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hadn’t found Ordonez and Chang more offensive than some of their other rich Chinese clients. There’s something else at play here , she thought. “Is there a problem with our fee?”
    He smiled. “You are so practical.”
    â€œIs there?”
    â€œNo, just the opposite. After the way they behaved, I insisted on our usual rate. They agreed.”
    â€œSo what’s the issue?”
    â€œTheir behaviour,” he said. “Chang Wang is waiting downstairs to have dinner with us. I told him that if we are not there by eight o’clock it means we are going back to Hong Kong tomorrow.”
    â€œYou and Chang Wang — how far back do you go?” she asked, realizing that this had nothing to do with her.
    â€œWe are both from Wuhan, and we grew up together as boys in the same village.”
    â€œAnd you’ve kept in touch all these years?”
    Uncle stalled by taking a sip of beer. “We have done favours for each other,” he said slowly. “Chang helped me get to Hong Kong. After I was established, I helped him get to the Philippines, where he had a brother. From time to time our businesses — my old one — needed help, and we were there for each other. In China today, Tommy Ordonez would be nothing but an ink blot if it were not for my connections. And Chang helped me make a lot of money in these islands.”
    â€œSuch old friends, and close friends. There can’t be too many men from that village who made it out, let alone became so successful.”
    â€œOnly a few of us, and that makes it worse.”
    Now she understood. By being rude to her, Uncle thought they had been disrespectful to him. He was at times overly sensitive to slights, and as he got older she noticed he was more easily irked. She also knew he didn’t care about Ordonez’s behaviour; it was Chang’s attitude that bothered him. “Uncle, Chang Wang was in a difficult position today. Tommy Ordonez is obviously in a rage over this Canadian business. His own brother, whom he obviously trusted, has failed him. You wouldn’t expect Chang to openly chastise or oppose Ordonez. Maybe by being a little rude to me himself, he managed to moderate Ordonez. I’m sure that his actions towards me meant no disrespect to you.”
    Uncle leaned back in the chair and closed his eyes. “Ava, if you want to go back to Hong Kong we will leave Ordonez to sort out his own mess,” he said quietly.
    â€œUncle, that would be the wrong reason to go back to Hong Kong.”
    â€œWhat do you mean?”
    â€œFrom what I’ve read and heard, Philip Chew is up to his neck in this thing. That’s obvious to me, to you, and I’m sure to them. So why do they want to use us at all?”
    He took another sip of beer. “You are probably right, of course. They do suspect Philip, Chang more than Ordonez. Ordonez is still willing to give his younger brother the benefit of the doubt. They want us to eradicate that doubt.”
    â€œAnd then what, push us aside?”
    â€œNo, I was firm about that and they agree. Even if we discover that Philip was responsible for the loss, there is the matter of determining what he did and why he did it. And then there is still fifty million dollars — or part of fifty million dollars — that we need to find and recover.”
    â€œWhy hasn’t Ordonez confronted his brother?”
    â€œHe wants to be one hundred percent sure of the facts.”
    â€œI’m not sure I believe that,” she said.
    â€œNeither do I, but Chang did say that when they sent their CFO in Manila to Vancouver, Philip Chew would not meet with him or talk to him on the phone. The CFO even went to his house but was not allowed through the front door. Chew seems to have barricaded himself inside. So maybe Ordonez has not talked to him because he cannot,” Uncle said. He paused and looked down at his beer. “Ava, Ordonez is a very