Page 10 of The Big Scoop

Rather than responding, I simply kept my mouth shut, walked past her, and ordered an Uber.

Arriving in 2 minutes.

Those two minutes couldn’t go by fast enough.

“Come on, Gwen,” Trisha said, coming up to me. “Give me something! The world wants to know!”

I sighed and turned around to face her.

I knew Trisha from when we were both starting out. She was a year ahead of me at UNH and had worked for a blog detailing all the campus romances—which jocks were dating which girls and all that garbage. She’d moved to Portsmouth after graduation and had dreams of moving to Los Angeles and working for TMZ.

Yuck.

She never came right out and said it, but I got the impression she either looked down on me for the kind of work I did, or thought I was arrogant because I wasn’t into her style of “reporting.”

“There’s nothing to know, Trisha,” I replied. “And I’m sorry if that means you have to go home without some sensationalist gossip for the internet.”

And like that, I turned around and started walking in the direction of my Uber. I heard her scoff in my direction, but I didn’t care. After all that had happened, I was in no mood to be caught up in some scandal involving Harrison, especially when there wasn’t one in the first place. I hadn’t let him seduce me…

…not all the way, at least.

I’d come close, though, and even though I hated myself for it, I’d challenge any woman in my place to go up there to that house and spend some one-on-one time with him and not get caught up in the moment.

Next time would be different. Next time I’d be prepared. Next time we talked it would be on neutral ground.

If there is a next time, I thought as my Uber came around the bend. I flagged it down and hopped in.

“Gwen?” the nice-looking old lady asked.

“That’s me,” I replied, shutting the door.

“That your second house?” she joked, pointing up to where Harrison’s mansion was visible up the hill.

I laughed softly. “No, that belongs to…a very interesting man.”

“Harrison Night,” she replied.

“You’ve heard of him?”

“Heard lots about him,” she said as she drove. “Heard he was a millionaire when he was in high school!”

“That’s almost true,” I said. “He made his first million before he was eighteen, but he wasn’t in high school. He’s a dropout.”

“You seem to know a lot about him yourself.”

“I’m a reporter,” I replied. “For the Derby Tribune.”

“And you were doing a story on him?” she asked.

I was trying to…

“That’s right,” I replied. “Rumor has it he’s the one buying the Pines from Tony Russell and has plans to clear-cut the whole thing and develop it.”

The old lady shook her head in disapproval. “You know, I’ve lived in Derby my whole life and those Pines have been there since I can remember. Seeing them go…well, that would just be a tragedy.”

“Well, that’s why I’m doing my best to get the story and expose him,” I replied.

“Any luck today?”

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