Legend of Kataria (Draft Version)

Chapter 3

"I've got it!"

He flung open the front door, sending it crashing into the wall with a loud thump. Leah glanced up from her milkshake and took out an earbud in surprise. Ignoring the looks of irritation from the other customers, Greeny hurried through the malt shop and slid into the booth across from the girl, taking his laptop from his backpack with shaking hands and pulling up the article.

Leah watched him with faint amusement. "I thought I told you to call," she mumbled around her straw as she took another sip. Still, she was unable to hide her curiosity as she leaned over the table to read the computer upside down, her fair hair falling across the screen. "What did you find?"

"Here," Greeny said quietly. This was something big. Something that everyone didn't need to know about. Not yet anyway. "It looks like you might have been on to something with this story, Leah. I did a bit of digging. Turns out, this isn't the first time something like this has happened. Do you remember the government meeting last January?"

Leah's brow furrowed. "Yeah?"

"Well, turns out, there was a news story for that as well." He turned the laptop toward her and she leaned back with a frown. "It was covered up too. Same unidentified boy, different shooters. This isn't the first either. I found over a dozen incidents, all vaguely similar to the one in Catrial. That's far too many coincidences in my opinion. But why is the media covering up? Is there something going on that someone doesn't want us to know about? Who? And why?" He glanced up now and realized that he'd been rambling. Leah was staring at him in confusion. He paused to take a breath and waited for her to speak.

"How did you know all of that?" Her look was disbelieving, but there was something in her voice. Something that told him he was on the right track. Leah knew more than she was letting on, he realized. She'd never been a good liar. But what she knew and wasn't telling him, he couldn't imagine. He guessed it was something her father, Chief of Police, Arthur Grasslake, was working on and wasn't allowed to tell anyone. So, naturally, Leah knew everything and was trying to work her own angle of the investigation.

"I found it on the internet," Greeny answered, shying away from her curious stare. He hated lying to her. Though it hadn't been a total lie. He had found the information on the internet. He'd just done some not-so-legal things to get it. So, in a sense, he was still telling the truth. That didn't make him feel any better, nor did it ease the guilty pang in his heart.

"Amazing the things you can find on there," Leah muttered, sounding as though she didn't entirely believe him, but didn't dare say so out loud. She took another sip of her drink and said nothing more.

"And?" Greeny raised an eyebrow, waiting. This had been her idea after all. Surely she'd want to follow up with her own sleuthing. Which was why he was slightly disappointed when she simply sat back in her seat to ponder what he'd just told her. "Leah, did you not hear what I said? You were right! Something's definitely going on! Don't you want to investigate?"

"No," Leah replied, folding her arms thoughtfully. "No, I think this one would be better taken to my father. I think it's a bit out of our league."

Startled, Greeny closed the laptop and peered at her over the tops of his lenses. These were not words he'd ever expected to hear. Especially not from her. "But," he began, "Leah...this is your lead! Don't you want to follow it?"

She hesitated and for a moment, Greeny was sure she would change her mind, but she shook her head, giving him a small smile. "Not this time," she responded, "but, thank you for finding all of this. Dad will be pleased that you took such an initiative to help."