what Philip Chew wanted him to do. Nothing more, nothing less.”
“So you think the fault for this loss lies with Philip Chew?”
“Of course, and so do you,” she said to Chang.
Uncle interrupted. “I spoke frankly to Ava.”
Chang didn’t seem surprised. “But what about this Cousins — what do you think about him?”
“He’s an important part of this,” Ava said. “If we’re lucky he’ll turn out to be the villain. In any event, I need to track him down. As a starting point I want to see the reports from the detectives you hired. They weren’t in the files I saw today.”
“I’ll have them for you in the morning.”
“I also couldn’t find any record of incorporation for Kelowna Valley Developments. Didn’t anyone check to see who actually owned it?”
“We did,” Chang said. “It’s owned by a numbered company, also incorporated in British Columbia. But when we traced it, we found that the shares are being held in trust by a Vancouver lawyer.”
“In trust for whom?”
“We don’t know and he wouldn’t tell us. We assumed it was Cousins.”
“I’ll need the name of the lawyer.”
“Of course.”
“And there were no banking records for KVD?”
“We don’t have any. The account was opened by Cousins and he had sole signing authority. We’ve requested information, but the bank is not forthcoming.”
“Which bank?”
“Toronto Commonwealth.”
Well, that’s a break, she thought.
The two men ordered cognac. Ava was only halfway through the bottle of wine and wasn’t about to finish it. She waited until the snifters arrived before saying, “Uncle Chang, Louis Marx told me you made him sign a non- disclosure agreement. Do you need me to do the same?”
“Of course not. You work with Uncle and you have his absolute confidence. And now you have mine. No one doubts your discretion.”
“And discretion seems to be very important to you and Mr. Ordonez.”
Chang held the snifter to his nose. “Tommy Ordonez is a Chinoy. Do you know what that is?”
“Yes,” Ava said.
“The fact that he is the richest man in the Philippines doesn’t change that. He has never been and never will be accepted by the six or seven old Spanish families who have run this country for centuries, families whose members take turns being president. They respect him to his face, of course, and they’re afraid of the power he can exert. But they will never accept him and they would like nothing more than to see him shamed. You noticed, I assume, that Tommy has a very unusual voice?”
“Of course.”
“He had a throat ailment when he was a boy, and it was badly treated. No more damage can be done and it doesn’t affect his health in any way, but he knows that in private they mimic and mock him. The condition is something he can’t change and their ignorance doesn’t affect him, but the way they perceive him as a businessman and as the head of his family does matter to him. He’s viewed as a man who never puts a wrong foot forward. That’s not true, of course, but that’s his image, and there is a lot to be gained from maintaining that image. And it’s a great source of pride to him as well as being a matter of practicality. Public knowledge of discord in the family, let alone that a younger brother might have cheated him, would cause Tommy almost unbearable humiliation.”
“Assuming there was cheating.”
“I’m not a man who puts his head in the sand,” Chang said. “Fifty million dollars or more is missing from our company’s coffers, and Philip’s signature is on every agreement.” He knocked back his cognac in one shot and looked at Ava. “Find out what happened, find out why it happened, and find as much of the money as you can.”
(7)
It was just past nine thirty in Manila, which meant that offices in Toronto were open for business. Ava turned on her laptop and went into her phonebook. She hadn’t spoken to Johnny Yan in three months but she hadn’t heard of any change in his employment status at Toronto Commonwealth Bank through their mutual friends from York University.
When Ava attended York, almost a third of her class were of Chinese origin. Some of them had naturally gravitated towards one another, and bonds were formed. By the time she graduated her group was down to ten close friends, all of them committed to succeeding and all of them committed to helping each other. It was the Chinese way — not much different from the ties that Uncle had forged over the years, although the scale was obviously much smaller.
She called Johnny on the hotel line and he answered on the second ring. “This is Ava,” she said.
“Where are you? I don’t recognize that country code.”
“Manila.”
“Lucky you. It’s snowing like hell here.”
“Johnny, I need a favour. Can you talk?”
Johnny knew what Ava did for a living, so nothing she asked for surprised him. “Shoot,” he said.
“The company is called Kelowna Valley Developments and it had an account at one of your branches. The sole signee was a guy named Jim Cousins. The account would have been opened about six months ago, and over those six months around fifty million dollars was deposited and withdrawn. I need to know where the money went.”
“Do you have an account number?”
“No.”
“God, you always make me do extra work.”
She laughed. “Johnny, one more thing. I think Cousins had a personal account there as well, and I’d like to know how active it was. You may have to go back further. In fact, it would be helpful if you could go back as far as you can.”
“Two years is about the maximum the system will allow.”
“That’s fine.”
“How quickly do you need this?”
“Now.”
“Of course,” he said, laughing. “I have a meeting starting in ten minutes and I’ll be tied up most of the morning. I won’t be able to get to it until lunch time.”
“I’ll wait up.”
Ava hung up and signed into her email. There was a note from Derek saying he had moved into her condo for a few days and that he intended to contact Mimi. And by the way, he wrote, is she the short, chunky brunette or the tall blonde with large breasts?
Before leaving Toronto, Ava had barely had enough time to get things sorted. She had been reduced to firing off last-minute emails to her sister, Marian; her mother, Jennie; and her best friend, Mimi. However, she did have time to talk to one of her closest male friends, Derek Liang. Derek was the only other person she knew who practised bak mei, one of the oldest and deadliest martial arts, and she employed him from time to time in her work. He lived in Richmond Hill, a northern suburb of Toronto that was predominantly Chinese, and had expressed interest in moving downtown. What he really wanted was to meet some women who weren’t the usual Chinese princesses he dated. She had left a key to her condo for him with the building manager and told him she would let her friend Mimi know he was moving in. The moment she had said it, she felt a flutter of regret.
Ava deleted Derek’s message and opened an email from Mimi. The subject line read MARIA. Ava, I gave your name and email address to a woman last night. Her name is Maria Gonzalez and she’s an assistant trade
