Seven Days Grace (A Grace Rose Novel Book 1) (37 page)

‘
Grace
,
we caught a break at the trial the other day when it was adjourned. We needed to follow de Silva to find out who else was involved in this con. We had a few leads but not many. He was one of them. When we traced his phone calls to the Minister
’
s office
,
we thought it was him who was behind it. The calls all landed on Sleen
’
s private line. Yesterday I went on a fact-finding mission at his office though I didn
’
t get too far as I didn
’
t have a warrant. Plus
,
the trail of diamonds was greater than one mule. And we didn
’
t factor in de Silva dying.
’

‘
He told me he was guilty.
’

‘
When?
’

‘
He told me the morning I interviewed him. I wasn
’
t sure whether to believe him because he
’
d been drinking heavily.
’

‘
What did you do with the information?
’

‘
Nothing substantial. I wrote a story up after speaking with de Silva
’
s lawyer. There are all sorts of lawyer/client confidentiality breaches. Then after much talking with Nick
,
we decided it wouldn
’
t be wise to run the story
,
at least not yet. And as I said
,
de Silva was drunk. Who knows if he meant to tell me what he did? I
’
m not sure what Nick
’
s done with the story since he fired me.
’

‘
Hey
,’
Jock said in a sharp tone as he tilted his head several times towards the door.

They turned to see The Voice and Black Suit standing in the doorway.

‘
Why did you do it
,
Alex?
’
Jake asked The Voice.

An awkward
,
lengthy silence followed. The Voice and Black Suit were like two kangaroos caught in headlights on a dark
,
country road as they stared at the two sitting at the video console. Even the air in the room was stiller than still.

‘
You couldn
’
t possibly think Sleen was intelligent enough to conceive an intricate plan as fail proof as this one
,
could you? It has taken months of preparation. Only someone with a tremendously high IQ could pull off such a genius idea. And that
’
s me. Sleen
’
s the ruse
,
a mere puppet. He has no idea what
’
s going on and he
’
s far too soft to be a politician
,’
The Voice said.

Grace and Jake looked at each other as the final piece of the puzzle locked into its place. Grace noticed Jake was more than calm. He
’
d no doubt been trained for such disclosures. However
,
it was impossible for Grace to hide her shock. After an arduous week
,
The Voice had made his confession. Grace was hit with the reality of how she had been duped into being his pawn.

‘
You are a liar
,’
she stood up and limped towards him.
‘
You convinced us Sleen was the corrupt one. You said he was lower than the scum on the bottom of the harbour
,
you did
,
you said that. Why didn
’
t I see it? I should have known.
’

‘
Grace
,’
Jake said.
‘
Take it easy.
’

Black Suit pulled his gun out and aimed it at Grace.

‘
Take it easy? If I had a gun I
’
d shoot him for trying to push me in the harbour on Monday morning
,’
she said to Black Suit. Then she addressed The Voice again.
‘
You scumbag
,
you low life
,
you
,
you
,
you slimy toad. How dare you bring me into your warped sense of justice? The plan was what? To have me write the story revealing Sleen was behind it
,
he takes the fall and you get off looking more angelic than Mother Teresa? You used me.
’
Grace was on a roll now.
‘
Why
’
d you kill Antonio? And I
’
m guessing you tried to kill me with whoever was driving the Hummer?
’

‘
He was meant to scare you
,
nothing more
,’
he said to Grace
,
almost showing a sprinkling of remorse for his actions. Then to Black Suit
,
‘
I told you not to take it too far
,
idiot.
’

‘
I knew it was you
,’
Grace said to Black Suit.

‘
And I suppose he was the one who tried to push me into the harbour on Monday morning
,
too?
’

‘
He was meant to frighten you a little
,’
The Voice said.

‘
Too bad
,’
Black Suit said.

‘
Antonio?
’
Grace asked.

‘
He was about to confess the whole deal. I couldn
’
t have him talking
,’
The Voice said.

