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Chapter Seven: Donavan Pierce

          Donavan Pierce had just guzzled an entire flask of tequila when he hears a knock upon his office door. He checks the time. It's 7:00 p.m., after office hours. Everyone should be gone except for the cleaning staff and security. He starts to refill his flask from a bottle of tequila that he has in the filing cabinet sitting behind his desk. There's another knock at the door. More aggressive than the first.
          "I said I was not to be disturbed!!" Donavan shouts. The door to the office swings open and Khadijah and Buchanan walks in revealing their badges upon entry. Donavan sits up straight and adjusts his tie while quickly disposing the bottle of tequila underneath his desk. "What can I do for you this evening, detectives?" Donavan asks.
          "Have you been drinking, Mr. Pierce?" Khadijah observes. Donavan chuckles a slight and rubs the back of his head. "Is it obvious?". Both detectives nod their heads. "Well, can you think of any other way to cope and mourn the death of your best friend and partner?" Donavan challenges. "Cry," Khadijah answers, deadpan. "Men don't cry," Donavan scoffs and takes a swig from his flask.
         "Oh, quite the contrary, judging by the wetness forming around your eyes," Khadijah side eyes. Donavan ignores Khadijah and looks over at Buchanan. He opens his mouth to speak, but Buchanan quickly cuts him off. "Can you recall the turn of events on the night of the masquerade ball?". Donavan looks down at his flask. "Yes. I was there that night," he sighs, "I had gotten there a little early—around 7 p.m. just as some of the guests were starting to arrive. I wanted to get a good scope of the ladies and have a brief chat with Daisuke before the event was to give way".
         "And did you two chat?" Buchanan asks. "Yes," Donavan answers and take another sip from his flask before continuing on, "we discussed briefly ideas of what's to come for Maxwell's Fine Diamonds. I wanted to share with him some of the new changes that I wanted to implement as the new up and coming CEO".
            Buchanan takes notes. "And how did he feel about that?". Again, Donavan sighs, "the discussion was getting a little heated and he didn't want to hear no more of it. I took it as a sign that his anxiety was getting to him a little because it was only an hour until the even was to begin. He always got a little nervous. So, I backed off, told him that we could explore the ideas at a more opportune time and suggested that he had a drink or two to settle his nerves".
            Khadijah begins to pace around the office. "Okay, and then what happened?". Donavan clears his throat. "After I left his dressing room, I had went downstairs and begin to mingle with the guests and have a few drinks myself at the open bar. The ballroom had gotten full pretty quickly due to all of guests and their plus ones arriving. I spot Jessica Maxwell and their son, Benedict, walking in. I was going to walk over and say hey when I got pulled to the side by one of my executives who wanted to have a quick word," Donavan takes a another sip from his flask.
        Buchanan gestures for him to keep going. "After the short converse, I then started to make my way towards Mrs. Maxwell and Benedict, but before I could get to them, Jessica was already heading up the stairs": pausing in her pacing, Khadijah catches the quick clenched fist of  Donavan before he releases it. Hmm...he seems pretty upset about that part, Khadijah makes a mental note. "I couldn't catch Mrs. Maxwell, but I was able to catch up to Benedict and speak with him," Donavan reaches up and scratches the back of his head.
           "And how did that go?" Buchanan asks. "Not too well," Donavan answers, gnawing on his bottom lip, "he told me to go away. Fuck off, in his words, and he walked away from me accompanied by two young women. So, I went back to the open bar and sat with a couple of mutual business buddies and had a few more drinks. But while I was at the bar, I saw Maxwell's butler handing a serving tray to one of the estate servers. The server takes the tray and head upstairs. Not long after, Jessica had came down and reunited with Benedict".
            Khadijah begins to pace again. "Did you happen to see the server a or the butler again that night?". Face now red and flushed, Donavan nods, "the server came back downstairs and picks up another tray with glasses full of champagne and red and white wine, and had begun to walk about the guests. The butler had resumed his position against the wall by the ballroom doors".
          He's damn near hammered, Buchanan thinks to himself. He asks another question, "and what happened after?". Donavan is about to take one final swig from his flask, but doesn't. "A few minutes later, the MC takes the mic and begins to present Daisuke, but Daisuke never takes the floor. He never comes down. And then, there was a scream...a loud, ear splitting scream...and everything else was a blur after that".
         Donavan lowers his head and covers his face with his left hand. His shoulders shaking. But he quickly pulls himself together and exhales, throwing back the last bit of tequila in his flask. "Daisuke and I have been friends since high school. He was like a brother to me, and now he's gone".
         Sharing a look with one another, Buchanan and Khadijah both silently agree that they will definitely be questioning him again, and right now is not the best time to question him about his little affair with Jessica Maxwell or his little tryst with Lily-Rose Dodson. Both detectives make a silent agreement to hold on to that until they have everybody down at the station for further questioning. And they also Aht that Donavan Pierce is definitely the one to look more into. Yes, Mr. Pierce is shaping up to be the number one suspect indeed.