River’s End

.” Because her voice threatened to break, she took a moment. “Please, we have to get through this. For Julie.”
    He bent, rested his brow against hers. Just stood that way for a moment, his body bowed, his hand in hers. “I’ll talk to your mother.”
    “Where are you going, Grandpop? We haven’t finished the puzzle.”
    He glanced back, fighting the tears that wanted to swim into his eyes. “I’ll be back, Livvy love. Don’t grow up while I’m gone.”
    She giggled at that, but her thumb had found its way into her mouth as she stared up at Frank.
    She knew who he was—the policeman with long arms and green eyes. His face looked tired and sad. But she remembered he had a nice voice and gentle hands.
    “Hi, Livvy.” Frank crouched down. “Do you remember me?”
    She nodded and spoke around her thumb. “You’re Frank the policeman. You chased the monster away. Is it coming back?”
    “No.”
    “Can you find my mama? She had to go to heaven and she must be lost. Can you go find her?”
    “I wish I could.” Frank sat on the floor, folded his legs as her grandfather had. Tears welled into her eyes, trembled on her lashes and cut at Frank’s heart like tiny blades. “Is it because she’s a star? Stars have to be in heaven.”
    He heard Jamie’s low sound of despair behind him, quickly controlled as she stepped forward. But he needed the child’s trust now, so he laid a hand on her cheek and went with instinct. “Sometimes, when we’re really lucky, very special stars get to stay with us for a while. When they have to go back, it makes us sad. It’
    s all right to be sad. Did you know the stars are there, even in the daytime?”
    “You can’t see them.”
    “No, but they’re there, and they can see us. Your mother’s always going to be there, looking out for you.”
    “I want her to come home. We’re going to have a party in the garden with my dolls.”
    “Do your dolls like parties?”
    “Everybody likes parties.” She picked up the Kermit she’d brought with her from home. “He eats bugs.”
    “That’s a frog for you. Does he like them plain or with chocolate syrup?”
    Her eyes brightened at that. “I like everything with chocolate syrup. Do you have a little girl?”
    “No, but I have a little boy, and he used to eat bugs.”
    Now she laughed and her thumb popped back out of her mouth. “He did not.”
    “Oh yes. I was afraid he’d turn green and start hopping.” Idly, Frank picked up a puzzle piece, fit it into place. “I like puzzles. That’s why I became a policeman. We work on puzzles all the time.”
    “This is Cinderella at the ball. She has a bea-u-tiful dress and a pumpkin.”
    “Sometimes I work on puzzles in my head, but I need help with the pieces to make the picture in there. Do you think you can help me, Livvy, by telling me about the night I met you?”
    “You came to my closet. I thought you were the monster, but you weren’t.”
    “That’s right. Can you tell me what happened before I came and found you?”
    “I hid there for a long, long time, and he didn’t know where I was.”
    “It’s a good hiding place. Did you play with Kermit that day, or with puzzles?”
    “I played with lots of things. Mama didn’t have to work and we went swimming in the pool. I can hold my breath under the water for an ever, because I’m like a fish.”
    He tugged her hair, peeked at her neck. “Yep, there are the gills.”
    Her eyes went huge. “Mama says she can see them, too! But I can’t.”
    “You like to swim?”
    “It’s the most fun of anything. I have to stay in the little end, and I can’t go in the water unless Mama or Rosa or a big person’s there. But one day I can.”
    “Did you have friends over that day, to play?”
    “Not that day. Sometimes I do.” She pursed her lips and industriously fit another piece of her puzzle into place. “Sometimes Billy or Cherry or Tiffy come, but that day Mama and me played, and we took a nap and we had some cookies Rosa made. And Mama read her script and she laughed and she talked on the phone: ‘Lou, I love it!’ “ Livvy recited in such a smooth and adult tone, Frank blinked at her. “ ‘I am Carly. It’s about damn time I got my teeth into a romantic comedy with wit. Make the deal.’ “
    “Ah . . .” Frank struggled between surprise and admiration while Livvy tried to set another piece of her puzzle in place. “That’s really good. You have a good memory.”
    “Daddy says I’d be a