Surely he must have realized there was some light at the end of the tunnel.
She picked up the phone and dialled Uncle’s number.
“ Wei,” he said.
“Uncle, it’s Ava. I’m sorry for calling so early.”
“ Momentai, my dear.”
“Uncle, there have been a lot of developments on this side, and not all of them are in our favour.”
“I am listening,” he said.
Ava took Uncle through her day, from the phone conversation with Edward Ling to her meeting with Maggie Chew, her conference call with Jack Maynard, and her attempt to contact Ronald Francis. Uncle listened quietly. When she had finished the business side of the report, he said, “You have made tremendous progress. Did that Maynard send you his information?”
“Yes, and I’ve gone through it. It holds up. His conclusions are fully supported by the data.”
“So now what?”
“I need to talk to the Mohneida. I need them to tell me who Kaybar and Buckshot are.”
“I have confidence in your powers of persuasion.”
“And if it takes more than that?”
“Meaning?”
“Financial incentives.”
“Do whatever you have to do. I will make it work from this end.”
“Uncle, there is one more thing that may affect how, and even if, we proceed,” Ava said.
“What is that?” he asked, caution in his voice.
“Philip Chew tried to kill himself about an hour ago. He jumped from the roof of his house in full view of his wife.”
Uncle paused, and then said deliberately, “Is he dead?”
“Injured. How badly, I don’t know.”
Uncle said slowly, “He has brought such disgrace upon himself and his family. It had to be a terrible burden to bear.”
“Uncle, Tommy Ordonez called his brother yesterday, and from what I’m told he berated him so severely that Chew was reduced to a trembling mess. Maggie blames him for her father’s reaction.”
“Who is to know what causes men to do what they do?”
“If Chew dies?”
“The damage he has caused can still be mitigated if we get some of the money back. I will talk to Chang about making sure that the wife and daughter are not abandoned.”
“So you think Ordonez will want us to keep pursuing this course?”
“Once he knows that the money was definitely swindled from his brother, and from the company, he will want it back. In his mind I am sure he can separate the money from his brother’s tragedy. If anything, it might make our case for getting the money back even more compelling.”
“And you don’t think he’ll feel any guilt about his brother’s attempted suicide?”
“Ava, Ordonez is the kind of man who thinks people get whatever they deserve in this life, and that their characters are what they are. I am sure he will believe that his brother jumped because his character was too weak to withstand the guilt he carried, and that whatever he said to him had nothing to do with it.”
“And you’re comfortable with our continuing to work for him?”
“Ava, since when did our clients have to be nice people?”
“True enough.”
“As long as they honour their agreement, we should honour ours.”
“Yes, Uncle.”
“I know you do not like Ordonez, but men like him do not care whether we like them or not, and any emotion spent in that regard is wasted.”
“I understand, Uncle,” Ava said. “I forgot to mention — Ordonez called me today as well.”
“Chang did not mention anything about that.”
“He may not know. The call was at three o’clock in the morning, Manila time. He wanted me to call him with updates.”
“What did you say?”
“I said no.”
“How did he take it?”
“Not well.”
“I will talk to Chang.”
“Uncle, if Chang can’t get him to back off, I may need you to speak to him. I can’t work like this. I’m going to Victoria in the morning to meet with Chief Francis, and I want to have a clear head. I don’t want to be worried about answering my phone.”
“I understand,” he said.
Ava knew he did. What she didn’t know was whether Tommy Ordonez would listen.
(18)
Ava caught the first flight out, at 7 a.m., and by eight she was walking up the front steps of the Fairmont Empress Hotel. Behind her Victoria’s inner harbour glittered in the morning sun.
The hotel was designed to look like a monstrous French chateau; its golden brickwork was shrouded in ivy and topped with a blue slate roof. It was more than a hundred years old, and to Ava’s critical eye it wasn’t showing many signs of its age. She walked into the lobby and admired the seamless marriage of marble and wood and the huge overhanging chandeliers. She could understand why the hotel was still on the Conde Nast Gold List.
She walked over to the reception desk and checked her luggage with the concierge. Ava then went to the house phone, called the hotel operator, and asked to be connected to Chief Francis’s room. The phone rang five times and then went to voicemail.
“Good morning, Chief Francis. My name is Ava Lee, and I represent a Hong Kong investment firm. You were recommended to us by a colleague who met you several years ago when you were considering building a casino. We have other, more diverse interests, and I’d appreciate the opportunity to sit and talk with you. I was in Vancouver yesterday and called your home last night to make an appointment. Your wife graciously told me you were in Victoria, so I flew over this morning, hoping we could connect. I’m at the hotel, and I’ll leave you with my cellphone number.”
Ava retreated to the lobby and settled into a leather chair. There was nothing to do but wait. She gave herself until one o’clock. If she didn’t hear from him by then, she would go looking for him and engage him as best as she could.
She picked up the Vancouver Sun and was scanning the front page when her cellphone rang. An eastern Ontario area code lit up the screen, and for a second she thought it was Marian calling, until she noticed that the number was unfamiliar. “Ava Lee.”
“This is Chief Ronald Francis.”
“Thank you for returning my call.”
“Do I know you?”
“No, sir, you don’t,” she said and paused. She didn’t want to lie to him, nor did she want to raise the Philip Chew problem over the phone. So she said nothing.
“And you want to meet?”
“If that’s possible. I’d really appreciate even ten minutes of your time.”
She could hear him mumbling to someone. “We have a small boardroom on the mezzanine level,” he said. “I have an opening in half an hour.”
“I’ll be there,” she said.
Ava stood up and walked to the business centre. She printed out the data Maynard and Hunter had sent her
