Free The Price of Discovery by Leslie Dicken Page B

Greg was all that was left. And Drakor.
    She got to her feet, a thought suddenly occurring to her. “Are you doing a piece on Greg or Invasion Shield?”
    Rita chuckled and snapped her gum. “You can read my story on the front cover next month. Have a nice day.” She turned and went back to her desk, shaking her head the whole way.
    Erin groaned. She had to get out of here. She had to get more information on her story. She had to figure out if she really had a story or if she was wasting her time.
    She snatched her bag and headed outside into the summer heat. The thick air in the parking lot dampened her neck. Heavy clouds blew in from the west. Great. A storm.
    Erin pulled out her cell phone and called Greg again. With no one else in the parking lot, she could yell to make herself heard.
    He got it on the second ring. “Erin, is that you again?”
    This time the background was quiet. “Yes. Where were you?”
    â€œAt Blackrock Falls.”
    â€œThat was the falls I heard? What are you doing there?”
    â€œMinding my own business. What do you want?”
    Erin leaned against her car door. “I need to talk to you. Remember what you promised?”
    â€œOh, come on…”
    â€œI have to do this story, Greg. It could be the start of something big or the end of my career.”
    His voice dropped to a whisper. “Hold on.” He covered the mouthpiece for a few minutes and then got back on. “Sorry, I had to get out of the car.”
    â€œWhy? What are you doing?”
    â€œListen, I’m with Ankra, okay? I wanted to show her the falls. We were about to head to lunch when you called.”
    â€œWell, isn’t there something to tell me about this weekend?”
    â€œYou want to know how late the night went? When I took her home the next day?”
    Erin pulled her notebook out of her huge purse and leaned on the hood of her car, using it as a table. “Don’t be an ass. Can you give me anything unusual? Anything to go on?”
    â€œHmmm…well, she seemed really annoyed that I used a condom.”
    â€œGregory! I do not want to hear that!” Ick. Hearing about her brother having sex was almost as bad as imagining her parents doing it.  
    â€œOkay, okay.” He laughed. “But after what happened in college, I wasn’t about to take chances.”
    Erin winced. How could she forget about Sarah and the pregnancy? Those weeks were hell on Greg and their parents. He almost quit school to marry her and then Sarah came back from a weekend at home saying she had miscarried. Greg suspected an abortion, but whatever happened, the two of them broke up. It was no wonder he refused to have sex without protection.
    He cleared his throat. “You said to tell you anything unusual. That seemed awfully strange to me.”
    â€œWill you move on, please? Anything else?”
    â€œErin, I didn’t really take notes. Can we get together for dinner later this week and I’ll try to come up with something?”
    Great. He wasn’t going to be a big help, was he? She’d have to come up with some plan on her own.
    â€œFine. Let’s meet at The Onion Bloom for dinner tomorrow.”
    â€œI can’t. I have a commitment.”
    â€œWhen can you meet, Greg? We need to chat.”
    â€œCan it wait until Thursday night?”
    She groaned. Typical Greg, agree to help out when he had the need, but then do whatever he could to back out. “Fine. I’ll plan to meet you there at six thirty.”
    â€œHey, Erin?”
    She closed her notebook and shoved it back in the bag. “What?”
    â€œI almost forgot about this. Don’t think I was still drunk, but I could have sworn I saw something yesterday when I dropped her off.”
    Erin dug around at the bottom of the purse for her keys. “What do you mean? You saw something.”
    â€œIt happened so fast. I might have really imagined