by Ian Hamilton
“Where did the money come from that paid down the chapel’s mortgage by more than sixty million dollars over the past few years?” asked Howell.
“Pastor Rogers has a passionate following. We were fortunate to be blessed by substantial endowments from some devoted Christians who prefer to remain anonymous.”
As Ava listened to Cunningham, it occurred to her that, though her visit to Muir had brought Cunningham to the boardroom, it had also given them a heads-up. Cunningham had his answers ready.
“When was the last time you saw Malcolm Muir?” she asked.
“Why is that relevant?” he said. “I spoke to him last night when he called to report your unwelcome visit to his home. Before that I hadn’t seen him since he left the chapel.”
“Has the pastor spoken to him since he left?”
“Of course not. In fact, I can’t remember Pastor Rogers speaking to him even when he was still attending the chapel.”
“I see. Now, if you will look at the whiteboard, Mr. Cunningham, you will see the name Su Na. I mentioned her earlier in conjunction with Jasmine Yip. Do you know Su Na?”
“The name isn’t familiar to me.”
“What about Jasmine Yip?”
Cunningham pursed his thin lips and then smiled at Ava. “You are clever, aren’t you. Jasmine is my wife’s cousin — but of course you already know that. What you might not know is that they’ve been estranged since my wife moved to Canada with me eight years ago,” he said. “Jasmine still lives in Singapore and engages in any number of illegal activities. It wouldn’t surprise me if she had some minor involvement with Muir.”
“How would she and Muir have met?”
“You’ll have to ask them that question.”
“I did ask Jasmine. She told me your wife asked her to help Muir launder money.”
“That is a blatant untruth!” Cunningham said, showing signs of agitation. “My wife would never do such a thing.”
“Then I guess Jasmine lied to me.”
“She certainly did.”
“Just like you’ve lied to me,” Ava said.
Cunningham looked at Howell. “This conversation is over,” he said.
“Before you run off, take a look at this photo,” Ava said, pushing her phone across the table.
He hesitated, then, with a show of reluctance, picked it up. He stared at the screen.
“That’s a photo of you, Malcolm Muir, and Su Na in the Simmons Christian Mission warehouse in Chengdu,” Ava said. “If you scroll right, you’ll see several more. The women behind you in the photo are putting pills into envelopes and Bibles. The more salient point, though, is that you and Muir are both there with Su Na and, as you’ll see from the date at the bottom, you were there long after you claim you cut ties with Muir.”
Cunningham slid the phone forcefully towards Ava, who stopped it before it fell to the floor. “You can do all the fancy gymnastics you want trying to explain away Muir and Jasmine and the money you’ve been raking in, but these photos speak for themselves,” she said. “And what they’re telling me is that you’re lying through your teeth.”
“I’m leaving,” Cunningham said abruptly as he rose to his feet.
“No, you’re not. Not just yet, anyway. If you try to leave, my friend Derek here will prevent it. You’re going to stay here until I finish what I have to say.”
Cunningham looked at Derek, who stared back at him grim faced, and then turned his attention to Howell. “Do you actually condone this behaviour?”
“I haven’t seen anything that causes me concern,” Howell said. “All Ava has asked is for you to sit down and listen.”
Cunningham slowly lowered himself back onto the chair. “I’m listening, but when you finish talking, I’m gone. And I don’t care what your thug tries to do about it.”
“My thug, as you so nicely put it, is married to the daughter of one of the people who put his life’s earnings into the Harvest Investment Fund. When that money was stolen, he went into the shed in his garden and blew his brains out.”
“I know nothing about that,” Cunningham said. “Where are you going with this?”
“I’ll keep it simple. You are going to transfer . . .” She paused to open her notebook. “I was going to say $31,554,629, because that was the amount taken from the Harvest Fund account, but I think we’ll round it off to thirty-five million dollars. What do you think, Todd? Does thirty-five million work for you?”
“It does.”
Cunningham smirked. “Even if I thought your request was sane, where would we get thirty-five million dollars?”
“You can take some from your account with Evans Trust in Vanuatu. You, Muir, and the pastor can kick in a few million each from your personal accounts. You can remortgage the chapel property. You can ask the pastor to borrow some money from his good friends the Simmons family.”
“I’ve never heard of Evans Trust,” Cunningham said, but without the conviction of his earlier denials. “We’re not going to give you thirty-five million dollars — or even thirty-five dollars.”
Ava shrugged, picked up her phone, and hit Han’s number.
“Wei,” he answered right away.
“I want you to put Su Na on the phone,” Ava said in Mandarin. “Tell her to speak English.”
A few seconds later, Ava heard Su’s tentative “Yes?”
“Ms. Su, this is Ava Lee. I’m going to put you on speakerphone so everyone can hear you. Please speak clearly and be completely honest with us,” she said. “I’m here with an old friend of yours, Patrick Cunningham. You do remember Patrick, don’t you?”
“I remember him very well.”
“I’m sure he’s pleased to hear that,” Ava said. “Now, can you explain the nature of your business in Chengdu?”
