Seven Days Grace (A Grace Rose Novel Book 1) (2 page)

MONDAY
Earlier That Week

1

Her phon
e
released a piercing noise into the stillness of the café. It startled her out of her daydream and she looked around to see if anyone had noticed. She wanted to remain as inconspicuous as possible though could not think why she felt on edge. At this unholy hour there were only a few brave patrons waiting for their morning concoctions to bring them to life and they stared at her when her phone rang. She swiped the on button and held her mobile to her ear without greeting the caller.

‘
Meet me in the Botanical Gardens. There
’
s a greenhouse
,
the native plants one. The sun
’
s almost up
,
there
’
s no time
,
hurry
,’
the voice on the other end said then hung up before she had a chance to speak.

Grace rushed out of JJ
’
s Cafe
,
wrapped her scarf around her neck and broke into a jog. She ran towards Circular Quay and watched her breath turn to steam as it hit the cool morning air. She stopped
,
remembered a short cut through the city
,
made a right-hand turn through the high-rise buildings and with five minutes to go before her six o
’
clock meeting
,
entered the gardens enshrouded in a light mist and spotted the native greenhouse. The ground felt soft underfoot.

As she walked around the outside of it she wondered what excitement awaited her when suddenly a figure cloaked in a long
,
dark raincoat appeared out of the fogginess and pulled her inside. Grace let out a small squeal.

‘
What is going on? What
’
s all this cloak and dagger business?
’
she asked. She stared up at him
,
burning holes into his shaded eyes as she struggled to break free of his grasp.

‘
You
’
re hurting my arms
,’
she said.

‘
Sorry
,
sorry.
’
He let her go.

She surveyed the man from head to foot. The tall man wore a suit beneath his black raincoat. The whole outfit appeared two sizes too big for him. He hid under a black
,
baseball cap and was camouflaged behind an accompanying black scarf. He fashioned the latest black sunglasses
,
tufts of dark hair peeked from under his cap and what was that? A fake
,
black moustache?

I have a live one here.

He held her again by the arms and even though he did it with more gentleness this time
,
she noticed the man was strongly built. She presumed he was also the voice on the other end of the phone last night who had called her to set up this meeting. She smelt his breath of garlic and spices and wondered what he
’
d had for dinner the night before. He looked into her eyes through his sunglasses. 

Grace was about to make a joke about the sun not being up in the greenhouse when she thought better of it. She managed to wriggle free of his grasp.
‘
Who are you?
’

‘
I
’
m someone who is trying to stop the lives of thousands of innocent children having their childhoods stolen. So many have already died. I
’
ll contact you again soon.
’
He handed her a package small enough to fit in her jacket pocket and removed the heavy-rimmed sunglasses that covered half his face. His eyes were warm and kind.
‘
Listen to me. Be careful and please don
’
t tell anybody about this meeting.
’

‘
Why me?
’

‘
Let
’
s say I trust you and I can
’
t say that about more than a handful of media.
’

‘
Why should I help you?
’

‘
Because if you do I
’
ll help you land your dream job.
’

How does he know about my dreams?
The man had turned into Goliath. She gazed up into his hazel eyes. Those gentle eyes belied his roughly assembled disguise yet the seriousness of this stranger was contagious. Coupled with his sombre presence
,
Grace chose to remain silent.
This is not a time for wisecracks.

He spoke fast.
‘
I repeat
,
don
’
t tell anyone about this and stay alert. Your life could be in danger.
’

Grace found the graveness of the situation hard to comprehend. Nevertheless
,
in his presence she nodded her acceptance. In one swift movement
,
he replaced his sunglasses
,
pulled the scarf up over his chin and left via a different door than the one he had dragged her through not a minute ago. The stranger
,
and his voice
,
was a memory.

That was different.

‘
Remember
,
tell no-one
,’
he said as he reappeared behind Grace giving her a start. He wrapped the oversized coat around him
,
threw up the collar and disappeared into the rising mist. It was so quick she wondered whether she had imagined his return. Grace looked around
,
closed her mouth and composed herself.

