Grace continued to stare out the window.
“Grace, are you listening to me? You need to get ready for a media storm, and you should start thinking of ways to avoid it.”
“I want to go to Sugar Beach,” Grace finally said.
“Not a good idea.”
“I have to.” She looked away from the window for the first time and locked eyes with Sidney. “I have to see it again.”
Captured by the camera that rested on Derrick’s shoulder as he sat in the backseat of the van, Grace’s words would ring out in a future episode. Millions of viewers would watch the back of her head, her hair prematurely graying and in a prison-issued crop, as the taxi snaked through the mountains of St. Lucia en route to Sugar Beach, where her ordeal had started ten years before. The viewers would be given a voyeuristic glimpse as the girl convicted of a crime she did not commit climbed from the taxi forty minutes after her release from jail and stared down at Sugar Beach and the mountainous Piton from which the man she loved had been pushed.
She was a free woman the last time she laid eyes on the Pitons, young and in love. It was evening now, and the sun was starting its descent. With Bordelais situated on the eastern side of the island, this was the first time in a decade that Grace Sebold would watch the sunset. During her ten-year nightmare, only the beginning of each day was visible, never the end.
Today, Sidney would tell the viewers in a dramatic voice-over, Grace Sebold was ten years older, free at last, and with a life unrecognizable from when she last stood and watched a sunset at Sugar Beach. The only thing that remained unchanged was that she still very much loved Julian Crist.
CHAPTER 40
Thursday, July 13, 2017
NEWLY MOTIVATED, GUS MADE FAST WORK OF THE PARALLEL BARSover the past week. The ten steps required to conquer them from end to end were now accomplished with almost no pauses. His grunting and swearing came from choice rather than reaction. The walker was like a strange friend he came to rely on, even if he still detested it. He was able to shuffle down the hallways, and although he couldn’t make the full loop around the floor—which required four turns and nearly two hundred steps—Gus made it his goal to complete the trek by the end of the week. If someone had told him a year before that sitting on a toilet and walking without assistance would be considered gifts from God, he’d have thought they were certifiable.
He sat in his bedside chair with the breakfast cart pulled in front of him and a steaming cup of coffee resting next to badly poached eggs and burnt toast. He ignored the food and indulged in the aroma of hazelnut. Drinking coffee and reading the paper had been one of the joys of life, and for the first time in many weeks, he was beginning to notice such subtle benefits of being alive. He scanned the front-page stories andthen lifted the paper to see the stories below the fold. He stopped when his gaze fell to the headline:
WOMAN CONVICTED OF MURDER EXONERATED
Grace Sebold freed after ten years in a Caribbean jail
He quickly unfolded the paper and read the article. Grace Sebold, made famous once more by the current documentaryThe Girl of Sugar Beach,was exonerated after new evidence surfaced that put into question the forensics used to convict her.
Jason strolled into his room as Gus finished the article.
“Hello, there. Ready for therapy?”
“No,” Gus said. “I need a favor.”
“What’s up?”
He scribbled onto a yellow notepad and ripped off the page, handing it to Jason. “I need you to make a run for me. Pick something up.”
Jason held the sticky note in his hand.
“What is it?”
“An address. I was hoping to get there myself, but I can’t walk out of here yet, and I’m short on time.”
“Where is this? Your house?”
“Not my house. Listen, kid, I haven’t asked for much while I’ve been in this place. I’ve pretty much followed the rules. Your rules, anyway. The goddam nurses are another story. I’ve got no one else to turn to for this, and, frankly, I wouldn’t trust anyone but you. It’s important—otherwise I wouldn’t put you out. Will you help me?”
Jason looked down at the newspaper and saw the headline about Grace Sebold’s exoneration. He held up the sticky note and slowly nodded.
“Tell me what you need.”
CHAPTER 41
Monday, July 17, 2017
THE PRESS, WITH NEWS VANS AND CAMERA CREWS, HAD BEEN CAMPEDoutside the Sebold residence since news broke of Grace’s exoneration. They gathered the morning Grace made her appearance at the courthouse in St. Lucia and shouted questions at Gretchen and Glenn Sebold as they left for the airport. The crowd of reporters grew throughout the day and into the next as they anxiously awaited Grace’s return, hoping to capture images of the girl from Sugar Beach. They were hoping, despite such things seldom happening, that Grace would return home and stand proudly on the front lawn and field questions while cameras popped and live feeds streamed.
