The Princeling of Nanjing (17 page)

When she woke, the first thing she wondered was where she was. It was just past seven o’clock and she’d slept for more than eight uninterrupted hours. The room was almost pitch-black. Ava slid from the bed and stumbled towards the window. She pushed the curtains open and looked out on a wet, dreary morning.

She searched for her cellphone and called her mother’s home phone. Again it went to voicemail. Annoyed, frustrated, and now getting seriously worried, she tried her cell. After it had rung twice, Ava began to feel her anxiety rising.

“
Wei
,” Jennie Lee said. Ava could hear women laughing in the background.

“Where are you?” Ava blurted.

“I’m at dinner with Cindy and Tamara. We’re in a new noodle restaurant in Markham that’s supposed to be terrific.”

“Did you get my messages?”

“Of course I did.”

“Why didn’t you call me back?”

“Ava, it would have been the middle of the night in Hong Kong.”

Ava heard the calmness in her mother’s voice and realized that she must be sounding frantic.

“I was worried about you.”

“Why?”

“You went to Niagara Falls and then it was like you disappeared into a sinkhole.”

“You told me not to bother you from there.”

“I know.”

“So I didn’t.”

“When do you ever do what I ask?”

“You’re being silly,” Jennie Lee said.

“I can’t help it. I woke up with a feeling that something awful had happened.”

“Nothing horrible has happened here, so you can put me out of your mind, at least for now.”

“Thank goodness you’re well.”

“I’m actually more than well. The girls and I are having a bit of a celebration.”

Ava heard a touch of eagerness in her mother’s voice, and then she heard Cindy yell, “Tell her how we did.”

“How did you do?” Ava asked, rolling her eyes.

“Eighty-five thousand,” Jennie said, every word clipped.

“In total?”

“What do you mean?”

“Your Rama winnings plus your Niagara winnings?”

“No, I won another eighty-five thousand in Niagara.”

“I don’t believe it,” Ava said.

“What’s so hard to believe?” Jennie said. “I went to the bank this afternoon and deposited it. So start thinking about Italy.”

“That’s wonderful.”

“I think so too. Now tell me, what are you up to and why are you in Hong Kong? I thought the trip was supposed to be to Shanghai.”

“It was, but some business brought me here.”

“And you said you’ll be meeting Daddy?”

“I emailed him last night to ask if he could get together this morning, but I haven’t checked yet to see if he replied.”

“I’m sure if the morning doesn’t work you can find some other time.”

“Not necessarily. I’m leaving here late this afternoon for Nanjing and I don’t expect I’ll be back here on this trip.”

“My god, you’re getting around. I thought those days were behind you.”

“Me too.”

“Well, if you do get together with him, give him a kiss for me.”

“I will.”

“And Ava, please don’t mention my windfall. He doesn’t like it when I gamble, even when I win.”

“I won’t say a word.”

When Ava put the phone down, her spirits felt considerably lighter. She walked to the window to confirm that it was still pelting rain, made herself a cup of coffee, and then settled in at the computer.

Her father had emailed to say he was going to be in meetings all day and asked when she was leaving Hong Kong. She told him about her plans to go to Nanjing and said she’d touch base once the rest of her schedule was set.

There was a raft of emails from Richard Bowlby that Brenda had forwarded. Some had been sent to and from someone named David Katz. Katz, it became apparent, was Bowlby’s London legal contact. The emails were rather general in nature and touched more on the various applications of the U.K. Bribery Act than on Calhoun Metals specifically, and even then they were loaded with ifs, ands, and buts. Katz did refer to a justice ministry lawyer he knew personally and offered to set up a meeting between him and Richard. The old boys’ network seemed to be in play. She was pleased to have it on her side for a change.

Richard had also had some preliminary communication with a Michael Dillman. He worked at the
Economic Herald
and also seemed to be an acquaintance. The two men had agreed to meet for a drink, but nothing beyond that. Still, Ava thought, it was a start.

There were no emails from Vanessa. Had she come up dry or was she just keeping Brenda informed? Ava left the computer and went to the bathroom to shower. Before she could turn on the water, her mobile phone rang again. She glanced at it and saw an unfamiliar Chinese number. Almost hesitantly, she said, “This is Ava Lee.”

“I called the Peninsula and they told me you’d checked out,” a woman’s voice said. “So I thought I’d try the cell number you gave me.”

“Who is this?”

“Fai.”

“Fai who?”

“Pang Fai.”

