Crime Scene: Singapore

by Stephen Leather

  ‘Ya, I mean, how much you think we’ll have to pay to her?’ David was certain that a few thousand dollars to the old woman would suffice. After all, the company paid her a salary that was way below the market rate for her position, but that was also the reason why she had survived all these years in the company, even during recessions when sales had hit rock bottom.

  ‘In China, the CEO didn’t pay anything to the QA manager.’ Yeo waved his palms.

  ‘Then? Then?’

  ‘He offered her money, but she refused and threatened to expose the matter.’ Yeo brought his face closer. ‘So he personally silenced her. Forever.’

  ‘How?’

  ‘He ran his car over her in a street, at night. Like a cucumber, her body squashed under the tires.’

  ‘Oh!’ David was stunned.

  ‘Do you want to explore such an option?’

  ‘No, no.’ David shrugged vehemently. Goosebumps rose on his arms and neck as he imagined himself running his BMW over Madam Poh. This was not an option recommended by his MBA books.

  ‘Actually, Poh wants to cooperate. She can secretly discard the toxic cream from the sample that we’ve kept for traceability purpose. She said she could fill the bottle with a good quality cream. Nobody will know.’

  ‘If that’s the case, then ask her what’s her price for helping us?’

  Yeo nodded. ‘I’ll ask her after lunch, when she’s in good mood.’

  ‘Hmm.’ David cupped his chin in his right palm. ‘How about Mr Tsoi? Do you think he’ll inform our authorities?’

  ‘No, he said he doesn’t want to risk his life. Also, he doesn’t want us to get into any trouble. He’s a gentleman. Do you want to speak to him?’

  ‘No-o!’ David’s palms pressed hard on the armrests. ‘Look, as far as this issue is concerned, you’ve never ever spoken to me. I know nothing about it. Understand?’

  ‘I got it.’ Yeo again nodded. ‘You want to keep your hands clean.’

  ‘Absolutely. Now, to be honest with you, I doubt whether Mr Tsoi’s ex-company would have paid him a few million yuan. You said the company was small, right?’

  ‘David, China has changed so much! People have become very smart there. When CEO found out that the nano-mineral was exported to our company in Singapore, he panicked because the incident could affect China’s entire raw material export market, which is worth billions of dollars. Plus, he was worried that the authorities might hang him upside down.’ Yeo cleared his throat and continued, ‘I don’t have MBA and cockroach theories to tell, but I know that bad news travels faster than good news.’

  ‘You’re right.’ David nodded. ‘OK, let me do a kind of cost-benefit analysis. In the meantime, you check with Poh. Don’t mention about our plan to retrench her. She’ll become upset.’

  ‘Sure. Do you want to talk to her directly?’

  ‘No, it’ll complicate the matter. As I said, I don’t want to get directly involved in the issue. And ya, another thing. Be very careful. This news should stay with us. Only the three of us.’ David pointed at his PC. ‘Don’t send me anything through e-mail or in writing about the matter.’

  Yeo nodded. ‘So, no report?’

  ‘No!’

  Yeo stood up to leave. ‘Actually, I’m very worried.’

  ‘Will such a scenario happen again in the future? I mean, we sweep it under the carpet now, then after one month, we face a similar problem. Then, there’ll be no end. We’ll always be boiling the ocean and doing fire fighting!’

  ‘Very unlikely.’ Yeo shrugged. ‘Product quality problems like colour fading and all that we do encounter sometimes, but these are small problems, easy to resolve. Once, we also suspected that a batch of lipstick might have been contaminated with lead metal. But it wasn’t true.’

  ‘Has anyone died after using our product?’

  ‘Never!’ Yeo pointed at the bottle of cream. ‘This is the first time I’ve heard of such a serious health problem. But I must tell you, the nanoparticles and all those modern day stuff are very unpredictable. Cannot play-play. In future, we shouldn’t buy just based on price. Cost shouldn’t be the only deciding factor.’

  David swallowed the scorn. He had gone against the time-tested purchasing techniques of the old man, and so he deserved to face the consequences and manipulate his ego. ‘Yep, I was wrong,’ he admitted.

