A local woman missing- Mary Kubica

“I’m so worried,” Cassandra says about Meredith and Delilah.
“Josh must be beside himself.”
“He’s organized a search party,” I say, and she tells us she knows,
that she plans to join the search just as soon as Arlo is up from his
nap.
Bea tells her that Josh is in the process of pulling together a list of
phone numbers for Meredith’s clients, family and friends. “When he
does,” Bea says, “there will be people to call. Perhaps you can help
with that while your son is napping.”
“Of course. Anything I can do. They’ll be okay, won’t they?”
Cassandra asks. Neither Bea nor I reply. We’re quiet, contemplating
the question. Will they be okay? No one knows. No one can say for
certain. But Cassandra is staring at us, asking earnestly whether
Meredith and Delilah will be okay. A tear leaves her eye, weaves
down her cheek. I’m moved by the sudden show of emotion.
Cassandra pushes herself from the table and goes to the
coffeemaker. She fills the mugs, asks how we take our coffee. She
gathers the sugar and milk.
With her back turned to us, she says, “I saw something.”
Her words are quiet but charged, full of meaning. They send a
sudden shiver up my spine. I find myself wanting, desperate for
more.
Did Cassandra see something having to do with Meredith and
Delilah’s disappearance?
She goes on, back still to us. “I’d forgotten all about it,” she says.
“It came to me only after Josh called to tell me Meredith and Delilah
were missing.”
“What’d you see?” Bea asks. Only then does Cassandra turn back
to face us.
“Someone outside their house. In the middle of the night,” she
says, and then she makes the first of three trips to the kitchen table
to deliver the coffees.
“When?” I ask.
“A couple weeks ago,” she says.
“Did you tell Josh?” I ask.
“No,” she admits. “I haven’t. Not yet. I forgot. I only remembered
late last night, when it was too late to call and wake him.” This