by Brett Baker
“To do the mafia’s bidding?” Mia asked.
“No, to do his own bidding. He broke off from the mafia and sold himself as the problem solver. The kind of guy firms call when they’ve got something unsavory happening. If their attorneys and PR people couldn’t handle a situation they called Portnoy. He applied pressure in certain places, made vague threats, greased some palms, and the firms always made it through. Almost no one went to jail after the financial crisis and Portnoy had a lot to do with it.”
“Wait a minute, are you telling me this guy saved every executive’s ass after they ruined the economy?”
“Not quite,” Martin said. “But he helped certain guys get away with certain things. He’s not big enough to sway the entire court and regulatory system away from the financial sector, but in certain situations, when presented with certain problems, many people on Wall Street know that Portnoy’s their man. Or at least he was.”
“Why was? He’s moved on? Let me guess, he’s a congressman now?”
“No, he moved on to Hollywood. He’s been trying to gain a foothold out there for a few years. He’s had some success, but the days of the mafia running the show have long since passed.”
“But that explains how he knows people out here,” Mia said. “And he’s been out here for awhile, right? I mean if he lived in Highland Park and Malibu, he must have been here a few years.”
“That’s right,” Martin said. “He’s produced a few films. He found some success with the first two, but the last two have bombed. That looks like the reason behind selling the Malibu house. Financial struggles.”
“Do we have any indication that he’s planning to go back to his mafia roots? Seems like it would make sense. If someone fails after having some success, why not return to the source of the success?”
“We don’t have anything on that. I think that’s a long shot. Probably more likely that he’d go back to Wall Street. He wants legitimacy, and he’ll never find that in organized crime.”
“Best to go to legal organized crime,” Mia said.
“That’s right,” Martin said. “Stay away from the seedy casino underground and go all in on the stock market. Still gambling, just with a better façade.”
“Anything else on him?” Mia asked.
“Mia, you know how these files are. Pages and pages of information that not even his mother would find interesting. I’ve tried to just give you the good stuff. If you’ve got specific questions I can try to find an answer, but you’ll be an old lady by the time I finish telling you everything here.”
“Understood. Give me that address in Malibu. I’ll do some digging and see if he’s still there.” Mia listened to the address, repeated it back to Martin, and committed it to memory.
“Who’s the other guy you want to ask about?”
“I’m not sure if I need him if I’ve got Portnoy, but I might as well ask. Sometimes I’m surprised by what you have.”
“You shouldn’t be,” Martin said. “After all this time you should be used to it.”
“Should be, but I’m not,” Mia said. “Anyway, what do you have on Tony Howe? Late 40s, early 50s. White. He’s probably had a rough life. Looks like he’s no stranger to drugs, and maybe a bit of a gypsy. Just from appearances.”
“Anthony Howe, I assume?”
“I assumed the same, but his license says Tony Howe, so I’m guessing that’s the full name. No harm in checking Anthony though, I suppose.”
Martin agreed, and waited in silence for Howe’s name to appear on screen. “Nothing for Anthony,” Martin said. Another minute passed, and then, “Nothing for Tony either.”
“Then I’m on Portnoy,” Mia said. “Thanks for the help.”
“Always glad to assist. What are you working on anyway?”
“I don’t know,” Mia said. “It could be nothing, but I don’t think so. I’m hoping Portnoy will know what it is.”
“And you think he’s just going to tell you?”
“I’m going to say please and hope that works.”
27
Chapter 27
Dian knocked on the door to room 1408 at eleven o’clock on the nose, just as he and Fabrice agreed. Fabrice appreciated the prompt arrival, both because it showed Dian’s responsibility, and because it meant he didn’t have to worry about the identity of the person on the other side of the door. Although Charlie’s visit turned out fine for Fabrice, he felt a sense of dread when Charlie knocked on the door that he hoped he’d never have to feel again.
Fabrice had hoped for more help from Charlie. He’d gone to the airport with the expectation that the person in charge of receiving the shipments would be in contact with Li, but after finding out that Charlie didn’t know where Li was either, Fabrice didn’t know what to do next. Driscoll provided no guidance, and he knew he couldn’t go to Buster. He felt more isolated than he had upon his arrival in China.
And then Dian entered the room.
“Do you have this shit figured out yet?” he asked.
“No,” Fabrice said.
“You damn Americans. You all think you’re so smart, but you don’t know shit. You can’t do anything for yourselves. Lucky for you I’m Chinese and I’m on your side. I solve problems, damnit. You Americans cause problems and we Chinese solve them.”
“I don’t think that’s true,” Fabrice said.
“Of course it’s true. Don’t doubt me. You’re American, what the hell do you know?”
“All right, hot shot. If it’s true then give me another example of a Chinese person solving a problem created by an American.”
“It just happened. A minute ago you were in this hotel room all by yourself, lonely and alone. But then I showed up and now both of those problems don’t exist. You created the problem, I took care of it. I rest my case, Perry Mason.”
“Perry Mason?” Fabrice said.
