A local woman missing- Mary Kubica

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I thrust my keys into the ignition. I start the car. Before I can throwit into Reverse, there’s a tap on my window. I scream, seeing onlyblackness filling the glass. Someone is standing beside the car. Ican’t make out a face. I grab for the pepper spray. The only otherthings I have to use are an ice scraper and my keys.The figure squats down and there in the window is Jeanette, themidwife.I throw my hand to my heart. “Oh God,” I say, lowering the windowand forcing myself to smile, to relax, “you scared the shit out of me,Jeanette.”I take a deep breath. Jeanette is here in the parking garage withme. No one will hurt me while Jeanette is here.“Sorry!” she replies, still on a high from the birth. They can bevitalizing sometimes, especially the ones like this that don’t taketwenty-four hours only to wind up in surgery. “I thought you saw me,”Jeanette says. “I’ve been trailing you for a while. I called out for you.”I tell her, “I didn’t hear you or I would have stopped.”Then she gets a mischievous grin on her face and says to me,“Zeppelin,” and we both laugh. “The kids will have a field day withthat.”“I feel sorry for the poor boy,” I say. “He’ll grow up hating hisparents for it.”“Whatever happened to Thomas and James?” Jeanette asks.Jeanette is older than me. She’s more traditional.“Come on, Jeanette,” I say. “Don’t you know that Thomas andJames have fallen out of rotation in recent years? These days it’s allJacobs and Noahs and Masons.”“And apparently Zeppelins.”“It’s an atrocity,” I say. We have a good laugh.“It’s getting late,” Jeanette says. In just a few hours, the sun willrise. “You better get home and try and sleep before your own babiesare up.”We say our goodbyes. I watch as Jeanette makes her way to hercar parked farther down. Once she’s safely in, I spin out of theparking garage, going fast. The relief washes over me when my carfinally reaches the street outside. On the street there are other cars,building lights, streetlights. It’s still hours away from dawn, but the
moon is nearly full, giving off additional light. A twenty-four-hourMcDonald’s calls for me, and though I’m usually not a fan of fastfood, I consider a run through the drive-through because it’s beenhours since I’ve had a thing to eat. I’m famished, craving somethinggreasy and quick.The relief is short-lived because soon after comes the familiar pingof my phone. A text message. It could be Josh, wanting an update.Now that Tuesday has become Wednesday, childcare arrangementsmay need to be made. He leaves for work early, by six o’clock. He’llneed to find something to do with the kids if I’m not home by then,though I will be; he just doesn’t know it yet. He’s being proactive.I grab my phone from the passenger’s seat to see what he’s said.But the text message isn’t from Josh. It comes from the sameunfamiliar number as the rest.Get home safe, it says.
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Praise forLocal Woman Missing“I
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Local Woman MissingMary Kubica
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Mary Kubica is the New York Times b
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LeoKateMeredithLeoMeredithKateMered
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PROLOGUE11 Years BeforeThere’s a
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thinking about his car, how warm it
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DELILAHNOWI hear footsteps. They mo
Page 17 and 18: my belly got to be so bad that I ha
Page 19 and 20: I do know for sure that there are s
Page 21 and 22: There ain’t much to work with in
Page 23 and 24: we ever want to get out of this pla
Page 25 and 26: when we don’t come, she says, “
Page 27 and 28: That lady hasn’t fed us since tha
Page 29 and 30: I bring the candy bar to my mouth.
Page 31 and 32: I call to Gus to hurry up. I don’
Page 33 and 34: direction so that soon I’m all tu
Page 35 and 36: back into the blackness of the shed
Page 37 and 38: I curl more tightly into my pill bu
Page 39 and 40: There’s a house outside. It’s b
Page 41 and 42: through a forest. Like the cornstal
Page 43 and 44: I shake my head. I don’t know not
Page 45 and 46: KATE11 YEARS BEFOREMayThere’s a k
Page 47 and 48: I pull open the door and the wind r
Page 49 and 50: life, a sense of purpose during tho
Page 51 and 52: down. In the city, raw sewage is le
Page 53 and 54: Maybe this was one of those times.