  ‘Do you want to keep this bottle?’ Yeo pointed at the bottle of cream. ‘My wife thinks that we left it in the hotel room in Guangzhou, by mistake.’

  ‘Ya, leave it here.’

  Yeo stepped out of the office, his eyes downcast.

  Pearl rushed in to inform David about his appointment with a client.

  ‘Postpone all of my today’s appointments,’ he instructed her with an unfriendly wave.

  Pearl retreated to her chair with a large scowl.

  For the next few hours, David paced in his office in circles, with his arms crossed on his chest. Occasionally, his palms wiped droplets of sweat, both real and imaginary, from his forehead despite a full blast from the room’s air-conditioner. He was a tall man with a prominent forehead and an athletic body. An ugly scar that he had acquired on his chin during his National Service had forced him to settle for a lesser degree of handsomeness than what he would otherwise have achieved.

  After settling down in his new role as the CEO, he had set several ambitious goals for the company, such as to expand business across the whole Southeast Asian region, to double its revenue and profit in the next three years, and then to float the company on the Singapore Exchange. Leveraging on the glamorous image of the industry that his company served, he wanted to uplift himself to the elite club of movers and shakers in the country. After all, he was a man of many ambitions.

  Two years back, after receiving his bachelor’s degree from the Singapore Institute of Management, he had tried to help his father in managing the business. But his management style had not gone well with his old-fashioned father. Unwilling to engage in a confrontation with his father, David had therefore backed off willingly though bitterly, and packed himself off to USA for an MBA.

  Now, all the cards were in his hands for the company that had come a long way. Started in 1978 in a humble container by Mr Quek, it had grown slowly, and now it was a nine-million dollar company that employed a staff of about forty. It occupied a manufacturing facility and a two storey office building in Jurong, and a satellite office-cum-warehouse in Simei. The strength of the company lay in manufacturing and marketing products made from natural ingredients. Positioning itself as a supplier of safe products, it had built a loyal client base in Singapore over the years.

  And now, that reputation was at stake. In fact, the company’s future was at stake, and so was Mr Quek’s legacy.

  David deliberated in his mind about the options that were available to him. Later, he checked on the Internet to gather more information about similar case histories and effect of toxic nanoparticles on vital organs in the human body. Majority of the women who used anti-aging cream would be older women hence, the adverse effects would be far more significant, he reasoned. Lawsuits were inevitable if the matter was exposed, as evident from the numerous high-profile cases involving diet pills and drinking water, such as the Slim 10 saga in Singapore and the Erin Brockovich case in the USA.

  Apart from the legal costs, the compensation to the victims could run into millions of dollars, especially if any celebrity had bought the bottle of contaminated cream. Also, if by sheer coincidence, any of those women had fallen ill from some other cause after using the cream, they would squarely blame the cream for their health problems. No wonder the Chinese company paid millions of yuan to Mr Tsoi to keep his mouth shut.

  As David further evaluated the consequences, it became clear to him that if he was not careful, the crisis could throw him—together with his ambitions—into a valley of shame and self-destruction. He was standing on the bleeding edge. His decision to change the supplier for the simple reason of price could catapult
him into future MBA books for the wrong reasons: as a case history of what could possibly go wrong when a new, inexperienced CEO was given an opportunity to run the family business. No amount of reputation repair strategies would help him out. He probably needed to lift a shovel and bury the secret of the toxic batch, to save his dignity and his company.

  But the question was, could he cover up the matter? Could a smart doctor establish a link between the cream and the deaths and the diseases? What if the authorities found out that he had withheld the information and put all those women at a high risk? Would Madam Poh or Yeo secretly inform the authorities if they were unhappy with the company?

  Trapped.

  He was indeed trapped. He felt nauseous.

  That day, except for a short toilet break, he did not step out of his office. Energy bars and a soybean packet drink constituted his lunch. All files on his desk and all e-mails in his inbox remained untouched.

  He was trying to think outside the box but somehow, the box was putting him back inside its chest. The MBA was not helping him in the way he had expected.

  Thinking about Yeo’s wife, he remembered what his father had told him on the first death anniversary of his mother: ‘David, losing your Ma, Ely, was the most painful day of my life. Sometimes, the old man inside me feels very lonely. I really miss her.’