‘
Crow?
’

‘
Another scare that did not go according to plan. It
’
s hard to get good help
,’
he said as he looked at Black Suit.

‘
You were the one on the audio CD
,’
Jake said to Black Suit.
‘
I knew I knew that voice.
’

‘
You all think you
’
re so clever
,’
The Voice said then nodded to Black Suit.

‘
What? He
’
s going to shoot me now? He was only meant to scare me in the accident but now you
’
re good with him killing me?
’
Grace asked.

‘
What choice do I have?
’

‘
Let me see if I have this right. You
’
re going to kill me along with these two men. One of them just happens to be a cop. Five murders will see you in a jail for the rest of your natural born days.
’

‘
I
’
m not going to jail. I
’
ll leave you three lying here and then I
’
m off to spend my days far from here in the most private
,
pristine
,
tropical location in the world.
’

Grace prolonged the inevitable then said with a snarl
,
‘
How cliché. So
,
you
’
re smuggling child-labour diamonds into the country
,
selling them at a premium and passing them off as conflict-free. You
’
re making a fortune off untold numbers of innocent lives.
’

‘
Don
’
t bore me with your western world let-me-appease-my-conscious and help-those-who-are-needy attitude. You
’
re as bad as the rest of us. Who makes your clothes? What about your shoes? You
’
re part of this corrupt system
,
too. You
’
re no better than me.
’

‘
Then why give me the information if you
’
re not doing anything wrong? Why set Sleen up to take the fall for you? I
’
m such a sap for believing you.
’

‘
Sweetheart
,
someone
’
s gotta take the fall and it ain
’
t going to be me.
’

‘
I see. So
,
the way you see it is that Sleen is responsible for all of this gem and diamond smuggling? At our first meeting you said you wanted to stop the lives of thousands of innocent children having their childhoods stolen from them or words to that effect. And that many have died. Do you mean children die in these diamond mines?
’

‘
Grace
,
you are holier than thou
,
aren
’
t you? I couldn
’
t have picked a bigger sucker to fall for poor
,
little children in third-world countries than you.
’

‘
Why? Why would you do something like this? Was it just for the money?
’

‘
It should
’
ve been me
,
you know. I should
’
ve had Sleen
’
s job. It was meant for me. Constantly in the background
,
constantly making someone else look good
,
constantly doing the hard work yet getting none of the recognition
,’
The Voice said.

‘
What are you talking about?
’
Grace said.

The Voice was looking at the ground and a hushed quiet descended on the room. It was like watching a ticking bomb.
‘
It was a few times to begin with and it was easy
,
oh
,
so easy. It
’
s staggering how many are willing to be in on it. Then it snowballed and before anyone knew
,
it was part of our everyday routines. And there was all this money
,
mountains of money.
’

‘
You are completely unhinged
,
beyond evil. Their blood will be on your hands.
’

‘
And don
’
t forget the women who wear these diamonds
,
it
’
ll be on their hands
,
too.
’
He laughed as he threw back his head.

‘
They think they are supporting Fair Trade and buying conflict-free stones. You even changed the name on the bank accounts to look like Sleen
’
s accounts when no doubt they
’
re actually in your name and you now have the funds to escape to your island paradise. How does it work for you from here?
’

‘
E
nough! Women. They don
’
t know when to stop.
’

‘
And I thought Sleen was using you. You were the one using him. A barbarian has more class than you.
’

Black Suit fired a shot near Grace
’
s feet.

Jake caught her as she jumped to the side. He steadied Grace on her good foot
,
pulled his gun out of its holster and aimed it at Black Suit. Black Suit pointed his gun at Jake.

‘
Chill out
,
Jake
,’
The Voice said.

‘
What is going on here?
’
Jock asked.

Everyone in the room turned to Jock and stared at him. He went mute.

‘
What
’
s the great mastermind
’
s plan now?
’
Jake asked.

‘
Now I expect you all to die
,’
The Voice said.

Grace was shaking.
‘
You won
’
t get away with it.
’