The next morning, Annabeth looked into Poseidon Enterprises at her desk while waiting for Clarisse to arrive. According to the Wall Street Journal, the company was among the top 150 maritime businesses in the United States. With a workforce of over 10,000 employees, its main headquarters was located in the Financial District, where Percy's father had been the CEO for the past 31 years.

Looking up its address, Annabeth realised the company was an approximately 15-minute drive from the crime scene. But since they still didn't know the true location of where Beckendorf had been killed, it didn't provide anything conclusive about Percy's involvement, and it wouldn't matter anyway if they were able to verify his alibi for that night.

As she scrolled through the rest of the article, she spotted a headline in the sidebar from The Mist, another media tabloid whose stories often centred around the lives of the rich and elite. It read: Percy Jackson: a Tell-all Interview with Poseidon Enterprises' Next CEO.

Annabeth clicked on it. All the article offered was a few new facts about Percy's personal life, including which middle school and high school he had gone to. The incident with his stepfather was briefly mentioned, but the article reported that Percy carried no more feelings about the event and wanted to focus on putting the rest of his life to good use. He graduated college with a bachelor's degree in marine biology after his term in juvenile hall, then began his training to take over the company from his father.

Underneath the page footer was another suggested article that had been published just the night before. Annabeth's eyes widened as she scanned the title. She clicked the link and quickly read through the piece.

Clarisse approached just as she finished. At the sound of her partner's footsteps, Annabeth looked up from the computer screen.

"Hey, Chase. Early and working already, as always. Don't you ever get tired?"

"Can't afford to be with a killer on the loose." She let out a quiet sigh through her nose.

"Well, ever heard of a work-life balance? I swear, one of these days we gotta set you up on a date. Incidentally I have a friend with an eye for matchmaking..."

"Not the time, La Rue. And I've been functioning perfectly fine without any attachments."

"If by 'perfectly fine' you mean having no time for yourself then I guess you're right. You know I'm just trying to look out for you... Anyway, there's something you'll want to know. I was scrolling through the news last night when I saw an article from The Mist saying Jackson released a PR statement about him working with us on the Beckendorf case."

Annabeth leaned back in her chair and drummed her fingers on the armrests. "I was actually just reading about that when you came in. What do you make of it?"

Clarisse sat down at her desk. "Well, he certainly didn't take our advice to keep a lid on it. For one thing I see his PR training paid off. It was a nice touch asking the media not to bother us about the investigation, though I doubt how well they'll actually listen. I have a feeling not even someone as beloved by the media as Percy Jackson can tell them what not to do."

Annabeth pressed her fingers to her temple. "You're right. I'm just hoping that since it came from him, people will be more interested in his involvement than the actual case. Anyway, we won't have to worry for now as long as it doesn't get out that his pen was found with the victim."

"Mhm. I wonder how long that will last."

Her words echoed Annabeth's thoughts. All things considered, she had a horrible feeling something would go wrong down the line.

She mentally brushed aside the issue. Today they had to follow up on Percy's alibi with his companymates at Poseidon, as well as try to determine why Beckendorf had left his previous company. They'd called up the repair shop before the end of the previous day to ask Ethan Nakamura and Beckendorf's boss if they knew about the latter, and since they'd claimed they weren't sure, the detectives hoped his ex-colleagues at Hephaestus could shed some light on the matter instead.

Annabeth checked her wristwatch. With a quiet sigh, she grabbed her notepad and stood up. "I think most of the Hephaestus employees'll be in by this time. We might as well head over there now."

-Ψ-

Hephaestus Technologies was a towering silver high-rise in the centre of Chelsea. Having decided against taking Clarisse's car, the detectives got out of the taxi at the sidewalk along the front of the building. Annabeth squinted up against the morning sunlight at the name embossed in bold letters above the revolving glass doors.

According to her brief read-up of the firm the previous afternoon, Hephaestus's engineers specialised in mechanical and electronic systems design. Beckendorf had certainly met the job requirements with his academic qualifications, and from what Percy had told them, he'd won promotions easily due to his positive work attitude. It made them wonder if there was a bigger reason behind his departure than personal work preference.

They walked up to the front desk. "Hi, we're detectives with the 17th Precinct, NYPD," Annabeth said, flashing her badge. "We're investigating the murder of an ex-employee and would like to speak with his former colleagues about his time here. Could you tell us when the CEO will be available for a casual interview?"

The receptionist glanced at her credentials. "I'm afraid Mr Ferron boarded a flight just this morning for a conference in Japan and won't be back until Thursday afternoon. Is there anyone else in particular you'd like to speak to at the moment?"

