Silent Run - Barbara Freethy [40]
“She does go by the name Sarah, but it’s possible she used to go by another name. She doesn’t remember who she is. She was in a serious car accident. And her baby is missing. I’d really like to talk to you more about your friend, just in case there’s a chance they’re the same person. Can I come in?”
“Who are you exactly? You’re not a cop.”
“No, I’m a friend of Sarah’s. Actually, she’s involved with my brother, and the missing child is my niece. My name is Dylan Sanders.”
The woman hesitated, then released the chain and opened the door. Silhouetted by the sunlight, she appeared younger than he had assumed, late twenties, maybe early thirties. She wore light blue capri pants and a long-sleeved button-down man’s shirt that was white but streaked with yellow paint. Her hair was reddish blond and pulled back in a ponytail. Her face was thin, freckles dotting the bridge of her nose. Her eyes were a dark, deep sapphire blue that reminded him of the sea. He swallowed hard, suddenly realizing he was still staring at her. When he’d heard “crazy psychic lady,” he’d pictured some odd-looking woman with a half dozen cats and maybe a bird on her shoulder, not this surprisingly pretty young woman.
“I’m Catherine Hilliard,” she said in a soft, lyrical voice.
He cleared his throat. “It’s nice to meet you. Do you have a picture of your friend?” Maybe he could clear up the situation with one photograph.
“Of course I do,” she said.
“Could I see it?”
She stepped back and waved him farther into the room.
Dylan paused as he reached the center of the living room. He’d never seen so much junk in his life, a dozen or more glass figures dotting the tables, assorted wood boxes of every size imaginable, seashells, statues, books, magazines. Almost every available space was covered with something. Two cats slumbered on each end of the couch, and a bird chirped from a cage in the corner. Maybe his initial impression wasn’t that far off.
He saw that Catherine had turned her dining room into an art studio. An easel was set up in front of a picture window that looked out at the sea.
“You’re an artist,” he said, crossing the room. On the easel was a portrait of a young girl sitting in a meadow filled with yellow wildflowers. The painting was only half-done, but the girl’s light blue eyes were wide and startled, and a little familiar. An uneasy feeling ran down his spine. Were those Sarah’s eyes looking back at him? “Is this your friend?”
“Yes,” Catherine replied. “That’s Jessica. I paint her all the time from memory. She’s been gone eight years now—well, ten since I last saw her, eight since she officially vanished.”
“What do you mean, officially vanished?”
“Jessica disappeared when she was twenty years old.” Catherine traced one finger lovingly around the edge of the face in the portrait. “I miss her so much.”
“Can you tell me what happened?” Dylan prodded, sensing that she was drifting away. For a moment he didn’t think Catherine would answer. She seemed lost in a reverie. Finally she looked at him, her eyes filled with sadness and regret.
“Jessie called me about a week before she vanished. She said she was in trouble and that she’d made a horrible mistake. She was terribly afraid. That was the message she left on my answering machine. I was in New York at the time and away that weekend. By the time I got the message and called her back, Jessie was gone. I called her apartment nonstop for a couple of days, and then someone finally called me—her neighbor. The woman told me that Jessica hadn’t shown up for work for the past four nights, nor had she been home, and they were worried about her. They’d found my number written on a piece of paper in her bedroom.”
“I assume there was a search?” he queried.
“A short one. The police couldn’t find any evidence of foul play, so they said it was possible she’d simply gone elsewhere. Eventually her file was set aside.”
Dylan felt his stomach turn over. The way Jessica had disappeared was almost exactly the same way Sarah had left his brother.
“I flew to Chicago to look for her,” Catherine