River’s End

and her hands pressed to her ears.
    JULIE’S CHILD, ONLY WITNESS TO MOTHER’S SLAYING
    She shook her head in denial, ripping quickly through the pages now. There, another face that awakened memories. His name was Frank, she thought. He chased the monster away. He had a little boy and he’d liked puzzles.
    A policeman. Soft, hunted sounds trembled in her throat. He’d carried her out of the house, the house where the monster had come. Where all the blood was. Because her mother was dead. Her mother was dead. She knew that, of course she knew that. But we don’t talk about it, she reminded herself, we never talk about it because it makes Grandma cry.
    She ordered herself to close the book, to put it all away again, back in the chest, back in the dark. But she was already turning the pages, searching the words and pictures.
    Drugs. Jealousy. Obsession.
    Tanner Confesses!
    Tanner Retracts Confession. Proclaims His Innocence.
    Four-Year-Old Daughter Chief Witness.
    The Tanner trial took one more dramatic turn today as the videotaped testimony of Tanner’s daughter, four-year-old Olivia, was introduced. The child was questioned in the home of her maternal aunt, Jamie Melbourne, and videotaped with permission of her grandparents, acting as guardians. Previously Judge Sato ruled that the taped statement could be introduced as evidence, sparing the minor the trauma of a court appearance.
    She remembered, she remembered it all now. They’d sat in Aunt Jamie’s living room. Her grandparents had been there, too. A woman with red hair and a soft voice had asked her questions about the night the monster had come. Grandma had promised it would be the last time she would have to talk about it, the very last time. And it was.
    The woman had listened and asked more questions. Then a man had talked to her, a man with a careful smile and careful eyes. She’d thought since it was the last time, she’d be able to go back home. That it would all go away.
    But she’d come to Washington instead, to the big house in the forest. Now, she knew why.
    Olivia turned more pages, narrowed her eyes against tears until they were stinging dry. And with her jaw tight and her eyes clear, read another flurry of headlines. 
    sam tanner convicted
    guilty! jury convicts tanner
    tanner sentenced to life
    “You killed my mother, you bastard.” She said it with all the hate a young girl could muster. “I hope you’re dead, too. I hope you died screaming.”
    With steady hands, she closed the book, carefully replaced it along with the others in the chest. She shut the lid, then rose to go turn off the lights. She walked down the stairs, through the empty house to the back porch.
    Sitting there, she stared out into the rain.
    She didn’t understand how she could have buried everything that had happened, how she could have locked it up the way her grandmother locked the boxes and books in the chest.
    But she knew she wouldn’t do so again. She would remember, always. And she would find out more, find out everything she could about the night her mother died, about the trial, about her father.
    She understood she couldn’t ask her family. They thought she was still a child, one who needed to be protected. But they were wrong. She’d never be a child again. She heard the sound of the Jeep rumbling up the lane through the rain. Olivia closed her eyes and concentrated. A part of her hardened, then wondered if she’d inherited acting skills from either of her parents. She tucked the hate, the grief and the anger into a corner of her heart. Sealed it inside.
    Then she stood up, a smile ready for her grandmother when the Jeep braked at the end of the drive.
    “Just who I wanted to see.” Val tossed up the hood of her jacket as she stepped out of the Jeep. “We’re loaded here, Livvy. Get a jacket and give me a hand, will you?”
    “I don’t need a jacket. I won’t melt.” She stepped out into the rain. The steady drum of it was a comfort. “Are we having spaghetti and meatballs for dinner?”
    “For Jamie’s first night home?” Val laughed and passed Olivia a grocery bag. “What else?”
    “I’d like to make it.” Olivia shifted the bag, then reached in for another.
    “You—really?”
    Olivia jerked a shoulder and headed into the house. The door slapped shut behind her, then opened again as Val pushed in with more bags. “What brought this on? You always say cooking is boring.”
    That had been when she’d been a kid, Olivia