“I’m sorry. How was I to know?”
“You couldn’t, I guess.”
“I’m sorry anyway.”
“Are you really in Vancouver, like Aunt Lily said?”
“Yes.”
“You move fast.”
“It’s what I do,” Ava said.
“She said you wanted to meet with my father.”
“If it’s possible.”
“It isn’t.”
“I see.”
“He isn’t making any sense right now. I think he’s had some kind of nervous breakdown. My mother and I have been trying to get him to see our family doctor or go to the hospital, but we can’t get him to listen to us. He seems totally lost, like he’s burrowed into himself.”
“Louis said he was distressed.”
“Catatonic is more like it.”
“I’m sorry.”
“You keep saying that.”
“What would you prefer me to say?” Ava asked.
Maggie hesitated and then said, “I’ll meet with you if you want. I have some understanding of what’s been going on, and I know my Uncle Tommy will be howling for blood. Maybe there’s a way we can manage all of this better.”
“It certainly can’t hurt,” Ava said, her optimism notching up another gear.
“Where are you calling from?”
“The Pan Pacific Hotel.”
“There’s a very good Chinese restaurant near there, the Emperor’s Crown, in the Marine Building in the inner harbour. Could you meet me there in about an hour? I’ll be wearing a powder-blue sweatsuit.”
“Black Adidas nylon jacket and training pants,” Ava said. “And Maggie, I wish I didn’t have to ask you to do this.”
“Well, I know sooner or later we’ll have to talk to someone, and better you than some other people I can think of…”
“I’ll see you in an hour,” Ava said softly.
(14)
Ava got to the restaurant at exactly one o’clock. From the entrance she scanned the room for a powder-blue sweatsuit. When she didn’t see one, she asked for a table for two by the window. She put the envelope that contained the information from Cousins and Edward Ling on the table and then sat for ten minutes watching float planes land and take off from the marina in the harbour.
A server was placing a pot of jasmine tea on the table when Ava saw a silver BMW pull into the lot. It was a high-end Series 5 or 6, and the driver was wearing a powder-blue sweatsuit. It was the kind of car she would expect the only daughter of wealthy Chinese parents to drive. She was no stranger to the breed. Not all of them were spoilt, arrogant, and manic about acquiring the latest fashion in clothes, cars, shoes, and purses. But more than enough were.
When Ava saw the BMW, she assumed Maggie Chew would fit the bill. But as she watched the short, pudgy girl walk into the restaurant, the image disappeared.
Ava stood up, and when Maggie saw her, she walked towards the table with her head down, her eyes fixed upon her unlaced white running shoes.
“Thank you for coming,” Ava said.
Maggie raised her head. Ava saw that her skin was marred by bright red pimples high on her cheeks and small pits beneath them. Her eyes were large, with dark circles around them. “I didn’t think I had much choice,” she said.
“Shall we order?” Ava asked, a believer in the calming quality of the dim sum ritual.
“I don’t know how much I can eat.”
“What would you recommend?” Ava persisted.
Maggie picked up the dim sum menu. “The sticky rice is good… the chicken feet in black bean sauce… turnip cake.”
“How is the har gow?”
“I prefer the shrimp-and-chive dumplings.”
When their order had been taken, Ava poured tea for Maggie. Maggie tapped her middle finger gently on the table as a sign of thanks. She has manners, Ava thought.
“I’m sorry I had to reach you through Auntie Lily. I tried Edward Ling first.”
“Aunt Lily is just about my mother’s closest friend, and my mother can’t stand Edward Ling. Besides, when he called last night, he insisted on talking to my father and didn’t even mention your name.”
“Did he speak to your father?” Ava asked.
“No. I told you, my father is not in a state to talk to anyone.”
“Maggie, do either you or your mother know what’s happened to your father?”
“My mother knows that something has gone wrong with the business, but she isn’t interested in all the gory details. She couldn’t handle them anyway. I’m a bit stronger.”
“So you know something? I mean, you know what happened? You know the details?”
Maggie closed her eyes, squeezed them tightly, then shook her head. “I’ve spent the last week at my parents’ home trying to keep my father sane and trying to get my mother to stop crying,” she said, waving a hand to indicate her sweatshirt. Ava noticed the cuffs were badly frayed. “I usually don’t dress like this, but I haven’t been getting much sleep and I’ve let myself go. When you called, I was at my condo getting some clean clothes to take back to West Van. That’s where my parents live.”
“The British Properties?”
“Yes. That was my mother’s choice.”
“And I hear you’re a student.”
“Law school. My father’s wish.”
“I’m an accountant.”
“I know; Louis told me. He said you were hired by Uncle Tommy’s company to look into some missing money, and he was shocked when he met you. Young, good-looking, female, capable — not my Uncle Tommy’s normal type of employee. Louis said some of the people in Manila were actually afraid of you, that you have some amazing connections.”
Ava didn’t want to talk about her connections. Instead she patted the envelope that held her paperwork. There isn’t much point, she thought, in being coy. “The money that’s missing — your father took it. I have all the records here.”
Maggie’s eyes flicked over the envelope. “I know he did,” she said.
Ava blinked. “Well, since you know,” she pressed, “I’d like you to tell me why he did it. And I’d like to know where the money is.”
The turnip cake arrived. Maggie Chew slathered chili sauce on a slice and bit into it. “Why haven’t you gone to my uncle with your information?”
“How do you know I haven’t?”
“Because if you had, there’s no force on earth that would keep him from descending on my father, with every ounce of malice and viciousness he could muster. There are only two things he cares about: his position in the family and his money. When it comes to family, my Uncle Tommy talks a good story, but the reality is that he thinks of it as his family. He thinks that everyone should be grateful to him — the oldest son, the trailblazer — for whatever they have in life, and should express their thanks by being obedient, subservient, and loyal as a dog. Then there’s his money — he’s married to it. My father and my uncle in Hong Kong were supposedly partners in the business, but the truth is, all the purse strings are held tightly by Uncle Tommy. He decides how much money they need and then doles it out as he sees fit.”
“You’ve obviously done a lot of thinking about this,” Ava said.
Maggie laid down her chopsticks. “It’s all I’ve thought about for the past week. My father has committed two cardinal sins. He’s stolen from my uncle’s precious money hoard and in the process he’s betrayed the family. I’d be surprised if Uncle Tommy didn’t want him dead.”
“Do you know how much money your father appears to have taken?”
“He said it was more than fifty million dollars.”
“You say that so calmly.”
“It’s so big a number it hardly seems real.”
“Where is it?”
“It’s gone.”
“How can more than fifty million dollars just disappear?”
Maggie picked up her chopsticks and plucked a chicken foot from the bamboo steamer. Then just as quickly she put it back. “I really don’t think I can eat.”
“Me neither,” Ava said. A lump the size of a grapefruit was lodged in her chest. Any hope of a giant fee had been quickly dashed. “Tell me what happened.”