Ava explained to Carlo and Andy what she wanted them to do. She had started walking towards the door to the office when she remembered Martin.
He was still in the car, his eyes closed and his head resting against the back of the seat. When she knocked on the glass, he jumped, then lowered the window.
“Things have gone very well,” Ava said, “but I still have at least an hour’s worth of work, maybe more.”
“I’m sorry if I was a bit difficult earlier,” he said.
“No reason to be; it was more my fault than yours. I should have explained things more clearly so you knew what to expect.”
“Ava, I’ve been thinking,” he said carefully. “When we leave here, what’s going to happen? I mean, what if they call in the police? They know who we are.”
“They won’t,” Ava said.
“How can you be so sure?”
“Trust me.”
(32)
Ava was sitting at Douglas’s computer, looking through his bank and investment accounts, and for once she was pleasantly surprised. There was almost five million dollars in The River’s Las Vegas bank account. She transferred four and a half million to Hong Kong.
In Douglas’s drawer she found records from three banks and a brokerage firm. The bank accounts held collectively more than two million dollars. She left a thousand in each account. His stock portfolio’s most recent valuation pegged it at a million and a half. She put in sell orders for everything. When the stock was turned into cash, she’d move it to Hong Kong as well. Ashton wasn’t as flush as his partner, but she still found just under a million dollars in his two accounts. Again she left a thousand in each.
Of all the things that had made her job easier, nothing came close to the advent of electronic banking. It’s too bad Cyprus wasn’t set up that way, she thought. It’s too bad I probably have to go to London.
She listed all the account numbers and transaction records in her notebook, then searched for flights to London. There was a Virgin Airlines direct flight from McCarran to Gatwick leaving at nine that evening. It would land in London at three thirty. Ava booked a business-class seat.
When she returned to the living room, Carlo was watching Douglas and Ashton. Andy was at the window, looking out at the two men in the dog cages.
Douglas was slumped in his chair. The stub of his thumb had been taped, but Ava knew the pain wouldn’t have eased and that it would keep draining him of energy. Ashton was alert, and he flinched when she came towards them. His eyelids were still twitching, and Ava hoped it was from nervousness and not from lack of medication. She needed him to act as normal as possible when talking to Lily Simmons.
“We’re just about finished,” she said to Carlo. “Once we get this group sorted we can get out of here. I’m going to leave them tied up. Hopefully no one will discover they’re missing or come looking for them until we’re out of town.”
“What do you want to do with the guys in the dog cages?”
“We should bring them in,” Ava said. “Noise carries at night, and we don’t want either them or the dogs attracting attention.”
“Then we need to feed the dogs.”
“Bring the two guys in first. Put them in separate rooms and leave them on the floor. Tape their wrists and ankles again — make sure they can’t get out of it — and I’d tape their mouths too.”
“Okay, boss.”
“When I’m finished talking to these two,” she said, motioning to Douglas and Ashton, “we’ll take them off the chairs, tape them again, and leave them on the floor as well. Put one in the kitchen and the other one can stay here.”
She heard a groan. Douglas was awake, watching their conversation. She smiled at him. “Mr. Douglas, I just told Carlo to bring your men inside in a little while. There’s no point in scaring the dogs anymore.”
He grimaced. “Did you get what you wanted? Did you do what you said you had to do?”
“Yes. I emptied your personal bank accounts and moved most of the money from The River’s account overseas.”
“Shit,” Ashton said.
“So now you’ll leave?” Douglas asked.
“Soon enough. First I need to get your signatures on this transfer request and this admission of guilt,” she said, placing three copies of each of the documents she’d prepared on the table. “The transfer is for $65 million. That’s what I’ve been told you stole from the three players I mentioned earlier.”
She placed the paperwork on the coffee table and slid the table close to their chairs. “Are you right- or left-handed?” she asked Ashton.
“Right.”
“Carlo, untape both their right hands.”
As he did, she held out the pen to Douglas. “Sign these,” she said.
He hesitated, and she saw that he was trying to read the confession. “These are for signing, not reading,” she said.
He took the pen, his hand trembling slightly. Suddenly he looked at her. “That’s why you asked me if I was right- or left-handed, wasn’t it?”
“What do you mean?”
“You didn’t want to cut off the thumb on my signature hand.”
“Obviously not.”
“That was smart.”
“Just sign,” Ava said.
The signatures were shaky but passable. “Now you,” she said to Ashton.
Carlo hovered, and Ava knew he was looking for any excuse to have another go at the Englishman. Ashton sensed it too, and signed all six documents without a pause.
“Great. Now the next thing that needs to happen is for Mr. Ashton to call Lily Simmons.”
“I’m not sure — ” he began to say, and then stopped when Ava put a finger to her lips.
“You said she was in London.”
“Yes.”
“It’s around midnight there now. Will she be at home?”
“Probably.”
“Good. So now you’re going to call her and you’re going to tell her that a Ms. Ava Lee, who represents some substantial Asian business interests, is going to be in London tomorrow and wants to meet with her. You’re going to tell her that this could be very good for Smyth’s and very good for you, because the people she represents have expressed an interest in buying into The River, at a very healthy premium. She would be interested, I assume, in selling some shares at a premium?”
“Keep talking,” Ashton said.
“I land in London in the late afternoon, so I won’t be able to meet with her until around five at the earliest.”
“She works late.”
“Good. Now, you need to emphasize that I have to meet with her tomorrow. Tell her I’ll call her at the office or on her cellphone as soon as I arrive. Tell her you’ve given me those numbers. If she has a problem with tomorrow, tell her it’s all the time I have available. How does that sound?”
Ashton’s eyelids were twitching so quickly she could barely see his eyes. “Why does it matter what I think?” he yelled.
Ava didn’t like his reaction. She turned to Carlo. “Pull down his pants. Hold the gun against his balls,” she said.
When Carlo reached for his pants, Ashton threw himself back against the chair so forcefully it almost tipped over.
“Listen to me,” Ava said. “Carlo is going to hold the gun against your genitals while you’re talking to Ms. Simmons. He will fire if I say the word fire in Cantonese. And believe me, he won’t hesitate to do it. So if I were you, I would follow our script exactly. I want to meet with Lily Simmons tomorrow. Your only priority is to make that happen.”
As Carlo pulled down Ashton’s pants, Ava went into the kitchen and brought back a portable phone. She sat across from Ashton, who was now as naked as Douglas. Carlo kneeled to one side, the gun pressed against Ashton’s testicles. “What’s her number?” she asked.
The shock of cold steel against his skin made Ashton jump. He rattled off the phone number. Ava dialled, and when the phone rang, she put it on speaker and held it under Ashton’s mouth.
Simmons answered on the third ring, her voice throaty, full of sleep. “Hello?”
“Lily, this is Jeremy.”