“I’m so sorry, I didn’t recognize your voice.”

“It’s early for me to be up,” she said. “I woke to call you.”

“Why?”

“Tsai Men phoned me yesterday.”

“Is that unusual?”

“It is when all he wanted to talk about was you.”

“That’s odd,” Ava said uneasily.

“I meant to call you last night, but I got caught up in some things.”

“It was nice of you to remember and to make the effort,” Ava said, not wanting to know what Fai had been caught up in.

“It isn’t a big deal. I liked you when I met you and I thought I owed you a heads-up.”

“Why, what did he say that warranted it?”

“He was quite sneaky — for him, I mean, because he’s normally blunt to the point of being rude,” Fai said. “He started off by talking about our dinner the other night and asking if you and I had gotten along. I said yes, and then he asked me if you’d discussed the nature of your relationship with Xu. I told him I didn’t know what he meant. Then he laughed and said that Xu had described you as his girlfriend. He wanted to know if you were getting paid.”

“What did you say?”

“I said no, you were a businesswoman, a real businesswoman.”

“Thanks for that.”

“I figured it was true enough.”

“Was that all he wanted to know?”

“No, he asked me what kind of business you were in, where you lived, and did I know how to contact you.”

“Did you give him my phone number?”

“I’m not that stupid,” Fai said. “But I did tell him you’re a Canadian from Toronto and that’s all I knew.”

“I see,” Ava said, her heart sinking a little.

“He said he remembered my saying that to him the night we had dinner.”

“Did you?”

“I can’t recall, but it is possible.”

Ava felt her heart sink further. Was he smart enough, or paranoid enough, to use that broad a coincidence to connect her to the Toronto Commonwealth Bank?

“How did he react to it?” Ava asked.

“When I told him at dinner, he just sort of shrugged as if he didn’t care. Yesterday he was certainly more interested.”

“He’s invited Xu and me to Nanjing,” she said.

“Where are you now?”

Ava hesitated and then realized she was being paranoid herself. “I’m in Hong Kong.”

“I would stay there if I were you.”

“I can’t. I promised Xu I’d go with him.”

“I told you the other night that he’s no friend of Xu’s. Well, I think you can also assume he’s no friend of yours. I wouldn’t go anywhere near Nanjing.”

“I’ll think about it a bit more,” Ava said, not wanting to argue.

“Do that.”

“Fai, I want to thank you again for calling. It was very considerate of you.”

“Girls who work with men like Tsai and Xu need to look after each other. I hope you’d do the same for me if it came down to it.”

“You can count on that,” Ava said. “Call me if you ever need anything.”

“And you should feel free to call me. Did my number show on your phone?”

“Yes.”

“It’s my personal line. Not many people have it. The only thing I ask is that you not share it.”

“I wouldn’t think of it.”

“Good luck with whatever decision you make,” Fai said.

Ava was about to end the call when a thought came to her. “Fai, would you ever consider doing some work for one of my companies?”

“I’m hardly trained to do anything but act.”

“We’ve launched a new fashion line with a brilliant young Chinese designer named Clark Po, and I think it’s going to go very well. It would be a privilege to have someone like you associated with it.”

“You want me to wear his clothes?”

“I’m thinking along bigger lines.”

“Such as?”

“You could be our spokesperson in Asia. You could be the face of the brand here and elsewhere.”

“I’d have to like the clothes before I agreed to anything.”

“Of course.”

“And I would have to be well paid.”

“Of course.”

“When you have something concrete to offer, call me.”

“Not your agent?”

“He’s a man. He’d only get in the way.”

At half past nine she walked into the hotel lobby with her bags. Sonny was already lingering by the door. She had called to tell him that she was checking out, going to a meeting with the lawyers, and then heading to the airport. He grunted when she told him she was leaving Hong Kong so soon, but he didn’t ask any questions.

She was early getting to the law office but was shown into the boardroom. Within a minute Brenda and Vanessa walked through the door.

“How was your evening?” Ava asked.

“Long,” Vanessa replied.

The two women sat down across from Ava, and then Vanessa pulled several long sheets of foolscap from a file, passed one to Brenda and slid another to Ava.

“I reworked your chart based on the additional information we’ve uncovered,” Vanessa said. “I needed something to send to my contacts in the U.S. I hope you don’t mind.”

Ava looked down at it and blinked.

“When you add in all the companies kicking in money to Evergreen, Gold Star, and Hallmark, we must be up to more than forty,” Ava said.

