Billionaire Blend (A Coffeehouse Mystery) by Cleo Coyle

Author:Cleo Coyle [Coyle, Cleo]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Penguin Group US
Published: 2013-12-02T16:00:00+00:00

Forty-one

THE statement shocked me. I assumed Nate was talking about Eric’s old girlfriend, the young actress Bianca Hyde. Before I could ask, however, Madame set me straight.

“You’re speaking about Eva, your brother’s child? I remember when she was born, but that must have been—”

“Eva would have been seventeen last month. She died almost two years ago.”

“I’m so sorry, Nate,” Madame said. “I didn’t know.”

“You didn’t know because my brother’s company transferred him. He placed Eva in an exclusive private school. Eva was the new girl, and the students there were cruelly cliquish. By the end of her first semester the cyber-bullying began.”

Nate told us how one of Eva’s female tormentors secretly took a candid photo of Eva half dressed in the locker room after gym class.

“The bully used Eric’s popular Pigeon Droppings app to place Eva in the game without her consent, and then spent an entire weekend circulating screen grabs among her friends. By Monday, one of the little sadists posted printouts all over the school. When Eva saw the pictures of her half-naked body covered in cyber-crap, she ran home and locked herself in the bathroom.”

Nate paused. When he spoke again his voice was shaking. “By the time the school alerted my brother, it was too late. Vince found his daughter hanging dead in the shower.”

Oh my God . . .

I heard the air leave Madame’s lungs in a rush, and her violet eyes welled. I felt tears welling, too, but I had to point out the obvious.

“I’m so sorry, Nate . . . what happened was awful, criminal, but the bullying was the issue. Eric Thorner only created the game, not the abuse.”

“The game became a tool for abuse, Ms. Cosi. As a society, we regulate tobacco companies, gun manufacturers, and distillers of alcohol because we know their products have the potential to do harm or be abused.”

“I see your logic, but how do you propose apps be regulated? The online shops that carry them do so already, don’t they?”

“Yes, but more must be done. Solar Flare has been effective in the past. We were instrumental in the banning of those vile Pigeon Droppings Tshirts. We made sure Thorner took a financial hit for those!”

“I’m sorry to tell you that Eric doesn’t see what you’re trying to accomplish. He believes you simply want his business to pay for your advocacy.”

“What’s wrong with that?” Nate replied. “Tobacco companies fund lung cancer research. Gun manufacturers are the leading promoters of firearms education, and alcohol manufacturers support substance abuse programs. Why shouldn’t tech companies like Eric’s fund Solar Flare, so we can effect much-needed change from within? We’re committed to our public protests against him until he pays up.”

I nodded like a good student—even though it seemed to me that Nate Sumner was treading a fine line between activism and extortion. But now was not the time for debate. Now was the time for me to find out what Nate knew about Charley’s husband.

With care, I shifted topics and told Nate about my encounters with the man in the red Solar Flare cap.

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