by Tony Davies
He called in his secretary and told her to put it in his diary. She was also instructed to advise Bent to be available in case he was required. He then put it out of his mind and focused on the email he was drafting to Lee Wai.
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At 9.30am the next day, the government’s Independent Party released his report on the Paradise Cove project. It had not been expected to be released for at least another month and it took everyone, including his fellow civil servants, by surprise.
Lee Wai was vicious in his condemnation of Weston. The report left no doubt that Weston’s conduct had been one of the factors behind the rejection of the project. It did leave the door open for another developer to submit an alternative proposal, and even outlined issues that would need to be addressed before it could be approved. However, it was clear that Westminster was not going to be allowed to participate in the project, either as a principal or as a junior partner. The tone of the report implied that Weston’s days of dealing with the government were over.
The news of the report spread like wild fire through the Hong Kong business community. By 11am it was on all the news web sites and by 11.30am the Westminster switchboard was inundated with journalists asking for Weston’s response.
The atmosphere within Westminster was similar to a wartime bunker. Contact with the outside world was suspended for several hours as Weston, his lieutenants, PR people and legal advisers reviewed the report and considered their response.
The Westminster staff were told to sit quietly until they received further instructions. That suited most of them. Every phone call they received or made brought an avalanche of questions over why Westminster had got into that position and what would happen next. With little to do but wait, small groups of people formed, each with their own concerns over how the report would impact on the firm and what it meant for them personally.
Chapter thirty eight
Going through the motions
Mack received the call at 3pm and by 3.40pm was sat in a small meeting room at Westminster. He had been given a copy of the Lee Wai report, which he had read twice.
At 4.15pm Weston walked into the room and closed the door behind him. Although his tie had been removed and his shirtsleeves rolled up, he still seemed fresh and there were no signs of stress on his face. He gestured to the report on the table and said “Bit of a hatchet job isn’t it.”
“Yeah, it is. How are you going to respond?”
“Not sure yet. My legal team feels that Lee Wai was entitled to write what he wanted and that any action over deformation would be futile. There is no right of appeal so as typical lawyers they have taken a step back and decided to let the PR people come up with a solution. That lot is divided. One faction wants me to launch a counter attack, accusing him of everything you can imagine. The other wants me to lie low and say nothing and hope it blows over fairly quickly.”
“I have to be honest here. I assume the report is not at all accurate” asked Mack.
Weston gave him a withering look. “I appreciate you had to ask that question. It is a complete fabrication. We were still negotiating over the land premium issue and they had given us an extension to get back to them with our position on it. We are nothing if not methodical and Troy did a great job in terms of the submission. Our overall strategy was fine and honestly, we didn’t do anything wrong. The fact he released the report prematurely sums it all up. Why do that while we were still negotiating in good faith?
“As for the advice I am being given, there is no way this is going to just blow over, but I doubt anything will be achieved by attacking Lee Wai. Of course, we will have to formally refute everything he has written, but I am not sure there is much benefit in escalating matters, the damage has been done now.”
Weston gave a shrug of his shoulders. “Westminster will survive, although its position within the Hong Kong financial hierarchy will be diminished, for a while at least. The lack of government work isn’t that important financially, but the loss of face will please a number of our competitors.
“As for me, well, I am about to meet my major shareholders. They couldn’t have known about the release of the report, but the timing of them coming here is interesting as they were here only a short while ago.
“To add insult to injury, shares in a couple of my major investments have tanked and Paul hasn’t been able to get to the bottom of why. I had leveraged them pretty aggressively and my bank rang me an hour ago panicking over the loans. They had mentioned their concern earlier, but the release of the report obviously spooked them. So, all in all, it has been a crap day.”
He laughed in an attempt to lighten the mood in the room. “By the way, thanks for coming to the office. What I just told you is off the record, okay?”
“Of course.”
“Good. It is very unusual for me to open like this. Fortunately, I feel I can trust you and if you don’t know what is going on then you can’t really help me. I want an objective assessment from you, an outsider’s viewpoint. So give me your thoughts.”
Mack paused before saying “Sure. Let’s look at the allegation first. We have to assume it was to influence the outcome of the project. I wonder how they found out I knew that Lee wasn’t in the DVD?”
They looked at each other for a moment and Mack said “The triads are involved and I was warned off, which had the opposite effect. It was almost as if someone wanted me to pursue the case. Stephen is dead, Debbie is missing and I am very concerned for her welfare. Now this happens. The problem is that the allegation was false so Lee wasn’t got at. He wasn’t guilty of anything.”