“That’s true,” Vanessa said. “I couldn’t fit them all on the page so I created an addendum that lists them alphabetically.”

“And you sent all of this to your contacts?”

“I did, and then I followed up with phone calls.”

“What was their reaction?”

“Disbelief.”

“They disputed the facts?”

“No, they were shocked by the sheer extent of it all.”

“By the number of companies that are paying off the family?”

“Yes, and by the amount of money the family seems to have accumulated.”

“That’s good to hear.”

“Actually it is, and I think we have to give a lot of credit to Vanessa and the way she’s handled this,” Brenda said. “She stayed up most of the night going back and forth between New York and Washington. Initially there was a lot of skepticism on the other end.”

“The people I was talking to are friends, so I think the correct word to use is ‘caution’ when it comes to describing their first reaction,” Vanessa said.

“They still had to be persuaded.”

Vanessa shrugged and a slight, satisfied smile crossed her face. Ava then noticed the dark circles under her eyes and knew it was true that she’d stayed up most of the night.

“Do you mind if I ask who these friends are?” Ava asked.

“Felicia is a lawyer in the Department of Justice. She’s Chinese American and gets an emotional reaction — though she would deny it — to this particular kind of corruption. The other, Sam Curry, writes for the
Wall Street Tribune
.”

“So what happens now?”

“Felicia will press to have an investigatory file opened on the Jiangsu–Patriot Insurance deal.”

“That will take time.”

“Yes, it will, and regardless of the information we have, the Department of Justice will move at its own pace.”

“How about Sam Curry?”

“He has to check the facts before he does anything else.”

“But he’s interested?”

“Truthfully, he wasn’t terribly keen at first, but he started to warm to the idea when he saw we had actual bank records. And then I used a line that Brenda said came from you.”

“I told Vanessa about your mentioning the single-generation evolution from idealistic peasant revolutionary to corrupt billionaire businessman,” Brenda said.

“Sam loved it.”

“I’m sure he loved the bank records more,” Ava said. “So now he’s fact-checking?”

“Yes.”

“How long will that take?”

“Given the bank records and the fact that some of the information is in the public domain, not as long as I imagined. He thought it would be a day or two, and if he’s satisfied with what he finds, he’ll go to his editor with the story suggestion.”

“How about in London? Did you hear anything more from Richard?” Ava asked Brenda.

Brenda looked at her watch. “He’s going to call us in about ten minutes with an update.”

“It’s three o’clock in the morning there,” Ava said.

“I don’t really care,” Brenda said, and then put her hand to her mouth. “That sounded so bitchy.”

“My boyfriend took off for two weeks last year to watch soccer games in Europe,” Vanessa said. “I felt the same way.”

“I don’t have that problem,” Ava said with a shrug.

Brenda started to say something and then stopped.

Vanessa stretched her arms skyward and yawned.

When the phone rang, Brenda answered. She listened for a moment and then said, “Wait a second. I’m with Ava and Vanessa and I want to put this on speaker.”

“Hello, ladies,” Richard Bowlby said. “What an interesting day and night this has been.”

“Sorry to take you away from your sports,” Ava said.

“Not at all. It was nice to get a break from rugby. My team has been doing badly and I couldn’t stand much more of it.”

“Richard, none of us really wants to hear about your rugby team,” Brenda said.

“Are you still upset over my love of the game?” he said.

“No, I’m just trying to conduct business, since our client is here and the clock is running.”

“Then turn off the clock, because we’ve created a bit of a stir here and we need to take time to digest it.”

“With David Katz?” Brenda asked, her voice rising.

“Yes, to a degree, but more with Michael Dillman at the
Economic Herald
. Our quick drink turned into a three-hour meeting. He left with copies of all the documents that you sent. Two hours later he called me back and we met for dinner and several nightcaps.”

“What generated so much interest?” Brenda asked.

“Dennis Calhoun.”

“I don’t know of anyone by that name. Can I assume he is involved in Calhoun Metals?” Ava asked.

“He’s the company founder, long-time CEO, and currently its chairman,” Richard said. “He also happens to be the chairman of the Conservative Party in the U.K.”

“Oh,” Ava said.

“‘Oh’ indeed. He’s a man of considerable power and influence with friends in high places. Luckily, he has also made as many, if not more, enemies, and they aren’t without their own clout. The bottom line is that he’s a man who a great many people know and have an interest in.”

“Richard, as I remember, party chairmen are internal appointments and not elected,” Brenda said.

“That’s true.”

