The receptionist at McDougal, Fraser, and Ling informed her that Mr. Ling was not in the office and asked if she wanted to leave a message. “This is a matter of some urgency involving a member of his family,” Ava said. “I need to speak to his assistant.”
“To whom am I speaking?” Ling’s assistant asked.
“My name is Ava Lee. I need to speak directly to Mr. Ling.”
“What is this concerning?”
Ava knew she wasn’t going to get anywhere by being evasive. “I’m an accountant, a forensic accountant, and I’ve been engaged by a multinational corporation to investigate the improper transfer of a considerable amount of their money. I believe that your law firm has an involvement in this transaction. Specifically, I believe Mr. Ling has an involvement through a client of his.”
When the assistant didn’t respond, Ava made things clearer. “I need to talk to him to straighten this matter out, one way or another, before I submit my report and various authorities, legal and otherwise, get dragged into it,” she said.
“He’s in conference and won’t be back for another hour or two.”
“Please have Mr. Ling call me as soon as possible. I’ll be waiting.”
Ava sat in the car looking up and down Post Street for a restaurant, but she didn’t see one that interested her. Then she realized she was only a short ride from Chinatown.
At one time San Francisco’s Chinatown was pre-eminent in North America. But with a growing Chinese diaspora across the continent, the Bay area could no longer boast having the best Chinese restaurants. Maybe she was just being biased, but Ava didn’t think any city could surpass Chinatown North in Toronto. In fact, she and Uncle sometimes argued about whether Toronto was on par with Hong Kong. A thousand of the best Hong Kong chefs were now practising their trade in Toronto, and they hadn’t lost their skills in moving to the West.
Ava parked her car in a lot on Bush Street and walked two blocks east to Grant. The southern entranceway to Chinatown was framed by two sets of double pillars connected by an archway crowned with a traditional green tile roof. She headed north and was immediately immersed in the sights and smells of every Chinatown she’d even been in: restaurant windows displaying barbecued ducks and pigs; porcelain, fabric, and furniture stores selling “genuine” Chinese antiques; herbalists and tea merchants; fruit and vegetable stands spilling out onto the sidewalks; and clinics offering acupuncture and whole-body massage. She admired the quality of the architecture. The Bank of America’s columns and doors were tattooed with gold dragons and there were fifty or sixty dragon medallions on its facade. She stood in front of the Bank of Canton and studied its triple-tiered green slate roof with upward-sweeping eaves, the edges painted poppy red.
She walked the entire eight blocks to Broadway Street, turned, and then headed back. She stopped at the Sing Chong Building, a jewel of old Chinese-style architecture and the first structure to be erected in Chinatown after the 1906 earthquake, before entering a neighbouring restaurant that advertised dim sum for four dollars a plate.
She ordered hot and sour soup, chicken feet, steamed cow stomach, and salty fried scallops. The dishes came in quick succession. The food is good, she thought. Maybe not quite Toronto good, but good.
She was halfway through her meal when her cellphone rang. The screen displayed a Vancouver area code, and she guessed it was Ling.
“Ava Lee.”
“Ms. Lee, this is Edward Ling.”
“Thank you for calling me back — ”
“I’m not sure what game you’re playing,” Ling said swiftly, “but you caused some distress to my assistant.”
“I assure you, Mr. Ling, this is not a game.”
“Then what is it? I’m a senior partner in this law firm, and my client list is exceedingly short and select. I’m not aware that any of them have engaged in the kind of activity you described to my assistant.”
“I’m in San Francisco. I flew here this morning from Manila. My plan is to catch a plane to Vancouver either late this afternoon or early this evening. I would like to meet with you when I get there.”
“Manila?”
“Yes, Manila. I’ve been hired by a company with its headquarters in Manila.”
“Do I have to guess who it is?”
“I think it’s best if you don’t. I just want to assure you that right now I am party to information that I haven’t yet shared with my client. There are questions that still need answers, and I think you can help me and perhaps help your client as well.”
“And which client of mine are you trying to assist?”
“Mr. Ling, let’s not say any more than we have to over the phone. We can discuss the situation when we meet.”
“I really don’t like doing this,” he said.
“Me neither, but the alternative is almost guaranteed to be less palatable.”
He sighed. “I have a working dinner at six o’clock at the Pan Pacific Hotel. Meet me in the lobby at eight o’clock.”
“Do you know anything about the flight schedules between here and there?”
“There will be a flight every hour or so, and the flying time is only an hour.”
“Then I’ll see you at the Pan Pacific,” she said. “I’ll be wearing a blue button-down dress shirt.”
“This is my cellphone number,” he said, reciting it. “Call me if there are any changes in your plans.”
She called her travel agent in Toronto, and within five minutes she had a flight to Vancouver and a room at the Pan Pacific. She decided it was time to call Uncle.
“ Wei,” he said.
“It’s Ava.”
“Did you find him?” he asked.
She was surprised by his abruptness. “I did.”
“And the money?”
“No.”
There was a heavy silence. Uncle told Chang Wang more than he should have, she thought.
“Do you know what happened to it, where it is?”
“Jim Cousins doesn’t have it. He was a just a conduit,” she said.
“You are certain?”
“I’m one hundred percent certain. Cousins was hired to be the front man for this piece of work.”
“By Chew?
“Of course.”
“I was hoping for something else — anything else.”
“Not to be.”
“This is very bad,” he said.
She wondered what he meant by bad. “The thing is, I don’t want you to say anything to Chang Wang or Tommy Ordonez just yet.”
“I told Chang that you had located Jim Cousins.”
“Now tell him that Cousins wasn’t in San Francisco when I got there. Tell him that I’m on his trail and I’m confident I’ll catch up to him in a day or two. Buy me a couple of days.”
“Why, Ava?”
“Because I don’t know what happened. I mean, I do know what Chew did and I have the documents to prove it, but I don’t know why he did it and I don’t know where the money is. It will take some time to figure it all out. If you mention that we have proof Chew did it, Ordonez won’t be able to contain himself. He’ll be on the first plane to Vancouver and the situation will degenerate into a family brawl, and any chance we have of collecting our fee will be dead.”
“I trust Chang,” Uncle said.
Ava took a deep breath. “Uncle, you told me that Chang is Ordonez’s creature. He may be an old and dear friend, but you know his primary loyalty is to Ordonez.”
It wasn’t often that Ava argued with Uncle, partly out of respect for his position and his age, but also because she accepted that he had tremendous judgement when it came to understanding situations and people. Uncle had gone quiet after her outburst, and she feared she had offended him.
“Do you have a plan?” he finally asked.
“I do.”
“A few days, you said.”
“Hopefully.”
“I would like to collect our fee as much as you would.”
“Then let me run with this,” she said softly.
“I will tell Chang that Cousins has not been run to ground yet.”
“Thank you, Uncle.”
He paused, and Ava was wondering if he was angry at her when he blurted, “How could Philip Chew do this to his family?”