Under the Dominican Sun

"NOWELL" my boss shouted from his office.
I got up from my desk and walked to him.
"Yes boss" I said entering.
"Sit down!" He said.
I sat down and waited for him to start yelling at me for something I've done wrong, even though I'd just returned from my vacation only two days ago.
"I want you to cover this story" he I'd and threw me a file.
I looked through the file and immediately knew why my boss had chosen me to do the story.
"Jerry's dead?" I said and covered my mouth so that I wouldn't start crying as I looked on the pictures of my now dead friend.
"They found him this morning, I want you to get me this story" my boss said.
"Yeah, sure boss" I said getting up to leave.
"Hey Nowell" my boss shouted after me and I turned to face him "I'm sorry about Jerry"
"Thank you sir" I said and proceeded back to my desk where I got to work.
The police would be the best source of information, you just had to know how to get them to talk.
On the internet I found out that Jerry had recently been stalking the actor Brad Tustin so that would be the first place I'd go look for answers if I were a cop and that's where I was on my way now.
I parked my car next to a big SUV and got out, there was a man standing beside a tree looking up and talking to someone.
He had black hair and when he looked at me he reminded me of a bulldog, I noticed the badge and identified him as a crime scene investigator.
"Can I help you?" He asked me.
Before I could answer a police car showed up and told us all to leave.
The man that was in the tree jumped down and dusted off his clothes, when he stood up straight my heart froze.
I could not believe that this was happening to me, it was mr gorgeous from my vacation. I had to blink several times and pinch myself to make sure that I wasn't dreaming.
"You" I stated.
"Yeah, me" he said just as stunned as I was.
"Are you leaving or what" the cop asked getting irritated.
"Yes" the other man said "I'll go start the car"
"You do that, I'll be there in a second Tim" mr gorgeous said.
Tim walked away leaving him and me to walk to the car alone.
"So you're a crime scene investigator" I stated the obvious.
"Yes, and you?" He asked.
"I'm a friend of Jerry Dorfmann" I said chocking him.
"So you heard about him" he asked.
"Yeah, he died last night" I answered.
"How did you know to come here" he asked.
"I knew that he was currently working Brad Tustin and I wanted answers" I said making tears appear in my eyes, using my charm on him.
"Hey, it's gonna be ok" he said putting a hand on my shoulders
"I just want to know what happened." I said "I know Jerry got on many people's nerves but he didn't deserve to die"
"I can't tell you much right now, we've only just begun the investigation but I promise I'll call you and let you know when I know more" he said.
"Thank you mr" them I remembered I didn't know his name.
"Delko" he filled in "My name is Eric Delko"
"I'm Paige Nowell" I said shaking his hand.
"Well it's nice to meet you Paige" he said giving me a card "Here's my card call me if you need anything.
"Thank you" I said.
He shot me his gorgeous smile before he left.

For the next two days I talked a lot with Eric not just about the case I didn't want it to seem to obvious what I was doing.
He told me about his work, his family and things like that.
We really bonded and I got to know him really well in such short time.
About the case I learned that Jerry had been a witness to a murder and that's why he was killed. It was the actor Danny Cato who had killed some girl and it was Danny's double that had chased Jerry to get the pictures when he crashed. To protect Danny his double had killed Jerry.
I was amazed by how much Eric was telling me and I felt bad to betray his trust but it was either him or me.
The more Eric told me the better my story got and soon enough I had it written up.
I had decided to tell Eric the truth before printing it so that he wasn't completely clueless once the story came out.
I had asked him to meet me in a coffee shop, he looked really happy when he came and there was a sting in my heart when I thought about what I had to tell him.

"I could loose my job over this" Eric shouted at me, he was so furious at me for lying, manipulating and using him.
"I'm sorry but if I don't run this story I will loose my job" I said with emphasis on the 'will' part.
"I can't believe you'd do this to me" Eric said even more frustrated.
"Look I know you probably don't believe me but I really am sorry Eric" I said getting up "I came here to give you a heads up"
I left him there with his copy of the story I was now about to hand in to my boss.

I got to the news building, entered the elevator and there the doubts started to set in. Was I making a huge mistake in doing this, would Eric ever speak to ma again? And for some reason the thought of Eric hating me and never wanting to see me again of me getting to see him was tearing me apart.
My head was spinning when I entered my boss's office.
"So Newell what you got for me?" My boss asked.

After the meeting with my boss I hurried out of the building, I had to talk to Eric and explain myself even if he didn't want to hear what I had to say. I'd just have to make him listen to me somehow.
I found him at crime lab building, he had just got of his car
"Eric" I shouted after him, he only looked back and continued on walking
"Would you wait up" I shouted as I came closer to him.
"I have nothing to say to you" Eric said as he was walking up the stairs to the crime lab.
"Well I do, so you will just have to listen" I said frustrated running after him "I'm sorry I lied and manipulated you"
"I'm sorry I ever tried to help you" Eric spat turning around to face me " I have to go in there and tell my boss about this before you run the story, so I'm sorry if I don't feel like hearing your fake apologies"
His harshness took me a little back but it was understandable, Eric didn't say another word he just continued.
"I didn't run the story" I admitted in defeat "I couldn't, I thought that I could but when it came to pulling the trigger I couldn't because..."
Eric had now stopped and was once again turned to face me.
"Because I cared for you, I couldn't bare the thought of me costing you your job and you hating me" I admitted hoping he'd give me a second chance or just talk to me so I could explain "I got fired though"
Eric turned to again walk away.
"Do you think you could ever forgive me" I shouted in desperation
Eric stopped and turned to me "I could use a coffee"
And there it was a small glimmer of hope, I ran up to him and we went to get a coffee...