Chapter 426: How Did He Go Missing?
"Indeed, something has happened," said Timothy seriously, but with quiet eyes.
"Is it serious?" Wendy frowned as she said, "If the issue is not very serious, could we attend to it after the board meeting? Didn’t you say that most of the directors were already here? It would not be nice for us to hold up their time. If it is related to HG Enterprise, I will assist in handling it if I could be of any help after the board meeting."
"Indeed, I need your help in handling it," said Timothy. "So, we are not attending the board meeting today."
"What?" said Wendy as her eyes widened. She was confused, "Why?"
"Because the matter is related to you!" emphasized Timothy.
Wendy swallowed hard as she looked upstairs.
The meeting room was just there.
In addition, she was wearing a necklace embedded with a pin-hole camera.
If she dashed up to the meeting room now, she would be able to know who those directors were. As soon as Michael obtained the images of the directors, he would be able to find out all the information of the members in the HG Enterprise board of directors.
By that time, they would be able to track down Christian’s crime traces and evidence.
Wendy did a quick-thinking in her mind on the percentage of success if she were to do so.
After success, she still had to ensure that the pin-hole camera would not be discovered.
She was lucky to skip the inspection earlier after threatening Timothy.
However, Timothy seemed to have found that the matter was somewhat related to her. He would not trust her anymore.
Under such circumstances, how possible would it be for Timothy to ask someone to search her?
Wendy doubted that she would have a high chance of success on this.
However, the meeting room was just upstairs.
How could she miss such a great opportunity?
Alternatively, there was still another way for Wendy. That was to be a suspect for real.
She could dash towards the third floor and barge into the meeting room directly.
The camera would capture all the images in the meeting room and get backed up automatically in the cloud.
Michael had the username and password to retrieve the data.
However, Timothy would suspect Wendy for sure based on her actions. He would even hold her captive.
Perhaps, Timothy would not do anything to Wendy. At least, he would not kill her.
But Christian would be absolutely different.
This man was a demon.
Thinking about the consequences, Wendy decided not to do so.
At that moment, Timothy had already called a number and instructed over the phone, "Get two men over here."
Soon after, two bodyguards in black uniform ran towards them.
"Corrine, let’s not attend the board meeting today. We have to go back to HG Enterprise to handle some matters first," said Timothy as he gestured for Wendy to leave with him as his eyes darkened.
Instead of saying it as an invitation to her to leave with him politely, the two bodyguards he had instructed to come over were there to stop her from doing any abnormal act.
Wendy took a glance at the meeting room on the third floor and blinked her eyes.
Fortunately, she was not that impulsive to dash towards it.
Otherwise, even if she had successfully captured all the images of the directors, she would be doomed, for sure.
"What is going on?" asked Wendy as she looked at Timothy. "What on earth is going on right now?"
"Let’s go back to the HG Enterprise first," Timothy gestured to Wendy while asking her to leave again.
Wendy was left with no choice at that particular time.
"Mr. Woods, I think you owe me an explanation. How could you bring me here and ask me to leave again? Are you kidding me now?" sneered Wendy as she pretended to look in doubt at Timothy.
...
"The board meeting today is canceled," said Timothy with a calm face. "As for a reason, I will give you an explanation after we are back at HG Enterprise."
"But didn’t you say that all the directors have arrived? We could proceed with the board meeting since they are already here." Wendy was still trying to put up a last-ditch effort. "Didn’t you say that the board of directors are all very busy, and it is such a rare opportunity for them to visit Rheinsville City? You called them over for the board meeting so urgently, yet you canceled the meeting at the last minute?"
"I know you are suspecting me of fooling you. However, no matter what is in your mind, the board meeting is canceled for sure." Timothy did not want to talk to Wendy further, so he said unsparingly, "If you are not willing to leave on your own, I don’t mind getting others to help you with it."
Of course, Timothy meant the two bodyguards by that.
Those two bodyguards were elites. As a woman, there was no room for her to defend herself at all.
"All right, I get what you mean," sneered Wendy as she nodded. Then, she strode towards the exit.
Watching Wendy went off, Timothy clenched his fingers into fists gradually.
He mumbled softly, "Corrine, you’d better pray hard not to let me get hold of any evidence. Otherwise, I really don’t know how to deal with you."
