A local woman missing- Mary Kubica

She’s a good person. She’s not capable of hurting her kids, under
any circumstance.
“The police are way off base if they think Meredith has done
something to Delilah,” I say. I’m getting worked up. I’m angry. The
wine hasn’t helped because I feel less inhibited, free to say whatever
I want. But the police are wasting time if they think Meredith did this.
Josh takes a big, long swig of his beer and says, “There’s more.”
He’s guarded as he says it. Quiet. He sinks back into his chair, takes
another long drink from the bottle and sets it slowly down. He wipes
at his mouth with the back of a hand, his eyes focused on the wood
grain of the table, avoiding Bea and me.
“They found blood,” he says, and only then do his blue eyes rise
slowly up.
There’s a sudden heaviness in my stomach. I push my glass of
wine away, no longer able to drink from it. Josh’s words make me
instantly sober up. Blood. “Where?” I ask. Bea leans forward to hear.
“In the garage.”
“You hadn’t noticed?” I ask.
Josh shakes his head. “It’s dark in the garage. One of the bulbs is
burned out. I keep forgetting to fix it. It’s not what you’re imagining,”
he explains. “There wasn’t a ton of blood, Kate. Even after the police
pointed it out for me,” he says, “it was still hard to see.”
“But it was there,” I say, voice drifting.
“What do they think?” Bea asks. She’s standing at the head of the
table, hands on the top rail of the backrest. Beside Josh, I sit. I reach
my hand out and touch his. He takes my hand into his and holds it
for a minute. Neither of us speak. I can’t imagine what he is going
through. His hand trembles in mine. I doubt that Josh has had
anything to eat all day and a beer, on an empty stomach, can’t be
good. I let go of his hand, push his plate of pasta closer and
encourage him to eat.
To appease me, he takes a couple of bites before setting the fork
down. “They’re seeing if it’s Delilah’s or Meredith’s,” he says, about
the blood. “We should know soon.”
I wonder what good knowing this will do. I think, if anything, it will
make Josh, in addition to Meredith, look bad. More victim blaming.