“Got it,” Janet said as she climbed out of the black Denali, which was parked across the street. She walked across West Forty-second Street and into the café. She spotted Sidney Ryan and walked directly over to the booth.
“Ms. Ryan?” Janet asked.
Sidney looked up. “Yes.”
“Janet Station, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. Do you have a minute?”
Sidney looked at her producer, then back to Janet. “I guess, sure.”
“May I?” Janet pointed to the booth.
“Of course,” Sidney said.
Janet slid into the booth next to Leslie, across from Sidney.
“Sorry to intrude on your breakfast.”
“This is Leslie Martin,” Sidney said.
“Yes,” Janet said. “One of the producers, correct?”
“That’s right,” Leslie said. “Is there a problem?”
“That’s what I’ve come to find out.”
A waitress approached. “Can I get you anything?”
“Coffee, please.” Janet looked back at Sidney. “Your documentary is all the rave.”
“You sound concerned.”
“Concernedis a good word,” Janet said.
“What are you concerned about?” Leslie asked.
“I remember the Grace Sebold case from back when it was in the news. Back then, it looked pretty cut-and-dry. I’ve refreshed myself since your documentary has become so popular. Some people in Washington are worried about the situation. That a U.S. citizen is sitting in a foreign jail for a crime she, perhaps, did not commit. The simple question is how much ofwhat you’ve been airing is fact, and how much is pop-culture fiction?”
Sidney pushed a folder across the table. “Leslie and I were just reviewing everything. Here’s all our research to this point.”
Janet opened the folder and paged through the contents.
“I understand the skepticism,” Sidney said. “With the current popularity of true-crime documentaries, there can be an undercurrent of sensationalism. But in this case, I think you’ll see that our findings show a pattern of startling conclusions about how Grace Sebold’s case was originally investigated by the St. Lucian government, as well as new evidence we’ve turned up that disproves one of the central conclusions about the case. Specifically, that the weapon suggested at trial as being used to kill Julian Crist, according to forensic experts here in the U.S., could not have caused the injuries found on the victim. This Friday’s episode will tackle some of the other ‘evidence’ that was found in St. Lucia, including examining more closely the victim’s blood in Grace’s room and the so-called cleanup. It’s all incorrect, mishandled, misconstrued, and possibly fraudulent.”
Sidney pointed at the pages Janet was reading.
“Those are facts. Friday’s episode will also be facts. No skepticism. No pop culture. Speculation does play a role, however. And it comes from the idea that tourism represents the main source of income for St. Lucia,” Sidney said. “And in order to preserve this economic windfall, the detectives that ran the case succumbed to pressure of the St. Lucian government to find someone to blame, find them quickly, and put the future tourists at ease that St. Lucia was still a majestic and peaceful Caribbean island known for sunsets and beaches, not murder and mayhem.”
Janet Station paged through the documents. After a moment of silence, she said, “Can you stall on any of this? Just until we have a chance to look into it more thoroughly?”
Sidney looked at Leslie, who shook her head. “I’m afraid not,” Leslie said. “The documentary is real-time. We’re producing an episode each week. Whatever we learn, our audience learns.”
“And we’re under tight deadlines,” Sidney said.
Janet Station smiled. “I was instructed to ask.”
“It’s not too late,” Leslie said. “One of our citizens still needs our government’s help. Has, in fact, begged for it for ten years.”
“It will be in my report.” She slid out of the booth and stood. “Have a good Fourth of July.”