“Oh, come on. Don’t tell me that you don’t know Perry Mason. Are you sure you’re American?”
“Yes, I’m sure I’m American. It’s just that Perry Mason won all of his cases. So for you to call me Perry Mason is to concede that I’m right and you’re wrong. Are you sure that’s what you want to do?”
“Forget Perry Mason. I don’t care about him. I’ll solve the problem. I’ll find Li. That’s what you need to know.”
“I’m interested to hear how you plan on doing that,” Fabrice said. “But I have to tell you a couple of things.”
Fabrice told Dian everything he’d learned since they last spoke. He told him about Charlie, and his conversation with Driscoll, and Buster’s conversation with the detectives. Dian agreed it made no sense to talk to Buster, but he thought that Charlie knew more than he had shared. Charlie’s paranoia implied that he knew a secret he didn’t want to share, and Dian thought that Fabrice should talk to Charlie again to squeeze more information from him.
“He can’t help,” Fabrice said. “I don’t think he held anything back. I think he’s just so worried about doing anything that doesn’t benefit the government that he doesn’t know how to function. His fear consumes him. The shipment didn’t come in, so that’s enough information for me. Now the question is did Li go somewhere else and make other arrangements.”
“Why don’t you go to the police and ask what they know?” Dian asked. “If they told this other dude that he’s missing and might be in Singapore, maybe you can get more information out of them.”
“I can’t talk to the police. They’ll want to know why I’m here, which might lead them to scrutinize the plan we have in place.”
“You could lie,” Dian said. “People do it everyday. Or is that just a Chinese thing? Are Americans too good to lie?”
“Of course not. But, I don’t want to make this more complicated than it needs to be, and getting caught in a tangle of lies to explain why I’m here and looking for Li sounds like something to avoid.”
“I’ll do it,” Dian said.
“Do what?”
“Talk to the police.
See what they have on Li and this other guy. I’m curious. Plus, don’t forget, if we find Li you owe me a hundred grand.”
“A hundred grand?” Fabrice said. “I never promised a hundred grand.”
“Sure you did. Don’t you remember? Don’t Americans have memories, or is that just another Chinese thing?”
“I’ve got a memory. That’s how I know I didn’t promise you a hundred grand.”
“Maybe not,” Dian said, “but if I can find Li I bet you’ll be so happy that it won’t be too hard to get a hundred grand out of you.”
“Don’t hold your breath.”
“Think about it. That’s just chump change to you.”
“You’re not getting a hundred grand,” Fabrice said. “But you’d be the perfect guy to talk to the police. Find out what they know without telling them about how I know Li.”
“I don’t know how you know Li. It must be a very big secret since you’re acting like the secret police or something. Part of me thinks that I’m going to disappear into thin air one of these times I come to see you. I’m scared.”
“You’re not scared.”
“No, not at all. I just thought maybe I’d get more money out of you if you thought I was scared.”
“What’s your plan with the police?” Fabrice asked.
“I’m going to ask them if they know where I can find Yuzhan Li, and then just go from there.”
“Sun and Gao are the names of the officers investigating his disappearance,” Fabrice said.
“I hope Sun and Gao are ready to talk!”
28
Chapter 28
Dian arrived at the main Quanzhou Public Security Bureau thirty minutes later. He told the man at the main desk that he had an appointment with Sun and Gao, so the man directed him to the third floor, where another officer told him to sit and wait. After forty-five minutes passed, Dian reminded the officer of the reason for his visit. The officer assured him that he expected Sun any minute.
“What about Gao?” Dian asked. “I’m supposed to meet with him, too.”
“You get Sun,” the officer said. “Sun’s enough.”
Before Dian could make it back to his chair, a man walked up to him and introduced himself as Sun. Dian reciprocated the introduction, albeit with a false name, and shook Sun’s hand.
“Why are you here?” Sun asked.
Dian appreciated his directness. Sun seemed like a man who had no time to waste, so Dian hoped to get answers and get back to Fabrice.
“I’m here about Yuzhan Li,” Dian said.
Sun motioned for Dian to follow him, and then walked down a hallway. He remained three steps ahead of Dian as they walked, opened the door to a small room at the end of the hallway, and motioned for Dian to have a seat.
“Yuzhan Li is a difficult case,” Sun said. “He seems to have vanished without a trace. Have you seen him? Is that why you’re here?”
“I wish. That guy owes me money and I’m ready to collect.”
“Money for what?” Sun asked.
“We’ve been working on a project together. I drive around the city. My own business. I’ve been doing it for years and I know the place like the back of my hand. If you ever need a driver, call me. I’ll get you from here to there in no time.” Dian felt a little nervous before going to meet Sun, but as he slipped into his sales pitch he relaxed. “Anyway, I’ve got ideas on how to expand my business. I’d like to get a couple of more cars, hire other drivers, and maybe go beyond just offering rides. Become more of a tour company. Show people around town, instead of just driving them around town. I don’t know if you’ve noticed or not, but there are more Americans here than there used to be. And they’ve got money to spend, so I might as well help them spend it. I came to know Li a little, and he planned to help me get things started. He offered some money as long as I gave him a chunk of the action.”