  Would Yeo lose his wife? David bit his lips as the thought kept on flooding his mind over and over again.

  * * *

  The next day, Yeo and David met again to discuss the matter. Worry was written all over their faces.

  Yeo placed two samples on the desk. ‘You see, this is the nano-mineral sample from the contaminated batch that we’ve kept in our lab for traceability, and this other sample is from the good quality batch. Nobody can tell the difference.’

  David stared at the two samples. Yeo was right. The samples looked the same.

  ‘Did you talk to Poh?’ he asked, his bloodshot eyes hinting that he had either drunk alcohol that morning or had spent the night staring at his laptop.

  Yeo nodded. ‘We’re in deep trouble.’

  ‘Why? She doesn’t want to cooperate?’

  ‘No. She’s asking for a ridiculous sum, since she knows the extent of problem.’

  ‘How much?’

  Yeo blew air from his mouth. ‘Umm, more than a million.’

  ‘Basket!’ David felt like rushing to the greedy, reclusive woman and slapping her. She had been employed initially as a cleaner in the company. But Mr Quek had encouraged her to study part-time and later promoted her to the post of QC manager. David disliked her, as he thought of her as a stubborn and slow-paced employee, lacking in business sense. During meetings, she would stare blankly ahead and avoid participating in any discussion. Smile? ‘Ah, I’ve yet to see a smile on her face!’ he would lament.

  ‘I tried to explain, but she …’ Yeo shook his palms.

  ‘I tell you, that stone-faced woman wants to blackmail the company. So ungrateful!’ David hammered a fist on his desk.

  ‘Careful!’ Yeo moved away the sample. ‘This is far more toxic than the cream.’

  ‘Never mind. How much is it she wants?’

  ‘Two million.’

  ‘Ha!’ David nearly choked. A few American expletives emerged from his mouth. Yeo stared at him, astonished by what he had heard.

  Realising that his outburst was not so appropriate, David apologised. ‘Sorry, sorry.’ He shook his head and continued, ‘Now coming back to the issue, let me be very honest with you. I’ve no intention to pay her such a ridiculous sum. We’re not operating a charity!’

  ‘Actually, for herself, she wants only one million. She’s afraid that she may have to undergo surgery, which is quite expensive. And she doesn’t think that the company will allow her to continue due to her poor health.’

  ‘I’ve no sympathy for her. If you ask me, I would like to sack her right now.’

  ‘David, you should control your emotions. If you try to fight with her, you’ll certainly lose your shirt on this issue, I must warn you. Remember the Chinese saying that I told you: “The sheep has no choice when in the jaws of the wolf.” I hope you understand what I’m trying to tell you.’

  ‘Yeah, no point fighting with her. But frankly, she should use her personal insurance like MediShield to pay for her medical bills, rather than trying to milk money from the company.’

  ‘I didn’t talk to her about MediShield, since you’d told me not to upset her. Since it’s the company’s product that has made her ill, I thought she might not like the idea of using her own insurance money.’

  ‘Hmm.’ David rubbed his eyes with his fingers. ‘Anyway, why does she need that extra one million?’

  ‘Well, she’s a crazy woman.’

  ‘Since the day I met her, I knew something was wrong with her. Anyway, she’s single and thrifty. So why is she asking for a million more? For her secret lover?’

  ‘No. For her friend.’ With a little hesitation, Yeo added, ‘I mean my wife, Siew Eng.’

  ‘Your wife!’

  ‘Ya. Because Poh thinks that I won’t provide her proper medical treatment. I’ll try to save money and so she’ll suffer and die in pain.’

  ‘But didn’t you explain that you won’t do such a thing?’ David’s voice rose to a high pitch. ‘In fact, even in Guangzhou, you tried to get the best TCM treatment for her!’

  ‘Actually, we’d gone there to attend my cousin’s wedding, but since her local TCM physician had recommended her to consult that professor in Guangzhou, we tried our luck. We don’t know yet whether the treatment is working.’

  ‘Since Poh is so concerned about your wife’s health, I think she’ll tell her about the contaminated cream. Ah, we’re in a mess!’

