A local woman missing- Mary Kubica

“Who was it?” I ask Delilah, humoring her. She blinks at me,
unspeaking. Her stare is vacant, glassy-eyed. She doesn’t say. Her
red hair droops. Along the hairline, it’s dark with sweat. I let it go,
knowing no one was here. I reach a hand back out to turn off the
lamp switch.
I retrieve the thermometer from Leo and Delilah’s bathroom, and
the children’s Tylenol from downstairs. I take Delilah’s temperature
first. It’s nearing one hundred and three degrees. I double-check the
dosing on the Tylenol, and then give it to her. Delilah has sweat
through the sheets. I make her get out of bed long enough for me to
change them. She gets back in. I lie beside her.
I stay with Delilah until she falls back to sleep. Then I go back to
my own bed. I slip in beside a still-sound-asleep Josh. Josh has the
ability to sleep through anything. I don’t wake him because Delilah
gets sick all the time. She’s our germ magnet. If someone in her
class is sick, you can bet your life Delilah will be, too. Delilah’s fever
isn’t breaking news. I can tell him in the morning.
As I lie there, I notice that our bedroom window is open a crack.
Josh runs warm. Even in the winter, he wants to open the bedroom
window at night, otherwise he overheats. The cool spring air wafts in,
blowing the gauzy curtains into the room. The rain falls lightly
outside. The sound of it is peaceful. If not for thoughts of Shelby that
torment me, it would be anesthetizing. But instead I lie there dwelling
on how Grace Tebow will never have a mother to tend to her at night.
It’s all my fault. It makes me sick to think of. It makes me sick to
know that, while I lay in my soft, warm bed under the weight of my
husband’s arm, Shelby lies alone in the woods, her body being
devoured by maggots and flies.
I’ve reached the end of my rope. I can’t keep living with this secret.
I need to go to the police. I need to tell them what we’ve done, and
suffer the consequences. I deserve that.
My own guilt aside, Jason deserves closure. He needs to know
what happened to Shelby. I’ve been following the investigation on
the news, and it’s not good. All roads lead to Jason. Jason has been
rumored to have been having an affair. It’s damning. I’ll never be
able to live with myself if Jason gets convicted of murder. If that were
to happen, what would happen to the baby? Who would raise her?