“And the position is almost honorary.”

“Also true.”

“So while Calhoun’s political affiliation is interesting, I can’t see its having any direct bearing on the business practices or the success of his company.”

“That was my initial reaction, and it’s essentially true, but according to Michael Dillman — and hence his interest — Dennis Calhoun has muddied the waters. Apparently, he’s been a relentless self-promoter for many years, and since assuming the party chairmanship nine months ago, that’s only intensified.”

“Self-promotion is not an unusual trait in a businessman or a quasi-politician,” Ava said.

“Except that Calhoun presents himself as the man who has shown the U.K. business community how to successfully do business with the Chinese.”

“How interesting,” Ava said, a large smile breaking across her face.

“According to Dillman, Calhoun maxed out his growth potential here years ago. He was evidently quite the terror, a real predator. I have a list of companies he destroyed and lawsuits he fought off. With the U.K. market saturated, he turned his attention to Asia. He had a few bumps along the road in Singapore and Malaysia, but then he discovered China. He has been bragging about Mega Metals for years. He says it’s the ideal model for other U.K. companies to emulate if they want to succeed in China. Dillman said that Calhoun has been a regular contributor to the business press and a guest on a horde of TV and radio shows. Dillman thinks that high profile helped him get the chairmanship.”

“Mega Metals as a model — how hypocritical is that?” Vanessa said.

“And the Calhoun message has only been getting stronger,” Richard said. “Since he’s become chairman of the party, the government has been trying to turn him into a poster boy.”

“A what?” Brenda said.

“He was the leader of the last major trade mission that the government organized to go to China. Then they organized a series of seminars aimed at educating small to medium-sized firms on how to do business in China. Calhoun doesn’t conduct them, but his name is attached to them.”

“So Calhoun and his business are linked with the government?” Ava asked.

“Exactly.”

“That’s fascinating,” she said.

“Dillman thinks so too.”

“Is he going to do a story?”

“Well, he was spouting possible headlines as he left the bar. One was ‘Calhoun’s Secret Key to Success in China — Bribe the Buggers.’ My favourite was ‘Chairman Calhoun Pays Chairman Mao.’ Although knowing the
Economic Herald
, I’m sure if they do a piece, the headline will be less tabloid and far more serious.”

“If they do a piece?” Ava said. “Is there any doubt they will?”

“Dillman still has to talk to his editor. If he gets the green light, then they’ll obviously have to confirm the information we’ve given them, and he said they would have to speak to Calhoun. It could take several days, maybe longer.”

“I know the
Herald
has a tremendous reputation, but how many readers does it have?” Brenda asked.

“There are about a million and a half subscribers, but the total readership is larger than that,” Richard said. “And you are correct about it being a very serious and respected publication. Anything it publishes will have instant credibility worldwide, and you can expect that other media will pick up the story and run it as well.”

“I have to confess that this is more than I ever hoped for,” Ava said softly.

“It isn’t a sure thing yet,” Richard said.

“I understand that, but it’s a very large leap forward from where I was twenty-four hours ago,” she said.

“Richard, did you make any promises to Mr. Dillman?” Brenda asked.

“Like what?”

“An exclusive.”

“No, although he asked me who else I was talking to and I told him no one.”

“Vanessa has spoken to a friend who works at the
Wall Street Tribune
. They might have an interest as well, although I imagine it might be more focused on the Tsai family and their American interests.”

“Given its English roots, I expect the
Herald
would be all over the Calhoun–government angle.”

“We wouldn’t want them to downplay the Tsais,” Brenda said.

“That’s not a thing we can control. It’s Calhoun’s stature and position that are most important here.”

“I just want the story published,” Ava said. “It can be ninety-nine percent about Calhoun and one percent about the Tsais. It doesn’t matter. I’ll still find a way to make it work.”

“That’s the right approach to take,” Richard said.

“It’s the only approach, but there is one thing I am concerned about,” Ava said, turning to Vanessa. “I don’t want us to lose the chance to have the
Tribune
run the story as well. I would hate it if the
Herald
got it out first and your friend felt blindsided. I think it might be wise if you gave him a heads-up.”

“I think Ava is right,” Brenda said.

“And Richard,” Ava continued, “is there any chance that the
Herald
might run the chart we’ve been assembling?”

“Truthfully, Dillman didn’t have much interest in it.”

“Well, when you speak to Sam Curry,” Ava said to Vanessa, “make sure you tell him that. It might encourage him to use it.”