“Some of the action?” Sun asked. “What does that mean?”
Dian laughed and put up his hands. “Oh no, nothing like that. We’re not doing anything illegal here. Or, at least I wasn’t doing anything illegal. I’m beginning to wonder about Li, especially since he’s running off with my money.”
“Your money? I thought he was giving you money.”
“Well yeah, he is, but it’s my money, damnit. He told me I could have it. I’ve been counting on it to help fund the business.”
“So he hasn’t actually taken anything from you,” Sun said. “More like he’s just not fulfilling his promises.”
“I guess you can say that. Anyway, I’ve been looking all around for him, and I don’t know where he is. I’ve checked all the usual places and he’s nowhere.”
“What are the usual places?” Sun asked.
Dian rattled off half a dozen places from the top of his head. “No one has seen him, but one guy told me that you were looking for him, so I came here.”
“I’m glad you came. I’d like to talk to you about Li.”
“I’m no help,” Dian said. “I haven’t seen Li in over a month, and we haven’t talked in almost that long. He could be halfway to Mars by now and I wouldn’t know the difference.”
“Then why are you here?”
“I’m hoping to find him,” Dian said. “His absence means that my business is in trouble. I’ve torn through my savings. I did so with the understanding that he’d provide additional financing to get me where I need to be. Now he’s not here, so I don’t have the money to keep going.”
“This person who told you that we were looking for Li, what else did they say?”
“They didn’t have much to say. Only that you and Gao were asking questions, and that he was missing in Singapore.”
“What does that mean?” Sun asked. “Missing in Singapore.”
“I don’t know. You tell me. You’re the cop, aren’t you? He said you mentioned that his wife heard from a friend who was supposed to meet him in Singapore but that he didn’t show up. I assume he’s taken my money to Singapore and I’ll never see it. I don’t even have enough money to go to Singapore to track him down. I’m good in most Asian cities. They’re all the same. So if he’s there I’d find him. He couldn’t hide from me.”
“We have no information that he’s in Singapore, so save yourself the trip.”
“Probably safe to say that he’s not there or he wouldn’t have stood up his friend,” Dian said.
“Singapore has nothing to do with this,” Sun said. “His friend expected him in New York. No one said anything about Singapore.”
“Are you sure? I heard from a reliable source that he was in Singapore.”
“I thought you said your source heard from the police that he was in Singapore.” Dian nodded. “I’m telling you that your source doesn’t know what he’s talking about. It could be that Li’s in Singapore, but we didn’t tell anyone that, and we have no reason to think that. His wife told us a friend called her and said he was supposed to meet Li in New York, but that Li never showed up. Singapore never came up.”
“Why would my guy say that you thought he was in Singapore?”
Sun shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. “That’s a question for your guy, not for me. Does he have something to gain by telling you that Li’s in Singapore?”
“I don’t know why he’d say that.”
“If you’ve got nothing else to add, then we’re done here. I’m sorry that your investor has gone missing, but don’t hold your breath about finding him. We haven’t uncovered any reason that he’d run off. Most of the time that means they’re dead. These investigations are a fool’s game, soaking up time and resources looking for a person, when there’s nothing left to find but a body.”
“All right. Thanks for meeting with me.”
Dian shook Sun’s hand and raced for the door as soon as he let go.
29
Chapter 29
“What do you mean New York?” Fabrice asked. “Buster said he stood up a friend in Singapore. I’ve already done research on possibl
e locations in Singapore. It seems to make sense. It’s a growing a market, with one foot in the east and one foot in the west. If Li’s selling us out then it makes sense that he’d go to Singapore.”
“Sun said that they have no reason to believe that he’s in Singapore and that they didn’t tell anyone that someone expected him there.”
Fabrice paced around his room, rubbing the back of his neck, trying to relieve the stress that had mounted in recent days. “And you believed this guy? I mean did he seem competent or is he just pulling this whole thing out of his ass?”
“He knows his shit. I don’t know if anyone can find Li, but I wouldn’t bet against this guy. I gave him a bullshit name, but I’m pretty sure he knew it right away. He probably had a background check on me before I was out of the building. If he says that he didn’t mention Singapore, then I believe him.”
“Then why would Buster say that he did?”
“Same reason everyone else in the world tells a lie. He’s got something to hide.” Fabrice stopped pacing and looked at Dian, who understood that everything now made sense to Fabrice. “See, I told you that I’d figure this out. You damn Americans need everything explained to you. But I’m Chinese, I’ve got the answers. I make things happen. The two Chinese working on this have information. The two Americans involved keep getting it wrong. This is why we’re the country of the future.”
Fabrice rolled his eyes. “We’ll worry about that later. Right now we’ve got to figure out what Buster’s hiding.”
“Maybe you should pay him a visit.”
“That still seems like a bad idea,” Fabrice said.
“Can’t be.”
“Why not?”
“Because a Chinese guy proposed it.”
