guess I didn’t teach her enough."
    Dylan frowned. Sarah had told Jake that her parents had died in a car crash. It was a small connection, but a connection nonetheless, and he had to admit the painting of Jessica bore a striking resemblance to Sarah.
    â€œYou’re starting to think that your friend and mine are the same person,” Catherine said.
    â€œI don’t know that I’d go that far."
    â€œBecause you’re very guarded. You like to unravel other people’s secrets, not your own."
    He didn’t like the way Catherine was looking at him, as if she had some sort of second sight. “We’re not talking about me or my secrets,” he said shortly.
    â€œBut you have some, don’t you? Everyone does."
    â€œLet’s concentrate on whether or not the woman you saw on television last night is Jessica. You said the hair was different, but was there anything else that Sarah said or did that made you think she was Jessica?"
    â€œIt was the name she called her little girl. Jessie had a doll when she came to the foster home. It was the only thing she had with her from her past. The doll’s name was Caitlyn."
    Dylan drew in a quick breath, not sure what to think. “Is that why you thought your friend had suddenly come back from the dead? Or were you grabbing at straws because you felt guilty that you weren’t around for Jessica before she disappeared?"
    â€œI never said she was dead,” Catherine stated. “In fact, a few months after she disappeared I got a note in the mail. There was no return address, no signature, just the initial J."
    â€œWhat did it say? Do you remember?"
    â€œEvery word. It said, ‘ Don’t try to find me. It’s too dangerous. I’ll love you forever. Stay safe and happy .’ ”
    â€œDid you keep the note?"
    â€œFor a long time."
    â€œBut you don’t have it anymore?” he asked, unable to keep the skeptical note out of his voice.
    â€œNow you sound just like the doctors, suggesting that I see her face everywhere I go, that I hear her voice, that I make up stories because I can’t accept the fact that I let her down."
    â€œYou’ve seen doctors?” he asked, his doubts returning.
    â€œTwo,” she admitted. “I couldn’t sleep for months after Jessie disappeared, because of the dreams, and my boyfriend told me I needed to get help