She stood dumb struck in the greenhouse. Out of the corner of her eye she saw movement. It was a gardener beginning his morning ritual in a far corner.

Has he been here all the time? I wonder what he heard.

She heeded the stranger
’
s advice
,
chose to be cautious and ran home at faster than her usual jogging pace. She chose a different route than the one she had taken on the way into the city a short time ago
,
already alert to what possible dangers she may have allowed into her life because of the contents of what was contained within the small package in her pocket.

The rain sprinkled her path. After thirty seconds into her jog along the picturesque harbour path
,
a man in a black suit grabbed her from behind. He pushed her towards the sandstone fence that separated the path from the harbour foreshore.

‘
What are you doing? Stop it
,’
Grace said.

‘
Shut up
,
you stupid woman
,’
he said in a gruff whisper against her ear as he smothered her mouth with his hand and forced her onto the wide fence.

He tried to throw her into the water but Grace ripped off his hand and screamed
,
‘
Help
,
help me
,
please
,
someone.
’

The two continued to wrestle on top of the stonework barricade until another jogger ran to Grace
’
s rescue. As soon as the stocky man with rough hands saw the other guy approach
,
he let go of Grace and dashed away.

‘
You okay
,
Miss?
’
the jogger asked.

‘
I think I
’
m okay. Did you see where he came from?
’
Grace frisked her body to check for signs of injury.

‘
No
,
sorry. Will you be alright?
’

‘
Yes
,
fine
,
thank you
,’
she sighed.
‘
It gave me a fright but I
’
ll be okay.
’
Already she knew this had something to do with the package she carried.

‘
Lady
,
I don
’
t know you but even dumped boyfriends shouldn
’
t attack nice-looking women.
’

‘
He
’
s not my boyfriend
,
he
’
s a thug.
’
As if.
She was grateful a fellow jogger had been there to help.
‘
Thanks.
’

‘
Take care
,
lady.
’

That was scary.
Why didn
’
t you say no to the man on the phone last night
,
Grace? What were you thinking? This guy could be a lunatic and your life is obviously in danger already.
She didn
’
t know the first thing about this nameless man in his clumsy outfit. Why did she go? Why was she willing and available at a moment
’
s notice? The thrill of breaking a big story? And was it serious enough to back it up by sending a man in a suit to attack her?

She resumed her run back to her home.

2

He watche
d
her through binoculars from inside his tinted-windowed van. It wasn
’
t her he had come to monitor and the sight of her created mixed feelings in the depths of his stomach. How could she be involved in his investigation? What was she doing here? He waited a few moments to see if she could fight off her attacker. This was not part of his routine surveillance and his mind wrestled with his heart as he reached for the sliding door handle. With one eye still surveying the scene in front of him
,
he stopped. Someone had come to her rescue. His chest collapsed with relief. He gazed at her as she thanked her Good Samaritan and then dashed off. He wanted to chase after her
,
make sure she was unscathed yet he remained fused to his seat.

3

As soo
n
as the front door shut behind her she locked it
,
at last she felt safe in her own home. Grace pulled out the package and ripped off the wrapping. She was determined to put the attack out of her mind.
Hmm
,
it
’
s a piece of paper with something hard inside.

Surprised to see she was shaking a little
,
Grace opened the paper and found it contained a memory stick. There was a note on the paper.

Grac
e
,

Thank you for meeting me this morning. It is difficult for me to see you for long periods of time as they are watching. The last thing I want is for them to find you and to, wel
l
,
for anything to happen to you. I must be careful. These people are serious and they mean business. We must have minimal contact. I will ensure you have all the information you require to uncover the plans of these horrendousoffenses against the innocent. Please do
n
’
t take this lightly. These people need to be brought to justice and I need your help to do it. Go through everything you have found in this package. I promise you wo
n
’
t regret this as it will be a story to set you up for the career you have longed for. I will be in touch soon.

