CHAPTER 117 : David Reeves

POV: Avalon Pierce

James got to the place pretty quickly, he had been sleeping when Avalon called him, but he jumped in his car and drove right over.

He stood there, taking it all in, as they laid out the entire story - Catherine's side of things, the phone calls that had been made using Diana's number, and the shocking news of Whitmore's death.

"I'm telling you, I didn't make those calls," James said, his voice firm as they wrapped up. "I can account for my whereabouts on each of those nights, every single one of them. But it's clear someone was trying to make it look like it was me, trying to throw you off their trail."

“Who had access to enough information to set this up?” Selene asked. “ Who knew about Diana’s number, about Catherine’s financial arrangement, about the timeline?”

Avalon’s phone buzzed.

Margaret.

She went back and looked at everything again, every single call, introduction, and piece of information that had been part of the investigation over the past two months. And what she found was really interesting - there was one person who kept popping up, not right in the middle of things, but always kind of on the edge. She almost didn't notice him, because he never seemed to be a key player in anything. But now, after taking a closer look, she realized that he was actually connected to almost every part of the case.

“Who,” Avalon said.

"David Reeves," Margaret said, her voice low and even. "He's Henderson's assistant, the one who called to set up that meeting on Monday."

Selene's face fell as she said, "He's just someone who works for Henderson, he was just passing on a request for a meeting."

Margaret spoke up, "I thought the same thing, but then I decided to look into his work history. It turns out he's only been with Henderson Capital for eight months now. Before that, he was at Whitmore's law firm for a pretty long time - six whole years, to be exact."

The room went still.

Avalon spoke slowly, "He said he was calling on Henderson's behalf, but he didn't actually say he worked for Henderson all the time."

Margaret spoke up, "He didn't need to, though." She explained that Henderson had hired him as an executive assistant about eight months prior, and it had been a standard hiring process with decent references. "Whitmore's firm gave him a great recommendation, naturally," she added, her tone implying that this wasn't particularly surprising.

James spoke slowly, thinking it through. "He was Whitmore's guy on the inside at Henderson Capital," he said. "So, he had a front-row seat to Henderson's plans for the foundation. He knew all about their acquisition strategy." James paused, letting it sink in. "That means he was aware of everything Henderson was going to do."

So Selene was talking about what happened when Henderson's plan didn't work out, like when the board didn't agree with him.

Avalon wrapped up the story, "Reeves had to think of something new, and fast. Whitmore was on the verge of being sentenced, and there was a good chance he would start revealing some secrets. But Reeves had an advantage - he knew his way around corporate networks, and he was familiar with how Henderson's systems operated. He could move money and information around without being detected, which gave him a lot of power."

Selene wondered, "But how did he manage to get his hands on Diana's number?" She thought back to how James had obtained it, remembering that he had gotten it directly from Diana herself.

James went very still.

"He brought it up with Henderson's office when he called to confirm their meeting on Monday," he explained. "He had asked for some background information from someone who was familiar with Diana's past work in the corporate world, and it was David Reeves who handled the call."

The pieces clicked into place around the room.

Avalon's eyes narrowed as he spoke, "He's been outsmarting us the whole time, using Henderson as a distraction. And to think, we gave him all the information he needed, assuming he was just some low-level guy answering phones."

Margaret's voice cut in again, "There's something else," she said. "I took a look at his personnel file from his old job at Whitmore's old firm." She paused for a moment before continuing, "It turns out he used to work as Whitmore's research assistant, all the way back in 1987." Margaret's tone was thoughtful as she added, "He would have been just 22 years old at the time."

“The year Robert Laine died,” Selene said quietly.

“The same year,” Margaret confirmed.

Avalon felt something cold settle into his chest.

"For nearly forty years, he had Whitmore's back," he said. "But things changed when Whitmore became more of a risk than an asset -"

“He removed the liability,” James said.

“Where is he now,” Avalon said.

A pause from Margaret.

"I've got a problem here," she said, looking concerned. "It seems like nobody at Henderson Capital has laid eyes on him since yesterday morning. If you walk by his desk, you'll see it's completely empty - no signs of him anywhere. And the weird thing is, his access badge was last used to leave the building at 6 AM, but it hasn't been used to get back in since then."

“He’s gone,” Selene said.

“He’s gone,” Margaret confirmed.