Read River of Secrets for Free Online

station. Although the town was small, it had a good number of officers on the force to fight the drug-smuggling trade that was popular along the one thousand miles of coastland where Tefe and other cities connected to the Amazon.
    Amy climbed out of the jeep and slammed the door. She walked up the three wooden steps that led to the front door of the police station and pushed her way inside. Standing in the entrance, she scanned the place, taking in the details. She could see several metal desks, telephones, an open door leading to the cells in the back. Then she spotted the Missing posters on the wall next to the Wanted Persons. And there was her mother—thirty years ago, listed as a missing person. Amy felt her heart clench, nausea swirled and she fought it down. The black-and-white picture was grainy and faded, but Amy had no doubt who the young girl was. Sold into prostitution at the age of fifteen. By Amy’s uncle, Raphael Morales. Anger bubbled unexpectedly inside Amy.
    “What a legacy you two left,” she spat.
    “Excuse me?” a voice asked in heavily accented English.
    Amy whirled around and found herself staring at a uniform. She let her eyes travel up…and up. The man before her stood at least six feet five inches tall. Stepping back, she swallowed hard and somehow managed a smile.
    She held out a hand. “Hello, I’m Amy Graham. I’m new to Tefe and just thought I would familiarize myself with the city.”
    Black eyes narrowed, suspicion glinted, but he held out his hand and engulfed hers. In a lilting Portuguese accent, he asked, “What may I do to help you, Ms. Graham?”
    Taking her hand back, Amy cleared her throat, “Please, call me Amy. I…was just looking over your posters.”
    “I am David Ruibero, the chief of police for the town of Tefe. Now what kind of interest would you have in my posters?” Not a lot of people outside of the orphanage spoke English. Or Spanish. Portuguese was definitely the language to know around here. She’d had Cassidy tutor her before leaving the States and she’d listened to her language CDs on the plane, but if she had to carry on a full-fledged adult conversation, she’d be in trouble.
    “That one,” she blurted. Cassidy had described Maria to perfection. The woman was wanted for harboring fugitives, rebels, murderers, slave traffickers. Amy looked for a name at the bottom of the poster, but it had faded and she couldn’t make it out. The picture, though, was pretty clear. Maria’s thick, brown face looked black in the picture; her eyes were cold stones in a face that looked as if it had been made to be wreathed in dimpled smiles. But no smiles showed here. Her lips stretched tight and flat across her face and her nose looked as if it had been broken once. But she’d protected Cassidy from her kidnappers. That told Amy that there was the possibility of goodness somewhere under all that hardness and hate. She hoped. “Who is she?”
    Suspicion remained in the dark eyes, and he hesitated before answering, “Maria Morales. Why?”
    Amy gasped, and the room spun. “Morales?” she squeaked.
    “Here, sit down. Now, why does that name shock you?”
    She slumped into the offered seat and buried her face in her hands. Would the nightmare never end? Would every member of her family that she found turn out to be evil?
    David Ruibero had the appearance of a gentle giant, yet Amy wouldn’t want to cross him in a back alley. She had a feeling his softness was all a cover, that he could strike as quick as a snake. Intelligence gleamed in his black eyes. No way was she telling this man that the woman on the wall was her maternal grandmother. “Um, no reason. I think my blood sugar’s a bit low.” She brushed aside his interest in her shock and asked, “Do you know where she is? Have you found her?”
    David Ruibero sat back and studied her. “You have your reasons for asking?”
    Amy sighed. The man was too shrewd, and she knew her face was an open book. “Yes, I