Intimate Relations, Rebecca Forster [best ereader for manga .txt] 📗

some sort of commitment," Finn said. "Man does not live by sex alone."

"Coulda fooled me." Cori snorted. "So what is it about Bev? Maybe she's his intellectual equal and the sex stuff is the side job."

"She's his beard more than likely," Finn said. "His public woman."

"That's a lousy position to be in. Do you think she knows?"

"I wouldn't think so. Beverly has a certain romantic self-image," Finn said. "What is it these people are looking for, Cori? I truly want to know."

"The men are still those insecure little boys on the playground. The women are still the girls who didn't get asked to the dance," Cori said. "Now it's the big boy's playground, the ladies have proof they're desirable.  We're all children, O'Brien. It's as simple as that."

Finn shook head as he closed out of that folder.

"On my childhood playground we only hurt feelings with our mean words.  These people ruin lives with their shenanigans."

"I've got to call Lapinski." Cori stood up and stretched.

"Go on, then," Finn said as he clicked the next file. "I want to take a quick look at this one."

Cori had her phone in hand. As she dialed she did a speed read of the correspondence file Finn was scrolling through.

"Curt little thing on paper," Cori said, as she listened to the phone ring.

"She knows what she wants. No hard copies. Email threads only," Finn said.

"She loves to ask for free stuff. Look at this one. She wants a car."

"Did you see a Porsche in the garage?" Finn asked.

"I did," Cori said.

"Then it looks as if it doesn't hurt to ask," Finn said.

"He's on a conference call." Cori pocketed her phone. "He says meet him at Mick's because he has something important for us."

"And I've found something important too."

Finn got up and pointed to the big screen and the long text displayed on it. Cori read, and then re-read the letter.

"'Twasn't love that was taking her out of the world, Cori. It was survival."  Finn went back to the computer and ejected the thumb drive.

"Looks like Jeremiah Stotler called her bluff and then some," Cori said.

"Chalk one up for the biggest boy on the playground," Finn said.

25

Mick's was quiet. Geoffrey was busy trying to fix the espresso machine, so that meant he was quiet too. More to the point he was verbal about the machine, but had no time to chat with Cori, Finn, and Thomas .

The lawyer had beat them to the pub, and was half way through a Long Island Ice Tea by the time the detectives arrived.  They had settled at the big round table near the window, as far away from the bar as they could get. Geoffrey delivered their drinks, and left them alone. Before Thomas could share his news, Cori filled him in on theirs.

"Stotler was calling in favors. He convinced every single one of Roxana's sponsors to drop her, and managed to get her buried on Google too. She didn't show up 'till page four. That's the kiss of death for her business. Twitter had flagged some of her stuff as prurient. It was the smoothest take down I've ever seen," Cori said. "That chick had it easy with the banker and the preacher, but Stotler was on a whole different level. He was squeezing her hard. God, what a game."

"Much as I appreciate your enthusiasm, Cori, it gives the important man no reason to want Roxana dead. He had taken care of the problem," Finn said.

"True, unless he wanted to make sure she stayed down. I doubt it though. Still it brings up another question. Did Bev know about his 'solution'?" Cori said. "What if she still thought Roxanna was a threat? She could have taken matters into her own hands to save her relationship with Stotler. You saw her that night—"

"Stop. Stop." Thomas pushed aside his glass. " I think there's something going on that's way deeper than some movie producer and his problems."

Thomas reached into his briefcase and came up with a sheaf of papers.

"So, Cori sent me that video from the Ring doorbell camera, the one that your tech people said was too grainy to get a good read? Well, it wasn't easy, but I got something." He put an eight by ten picture on the table. It was of the Asian man who had fluttered around Roxana when Bev pushed her. "That, my friends, is Ding Xiang."

Thomas sat back, crossed his arms, and beamed. Finn scooted his chair up and poked at the picture.

"Sure, Thomas, that's the name I've been meaning to tell you," he said. "That boy at The Brewery— Peter?—he told me that he had seen him. He said he is an important man in computers."

"Oh Finn, Finn." Thomas waggled his finger and his tone became weighty. "He is so much more. Ding Xiang is a ghost. He is a legend. He is almost as legendary and ghostly as Satoshi Nakamoto."

"And that is the other name," Finn said.

"You lost me, boys." Cori picked up her bourbon on the rocks and took a swig. "Want to fill me in?"

"With pleasure," Lapinski said, as he blocked off a piece of air with his parallel palms. "Over here, is Satoshi Nakamoto the father of Bitcoin. It is the mother of all cryptocurrency. It can be purchased with any currency, no middlemen, no banks. International payments are easy and cheap because bitcoins are not tied to any country or subject to regulation. It all bypasses normal channels of finance and it is giving Wall Street and governments fits. Right now the market is trading one Bitcoin at five figures, U.S."

Cori whistled. He had her attention. Finn was not far behind.

"But I don't think that has anything to do with that girl's murder. I'm just saying that we can rule out that these two guys are one and the same," Thomas said.

"And why would that be, Thomas?" Finn asked.

"Because Satoshi Nakamoto has never ever shown his face. There is no record of him. He could be an