A local woman missing- Mary Kubica

This is what you told the police: you were kept in a locked
basement by a man and a woman, who the cops now need to find.
You don’t know how you got there. You don’t know much about your
life before. You’ve blocked most of it out, though you have hazy
memories of our house, Dad’s face, the fact that Mom is dead. Dad’s
hoping the shrink can squeeze the rest of it out of you, especially
your last minutes with Mom. He needs to know once and for all what
happened. Dad’s willing to try just about anything to make it so:
medicine, hypnosis.
We go back to the police after seeing the shrink. The lady cop is
waiting for us when we get there. “Can I talk to you, Josh?” she asks,
and they disappear. I’m left with you. Someone else might try and
make small talk with you. But I just stand there like some dope, not
sure what to say. I should say something to make you feel better, but
I can’t find the words. Anything I might say would sound stupid. So I
say nothing. Dad and the lady cop stand in the far corner of the
room. She holds a file folder in her hands, but she never opens it.
She does all of the talking. Dad’s head nods.
“What was that all about?” I ask when Dad comes back.
“The DNA results.”
“What about them?”
“It’s her. She’s your sister.”
I thought we already knew that.
Today, when talking with the lady cop, you remember that the
man’s and the woman’s names are Eddie and Martha. They’re the
ones who kept you. The lady cop asks if you can describe them, and
you do, but it’s fuzzy at best, things like brown hair and a fat face.
She gets a sketch artist to sit with you. Then she talks to Dad. She
asks whether Mom knew anyone named Eddie or Martha. Mom
didn’t, as far as Dad knows. The lady cop thinks maybe this had
something to do with money. Maybe Mom owed money to someone
and so they took you as payment. She asks Dad if Mom was in debt
to anyone, if Mom had gotten in over her head. Did she have a
history of gambling, a drug addiction? Was she selling? There’s a
thing with some suburban moms: selling prescription drugs like
Vicodin and their kids’ Adderall to make ends meet. It’s been on the
news.