Since She Went Away Read Online Free

known Ursula since I was a kid. My mom thinks maybe Celia wasn’t around for her enough. You know, Celia and Ursula’s dad, Ian, were kind of wrapped up in their own thing too much instead of paying attention to Ursula. But that’s another story. Anyway, Mom texted Celia and called her, never got an answer. She called Celia’s husband. And then they called the cops, but they couldn’t find her.” Jared straightened up, scooting forward on the bed. “Wait a minute—have you really not heard about any of this? I mean, not until today?”
    “No,” she said. “I just moved to town. I don’t know many people.”
    “But it’s a national story. Or it was for a month or so, until they didn’t find Celia and everybody decided to move on to some other kidnapping or plane crash or whatever. It was on CNN every night. That weird lady on the crime show? The one with the gray, poofy hair, Reena Huffman? She practically moved here.” He almost smiled at the strangeness of the blank look on Tabitha’s face. He didn’t think it was possible not to have heard of Celia’s case, given how much it played on the news. “Have you never heard of the Diamond Mom?”
    “The what?”
    “The Diamond Mom? That’s what they call Celia.” He looked around the room, trying to see if there was a clipping from the local paper he could show her, but he didn’t see any. “Celia disappeared by the park, and the cops found this diamond earring at the scene. One of her earrings. Like it fell out when the maniac or serial killer grabbed her. Her husband and her mom identified it. They’re worth a crap ton of money, I guess, the earrings. They’re heirlooms, and Celia never went anywhere without them. She wouldn’t just let them fall out and not notice. Celia’s family is rich too. Anyway, that Reena Huffman lady started calling Celia the Diamond Mom. That popped up on the screen every night when she talked about Celia’s disappearance. It’s a play on some old song. ‘Diamond Girl’ or something. And I guess it makes Celia sound rich. The news shows love that stuff.”
    Tabitha’s mouth hung open a little. Her eyes glistened, as though she might cry, as though the story about Celia had happened to someone she knew well. “So how’s your mom?” she asked, her voice a little shaky.
    “She’s doing her best. The first couple of months after Celia disappeared were a disaster for her. She tried to act tough and cool and everything, but I knew it was killing her. You know how parents are. They feel like they have to be strong for us, but it really put her through hell. The media kept bugging her. People looked at her funnyat work or the store, even though she didn’t do anything. She blames herself, you know? She feels guilty about the whole thing.” Jared felt a protective instinct swelling in his chest, some desire to shield his mom from the scorn and the pain and the attention. “It can’t be her fault. After Celia disappeared, her husband told the cops she thought someone was following her.”
    “Really?”
    “Some creep, I guess. But then, how do you prove that? I guess she just felt freaked out a few times when she went places, like a car was following her or something. But maybe she was imagining it. How can anyone know?” He shrugged. “The whole town’s kind of gone crazy, you know? People have bought guns and security systems and dogs. They think a madman is on the loose. Maybe one is. It’s been hard on Mom. I know she thinks about it all the time.”
    “That’s terrible,” Tabitha said, and her voice carried a weight that seemed heavier than her years. “Does everybody think she’s dead?”
    Jared noticed that Tabitha didn’t pull any punches. So many people tiptoed around the topic of death. They said “passed away” or “deceased,” but not Tabitha. She didn’t play coy.
    “I think everyone assumes that,” Jared said. “Once someone has been gone that long, everyone thinks the worst. And maybe