Timothy’s voice was very soft when he said that, so Wendy couldn’t hear it.
However, Timothy took a deep breath after that.
For Timothy, Wendy was someone arranged by Christian to put under his care to groom her based on Christian’s instruction in the first place.
Later, Timothy realized that he had never come across such a talented young lady in his entire life. Her talent was even comparable to Todd.
If HG Enterprise did not have any dark background, Wendy would probably be the most capable disciple he ever had.
Or it would even be better if Wendy was purely his disciple, who was willing to be on the same boat as him and was not related to Michael and Christian.
How nice would it be this way?
Such a pity that not everything in this world would turn out to be as expected.
Wendy did not drive, so she had to take Timothy’s car back to HG Enterprise.
Wendy was utterly reluctant to do so.
She even requested to take a cab back to HG Enterprise, but Timothy rejected her request.
Along the way, Wendy was very quiet. Timothy remained silent as well.
The atmosphere was dead silent.
Half an hour later, they parked at HG Enterprise’s car park again.
As soon as Timothy parked the car, Wendy got off the car directly without waiting for him. She strode to the lobby and went into the lift.
She went to Timothy’s office directly. At that time, Todd was waiting for them inside the office.
Seeing Wendy, Todd stood up instantly and asked, "That was fast! The meeting had ended already?"
Todd looked behind Wendy and found that Timothy was nowhere in sight. He frowned, "Where is Mr. Woods?"
"Behind," said Wendy angrily.
"What’s wrong?" Todd continued to ask. "Was there any problem with the meeting?"
They were at Timothy’s office, so the words they said could only be whatever Timothy already knew.
"The meeting was canceled," replied Wendy.
"I thought you had already left for more than one hour, yet you were not in the meeting? Then, why were you there?" Todd was in doubt.
It seemed that something had gone wrong somewhere.
"Hahaha," laughed Wendy as she heard some footsteps approaching. She knew that Timothy was in the vicinity. So, she said on purpose, "Did you think that the board meeting was held in HG Enterprise? I thought the same too in the first place, but it was not. Mr. Woods drove me for more than half an hour to a remote place..."
"Corrine Swift!" Timothy interrupted before Wendy could finish her sentence.
...
Timothy strode into the office with a sullen face. He glanced at Todd and said to Wendy, "Do not reveal anything related to HG Enterprise to an outsider!"
"Outsider?" Todd sneered as he heard what Timothy said. "So, it turns out that I am just an outsider to Mr. Woods."
Timothy wanted to explain, but before he could say anything, Todd said it first, "Well, that’s true. I am no longer with HG Enterprise, while Lewis Design Company and HG Enterprise are both design companies. Is Mr. Woods suspecting that I am stealing HG Enterprise’s customers secretly?"
"Todd, I have no time for jokes now." Even though Timothy said it harshly, his tone seemed to be better as compared to before.
"Mr. Woods, I have returned to the company with you now. If there is anything that you want to say, you may say it now," said Wendy as she glimpsed at Todd. "Or, do you need Todd to be out of this office first?"
Timothy shook his head and said, "Not necessary. He may stay and listen together."
The only thing that Todd could not know about was matters regarding the board meeting.
Todd knew quite a lot of the internal affairs in HG Enterprise since he had been working there for quite some time.
This matter involved Wendy while Wendy and Todd were a couple.
Therefore, it was not improper for him to handle the issue together with Wendy.
In addition, Timothy knew that if he chased Todd away now, he would leave with no disciple anymore.
Timothy walked to his desk and pressed on the telecom, "Come into my office now."
Timothy hung up the call instantly as soon as he finished his words.
Soon, Timothy’s assistant knocked on the door and came into the office.
"Tell them everything about what happened," said Timothy in a low tone.
"Yes, sir," said the assistant as he turned around to look at Wendy and Todd. He then said, "Well, Ms. Swift. We found that your assistant, Winston Dell, had gone missing three days ago. He is uncontactable now. We tried to reach him by phone, email, and social media but to no avail. We have checked with the property company as well. For the past three days, there were no records of their family entering their premises. They were last seen on the weekend, which was three days ago. After the whole family went out, they never returned. We have already lodged a report on this. However, there is still no news on their whereabouts."
"Winston is missing?" Wendy stood up from the couch as soon as she heard about it.
"How come?"
