Chapter 16 - THE WOMAN IN THE WHITE WATCH CAME BACK
Jang Chin Tong returned on a rainy Tuesday.
I almost didn’t recognize her.
No designer suit.
No expensive heels.
No white watch.
She stood in the lobby holding a cheap umbrella and a folder against her chest.
The receptionist called upstairs.
“There’s someone asking for you.”
“Name?”
A pause.
“Jang Chin Tong.”
Mei nearly dropped her coffee.
“You’re joking.”
“I wish.”
“Want security?”
“No.”
Mei stared.
“Have you learned nothing?”
“I learned plenty.”
I smiled.
“That’s why security can stand ten feet away.”
Jang entered my office five minutes later.
She looked at the executive elevator as she passed.
Employees were using it freely.
Interns.
Assistants.
Maintenance workers.
Executives.
Nobody cared.
Her expression changed.
“Different now.”
“Yes.”
She looked at me.
“You won.”
“I wasn’t competing with you.”
That hurt.
I could see it.
She sat.
“I heard about Arthur.”
“So did everyone.”
“I know something.”
Of course she did.
People from your past rarely return just to compliment renovations.
“What?”
“Victor worked for Arthur.”
I froze.
Victor.
The man whose corruption had almost destroyed the company years earlier.
“You told prosecutors Victor acted independently.”
“I lied.”
Mei stepped forward.
Jang lifted her hands.
“I was scared.”
“Why tell us now?”
“Because Arthur tried to have me killed.”
Silence.
She opened the folder.
Inside were photographs of a wrecked apartment.
A burned car.
Threatening messages.
“I’ve been living under another name.”
I looked at her.
“Why would Arthur care about you now?”
“Because I kept something.”
She reached into her bag.
A white watch.
The watch.
The same limited-edition gift that had started everything.
She placed it on my desk.
I stared at it.
“I thought prosecutors seized that.”
“They seized a replica.”
Mei whispered something impolite.
Jang almost smiled.
“The real watch had been modified.”
She turned it over.
Pressed the crown.
The back opened.
Inside was a tiny storage device.
I stared.
“You’re kidding.”
“Victor gave it to me.”
“What’s on it?”
“Insurance.”
The word again.
Criminals love that word.
Insurance usually means evidence they keep in case another criminal becomes more dangerous than they are.
We loaded the files securely.
Arthur’s payments.
Victor’s instructions.
Bribes.
Shell corporations.
Judges.
Auditors.
Politicians.
And finally—
Daniel Hsu.
Ethan’s father.
A recording.
Daniel’s voice.
“I know what you’re doing, Arthur.”
Arthur answered:
“Then sell.”
“No.”
“You’ll regret that.”
“You don’t own this company.”
Arthur laughed.
“Companies aren’t owned by whoever has the most shares, Daniel.”
“Then who owns them?”
“The person who knows everyone’s price.”
The recording continued.
Daniel refused.
Arthur threatened his family.
Then Daniel said something unexpected.
“Lin’s father knows.”
My heart stopped.
Arthur became quiet.
Daniel continued.
“And we made copies.”
The recording ended.
I looked at Jang.
“What copies?”
“I don’t know.”
Ethan did.
When I called him, he arrived carrying his brass key.
I placed mine beside it.
Two keys.
Two fathers.
One archive.
Jang stared.
“I’ve seen those.”
“Where?”
“Victor had a photograph.”
“Of the keys?”
“No.”
May you like
She swallowed.
“Of the door they open.”