Mack suddenly stopped and stared at the ceiling for a few moments. “Unless someone got to him over something else. The allegation could have been a ruse, something you could have used with Lee to influence the outcome, which would have backfired. If you had used his relationship with one of your staff as leverage in the negotiations, it would have blown up in your face. Someone may have thought you would take the bait and when you didn’t, they moved on to plan B.”
“Ah I see, the release of the report.”
“When you didn’t shoot yourself in the foot, there was no other option but to resort to that. When Lee wasn’t in the DVD we never continued digging, which with hindsight was probably a mistake. Even in the short time we have had we may have uncovered something else. As I said, maybe he was guilty of something else that gave them leverage over him.
Weston sounded a conciliatory note when he said “Don’t blame yourself for that. You were hired to deal with the allegation and once that was done Lee was out of the equation.”
Mack replied in a doubtful tone “Perhaps, perhaps not. Anyway, has Bent discovered anything of use?”
Weston told Mack of his concern over the contractor Chen and that Wilson had originally raised the issue of a mole, which was quickly considered and ridiculed.
“How far do you trust Bent?”
“Why do you ask?” replied Weston inquisitively.
“There is a very good chance you have a mole. It could be a junior with access to emails, or a disgruntled senior team member. Bent was looking into that angle and nothing has come up. I have to question if he was thorough enough, and by all accounts he is usually that. So why hasn’t he come up with anything?”
“Paul is ambitious and ruthless and yes, I would normally have expected him to come up with something. Fair point. He also hasn’t got to the bottom of the share problem. I think it’s fair to say I don’t trust many people, but Paul? I just don’t see it.”
“I think I should have a look at your senior team in depth, with the focus on Bent. You may be too close to him. It means a leap of faith in terms of trusting me though.”
“I think I can trust you for that.” He grinned and the mood in the room lightened. “I will get the personnel files of all the key people sent over to you without Paul knowing. He is not to find out. I w
ill also give you the full dossier on Chen.”
As Mack headed for the door Weston remarked “By the way, how is Em?” Mack stopped and without turning to face him replied “Fine thanks. I didn’t know you knew her.”
“Don’t worry, she doesn’t report to me. Enough said.” Mack ignored the remark and walked to the exit.
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The personnel files from Westminster were emailed to Lindy at 5.30pm. They were large files and took some time to download. There were eight in total and she printed off the initial biographies and placed them in a folder.
At 6pm her and Mack sat down to review the material. Mack had a strong cup of coffee in front of him and Lindy had made herself a green tea. It was going to be a long evening.
“I know you like to read hard copies so I have prepared these.” Lindy handed him the folder and then said in a concerned voice “Is everything okay? You seem a little distracted.”
“Sure. Everything is okay. Probably just tired and of course, I am concerned about Debbie. There is no news from Don on that?”
“Nothing so far.”
“Okay, keep me posted. In the meantime, let’s get on with this. I think the answer lies in the files.”
They began reading the biographies, but they revealed very little, mostly the person’s employment history and current position and responsibilities. Most of them had worked with other large investment banks and a few had come up through the ranks after joining as fresh graduates. They discussed each person in detail, googled him or her, but found nothing that stood out as unusual. Mack knew that if the answer existed anywhere, it would be in the minutiae of one of the numerous documents in the individual files.
“Well, that did not tell us much. I think we need to look at the whole file for each of them. If that doesn’t show anything we need to request the next thirty most senior people.”
He sheepishly asked “Can we make an early start and how long would it take to print everything off?”
“You are a lucky guy. Of course we can and the answer is two minutes.” She got up and went to the reception area where Ping handed her two large folders. She walked back into the room with Ping behind her carrying another two.
“I knew you would need these so I had Ping print them off. There are more on the way. It seems they don’t lose many people at a senior level, all to do with the salary level and bonuses I suppose.”
After Ping had left the room she said “I think it would be good man management for you to invite him in tomorrow to help us. He is waiting patiently outside and is hoping you will ask him.” Mack nodded his approval and shouted for him to join them.
As they were about to leave for the evening, Lindy commented that she had been sent the passwords for each of the corporate email accounts of the senior team. The only ones they hadn’t received were those for Weston and Bent, and no explanation was given as to why not. They quickly discussed accessing their accounts to see if there were any recriminating emails. Mack had some reservations about that course of action.
