A local woman missing- Mary Kubica

The realization stuns me. Meredith chose Bea to watch over
Delilah after she was gone. She entrusted Delilah to Bea. Bea was
making good on a promise to Meredith; she was honoring Meredith’s
last request.
But why? Why would Meredith ever keep Delilah from Josh?
My thoughts are derailed with Delilah’s next words.
“I was there,” Delilah says, “when she killed Mommy.”
The world falls silent.
And then I hear, “No,” vehemently at first and then screamed again
and again, with more passion, more fury, “No! No! Noooo!”
It’s only when all eyes fall to me that I realize those are my words.
That I’m the one who’s screaming.
Later, after the police have completed their investigation, which
includes interrogating me, they let me into Bea’s studio. I don’t know
what to expect as I ascend the steps and let myself into the upstairs
attic where Delilah was kept for eleven years. The sole window is
boarded up with plywood, except for a small circle, carved just big
enough for an eye, out of which Delilah could see. For eleven years
she watched her father mow the lawn, watched Leo toss a ball to
Wyatt the dog until he died. She watched flowers bloom and snow
fall, but never felt the sun on her skin.
She wasn’t treated unkindly. Delilah has told the police as much;
the stacks of books, of toys, of art supplies, the plentiful clothes
suggest the same to me. And yet Bea took her childhood from her.
She stole years of Delilah’s life that she will never get back. She took
her from her family. She stole her innocence and her freedom. Why?
Because Delilah was witness to what Bea did to Meredith.
As it turns out, Delilah didn’t see Bea kill Meredith, though for
eleven years she thought she did. What she saw was the
commencing act: Bea immobilizing Meredith with a hammer, and
Meredith falling unconscious to the ground. As Bea held her hand to
Delilah’s mouth and carried her running from the Dickeys’ garage to
ours, little Delilah was sure her mother was dead. Bea never told her
otherwise. Delilah doesn’t remember much from that day, though she