  ‘No, Poh won’t do that without checking with me. She has her own rules, like mine.’

  David reached for a Panadol and gulped it down with water. ‘Well, I need some time to rethink about the options. But I want to ask you personally: Do you also want any money, like Poh and Mr Tsoi? Please don’t lie to me.’

  Yeo shot a wounded look, as if David had just spat in his face. ‘I’m not a liar,’ he said.

  ‘No, I didn’t mean that. I just want to know, so that we’ve a common understanding.’

  ‘Honestly, if I’m given money to keep my mouth shut, I’ll happily accept it.’ Yeo made a mouth-zipping gesture using his fingers. ‘I’ve worked here for so many years. I know you’re trying to introduce changes in the company and want to bring in new, more energetic staff. I’m also tired of trying to keep up. The company can give me a golden handshake and we’ll have a win-win situation.’

  ‘How much do you want?’

  ‘I can’t think of any figure, but it shouldn’t be lower than that given to Madam Poh. Otherwise, I’ll lose my face to her.’

  ‘You want more than two million?!’ David’s eyes enlarged.

  ‘No, I’m not greedy. After all, if you’re going to give one million for my wife, I can’t ask for so much. I’ve my own ethics.’

  ‘Just tell me, what’s your price?’

  ‘Give me one month’s salary for every year I’ve worked for the company. That’s why I said golden handshake. That way, I’ll also be able to keep my face among my colleagues, since they’ll ask me why I’m leaving the company.’ Yeo paused, then added, ‘To Madam Poh, the company can give her half month’s salary for every year she has worked.’

  ‘Hmm. That sounds more reasonable.’ David thrust his hand under his desk. ‘I’ll do my calculations and let you know. If I decide to pay the million-dollar, under the table money, I’ll pay in cold hard cash from my personal account. I don’t want to involve our finance manager in that issue. He’ll handle your golden handshake details with our HR executive.’

  ‘I’ll wait for your decision.’ Yeo stood up.

  ‘Leave this contaminated sample here. Tell Poh to replace it with a good quality one.’

  ‘Sure.’ Yeo leaned over the desk and wh
ispered, ‘I’ll make sure that there’s no trace of any such sample in the lab or the warehouse.’

  ‘All right then. I’ll count on you,’ David whispered back. ‘Destroy all the evidence, once and for all.’

  ‘Consider it done.’ Confidence dripped from Yeo’s voice.

  As he slowly stepped out of the office, David placed his hands on his head and closed his eyes. He was feeling peaceful and tired in equal measure.

  * * *

  After a couple of days, Yeo received a phone call from David informing him that he had tested the sample in an independent laboratory and confirmed that it was heavily contaminated. Hence, he had made a decision to do COCA—Cover Our Collective Asses—in order to save the entire company. He was going to pay one million dollars to Poh to shut her mouth. To Yeo also, he was willing to pay one million in under the table money for his wife. Plus, both of them would be given golden handshakes by the company, as per what Yeo had suggested. But both would have to sign an undertaking that they would not divulge any confidential information relating to the company to any external party.

  The under the table money would come from David’s own pocket. He had wanted to buy a condominium in District 10 as an investment. But now, he would use that money to close the matter.

  Hopefully, forever.

  ‘Tell Poh that the amount that I’m willing to pay is non-negotiable. And oh ya, tell her that if she asks for more money, I’ll not agree to it. The company will collapse and all the employees will become jobless. It’ll be the greatest sin of her life.’ At the end of the call, David made his point using a hostile tone.

  ‘I’ll tell her,’ Yeo assured him and put down the receiver.

  In his calendar, he then marked a date for their farewell parties. He also rehearsed how to smile without baring his yellow teeth, and what things to say during the event.

  ‘My life’s paradigm shift!’ he murmured and headed towards the lab. An old Hokkien melody leaked from his lips.

  * * *

  A month later, Poh and Yeo met in a private room of a restaurant in Chinatown. They sat on a sofa chair, acknowledging mysterious smiles of Shanghainese girls from the wall posters around them. Above them, a red lantern cast a soothing glow on them.