“I am the director of the Simmons Christian Mission in Chengdu. I am employed directly by the Simmons family. We operate a distribution centre that ships medicinal products to the United States. And under a separate contract, we’ve been shipping the same products to Canada.”
“The contract to ship product to Canada is between which parties?”
“The initial contract was between the Simmons Christian Ministry in Oklahoma and Harvest Table Bible Chapel in Canada.”
“Whose signatures are on the contract?”
“I don’t have a copy of the original contract; all I have are the pages relating to the fees we’d charge. But I did see it at some point and remember that Blackstone Simmons and Pastor Sammy Rogers were the signatories, and Randy Simmons and Mr. Cunningham signed as witnesses.”
“Did you deal with any of those gentlemen after that?”
“Randy is my boss. I deal with him all the time when it comes to the U.S. business.”
“Who is your contact for Canada?”
“Malcolm Muir,” Su said.
“And how often do you and he communicate?”
“Several times a week by email, sometimes by phone, and he makes an annual visit to the warehouse.”
“Thank you, Ms. Su, that’s very useful information,” Ava said, glancing across the table at Cunningham, who was trying to look stoic. “Now tell us, what is the state of your business at this very moment?”
“We’ve been forced to shut down by your friend Han and his gang.”
“I apologize that I had to ask Han to do that, but I need Mr. Cunningham to understand the gravity of the situation, and I thought it best if it came from you.”
“I’ll tell him all right,” Su said, her voice rising. “We’re closed. Han and his men came here this afternoon, sent all the workers home, and told them they weren’t to come back. This is your fault, Mr. Cunningham. I told Ms. Lee that it isn’t fair, that it isn’t right to shut down the Simmons business because of Canada. She won’t listen to me. Maybe you can persuade her.”
“Is there anything you’d like to ask Ms. Su?” Ava said to Cunningham.
“What those men are doing is illegal. Can’t you go to the police?” Cunningham asked.
“The last thing anyone would want is to have the police coming to the warehouse,” she said. “Besides, even if I did call them, once they knew that it’s Han who’s here, they wouldn’t interfere.”
“Who is this Han?” asked Cunningham.
“He’s the head of the major triad organization in Chengdu. My so-called security team at the warehouse is terrified of him.”
Cunningham looked at Todd Howell. “This woman is hiring gangsters. How can you approve?”
“This is the first I’ve heard of it,” Howell said, and then turned to Ava. “Is it true?”
“No, they’re just friends who are doing me a favour,” Ava said, which brought smiles from Eddie and Derek. “But they’ll stay in the warehouse for as long as I want. And without an agreement with Mr. Cunningham, I’m afraid that could be weeks or months or actually become a permanent closure. Ms. Su, did you hear what I just said about the possibility of permanent closure?”
“I heard.”
“And in case you think you can find another location, I would ask Han to pay a visit to the various labs in the city to make sure none of them sell anything to you without his permission.”
Su didn’t respond immediately, then blurted, “Mr. Cunningham, you need to resolve this. Randy will be angry beyond belief when I tell him what’s going on.”
“Speaking of Randy,” Ava said, “I’m going to ask Han to take you home in a few minutes. When you get there, the first thing I want you to do is call Randy. Tell him exactly what’s happened and what it will take to resolve it. Han can give you my cellphone number, and if Randy wants to speak directly to me, we can make that possible.”
“You can count on me doing that.”
“Then we’re finished. Thank you for your honesty,” Ava said.
The four men sitting at the table said nothing when Ava ended the call, and for the first time Cunningham seemed to be decidedly uncomfortable.
“I know that Pastor Rogers and the Simmons family are close, but the thing is, the Simmonses are running a business in Chengdu that has to be taking in hundreds of millions of dollars,” Ava said to him. “It’s easy to be partners in Christ when there’s no money on the line. I’m not sure the Simmonses will want to be partners with your pastor in anything if their business falls apart.”
“You don’t know anything about the strength of their friendship,” Cunningham said.
“You’re right, I don’t. But I think I’m going to find out, once Randy Simmons learns what’s happened in Chengdu.”
“You could be disappointed.”
“Perhaps, but the Simmons family isn’t our only leverage. If we can’t reach an agreement, I’m going to call some friends I have in the RCMP and turn over all the information I have. With all due respect to the efforts Todd made in the past, I don’t think the Mounties will pass on it again. We’ll also ensure that the news media are briefed.”
Cunningham glared at her.
“I’m giving you a chance to avoid all that unpleasantness,” Ava said. “All you have to do is send thirty-five million dollars to Mr. Howell’s law firm.”
“This is blackmail.”
“No, this is justice. Any impartial person would think we’re being fair. If we had calculated the damage you caused to people who trusted you, we could have asked for fifty million.”
Cunningham lowered his head, and she knew she had gotten to him. “If it was up to me, I would tell you to go ahead and do your worst,” he snapped. “But obviously I have an obligation to speak to the pastor, and he may need to speak to some board members.”
“You can call the pastor from here if you want. We’ll leave you alone in the room while you do.”
“This isn’t something I would discuss with him on the phone, and most certainly never from here.”
“Well, if you’re going to meet with him, you’d better do it fast. I have a deadline that we haven’t talked about yet.”
