Seven Days Grace (A Grace Rose Novel Book 1) (43 page)

‘
Alright
,
Grace.
’

‘
As soon as my leg is better
,
I
’
m going to be working in Asia
,
I won
’
t be home much and –
’

She stared into his eyes while every cell in her body vibrated with emotional rawness. She waited for him to explode
,
to throw something
,
to storm out and to have her last memory of him his back. She imagined he would scratch his head and perhaps even thump the wall on his way out.

Instead
,
he pulled her into his arms. Grace let out a cry. He kissed her more intensely than before. She knew this was what was missing in her life yet she couldn
’
t be with him. Her life was in disarray. The kiss was fast and passionate. As quickly as he kissed her it stopped.

‘
I love you
,
Grace. And I forgive you for this
,’
she heard his voice crack.

They were the last words that rang in her ears before the front door shut.

SUNDAY

41

Outside the
television studio of
Sun Up
,
the number-one rated breakfast show in the country
,
people gawked at the hosts through the large windows and some waved at the cameras on the off chance they might be seen on TV. Grace sat on the other side of the windows on a semi-circular couch waiting for the interview to start.

This is nerve-wracking.

It was almost top of the hour and the Sunday morning eight o
’
clock news was moments away. She had received a six o
’
clock early morning wake-up call from Nick who yelled down the phone for Grace to turn the TV on. She obeyed and saw a competitor
’
s show with a breaking news item which was being covered from the dam. She had no doubt the stations would be up early waiting for the first delivery of the morning newspapers and the front page of
The Sydney Star
would have seen them racing. Saturday night
’
s online version had already produced an avalanche of calls from other media.

An exclusive of this magnitude
,
this level of importance to the community was rare. Grace knew it probably wouldn
’
t happen again in her lifetime. It was sheer luck. Or perhaps it was divine intervention.

‘
By the way
,
you mentioned you and Sleen went way back. May I ask how?
’
she had asked Nick on the phone last night.

‘
We were at university together. We both studied journalism. Rich minored in politics and then moved into a political post-graduate honours degree. I knew it couldn
’
t be him. But his media officer? There
’
s a new one for the books.
’

The female host
,
Suzy Black
,
held
The Sydney Star
in her hands and re-read the story. It was damning. Alex Thompson
,
aka The Voice
,
was dead. He had paid the ultimate price for his sins. Johnnie Bugle
,
aka Black Suit
,
had his femur broken when he was shot. He was in hospital with police security posted inside and outside his room. His charges were pending.

‘
We want to get the facts right
,’
Suzy said to Grace.
‘
We
’
ll be starting soon. You ready?
’

Grace took a deep breath.
‘
Yes.
’

It was exactly eight o
’
clock as she glanced up at the monitor inside the studio and saw the news had begun. The first item once again was the breaking news of Alex Thompson. The story within the story was how de Silva
,
although he had participated in the smuggling and selling of the conflict diamonds
,
had been an unfortunate
,
unwilling sidekick and a victim to Alex
’
s apparently well-orchestrated plan. He had been the mule once for Alex
,
a decision he had regretted. Consequently
,
Alex then blackmailed Antonio de Silva into selling the conflict diamonds through his chain of jewellery stores. If he didn
’
t
,
Alex would go to the police and disclose de Silva
’
s previous crime. Mr de Silva felt he had no choice and he was scared. Scared of what would happen to his family should he not be there to provide for them if he was to end up in jail. He was also scared of what Alex would do to him should he not comply. In his fear
,
he didn
’
t stop to think the police would want to know how Alex knew this information.

Grace
’
s nerves were not at the high they usually were when she was about to go on a blind date
,
even though those days were now over
,
however
,
her heartrate was a little elevated and her palms were sweating. She smiled as she remembered the week leading up to uncovering the story and all the meetings
,
research
,
early mornings
,
trial
,
RAAF flight and many other things she had thrown herself into whole heartedly for her to get here as the report on TV began.

The newsreader read:
‘
Alex Thompson
,
the media officer to Environment Minister
,
MP Richard Sleen
,
lost his life yesterday afternoon after the initial opening of Sydney
’
s newest dam at Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park. He allegedly used the dam as a ruse to import conflict diamonds into the country and he used Mr Sleen
’
s identity as the man to blame for the criminal activities. It is also alleged that he blackmailed the now deceased
,
Antonio de Silva
,
to assist him to sell his conflict
,
or what are commonly known as blood diamonds
,
through his many stores across the country as conflict free. The millions of dollars made from the sale of these diamonds are now held by the police before they decide on an appropriate course of action for the funds.
’

A scan of Grace
’
s front-page story appeared in the shot behind the news reader along with two accompanying photographs Kate had taken at the scene. Both pics were of two men on ambulances stretchers. The first one showed a sheet covering the dead body of Alex Thompson and the second was of Black Suit handcuffed.

