the alcove of the front entrance, I shake the droplets of rain off the umbrella before putting it down. I let out a sigh of relief, grateful I made it, even if I am soaking wet.
The car park is surprisingly empty, due to the unrelenting rain. It rains a lot—it is England—but this is just maddening. It felt like shards of glass hitting my skin it was coming down that hard. The wind isn’t any better. Rubbish litters the roads and pavements from where it’s blown bins over, leaving destruction everywhere. The news had reported on the radio, saying trees had fallen, blocking roads.
If Tracey didn’t desperately need me here, I wouldn’t have risked driving into work at all. But some of her nurses and careers had called in to say they couldn’t make it, either due to blocked roads or from floods.
Wanting to get out of the cold, I reach for the door, but my phone ringing in my pocket has me stepping back to see who it is. Sliding it out of my pocket, my heart races at the name flashing across the screen. Rob is a colleague of Beau’s at the station. I met him at Beau and Faith’s engagement party last year. He’s ten years older than me but is still a good-looking guy. And although we didn’t hit it off romantically, we did get on as friends.
Before the night had ended, he had offered to help if I ever pursued my dream of reporting. I didn’t get a degree in English to waste it on love advice.
So, when I asked him for information on the increase in burglaries in the area, he was happy to stick to his word and keep me informed. I want to do an article or a segment on ways to prevent your home from getting broken into; cheap and efficient ways to get security, and what to do if you ever find yourself in the position of being in the house while it’s being burglarised. People imagine what they’d do if there was an incident, like your house getting broken into, a fire, or your child being snatched, and you can plan as much as you’d like, yet nothing can prepare you for the real thing. I want to give people advice on how to pull yourself out of that panic, the frozen state, and then give them steps on what to do next.
“Rob, what you got for me?”
He grunts, making me smile. “Hello to you too.”
“Sorry, hi. Now, what you got?”
He laughs through the line. “You really are something.”
“Amazing, I know. Now…”
The heavy sigh doesn’t bode well. A sinking feeling hits me and I rest against the wall, bracing myself. This isn’t going to be good.
“You need to find another story.”
“What? Why?”
“Just trust me.”
“No. I need this. If my boss is going to take me seriously, I have to bring him something he can’t say no to, something exclusive.”
“It’s getting dangerous, Hayden. The reporter, Christina, who was following leads on the story before you, was attacked last night. She was found up Rock Lane an hour away from where she was taken. She died from internal bleeding in the early hours of this morning.”
“Oh God,” I breathe out, shocked. “Wait, you were leaking leads before giving them to me?”
“What? No—well, kind of. We have certain information we can release to the public. I just gave her a few extra tips or updates. She was looking into a lady who gave a statement during the Sutherland break in. I did keep some stuff back, but she’s a friend of a friend.”
“Oh, right.”
“Leave it alone now and let us deal with it. I’ve met your family. I don’t want them gunning for me. Your dad kind of scares me.”
No! I can’t give up. I don’t want to get into politics when our papers are already bleeding with political bullshit or rambling about what some celebrity had for breakfast. I want something different, something readers want to read about. I want to give something they can relate to. I need this story.
“Wait, what was she looking into? Maybe they aren’t connected to one another.”
“Hayden.” I can hear the pity in his heavy sigh. “They’re connected. She received letters telling her to keep her nose out.”
“And that was the only story she was following?” I ask, my brain working overtime, trying to figure out what is bothering me.
“No, there’s a couple more, but—”
“So, they might not even be connected. Tell me what you