THE RIVER 

By Tessa Harvey


    Doctor Harper had negotiated a break for the family while they dressed and readied themselves for the day.
    After her shock of seeing police once again in the house, Blue had perked up, thrilled at the idea of visitors.
    Elizabeth had begun to realise just how much she had confined the children.
    Joshua had prepared warm drinks and toast in the cosy kitchen, sunlight shining on copper pans hanging in an irregular row near the stove.
    The smell of toast softened the expressions on the faces of the police. They had been told improbable tales of the recluse in the woods.
    Over coffee the sergeant asked Joe about the necklace. "I found it in the gutter," he hesitantly explained, "Brian was with me." He smiled at the memory. "He teased me asking me if it was for my girlfriend." 
    His aunt looked at him a little sharply and he flushed. "I'm sixteen, Auntie, not six anymore. It's my life."
    Blue's clear voice cut through the air. "You can have the necklace and go away and catch those men that hurt my brother. You see, he nearly died. Joe is all I have now!"
    So much for my worth, Elizabeth thought, looking at the young girl with her silky white blond hair and eyes the colour of blue cornflowers. How like her mother she is growing, she mused, remembering how much her son Paul had loved beautiful Danni, his princess. Not for the first time she questioned why their God had taken them from the children in that terrible car accident.

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