A local woman missing- Mary Kubica

We haul Shelby to the back end of the car. She’s as limp as a
ragdoll. There’s a mark on her head from where she landed on the
concrete. It’s swollen. It bleeds. Blood comes from her mouth.
Whatever caused her death is far worse than skin-deep. Head
trauma. Organ failure. Internal hemorrhaging.
Bea shuffles her into one hand so she can pop the trunk. It’s
awkward and ungainly. Shelby’s head sags backward, practically
snaps. As Bea opens the trunk, a negligible light comes out. But on
the dark street, it might as well be the sun. Bea panics. “Hurry,” she
says, nearly throwing her half of Shelby into the trunk, beside jumper
cables, a box of cat litter.
There’s a dull thud when Shelby’s head hits the inside of the trunk.
It sickens me. I won’t do the same. I carefully, tenderly, lay Shelby’s
lower half inside and rearrange her so that she’s comfortable.
Bea doesn’t like this. “Hurry up, Meredith. Just put her in.”
Her eyes appraise the street. There are houses. Most are dark.
Most everyone has gone to sleep. Of the few homes still lit, the
windows are empty. No one’s watching.
I step back from the trunk. As Bea is closing it, I swear I hear
Shelby moan.
My blood curdles. Only Bea felt for a pulse. I never checked.
“What was that?” I ask, panicked. “Open it back up,” I say, but Bea
just looks at me.
“It’s time to go, Meredith.” She starts to walk away.
“She made a noise. I heard her,” I insist. “We have to see.”
What if she’s still alive?
What if Bea is mistaken?
Bea says, “I didn’t hear anything.”
“Please, Bea,” I beg. “Please open it so that I can check.”
“Get in the fucking car,” she says, walking around to the driver’s
side and getting in. I follow suit, only because Bea tells me that when
we get where we’re going I can see if she’s still alive. She starts the
car. She doesn’t turn the headlights on.
“If she’s alive, we take her to the hospital,” I say. “Promise me,
Bea. Promise me we can take her to the hospital if she’s alive.”
“She isn’t alive.”
“I heard her. She made a noise.”