“Such old friends, and close friends. There can’t be too many men from that village who made it out, let alone became so successful.”
“Only a few of us, and that makes it worse.”
Now she understood. By being rude to her, Uncle thought they had been disrespectful to him. He was at times overly sensitive to slights, and as he got older she noticed he was more easily irked. She also knew he didn’t care about Ordonez’s behaviour; it was Chang’s attitude that bothered him. “Uncle, Chang Wang was in a difficult position today. Tommy Ordonez is obviously in a rage over this Canadian business. His own brother, whom he obviously trusted, has failed him. You wouldn’t expect Chang to openly chastise or oppose Ordonez. Maybe by being a little rude to me himself, he managed to moderate Ordonez. I’m sure that his actions towards me meant no disrespect to you.”
Uncle leaned back in the chair and closed his eyes. “Ava, if you want to go back to Hong Kong we will leave Ordonez to sort out his own mess,” he said quietly.
“Uncle, that would be the wrong reason to go back to Hong Kong.”
“What do you mean?”
“From what I’ve read and heard, Philip Chew is up to his neck in this thing. That’s obvious to me, to you, and I’m sure to them. So why do they want to use us at all?”
He took another sip of beer. “You are probably right, of course. They do suspect Philip, Chang more than Ordonez. Ordonez is still willing to give his younger brother the benefit of the doubt. They want us to eradicate that doubt.”
“And then what, push us aside?”
“No, I was firm about that and they agree. Even if we discover that Philip was responsible for the loss, there is the matter of determining what he did and why he did it. And then there is still fifty million dollars — or part of fifty million dollars — that we need to find and recover.”
“Why hasn’t Ordonez confronted his brother?”
“He wants to be one hundred percent sure of the facts.”
“I’m not sure I believe that,” she said.
“Neither do I, but Chang did say that when they sent their CFO in Manila to Vancouver, Philip Chew would not meet with him or talk to him on the phone. The CFO even went to his house but was not allowed through the front door. Chew seems to have barricaded himself inside. So maybe Ordonez has not talked to him because he cannot,” Uncle said. He paused and looked down at his beer. “Ava, Ordonez is a very proud man, and I know that is another reason why we are involved. He wants to keep this whole affair as private as possible. Inside the company they are blaming this Jim Cousins for concocting the scheme and they are saying that Louis Marx did not do his job properly. That is the official line, and I am not sure anything we find will change that, internally at least. You need to understand that, in Manila, Ordonez is a superstar in the business community. He has hardly put a wrong foot forward. If it comes out that he was swindled by his own brother, he will become a cheap headline in the Manila Star and every other newspaper in the country. And in the Philippines image is important. The idea of people laughing behind his back makes Ordonez crazy.”
“Chang told you all this?”
“Most of it.”
She sat quietly for a moment, calculating costs. “Uncle, what if we prove Chew’s culpability? What if I find out where the money went and there is no money to be retrieved?”
“We have a standby fee of one million dollars.”
“How much time do they expect us to devote to this?”
“I told them that if we could not find answers within a week, then we would part ways.”
“There isn’t much downside to that,” she said.
“I think not.”
“Then let’s take the job.”
He smiled. “As I said, a practical girl.”
“And a greedy one. I want that fee.”
She started to rise, assuming their conversation was over, but Uncle remained in his chair. “There’s something else I don’t know?” she asked.
Uncle sipped his beer. “The fat man you saw me with at the airport in Hong Kong.”
“Yes?”
“His name is Lop Liu.”
“You implied he ran the Triad in Mong Kok.”
“He does.”
“What does that have to do with me?”
“Do you remember Jackie Leung?”
“The toy manufacturer just outside Guangzhou? The one who tried to move the business to Vietnam without telling his partner? I caught up with him in Ho Chi Minh City.”
“You beat him, yes?”
“He came at me with a crowbar.”
“All he remembers is that you beat him and took his money. Lop told me that Jackie has become very successful, and he has guanxi — connections and influence — with some of my old adversaries. The fat man told me that Jackie wants repayment for the misery we put him through.”
Ava was accustomed to threats and wondered why Uncle was taking this one to heart. “You’re not nervous, are you?”
He waved his hand. “Me, they would never think about harming. It is you that pig Leung has targeted.”
“Uncle, why are you telling me this?” she asked.
“I want you to be careful.”
“I always am.”
“Ava, these are serious and competent people who have been well paid, with promises of more if they can kill you. You need to be alert until I can resolve this.”
“And how will you do that?”
“I am going to have Leung taken care of.”
“Then what do I have to worry about?”
“I have to find him first.”
(6)
Bald-headed Chang Wang sat like a small Buddha in the hotel lobby, where he was being fussed over by female staff. When he saw Uncle and Ava, he pushed himself to his feet. “I made a reservation for us in the Old Manila restaurant here in the hotel,” he said without a flicker of emotion. “They have excellent filet mignon. You do eat red meat, I hope, Ava.”
“I’m Chinese, Uncle Chang. I eat everything,” she said.
He noted her show of respect with a slight smile. “It has been a difficult day for all of us,” he said. “I appreciate your patience.”
They all ordered Caesar salad and the filet mignon. The two men drank beer with dinner; Ava had white burgundy from the bottle Chang insisted on ordering for her. He waited until they had finished eating and were contemplating cognac before turning to business. “How was your time with Louis Marx?” he asked.
“I found him entirely believable,” she said.
“What do you mean?”
“Being a comptroller has to be one of the most thankless jobs in the world. It’s a constant juggling act. On the one hand you have a set of professional guidelines and a code of ethics that you try to adhere to, and on the other you have a boss who is constantly pressuring you to cut corners. Then if that weren’t enough, there’s outside scrutiny from companies like Deloitte, ready to point fingers at the slightest misstep. And when they do, of course, your boss forgets that he pushed you to compromise the law and lets you take all the blame. I think Louis Marx did