The newsreader continued as footage from the press conference with Sleen was shown to reinforce her comments:

‘
Minister Sleen held the press conference unaware of the torrent of drama unfolding beneath him. However
,
a journalist from The Sydney Star
,
Grace Rose
,
broke the story after a week of meetings with Alex Thompson
,
who she only ever met when he was in a disguise
,
and who she had nick-named
The Voice. She
’
s here with us this morning to tell us what happened.
’

‘
Grace
,
welcome to
Sunup
,’
Tony Moore
,
the male host said.

‘
Thank you. It
’
s great to be here and a little overwhelming.
’

‘
This is a doozy of a story. How did you get involved?
’
he asked.

‘
I met The Voice
,
or should I say Alex
,
at dawn on Monday morning for a meeting and he gave me the first pieces of information for me to read through. I soon realised there was a large amount to sort out
,
although
,
various items pointed to Minister Sleen and that he may have been involved in criminal activities.
’

‘
How clandestine
,’
Suzy commented.

‘
It was all quite secretive and intriguing. We had a couple more meetings and on each occasion he gave me more evidence. I did have the help of friends and colleagues along the way. In all fairness
,
it wasn
’
t a one-woman show.
’

‘
And you were one of the people in the Ferris wheel accident at Luna Park on Friday?
’
Tony asked.

‘
Yes
,
that was my fourth time of seeing The Voice. Sorry
,
it
’
s hard for me to call him by his real name. It
’
s been a huge week. Anyway
,
he had given me three packages of information already and we were having a final
‘
talk
’
to figure out what was going on
,’
Grace used her first two fingers on each hand to make quotation marks for
‘
talk
’
.

‘
No doubt you
’
ve been through a lot. What do you mean by packages?
’

‘
Each time he would give me large amounts of information on a memory stick. Letters
,
photographs
,
maps
,
bank statements and so on. Each time he handed them to me in a small package along with a note.
’

‘
And you now have these as evidence?
’

Grace smirked.
‘
I
’
ve guarded them with my life.
’

Suzy let out small chuff of agreement.
‘
I think I
’
d do the same thing. And it was this information that made it look like Minister Sleen was the organiser behind the smuggling of the blood diamonds into Australia?
’

‘
Exactly. And he almost got away with it. It
’
s a shame people use their cleverness for such evil instead of good.
’

‘
I agree
,’
Tony said.
‘
And now a broken leg for you
,
Grace?
’

‘
Yes
,
however
,
I
’
m here to tell the story and I
’
m thankful for my life. The leg will heal.
’

‘
Along with the emotional scars of being hung over a dam wall and consequently falling down the spillway?
’

‘
Eventually
,’
she half smiled.

‘
Sounds like you deserve a long rest
,’
Suzy said and then spoke into the camera yet continued to address Grace.
‘
And as we
’
ve now seen
,
it all came to a head yesterday afternoon at the new Ku-ring-gai Dam with Alex Thompson actually admitting his guilt?
’

‘
It sounds crazy
,
doesn
’
t it? It was all about the timing. He entered the conversation when we were talking about Minister Sleen but he mistakenly thought we were talking about him. It was an unexpected yet satisfying moment.
’

‘
It must have been a shock to you after all the meetings and believing Minister Sleen was the orchestrator of the embezzling?
’
Suzy asked.

‘
It was one of those a-ha moments when every piece falls into perfect place and it all makes sense in an instant. Yes
,
I was shocked and I wondered why I didn
’
t see through the lies. It
’
s all about the experience which won
’
t be forgotten. Our small team launched into action after The Voice accidentally revealed himself
,
and as they say
,
the rest is history.
’

‘
Grace
,
congratulations on uncovering a story I would imagine doesn
’
t come along often in a journalist
’
s career. I can honestly say I haven
’
t ever been involved in anything as enthralling as your story. Well done
,’
Tony said.

‘
Thank you.
’

‘
Grace
,
would you say uncovering this story and everything you
’
ve been through in the past week has been worth it?
’
Suzy asked.

‘
It
’
s easy to say now it
’
s all over
,
Suzy
,
and hindsight is a wise teacher. However
,
I would still say
,
yes
,
it was worth it. We
’
ve stopped one criminal ring of activity and now the hope is governments and international police can do something about saving the lives of other children who are trapped in these unbearable situations.
’