Seven Days Grace (A Grace Rose Novel Book 1) (36 page)

‘
I
’
m fine
,
thank you
,’
she said without any malice.

Jock led them into a room twice the size of a shipping container which was ensconced in concrete and housed an array of computer equipment.

‘
What does it all do?
’
Jake asked.

‘
What doesn
’
t it do?
’
Jock stated without waiting for an answer.
‘
Anything you can think of or want to know about the operation of the dam and its security
,
it
’
ll tell you. Where would you like to start?
’

‘
Show us some security video footage
,’
Jake said.

Jock walked over to a desk housing at least fifteen different screens showing running footage of each camera
’
s designated area.
‘
This is the spillway
,
you can see the water running down from when they turned it on earlier. It can go faster or slower but that part is controlled by a different computer over there
,’
he pointed to another section within the windowless room.

‘
What about past footage?
’
Grace asked.

‘
You type in the date and time of when you would like to see footage
,
nominate the numbered camera you want to see it from and voila.
’

‘
I
’
m going on a hunch here
,
Grace. When do you think the last time Sleen was here apart from today?
’
Jake asked.

‘
He would have been here conducting visits of the site regularly. Small stories have appeared in the news for the past few months leading up to today. I
’
m sure he would have made a visit during the week
,
checking it out before the opening. At the least
,
a staff member would have visited.
’

‘
I
’
ll run through the footage from Monday till today. If you
’
re not in a hurry you might find something you
’
re looking for
,’
Jock glanced at them for approval and got it.
‘
Take a seat here.
’

Grace and Jake sat down at the console as their helpful assistant punched numbers into the system and the video rolled. She marvelled at Jock
’
s work ethic compared to his attitude to women. She was thankful for the relief from standing on one foot though she didn
’
t verbalise her gratitude. The video was about ten times the normal pace. When it came to night shots
,
Jock sped it up even more as there was little to see and no-one had access to the site at that point anyway.

‘
Stop
,’
Grace said.

Jock hit pause on the video.

There were two men with their backs to the camera though their profiles were visible. The larger man had one of his pant legs pulled up and his foot rested on a fence.

‘
It
’
s Sleen
,’
Jake said.

‘
No
,
wait
,’
Grace said.

‘
What?
’

‘
I think it
’
s The Voice
,’
she said.
‘
I need a close up of his ankle area.
’

‘
Perhaps this guy
’
s your type. You have a thing about healthy ankles now you
’
ve hurt yours?
’
Jock asked.

‘
Jock
,
give it up
,’
Jake silenced him.

‘
There you go
,’
Jock said as he zoomed in on the requested area and they all saw loud
,
colourful socks between his pant leg and shoe.

‘
See those socks? The Voice was wearing colourful socks on two of the occasions I met with him. On Wednesday morning we had a coffee at the hotel by the harbour and he pulled his pants up a little to sit down
,
I noticed them then. I didn
’
t think much of it except there I was with this person in a disguise who wore loud socks. It didn
’
t make sense considering he was dressed all in black. And on the Ferris wheel
,
yet again
,
he had another pair of bright socks on
,
full of a kaleidoscope of colours. Anyway
,
at our first meeting in the greenhouse
,
I didn
’
t notice as he was standing up.
’

‘
Can you pull back a little
,
Jock
,
and rewind a bit? I want to see it from when they first meet. Any audio?
’
Jake asked.

‘
No
,
unfortunately
,’
Jock rewound the tape.

‘
It
’
s de Silva
,’
Grace said.
‘
When was this?
’

‘
This past Tuesday at dusk
,’
Jock said.

