Chapter 17 - Malcolm Reed
The second transfer was for $21 million.
It failed because of the federal freeze.
The login originated from a private aviation terminal outside Milwaukee.
Jonathan did not need to hear the name.
“Reed.”
Malcolm Reed had been Vance & Hayes’s chief operating officer, the man Jonathan blamed for the old laundering scheme and the failed attempt on his life.
Publicly, Reed had retired to Arizona.
Privately, he had spent a decade moving through consulting companies, family offices, and distressed debt funds.
Paul pulled travel records.
A charter jet filed a flight plan for the Bahamas.
Departure in fifty-two minutes.
Federal agents moved.
Emily stayed at headquarters watching the account locks update in real time.
Daniel sat in a glass interview room across the hall.
For the first time since she met him, he had nowhere to go.
He asked to speak with her alone.
Emily refused.
So they spoke through the glass with an investigator present.
“Reed recruited me after Dad died,” Daniel said.
Emily crossed her arms. “You mean after you inherited the company.”
“He knew every weak point. Every loan covenant. Every ugly thing Dad had done.”
“And you followed him.”
“I thought I could use him.”
Emily almost smiled. “That is exactly what men say five minutes before admitting someone used them.”
Daniel looked down.
“I wanted to be bigger than Vance & Hayes.”
“There it is.”
“You have any idea what it’s like being married into your family? Every room, people look at me and think I married the bank.”
“So you decided to steal from it.”
“I decided no one would ever look down on me again.”
Emily’s voice softened, but not kindly. “And then you tapped your wife on the nose and gave her an allowance.”
Daniel shut his eyes.
“That morning,” she continued, “you became the person you said everyone else was.”
An agent entered.
“Reed’s plane is grounded.”
Daniel opened his eyes.
“Did they get him?”
The agent shook his head.
“He never boarded.”
Paul rushed in from the corridor.
“Emily, your mother’s house alarm just triggered.”
Emily was already moving.
Then Paul grabbed her arm.
“There’s more.”
The alarm company received a message from inside the house.
May you like
Three words.
HE WANTS JONATHAN.