"Well... " the assistant glanced at Timothy, but he remained silent.
The assistant had been working with Timothy for many years, so he knew that Timothy was not convenient to say it out and wanted him to convey the message instead.
Therefore, the assistant said, "We were just about to ask you the question, Ms.
Swift."
"Ask me?" Wendy was shocked in the first place. Then, she seemed to have realized something, "So... that’s why you asked me to come back to the company before the board meeting. Am I right?
"You suspect that I am the one who let Winston go?"
Wendy turned around and looked at Timothy as she asked him, "Is that what you think too, Mr. Woods?"
She had already questioned Timothy about this matter, so he had no choice but to answer. "Corrine... No matter what, Winston is still your assistant. He has been working with you for so many years, and he is your most trusted subordinate. Now that he has gone missing suddenly, it is reasonable for me to ask you if you know anything about it."
"I was discharged from the hospital yesterday. After that, I have been resting at home," said Wendy. "You may ask Zess about this. I came to HG Enterprise directly this morning and went to the so-called board meeting with you after that. And now, I am back here in your office again."
...
"I know you’ve been resting at home since your discharge from the hospital," said Timothy as he nodded.
"What do you mean by that then?" Wendy gave a cold smiled as she shook her head, "I’ve been staying in the hospital since three days ago, and you’re suspecting me now?"
Timothy did not respond. Wendy was furious as she continued, "If you suspect me, you’ll have to prove it. What do you think is my motive? Why would I instruct Winston to leave HG Enterprise?"
"Of course, there is some reason," the assistant said as he glanced at Timothy’s expression. "We’re in the midst of investigating the issue with the manufacturer.
Everything seemed to be going smoothly for the second series of the Moonlight project. But something happened during the quality inspection at the final stage.
"There wasn’t any issue with the prototype at the start of the project. This means that something slipped through the cracks during the quality inspection stage.
"We didn’t manage to pin it down in the first place because we couldn’t afford to spend too much time and effort for this. We were too busy trying to retain our customers and salvage our reputation. Not forgetting we had to deal with compensation issues as well.
"But we found the problem today. Ms. Swift, please take a look at this document."
Timothy’s assistant then handed a document to Wendy. She frowned as she looked at the contents.
Todd was curious so he moved closer to Wendy to have a look as well. It was a bank transfer record. The payee was Wendy’s assistant, Winston Dell. The transfer amount was eight million dollars.
"What’s this?" Wendy asked Timothy’s assistant as she scanned the document.
"You might not know who the payer is, but I’m pretty sure you know who the payee is," said the assistant. "He’s Winston Dell, your assistant. As for the payer, he’s one of the quality inspection officers from the manufacturer.
"We contacted the manufacturer as soon as we noticed the transaction. We wanted to ensure that he was the person in charge of the second series of the Moonlight project. To our surprise, he was missing three days ago as well."
They were indeed smart enough not to flee when HG Enterprise encountered the problem. They knew that both companies would be busy handling the issue, so they wouldn’t have the time to hunt down the culprit during the first few days of the incident. It would be too obvious if they chose to flee at that time.
However, if they fled too late, both companies might have already tracked them down. By then, they would not be able to escape at all.
Three days ago was the period when the goods would transition from HG Enterprise to the manufacturer. So nobody would notice them if they fled that day."
"So, you suspect Winston was in cahoots with the quality inspection officer, and sabotaged the goods for the second series of Moonlight projects?" said Wendy with disbelief as her eyes opened wide in shock.
The assistant nodded and replied, "In fact, we know for a fact that this was the case.
Both of them went missing at the same time. Moreover, there’s a huge amount of money transacted between the two of them. It’s clear that something fishy was going on between the both of them."
"That’s impossible!" said Wendy firmly as she shook her head. "Winston has been working for me for so many years. How could he do such a thing? I have never ill-treated nor shortchanged any of my subordinates. I have always given them what they deserved. I would even help them push for higher wages. How could he betray me? How could he betray HG Enterprise?"
"Perhaps he did not betray you, but he betrayed HG Enterprise instead," said the assistant calmly. He was not affected by Wendy’s outburst.
"Haha..." laughed Wendy as she said, "Are you suggesting I was the one who had instructed Winston to do this?"
Timothy’s assistant said calmly, "It is a reasonable suspicion as he is your assistant."
