CHAPTER 120: That Night

POV: Avalon Pierce

"Have a seat," Reeves said, motioning to the chair on the other side of the desk, where the soft glow of the lamp cast a warm light. "This is going to take some time," he added, his voice low and gentle, inviting her to get comfortable.

Avalon didn’t sit.

“Tell me,” he said.

Reeves looked at him for a bit, then gave a small shrug, like it didn't really matter that Avalon wasn't going to cooperate.

"Reeves revealed a shocking truth, his words hanging in the air like a challenge. Your father, he said, had been quietly gathering evidence to take down Whitmore. You were already aware of that much, but what you hadn't known was that Nene was in the loop - and not just after your father's death, but before it even happened. The implications were staggering, and the question was, what did Nene plan to do with that knowledge?"

Avalon felt something cold settle into his chest.

He disagreed, saying that the letters told a different story. Apparently, Robert Laine had written to her afterwards, advising her to just let things be.

"According to Reeves, Robert Laine only reached out to her after discovering she was already aware of the situation. At that point, he was trying to control the damage that had already been done, rather than alerting her to something she didn't know about."

“How do you know this.”

Reeves explained, "I was in the vicinity, close enough to know what was going on. Whitmore had been keeping tabs on your father for months, so we were aware of his project and the fact that he had confided in his mother."

The desk lamp hummed faintly in the silence.

“She knew,” Avalon said slowly. “ Before the accident. She knew what he was building and what it meant.”

Reeves explained that she was aware of the risks he was taking. "She begged him to stop, to just walk away from it all," he said. Luckily, they have a recording of a phone call that took place just three days before his death. In the call, she's pleading with him to give it up, to stop whatever it was that was putting him in harm's way. But he refused to listen, and that's all there is to it.

“You’re lying.”

Reeves spoke up, "I'm not kidding, I can show you the evidence if you want. I've kept records of everything, just in case someone needed to be convinced later on."

Avalon's hands had frozen in place, hanging motionless at his sides.

He wondered why Whitmore would go so far as to record a private phone call between family members.

"Reeves explained that Whitmore was very thorough in his approach. He also stated that once it became apparent that your father was not going to back down, and couldn't be swayed by reason, some tough decisions had to be made. The recording was intended to serve as a form of protection, or leverage, in the event that Nene tried to take action against us after the accident. It was proof that she was aware of the risks involved, and yet she still allowed your father to proceed, despite those risks."

“You’re saying she’s responsible.”

Reeves explained that she had the ability to put a stop to him, but didn't do it in the way Whitmore had anticipated. Instead of taking a strong stance, she pleaded with him. She didn't directly threaten Whitmore, nor did she go to the authorities before it was too late. All she did was ask her son to be careful. And when he ended up dying anyway, she took that pain and turned it into a long, quiet, and calculated plan for revenge that spanned thirty years, rather than seeking immediate justice.

Avalon stared at him.

"He disagreed with what was being said. According to him, she had been looking out for his well-being. He even had proof - her own words, written down by her."

Reeves spoke in a calm tone, "She was trying to protect herself, but not from what you might think. It was from the guilt of knowing something and not doing anything to stop it. The story about wanting to protect her eight-year-old grandson is true, but it's only part of the story. The real truth is much more complicated, it's messy."

“Why are you telling me this,” Avalon said. “ What do you actually want.”

Reeves smiled slightly.

He told me to think about the woman I'd been grieving, the one who'd inspired so much of what I'd done. "She wasn't as innocent as you think," he said, his words hanging in the air. I was supposed to consider this, to really sit with it, before I figured out what to do next. It was a lot to take in - my whole understanding of her, of what had happened, was being turned upside down. I had to think about how this changed everything, and what it meant for what came next.

“What comes next for what.”

"For Whitmore's estate, and for the investigation that's going to unfold," Reeves said, "we need to be prepared for everything that's about to come to light now that he's gone, and people are going to start asking questions about who stands to gain from his death."

Avalon felt the shape of it then.

"He's trying to tarnish Nene's reputation," he said, his words dripping slowly. "Even after she's gone, so that any truth about Whitmore's dealings gets lost in the noise of doubts about Nene's own involvement."

Reeves didn’t deny it.

He said it's not about discrediting anything, it's about making things more complicated. You see, when the story is too clean, it can be really bad for people who are still alive and were involved in it. But if Nene is complicated, that's actually useful for me.

“You killed Robert Laine,” Avalon said. “ And Whitmore.”

Reeves’ expression didn’t change.

He explained that his actions were meant to safeguard those who had put their faith in him. "Robert Laine was on the verge of revealing the recording, and Whitmore was ready to betray everyone, including himself, in order to get a reduced sentence. Both of them had become risks that I couldn't afford to take. So, I took care of them - it's as simple as that. My goal was to eliminate any threats, and that's all this has ever been about."

Outside, faintly, Avalon heard something. A car door. Footsteps.

Reeves heard it too.

His expression shifted, just slightly.

“You brought them anyway,” he said quietly.

"Avalon spoke up, her voice firm. 'I'm telling you, there's no one on the inside,' he said, his words laced with a sense of conviction. 'No agents, nothing.'"

Reeves spoke up, "The agents outside the building, they're actually two blocks closer than you said."

The office door burst open.

Agent Nunez stood with her weapon raised, three other agents positioned behind her.

Reeves looked at Avalon for one long moment.

"He spoke calmly, his hands rising as the agents approached him. 'The recording is out there,' he said. 'Find it, and then you can decide what kind of person your grandmother really was.'"

They took him out in handcuffs.

Avalon stood alone in the office, the desk lamp’s small warm circle the only light, Reeves’ words sitting in his chest like something he couldn’t yet name.

His phone buzzed.

Selene.

He answered.

"Are you alright?" she asked right away. "I saw what happened to him, are you injured?"

“I’m fine,” he said.

“What did he say.”

Avalon looked at the lamp.

At the empty office.

"Come in," he whispered, his voice low and serious. "There's something I need to talk to you about, and I'd rather not discuss it over the phone."