Page 55 and 56: disappears into the kitchen to keep
Page 57 and 58: I glance down at the phone in my ha
Page 59 and 60: think of anything I’ve done to up
Page 61 and 62: LEONOWTo be straight, I never thoug
Page 63 and 64: KATE11 YEARS BEFOREMayBea is in bed
Page 65 and 66: police, and became common knowledge
Page 67: me. But now I’m grateful for the
Page 71 and 72: Dad doesn’t know it but I’ve re
Page 73 and 74: It’s a media circus when we get h
Page 75 and 76: argument I want to have. I love the
Page 77 and 78: KATE11 YEARS BEFOREMayThe next morn
Page 79 and 80: long and straight because somehow,
Page 81 and 82: LEONOWThat first night in our house
Page 83 and 84: MEREDITH11 YEARS BEFOREMarchI’ve
Page 85 and 86: I feel somewhat guilty for unloadin
Page 87 and 88: yesterday was the first time Meredi
Page 89 and 90: One by one people get in their cars
Page 91 and 92: puddles; Bea and I part ways and st
Page 93 and 94: “I’m so worried,” Cassandra s
Page 95 and 96: was looking at was human—that the
Page 97 and 98: and to the front door. She knocks o
Page 99 and 100: “That’s lovely,” I say.Bea as
Page 101 and 102: A body has been found.
Page 103 and 104: The coffee shop is new to me. It ha
Page 105 and 106: pay much attention to me that night
Page 107 and 108: An image of her husband forms: cyni
Page 109 and 110: the door. Other officers are inside
Page 111 and 112: The midwife replies, “Yes, of cou
Page 113 and 114: Later, early in the evening, we wat
Page 115 and 116: impression of a small castle. As lo
Page 117 and 118: Dad asks if you want him to tuck yo
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That’s when Mom turned the knife
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I write back, All first-time mother
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would be angry if the police showed
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Dad tells her, “I should have cal
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recollection I’d been hoping for.
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gray. Her eyes are gray. She has de
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He says reluctantly, “They found
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It’s as if Josh can read my mind.
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“What do you think, then,” he a
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quickly than most.“Thanks,” he
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play with Delilah. She makes fun of
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her face for signs of bruising. The
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I ask again. “Did he hurt you?”
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This is what you told the police: y
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MEREDITH11 YEARS BEFOREMarchDinner
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remember, Leo, how this happened?
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KATE11 YEARS BEFOREMayThe next morn
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MEREDITH11 YEARS BEFOREAprilOver th
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The kids and I still stand outside,
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Bea stops me there. She takes charg
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KATE11 YEARS BEFOREMayDr. Feingold
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knot. We picked them out together,
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“Yes, sir,” I say, shifting my
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“She had a baby recently. It was
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I’m flat on my back. I can’t se
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MEREDITH11 YEARS BEFOREAprilShelby
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Within an hour a nurse comes in to
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“Of course,” I say.“I think S
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What his patients like about Dr. Fe
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the next contraction, he instructs
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I turn on the car and begin to driv
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Bea takes a cursory glance in the s
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go home. I can’t lead this indivi
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I spent a lot of time on those miss
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MEREDITH11 YEARS BEFOREMayThe Tebow
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I should trust him enough to tell h
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There’s more urgency about gettin
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MEREDITH11 YEARS BEFOREMayI haven
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I regret my choice of words immedia
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“Cassandra, if Marty is seeing an
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holding hands. I’m appalled that
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Piper Hanaka is your age. She’s t
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KATE11 YEARS BEFOREMayThe rest of t
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conversation—spoken in some other
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it that left me feeling violated an
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Outside the storm rages. It’s mor
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to see Bea’s expression, I see he
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house, so close to the circuit brea
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MEREDITH11 YEARS BEFOREMayI can’t
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I won’t tell him now. I don’t w
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dancing has made him thirsty. Our d
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I’m the only one who doesn’t ha
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KATE11 YEARS BEFOREMayThree things
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parking lot, a 1970s neon sign flas
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MEREDITH11 YEARS BEFOREMayMy eyes a
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Babies,” I tell her. I’d just g
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“I know her, Bea,” I say, and I
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We haul Shelby to the back end of t
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grimace. The coloration of her skin
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trees were here before the homes. T
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“It’s not your fault,” Dad sa
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MEREDITH11 YEARS BEFOREMayThe next
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if I told the truth, it might get b
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I obsess over this. I try to replay
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LEONOWBefore bed, Dad comes into my
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MEREDITH11 YEARS BEFOREMayI can’t
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She pauses for effect. “It’s ti
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that I shared with Delilah. My mom
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MEREDITH11 YEARS BEFOREMay“I have
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in the trunk, and whether she was d
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But the longer he stares at those p
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better than that. You’re never su
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MEREDITH11 YEARS BEFOREMayIn the mi
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Who would care for her special need
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Bea comes fully into the garage.
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Another change comes over Bea. She
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hands. Her hair spills across her f
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It’s taking a long time for you t
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Bea is in the driver’s seat. Bea
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hers, gathering dollar bills. She l
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vacant or nearly vacant right now,
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friendship has waned over the years
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the building, and it’s upstairs.
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My question goes unanswered.Where a
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to climb, their movements in sync.
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remembers that when Bea came back,
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I hang up before she can say more.
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ISBN-13: 9781488073960Local Woman M
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A local woman missing- Mary Kubica

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