‘
Jake
,
that was the day after de Silva
’
s trial
,’
Grace said.
‘
I interviewed him at his home on the same Tuesday
,
first thing in the morning. Remember how I told you he said
,
‘
I
’
ll see you on the other side
’
. It was surreal. Then the next morning he was found dead which would have been after his meeting with The Voice here. He knew something was going to happen to him and he did nothing to stop it
,’
she sighed.
‘
There
’
s no way this can be a coincidence.
’

‘
I agree. And from a distance The Voice looks like Sleen
,
especially in the disguise. I thought I was following Sleen
,’
Jake said.

‘
If I
’
d have known you were following me and you told me what you were up to
,
you would have known the guy
’
s a lot younger than Sleen. It couldn
’
t have been him
,’
Grace said.

‘
We can get into it now
,
if you want
,
or we can keep watching. Your call.
’

She turned her face to the screen
,
frustrated she couldn
’
t control her temper yet still annoyed at this man beside her who she felt played with her emotions. They observed the two men who appeared to be in light conversation. After a couple of minutes The Voice handed a small item to de Silva. They scrutinised this section of the video over and over again to be sure of what they witnessed.

‘
What could it be?
’
Grace asked. Her eyes flitted around as she put the pieces together in her mind.
‘
Could it have anything to do with the payments in Sleen
’
s bank account? De Silva was up on charges for embezzling
,
remember? Perhaps it
’
s something to do with his business.
’

‘
This is the missing information we
’
ve been trying to track down for months. Is The Voice simply working for Sleen and passing on the goods? Does he know the extent of what he
’
s involved in?
’
Jake asked
,
more thinking it through than questioning Grace.

‘
It makes sense. Then The Voice has been right all along. Sleen
’
s corrupt and at the top of this crime syndicate and he
’
s using The Voice to pass on goods to Antonio. It
’
s a small package and as Antonio owns jewellery shops
,
I think we can surmise that they are valuable stones that will be made into jewellery. What do you think?
’
Grace asked.

‘
I
’
ll be over here doing some work while you two figure out whatever it is you have to figure out
,’
Jock said.

‘
Grace
,
have you heard of blood diamonds? It
’
s big money
,’
Jake asked.

‘
No
,
I don
’
t think so
,’
Grace said.

‘
Children in Africa are forced to work in diamond mines
,
basically it
’
s a child labour situation
,
and then the diamonds are distributed around the world and passed off as conflict-free. They
’
re less expensive because the labour is either free or poorly paid – we
’
re talking one dollar per day or less. They work in appalling conditions and have often been stolen from their parents and forced into a drug-addicted life. This is how they control them to prevent them from escaping. Or the parents see the immediate need of food and clothing
,
not education for their children
,
andthey send them to the mines to work
.
‘

Jake continued
.
‘
If de Silva
’
s was accepting these diamonds
,
he would have been selling them at normal prices
,
thereby making a bigger margin. It
’
s a complex system and these guys have an intricate network of people behind it who cover their tracks.
’

‘
Why didn
’
t you tell me all this before?
’

‘
I tried. You didn
’
t want to talk to m
e
.
’

‘
You should have tried harder.
’

‘
You walked out on me
,
you didn
’
t want to hear anything I had to say
,
remember? I tried harder than anyone I can think of and I
’
m trying to tell you now and you
’
re still arguing. Grace
,
you are going to make my head explode if you don
’
t give me a break. This is a case I
’
ve been on for a long time. There
’
s a lot more at stake here than your story.
’

He was right. She needed to give him a break
.
‘
It
’
s sounding more and more like de Silva
’
s the one being used here. I don
’
t know. There are still pieces that don
’
t fit. What do you think?
’
she said in a calm voice.

‘
He was a gem and diamond merchant though he was only caught smuggling diamonds. Yet
,
the video shows The Voice passing the package on to de Silva not the other way around. What is it we
’
re not getting here?
’
He thumped the desk.

‘
This is frustrating. I
’
m going back over the week and search my mental files to see if there
’
s something I
’
ve forgotten to tell you.
’
They sat quietly for a short while.
‘
Sorry to say I can
’
t think of anything
,’
she was making an effort to play fair.