Page 81 of Girl in the Water

The heat and humidity were oppressive, Manaus with its two million inhabitants hopelessly large. Carmen ignored the sweat that rolled down her back, ignored the car exhaust that choked her.

Phil worked the other side of the street. They tried to cover as much territory as possible. The phone number listed went straight to the police, and Gustavo Santos, the detective on the case, had an officer assigned to it. Because of the reward, dozens of calls came in every day, but no real lead so far.

Carmen pushed on.Maybe today.

She trusted Ian Slaney and Daniela Wintermann, the US investigators, hoped beyond hope that they’d be able to find Lila, but she wanted to do absolutely everything that might help.

She taped up the next poster, then the next, bleary-eyed from crying all night and dizzy from lack of sleep. Then she somehow, stupidly, slipped off the curb and twisted her left ankle. She went down with a cry of pain.

Phil was next to her in a moment. “How bad?”

“It’s nothing. A sprain.” But when she tried, she couldn’t put weight on the leg.

He helped her up. “Let’s catch a bus back to See-Love-Aid.”

“We still have all these posters for today.”

“Then you take a cab back, and I’ll keep on with the posters.”

She held his concerned gaze.

She couldn’t go back to their room, to the empty crib. She couldn’t lie there on the bed, looking at Lila’s empty baby bottles on the nightstand. She needed to be doing something. She needed to be doingthis.

Thank God, she didn’t have to say it. Phil nodded as if she had. He turned his back to her and bent his knees. “Piggyback ride. I’ll carry you. You tape the posters.”

Tears gathered in her eyes—a permanent state lately. “I love you.”

Had she ever thought that maybe he wasn’t a strong man, not enough of a warrior? How wrong she’d been. He’d been her rock through this whole ordeal. She couldn’t imagine a stronger man than Phil Heyerdahl.

“I love you too, Carmen.” He moved forward, carrying her easily.

People looked at them askance. But then the onlookers saw the posters she was taping up, and some came over to pat her on the back and wish them luck, others offered prayers.

The spectacle she made on Phil’s back drew attention. Instead of hurrying past them, passersby actually looked more carefully. People were actually checking out the posters.

And Carmen thought,Maybe this will help.

They finished the block, then moved on to the next one.

* * *

Not far behind them, a young woman stopped, her chest tight. Her skin tingled as she read the poster on the side of the bus stop. The photo of a smiling baby was the largest thing on the poster, but the young woman could focus only on the numbers at the bottom of the page.

Ten thousand US dollars.The local currency was right under it, in smaller print:thirty-six thousand reais.

A fortune in Manaus.

She could think of a million ways to spend that money. That much money could save her.

Thirty-six thousand reais.

She chewed the inside of her cheek, shifting from one foot to the other, unable to stay still.Too much.The reward had to be a trap. If she went to the police, they’d put her in jail and keep the money.

She read the poster again.

Before she could read it the third time, the bus rolled up to the curb, huffing and puffing as it stopped. She hurried up the steps. Then the bus was moving again.

Through the window, she kept her eyes on the reward money for as long as she could make out the numbers.