“I only want to resort to that if we have to. We should be okay under the Data Privacy Ordinance as these are company email addresses. But if any of them found out it could affect their ongoing relationship with Weston. Also, there are going to be thousands of emails to check and it's a long shot anyway. I can’t believe the person behind this is stupid enough to incriminate himself in an email.”
Lindy sounded like his mother when she said in a mildly reproachful tone “Which is not to say, we shouldn’t check them all.”
Mack smiled and replied “Yes, you are right, leave no stone unturned. Looks like another long day tomorrow. See you in the morning.”
Chapter thirty nine
We all need a drink sometime
Weston walked through the door of his apartment at 11.30pm and threw his jacket on the table. He had worked late with his team and had formulated a response that would be released to the press on Monday. Unless something came up there was little he could do over the weekend other than worry about what next week would bring. He didn’t see much point in worrying.
He walked to the kitchen and opened the fridge door. He saw his maid had left him a chicken salad, but he wasn’t particularly hungry. He took a yoghurt from the side compartment and a spoon from a drawer. On his way to the balcony he poured himself a large glass of scotch.
It was a glorious night in Hong Kong. It had not rained for several days and the temperature had dropped a little, or so it seemed to him. His phone vibrated and it was a message to say Tee was in a taxi and would be there in fifteen minutes. Just enough time for a quick shower and another scotch.
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It took Mack ten minutes to get home by taxi and by 11.30pm he was sat on his rooftop. He looked at the beer bottle in his hand. He opened and drained it without pause. He walked to the door and descended the stairs to his small kitchen. He opened the fridge door, took out another beer and retraced his steps to the roof area.
The rattan chairs were dry and he slumped in one and gazed up at the stars. He was pleased that Weston had sought his counsel over his suspicions and the level of trust he had shown him was re-assuring. He was seeing a different side to him and he could envisage doing more work for him in the future. But first they had to finish the current case.
Lindy had been right in that it had turned into a major case and he realized they had a lot of things to cover. Whilst he had dealt with much more difficult cases in his police days, in the police he could have called upon a whole room of detectives if he had wanted to. Lindy was a proficient researcher, much better than that if he was being honest, and Ping was a willing junior, but that still meant he had only two assistants.
He thought of the job opportunity with Smith’s. At least that would give him the resources to take on much larger cases. The downside was a loss of control and the possibility of losing Lindy. Lindy departing was something he didn’t want to think about until the case was finished.
His mind wandered to Em and Weston’s apparently innocent remark about knowing her. Ex-boyfriend? Friend of a friend? Now he was alone with his darkest thoughts, he questioned why he had been drawn to Em in the first place. A good looking woman who was available for the night? He had been down that road many times before. With Em it had seemed different, they had hit it off outside the bedroom, which wasn’t always the case with him.
He glanced at the empty beer bottle beside him. A third would break his unwritten rule of two per night. He felt wound up over the events of the day and decided he wasn’t going to be able to sleep if he went to bed. He walked back to fridge and took out another bottle of beer.
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Debbie Chan lay on the bed and stared at the ceiling. The room had no windows, but she knew it was 11.30pm. Well, at least that was what her cheap digital watch told her.
She was extremely bored. In the morning she had been given a bowl of congee and a pot of tea. That was at 8am. Lunch had been at noon and was a cheap rice meal in a non-descript white polystyrene box. The evening meal had been the same, although that was accompanied by an orange juice and a small chocolate bar. Enough to live on, but nothing more.
The room had a single light, a fluorescent tube, which could be turned off and on at the top of the stairs. The door had a small panel in it, very much like a prison door. When the food was delivered the panel was opened and she was told to lie face down on the bed and then the tray was left at the door.
On two occasions she had been asked about what she knew of Andrew Weston. The truth was, she didn’t know very much about him. There wasn’t much she could tell them and since they didn’t ask specific questions, she had rambled on about having just started her investigation.
> She had been blindfolded so she couldn’t describe the man who had asked the questions. However, he sounded very well educated and she was confident she would recognize his voice if she heard it again.
To her surprise, she had not been man handled or threatened in any way. She wasn’t sure what they hoped to accomplish by keeping her locked up and since they didn’t want her to see their faces she deduced she would eventually be released. The boredom of lying on the bed for hours on end staring at the ceiling would surely end soon. She glanced at her watch. It told her she had another eight hours to suffer before breakfast brought a brief respite from the boredom.