“What do you mean you have a deadline? We won’t be rushed. The charges you’re tossing around have ramifications that must be thoroughly discussed,” he said. “And that’s not an admission of any wrongdoing, only my acknowledgement that your slanders could damage the chapel and the pastor’s reputation.”
“Did the pastor know you were coming here for a meeting?” Ava asked, ignoring his last comment.
“Why does that matter?”
“Because I’m assuming you told him about the call from Muir,” Ava said. “If you did, then I’m sure he’s waiting for a report. So when we’re finished here, you can scurry up to Aurora and give him one. My deadline for an answer is midnight tonight.”
“Are you serious?”
Ava stared at him and sighed. “I am entirely serious. I want thirty-five million dollars deposited into this firm’s bank account. We’ll give you until midnight to tell us if you’re going to do it or not. You should call Mr. Howell with your decision. If he doesn’t hear from you, we’ll assume you aren’t going to pay. If the answer is no, we will go to the RCMP and the news media, and we’ll keep the Simmons distribution centre in Chengdu closed permanently,” Ava said. “If you do decide to pay, it will be a single full payment — we don’t do installment plans. Once we have the money, the distribution centre can reopen.”
“And if we decide to pay this blackmail, I suppose you’ll want the money by tomorrow,” Cunningham said sarcastically.
“We’re not that unreasonable,” Ava said. “We’ll give you a few days.”
Cunningham stood up.
“Before you go, there’s something you should take with you,” Ava said, reaching for a file folder. “Earlier I mentioned that we have copies of bank transactions, purchase orders, and shipping orders. A representative sample is in this folder. If you want more, we’ll supply them, but review what I’m giving you with the pastor. It might help you reach a decision.”
Cunningham glared at Ava as he took the folder. He tucked it under his arm and left the boardroom, slamming the door behind him.
“I don’t think that went quite the way he expected,” Ava said.
(45)
Cunningham’s departure left a thoughtful silence in its wake. No one spoke for a minute, until Derek finally said, “That was one angry little man.”
“No shit,” said Eddie.
“Did you notice that he didn’t mention the three million you transferred out of the Chengdu bank account? I thought when you asked for thirty-five million it might have come up,” Howell said.
“He didn’t want to acknowledge it because it would mean he knew about the bank account, and that would tie him to Muir. He’ll try to blame all this on Muir and Jasmine Yip,” Ava said.
“How can he deny his involvement after that conversation with Su Na?” Howell said.
“We caught him off guard. By the time he gets to Aurora he’ll have figured out some excuse.”
Howell pointed to the whiteboards. “But how can he plausibly deny the chapel’s involvement when we have all this information?”
“I didn’t say he was going to be plausible. I just meant he would pretend,” Ava said.
“What do you think they’ll do?” Derek asked.
“They won’t concede, at least not at first,” she said. “I expect they’ll try to find out how firm we are about the money and the deadline.”
Howell mulled over Ava’s words and then said, “What do you want to do now? You can stay here for as long as you want. We have a couple of empty offices you can use.”
“I think I’ll go back to my apartment. You can reach me by cellphone if anything happens.”
“And if we don’t hear from them by the deadline?”
“
Then we’ll reconvene in the morning, figure out an approach to the RCMP, and decide which journalists we should contact.”
“You were serious about that?” Howell asked.
“Completely,” she said as she stood up. “I think the meeting went well. Frankly, I can’t think of anything else we could have said. We made our position clear, so now it’s up to them.”
She said goodbye to Howell at the door, then walked to the elevator with Derek. They rode it in silence to the ground floor, but when they reached the street, he said, “That was really good, Ava. You haven’t lost your edge from the old days.”
“I’m glad you think that, because it didn’t come as naturally as it used to. That’s why I kept looking at my notebook.”
They drove north on University Avenue, making small talk as they went.
“I’ll get out here,” Ava said when the car stopped at a red light at the intersection of Bloor and Avenue Road. She leaned over and kissed Derek on the cheek. “Thanks for your support these past few days. Now you can go home and tell Mimi about the three million.”
“I think I’ll wait until things are completely settled,” he said as Ava opened the car door. “You will call me if you hear anything from Todd?”
“You will most definitely hear from me,” she said, and sighed. “But I suspect this is going to be a very long day.”
Ava stood on the corner for a moment after Derek drove off. She was on her own, with time to kill. What to do? She thought about going for a run, but if Howell called and needed to see her, she might be kilometres from the condo and would need time to change back into her business attire. Within minutes of where she stood were three outstanding museums: the sprawling Royal Ontario Museum, the Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art, and the Bata Shoe Museum. It had been some time since she’d been to the Gardiner, she thought. The museum was only a hundred metres south of where she was standing. Ava turned and started walking towards it.
The Gardiner was set back from the road. Ava admired its minimalist exterior, which featured an immense screen promoting current exhibits. As she climbed the steps leading to the entrance, however, she realized that the exterior reminded her almost eerily of the front of Malcolm Muir’s house, with its modern brickwork and dominant front window. The thought had no sooner entered her mind when her phone rang.