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two black rubber flip-flops and sunglasses with a Band-Aid wrapped around one of the broken stems.
    I clutched the edge of the table.
    “Did you ever see Otis wearing these, Brodie?” Raoul asked gently.
    I shook my head, but just a little in case it would roll off my neck. I didn’t want to watch as he undid the yellow towel. A lipstick tumbled out and spun across the table. Alex caught it just as it was about to drop on the rug. There were sunglasses with pink frames, a comb, and a small round mirror that had a unicorn painted on the back. There was one pink flip-flop with a rubberflower where the thongs joined.
    Raoul held it while he shook out the towel. “Where’s the other one?”
    “It must have fallen out,” Dad said. “When whoever found the stuff was carrying it.”
    “And you have no idea who that was? Or why they brought the towels here?” Raoul was looking at me.
    “I expect someone thought they belonged to the boys,” Dad told him. “And they left them outside so they wouldn’t intrude today.”
    Raoul nodded. “That’s probably it. I wonder how we missed them?”
    Mom reached down and lifted the small pink flip-flop. Tears trickled down her face. “Poor little girl,” she whispered. “I saw her often, flip-flopping along to the river. She’d have these on, and her swimsuit, with her towel wrapped like a sarong around her waist….” She looked up at us and cradled the flip-flop against her chest. “She had such pretty hair,” Mom said dreamily. “And it would bounce on her shoulders, sort of flip-flopping too. Her poor, poor mother.”
    “Sh, love.” Dad put his arms around her.
    There was an ache inside of me and I wassnuffling too. I wiped my nose on my pajama sleeve.
    “You didn’t see these towels on the beach?” Raoul asked Alex.
    Alex shook his head. “Best in the West, the newspaperman who came, asked us about what we saw. We didn’t see much.”
    Raoul frowned. “Doesn’t take those newspaper guys long. There’s a swarm of them down at the river, like gulls waiting for fish guts.”
    “I’ve been thinking,” Alex said. “Maybe they hid the towels somewhere…Otis and Pauline…in case somebody ripped them off. Like maybe they stuffed them in a hole. And that’s why the cops…I mean the officers…didn’t find them right off. And then somebody did, and thought they were ours.” Alex looked unblinkingly at Raoul.
    “Could be,” Raoul said. “And that’s why they’re so dirty. It would have to be someone who’s out there awful early, and why so secretive?”
    We watched as he put the two bundles back together. “I don’t think I’ll take these to the families just yet. They have enough on their minds.”
    “Will the search go on all night?” Dad asked. “I’d like to help.”
    “I don’t think it will. They’ll call it off as soon as they reach the falls. If he isn’t found in the next couple of hours …” Raoul paused. “We’ll keep the helicopters up. And the boats won’t come in. But if he went over the falls …” Raoul’s lips were pressed into a tight line.
    Otis would be over the falls already. Smashed to pieces on the rocks below. There was a whirlpool, too. I’d seen a drowned dog caught in that once, round and round and round and round. I was cold and sick and started to shake.
    “Brodie! I’m sorry, son,” Raoul said. “You don’t need to be thinking about this now.” He sighed. “It’s a horrible thing all right. I’ll be back in the morning to take those statements after you’ve had a good night’s sleep.”
    “Is it necessary, Raoul?” Dad asked. “To make them go over it all again? I don’t think they have anything to add.”
    “It’s routine, David. I’ll make it short. But we need closure, for the sake of the families.” Raoul picked up the two bundles. “Do you have a bag I could put these in, Jenny? I don’t wantto just carry them, visible like this.”
    “I’ll get one,” Mom said.
    “We’re