No salutation and the promise to help with my career again. Hmm.
She picked up her laptop from the living room with one hand
,
opened it with the other and stuck the stick in its side. As she waited for the computer to start up
,
something that never happened quick enough for her
,
she put the kettle on and threw some cereal and milk in a bowl.
Perhaps it
’
s time to replace this old clunker.

‘
Right
,
what do we have here?
’
she asked her two-year-old
,
black cat as he jumped onto the kitchen bench.
‘
Shadow
,
you know you
’
re not allowed up here.
’
She picked him up and put him off. This time he complied yet continued to wrap his body and tail around her legs.

A box opened on her screen and revealed three folders labelled
Letters
,
Photos
and
Maps
. She double-clicked on each one to reveal their contents. She cascaded the windows realising the amount of content contained within each one would take hours to sort through. There were at least fifty files in each folder. She began opening files and scanning information. Some of it appeared straight forward such as the business letters
,
while the maps – she guessed they were topographical and satellite images – she had no idea about. There were hundreds of pictures of police executives
,
politicians
,
celebrities and sports stars
,
past and present
,
at all kinds of events.

‘
Why would he have masses of photos of all these politicians? This guy must be tied up in some sort of political scandal. Maps. That
’
s great. I will have to get an expert to look at these. And there were letters on official business letterhead along with documents to foreign countries such as Dubai
,
Africa and England. I hope he doesn
’
t expect me to figure all this out in five minutes.
’
She was talking to the cat again
,
a habit she
’
d tried to break many times but realised she enjoyed the company and he was great at keeping secrets.
‘
What do you think
,
Bub?
’
It was a nickname she
’
d given him since he was a kitten and small enough to fit in the palm of her hand.

He looked over at her
,
meowed and continued licking at the milk in her cereal bowl.
‘
That
’
s brilliant. Thanks for eating my breakfast.
’
She picked it up and put it on the floor for him to finish.
‘
You are a great help
,
by the way. Oh
,’
she said looking back at the information
,
‘
this guy shows up in every second picture.
’
She recognised him immediately as Richard Sleen
,
Minister for the Environment.
Perhaps this story has something to do with him?

‘
I
’
ll have to look at this info later
,
gotta get to a meeting
,
Bub. Keep an eye on the house while I
’
m at work.
’
Shadow immediately waddled off with a full tummy over to his bed on the floor and began grooming his coat.

With the meeting in the greenhouse having ended abruptly
,
Grace didn
’
t get to ask the man any questions and she had a long list of them. And now she had browsed the contents of the memory stick
,
she had even more. She closed the files and folders
,
pulled out the stick and put it in her bag to take to work.

Grace looked up at the huge
,
vintage clock her parents had given her as a twenty-fifth birthday present and realised she
’
d be lucky to make it into the office in time for the daily 9 A.M. meeting. She hurried up and changed
,
applied her make up in few minutes
,
grabbed her bag and keys
,
and prepared for the morning commute to the office. As she heard the familiar click of her front door shutting
,
her mobile phone rang.

‘
Have you read everything?
’
The Voice said. As she didn
’
t know his name
,
she gave him this pseudonym.

Man
,
you didn
’
t give me much time
,
lucky I
’
m on the ball.
‘
Yes
,’
she said
,
stretching the truth.

‘
Good. I
’
ll call you soon to arrange another time to meet. Read everything again.
’

‘
Wait. Someone tried to push me into the harbour after our meeting. He was stocky and dressed in a black suit.
’

‘
I don
’
t know anything about it. As I said
,
be careful
,’
and he hung up.

Pig.
Did he usually speak in such a clipped manner? And he sure had a habit of ending his calls gruffly. Who was this man? And what would she call him?
He
’
s so serious.

It was a guessing game
,
that
’
s what this was. She could not know how long she had to go over all the notes again and figure out what it was all about. She hoped she could make some sense out of what she already saw in the information. Perhaps it would come to her in time
,
like the way things did in the middle of the night when you suddenly remembered something you had on the tip of your tongue all day.

She walked to the bus stop with a slight skip in her step and felt her heart beating a little faster than usual.