"How about Mr Jake Mason? I understand he's a program manager?"

"Let me check…" She searched something on her computer. "Yes, he already signed in to work this morning. You'll find him in his office up on level 16."

She provided them with visitor passes before directing them to the row of turnstiles situated in front of the lifts. Once the detectives had scanned themselves through, they took an elevator to the 16th floor.

They found Jake Mason's office easily. Although his door was open, he was so engrossed in examining a hand-drawn diagram on his desk—which Annabeth thought was not unlike the ones she'd seen in Beckendorf's house—that he didn't notice their presence. They knocked to get his attention.

"Mr Mason?" Annabeth said.

Keen brown eyes looked up to greet them. He scanned their attire quickly before a polite smile spread across his face.

"You must be the police," he said. "Please, have a seat. I take it you're here to ask about Beckendorf?"

The detectives looked at each other. Either the receptionist had warned him about them while they were making their way up or he'd been expecting them to show up after the reports about the murder came out.

"That's correct," Annabeth answered simply. "Were you two close?"

"I wouldn't go so far as to say that, but we were certainly friends." He set aside the document he'd been looking at and laced his fingers together on the desk in front of him, giving them his full attention.

"Then we're sorry for your loss. We understand he worked here for a number of years?"

"Yep. Just over six, to be exact. He started off here as a senior consultant because of his experience in the company he worked for back in South Carolina and then got promoted to program manager two years before he left."

That matched what was stated in his file, and what Percy had told them the day before.

"Can you elaborate on your relationship with Beckendorf?" Clarisse asked.

"Sure. We met on a project together a couple years ago, back in 2018. We realised we shared a lot of things in common, so naturally we became good friends. He got promoted, then a few years later he told me about his decision to leave the company and that he wanted me to take over his position, so he helped me prepare in his last few weeks."

"Did he mention why he wanted to leave?" Annabeth asked.

"He told me he mainly took up the promotion for the better pay, but after he felt he'd earned enough money to live comfortably he wanted to do something he liked where he could work with his hands more."

Percy had said the same thing. Whether it made Annabeth trust him more or question the story, she wasn't sure.

"Did you stay in contact after he left the company?"

"Yes, but only through phone calls to catch up every few months. We never got the chance to meet up in person since I'm always busy."

"And when was the last time you spoke with him?"

"I'd say about just over a month ago. We talked a little about his job at the mechanics shop up in Harlem, and he asked about how I was handling my work. It's about the same stuff we talk about all the time."

Annabeth found that interesting. It appeared that this was the closest relationship Beckendorf had had with anyone. She wondered if there was a reason he'd kept his distance from most other people in his life.

Clarisse asked, "Did he act or say anything unusual during the call? Anything that might have jumped out as off to you?"

"Nope. He seemed the same as always—upbeat, in good spirits. Although, I feel like he might have sounded a little bit more chipper. It made me think that he might be seeing someone."

"Did he give any hints about who it was?" Annabeth asked.

"No. He never actually told me that was the case, and I never asked. He was always kind of a private person. I just assumed that was what put him in such a good mood that day. He never did date a lot when he was still with the company, and I always told him he should go out and find someone."

"All right. Thanks for letting us know anyway. Before we go, do you know if he had any problems with anybody here or in his personal life? If there was anything bothering him in general?"

"There were the occasional conflicts over a project, but it's all part of the process, and there was never anything personal. Honestly, everyone liked him. He was a good boss, and he left the company on good terms. As for any problems he might have had outside, he never mentioned anything to me for as long as we knew each other. I can't think of anyone who wanted to hurt him."

"We'll keep that in mind," Clarisse said. "Once again, we're sorry for your loss, and we'd like to thank you for your time."

With that, the detectives bade him a good day and headed back down to the lobby.

As they were returning their visitor passes to the front desk, the elevators opened again, and to their surprise, out walked Percy Jackson. He was flanked on both sides by men in black suits. At his appearance, a commotion from reporters and paparazzi started up just outside the entrance to the building. Annabeth hadn't noticed them until now.

Clarisse cursed. "What's he doing here?"

"I don't know… He must have arrived some time after we did."

While the crowd flocked to the CEO-to-be, no one seemed to pay the detectives any attention. After a moment even more of them trickled out of the lifts, so Annabeth decided it was high time they leave. She caught another glimpse of the side of Percy's face through the camera flashes and microphone-wielding arms before she followed Clarisse out the glass doors.

