A local woman missing- Mary Kubica

Kate,” he says, “it didn’t cross my mind that they wouldn’t be home. I
tried calling Meredith before I left the sitter’s, to ask if she needed me
to pick anything up from the pharmacy. Medicine, juice. Popsicles,”
he says, telling me how much Delilah craved red Popsicles when
she was running a fever. It was the only thing she’d eat.
“What happened?” I ask.
“It went to voice mail,” he says.
He drove home. He pulled down the alley and opened the garage
out back, finding it empty, though he knew he would because the
house was also dark. The sun hadn’t yet set. But with the storm, it
was dark enough outside to warrant turning a light on, especially
since Delilah is afraid of the dark.
That’s when the worry set in for him, about two hours ago. He
parked the car and ran inside to find the house empty. Only the dog
was waiting for Leo and him, food and water bowl both empty, like he
hadn’t been fed since morning.
“Now I’m thinking the fever is way worse than the sitter made it out
to be,” he admits. “It seems too late in the year for the flu. But what
about meningitis? A burst appendix? Sepsis?”
“Or an ear infection,” I offer, thinking of a less frightening
alternative to his.
I squat down to Leo’s height and ask in a soft voice, “Hey, Leo.
Can you tell me what Delilah was like today? Was she not feeling
well?” I ask. “Do you remember if anything hurt?”
Leo just stares, gripping his wet security blanket in his hands,
saying nothing. He’s shy. But he’s also four, maybe too young to
know or remember if Delilah was sick. The fever is concerning to me.
But so, too, is what happened to Shelby Tebow, who still hasn’t been
found. There are also the weather conditions to consider. The
thunder, the lightning, the threats of tornados. Add to that the fact
that the current river levels are high. We’ve been under a flash flood
warning for days, so long it feels like it will never lift. I’ve been
hearing reports on the news that cars have been getting stuck in
water on the streets. Flooded roads, the reporters keep saying, can
be extremely dangerous. It only takes a couple feet of water to carry
a car away. In the last few days, a month’s worth of rain has come