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 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.”