They hailed another taxi to take them to Poseidon Enterprises. Annabeth had thought they might cross paths with Percy there when they went to interview the employees to confirm his alibi, but since he was at Hephaestus, they might not have to face him after all. Perhaps it was better this way.

"What do you think he was up to?" Clarisse asked her in the taxi.

"No idea, but I'm sure we'll find out soon. You know how fast the media works."

True enough, Clarisse received a notification on her phone just as they arrived. It was a new article posted by The Mist headlined: Poseidon Heir Holds Press Conference Discussing Collaboration with Police in Ex-Hephaestus Employee Murder Case. They didn't have time to look into it right then so Clarisse pocketed her phone as they entered the building.

First they went to verify what Percy had told her about when he had departed from the company on the night of the murder. The building used a similar security system as Hephaestus, where employees were required to scan their personnel cards at the turnstiles for access to the lifts. The system logged the time the cards were read, so upon request to view the records, they were able to confirm that Percy had tapped out at 4:07 am that night.

Based on the list of names Percy had provided, they called up the employees he'd claimed had been there with him at the company during the time of the murder and asked them each individually about their account of that night. All of them attested to either seeing him around the building or talking to him directly within the window of time he'd stated to have been there, so it appeared his alibi was true. To cover all their bases, they'd also requested for security footage of the area outside his office and the lobby during that timeframe to confirm his movements.

Despite the results they'd already obtained, Annabeth was still questioning Percy's involvement in the murder. It wasn't impossible for the security entry and exit records to have been altered to suit his story, or that he had told his employees to say what he needed the detectives to hear. He'd had ample time to do so between her appearance at his house the day before and now. But without a motive, Annabeth didn't have a good reason to continue to suspect him.

On their way back to the precinct, Clarisse sent her the article from before. Apparently Percy had called for the conference to clarify concerns about his involvement with the police. He highlighted that his primary interest was to help find the person who'd killed his old associate, and that his relationship with the department ended with providing background information about Beckendorf's ties with his company throughout the course of his previous career. At the end he stressed that he wouldn't entertain further questions for details about the partnership from the tabloids and reiterated for them to allow the police to conduct the investigation in peace.

Annabeth closed out of the article with a soft sigh. At the very least, it didn't seem like he'd revealed them as the detectives working on the case, though she didn't doubt the reporters had ways of finding that out for themselves. She had to assume he'd had a good reason for revealing their partnership from the outset; surprisingly, he didn't strike her as the vain type. Perhaps he wanted to put pressure on the perpetrators by making the case as public as possible. Whatever his intention was, they'd just have to wait and see if it would end up helping or hindering their investigation.

-Ψ-

At the precinct, they looked through Beckendorf's bank records. Narrowing in on the night of his murder, they saw that his debit card had been used at the Alison restaurant near Central Park at 9:38 pm. Considering his attire when they had found him, he had likely been on a date, and whoever he had been with might be the last person to have seen him alive. The detectives promptly left for the restaurant.

When they got there, they showed Beckendorf's picture to the maître d'.

"Yes, I remember him. He made a reservation for 7:30, though he came in early. He sat back there, near the window."

"Was he with anyone?" Clarisse asked.

"Yes, a woman. Very pretty. She arrived a little after him. I think she was his girlfriend."

"Can you describe what she looked like?"

"Tall, long dark hair. That's all I can recall."

"Any chance you have her contact details?"

"No, the guy was the one who made the reservation, so her contact isn't in our system."

"Okay. Can you give us the security cam footage for the time they were here?"

"Sure. There an email address I can send it to?"

Clarisse wrote hers down and provided it to him.

"Do you remember what time they left?" Annabeth asked.

"It was close to closing time, so a little before 10 pm. They were a nice couple. I'm sorry to hear what happened to him."

Annabeth nodded. "Thanks for your help."

Having collected all they could from the restaurant, the detectives returned to the station before ending the day. They knew now that Beckendorf had been out with someone shortly before he died. If they could track her down, she might be able to help them determine what had happened to him. They also had to follow up on the evidence collected from the crime scene for leads on his whereabouts after he left the restaurant, which could tell them where he had really been killed.

As Annabeth gathered her things, she thought again about Percy's appearance at Hephaestus. She supposed it was prudent of him to state the situation as it was before the media could cast their own theories once they caught wind of their association, but he might have also been trying to push the image of his innocence by announcing that he was helping on the case. She sensed there was a lot more to him than anyone really knew, and the past few days had certainly shown her that he was unpredictable. She already knew she'd have to keep a close eye on him moving forward, but she couldn't shake the feeling that he was hiding something underneath his easy-going and charming exterior. If he was, she knew it was only a matter of time before she would find out.