face, peaceful and serene. Her shoulders were broad, the muscle tone in her arms taut and impressive. Her skin looked airbrushed. But it was her nearly unflinching eyes that unnerved Marquardt.
“You will forgive me, Mr. Marquardt,” she said. “I have made a cursory examination of your company’s general accounts for the past quarter. Lu Hao’s contract—the incentive money—is paid from your GA, your general accounts ledger. It averages one hundred seventy-two thousand U.S. dollars per month. I will need to see the rest of your accounts, the end-of-year, to know how to better conceal these expenditures, because right now you’re open to questions. Questions your people may have difficulty answering. I have drafted some recommendations, at the request of Mr. Primer.” She handed Marquardt a clear plastic file folder.
“Thank you, Grace,” Primer said.
She took this as a dismissal and stood from her chair.
“Please…” Marquardt said, motioning for her to stay seated. “You knew Mr. Lu?”
“I know Mr. Lu,” she corrected.
Grace checked with Primer, who nodded. She leaned forward.
“He is the younger brother of a close friend of mine. I helped in the selection process when you requested a person to pay out the incentives for you.”
“Do you have any idea where we might find his recordkeeping? As I understand it, that’s possibly key to his and Mr. Danner’s survival,” Marquardt said.
“Ideas? I follow money. Money that wants to be followed; money that doesn’t want to be followed. I will start with the obvious, proceed to the likely and continue to the possible. It’s a process of elimination.”
Dulwich said, “You two will likely need to discuss this more thoroughly once you’re back to Shanghai. We need to work out how to do that in a believable way. Grace? Ideas?”
“Correct me if I’m wrong, but a Chinese employee such as an accountant,” Grace said, “would rarely if ever be in direct contact with the CEO. So we must find a believable way for us to come together without arousing suspicion. Pardon my impertinence, but do you take a mistress?”
“What?” Marquardt blushed.
“If your secretary or assistant is aware of such a companion, then it would make things easier for us. I could assume that role—platonic, of course.”
“No. I’m married. Happily married.” Marquardt rolled his wedding band. “As to our Chinese employees…”
“Below the level of vice president,” Grace specified.
Marquardt stammered.
Dulwich said, “Face it: your Chinese employees are invisible, right? Grace’s U.S. education helps us a little, but there’s still no good excuse for the two of you being seen together. Unless you’re jumping her, that is.”
Nonplussed, Marquardt said, “It can’t be this hard.”
“More difficult than you can imagine,” Dulwich said. “You are already likely being monitored by a variety of competing interests—the police, the kidnappers, your competitors, possibly even the press. There are eyes and ears within your company—we can count on that. This kidnapping is on the street.”
“Good God, you can’t be serious.”
“Your every movement will be under constant surveillance for the next week. We have little doubt you were likely tracked to this building.”
Marquardt looked clearly out of his depth as he glanced from face to face around him.
“Might I suggest,” Grace said, awaiting a faint nod from Primer, “that I file a complaint with HR within hours of my taking my position? Nothing sexual, not harassment. But something of a financial origin. Breach of contract, perhaps? Dissatisfaction with whatever lodging has been arranged? Mr. Marquardt, anxious to keep me, could request an audience with me to settle the complaint. Following this initial meeting, he will then upgrade my housing, and we might have reason to follow up on occasion.”
Primer checked with Dulwich, then Marquardt.
“I like a woman who can think on her