Page 2 of Protecting Bianca

The police arrived about fifteen minutes later and I’d gathered Janis, Mr. Walsh, and Mr. Towers into our boardroom. Ten minutes after the police had taped off Mr. Towers’ office, two detectives arrived and were shown into the boardroom. The shorter one with the gray hair walked up to the CEO and extended his hand.

“Mr. Towers, I’m Detective Khan and this is my partner, Detective Choudhury. I understand the package was addressed to you.”

“Yes. It had my name and office address on it.”

“Is there anyone you suspect would want to scare you like this, sir?”

Mr. Towers shrugged. “It could be anyone.” He looked over at me and I cleared my throat.

“Mr. Towers receives malicious threats almost daily and I usually block at least two people a week who try to bombard his social media accounts.”

The taller detective raised his head. “And you are?”

“Bianca Rimoli, sir. I’m Mr. Towers’ Public Relations and Crisis Manager.”

He raised his head after writing something down on his tiny notepad. “Crisis manager?”

I nodded. “Yes, sir.”

“Is it common to have such a person in an office? I don’t think I’ve ever heard of it.”

“Yes. Crisis management is part of a public relations strategy. We needed one when Mr. Towers acquired a new social media platform a couple of months ago and people started questioninghis motives. There was a lot of bad press, and we needed someone to mitigate the damage.”

“What was the problem?”

My boss grunted. “People are stupid.”

I refrained from rolling my eyes, but barely. This was exactly why Mr. Towers needed me. “There were some who thought Mr. Towers was trying to censor free speech, but that was not the case. The new Grapevine platform is about ensuring that misinformation is not spread and those who falsify documents, videos, or photos using AI will be removed.”

“Seems reasonable to me,” said the detective.

I smiled. That was why I was good at my job. I could make most people see things my way, and those who didn’t just needed a little more finesse than others. “It is reasonable, detective. Some people just don’t want to play by the rules.”

“Do you have a list of those accounts you blocked?”

“I do.”

Mr. Towers ran his hands through his hair. “What am I supposed to do in the meantime? Are you going to have officers stationed here?”

Detective Choudhury crossed his arms. “This investigation is going to take time, sir. The department is thin on resources. If I were you, I’d hire extra security for the office. At least until we’ve figured this out.”

“Are you serious? You’re just going to leave me unprotected?”

“Consider yourself lucky that you have the means to protect yourself. Not everyone has that luxury.”

Mr. Towers slumped in his chair. “I don’t know anyone I can trust. Janis?”

“Yes, Mr. Towers?”

“Look into this, will you? I want someone here by the end of the day.”

“The end of the day!” Janis’s wide eyes pleaded with me, and I nodded once in her direction. “I’ll help you with that, Janis. We’ll do it together.”

She sighed and briefly closed her eyes. “Thank you.”

“We have a few more questions for Mr. Walsh and Mr. Towers, but you don’t need to stick around, Ms. Rimoli.”

“No problem. I’ll get started on that list you requested.”

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