“Yes.”
“But the public planning documents I saw last month listed the estimated cost at approximately eight hundred thirty million.”
Henry's eyes sharpened.
“Where did you see them?”
“City planning website.”
“When?”
“About two weeks ago.”
Henry took out his phone.
“Can you show me?”
Naomi pulled up the website.
Henry stared at the screen.
Then his expression changed.
“That's the old estimate.”
Naomi looked confused.
“What?”
Henry pointed.
“The current private proposal is nine hundred forty.”
Naomi frowned.
“So costs increased.”
“Yes.”
“By one hundred ten million.”
Henry nodded.
“But the public documents weren't updated.”
Naomi stared at him.
“That's unusual.”
“It is.”
She looked again.
Then something caught her attention.
A contractor's name.
“Wait.”
“What?”
Naomi pointed.
“This company.”
Henry leaned closer.
“Pacific Crest Infrastructure?”
“Yes.”
“They're listed as the primary contractor.”
Naomi shook her head.
“They shouldn't be.”
“Why?”
“Because they went bankrupt last year.”
Henry stared at her.
“What?”
“I remember reading it.”
Henry immediately called Daniel.
“Pull up Pacific Crest.”
Daniel answered.
Henry listened.
Then his face hardened.
“Thank you.”
He ended the call.
Naomi asked, “What did he say?”
“Pacific Crest dissolved eight months ago.”
Naomi looked at the screen.
“Then why are they in the proposal?”
Henry didn't answer.
He looked toward the restaurant entrance.
Victor was gone.
Naomi suddenly felt cold.
Henry put the folder away.
“Go home tonight.”
“Why?”
“Because I think Victor realizes you know more than he expected.”
Naomi shook her head.
“He doesn't know about Pacific Crest.”
Henry looked at her.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“Then let's hope he stays that way.”
The Real Meeting
Victor Hale returned to the restaurant the next morning.
Naomi was not working.
She was sitting at a small desk in the apartment she shared with her mother, reviewing financial records on her laptop.
She had slept three hours.
The documents Henry had shown her kept running through her mind.
Pacific Crest Infrastructure.
Nine hundred forty million dollars.
One hundred ten million difference.
A bankrupt contractor.
She knew enough about finance to recognize a pattern.
She just didn't know what the pattern meant.
At 10:14 a.m., her phone rang.
Unknown number.
She answered.
“Hello?”
“This is Henry Lin.”
Naomi sat up.
“Mr. Lin?”
“Please call me Henry.”
“All right.”
“I need to meet you.”
“When?”
“Now.”
Naomi hesitated.
“Is something wrong?”
“Yes.”
Her stomach tightened.
“What?”
“Victor's office received a request for the source of the public cost estimate.”
Naomi went silent.
“How did they know?”
“I don't know.”
“Did you tell him about me?”
“No.”
“Did you mention our conversation?”
“No.”
Henry paused.
“Someone did.”
Naomi looked toward her mother, who was asleep in the next room.
“Where do you want to meet?”
“Not my office.”
“Why?”
“Because I don't know who we can trust.”
They met at a quiet café near the waterfront.
Henry was already there.
Daniel sat beside him.
Naomi joined them.
Daniel slid a folder across the table.
“We traced the contractor.”
Naomi opened it.
Pacific Crest Infrastructure had indeed been dissolved.
But the company name had reappeared six months later under a different registration.
Same address.
Different owner.
Naomi frowned.
“Who owns it?”
Daniel pointed to the page.
“Hale Strategic Ventures.”
Naomi's face went still.
“Victor.”
Henry nodded.
“He owns the company through three subsidiaries.”
Naomi looked at the documents.
“So he's paying himself.”
“That's one possibility.”
She continued reading.
“Not just that.”
Henry watched her.
“What?”
“These construction contracts are inflated.”
“How much?”
Naomi calculated.
“Between eighteen and twenty-two percent.”
Daniel leaned forward.
“That's what our analysts estimated.”
Naomi looked up.
“Then why haven't you pulled out?”
Henry smiled grimly.
“Because we needed proof.”
“And now?”
“Now we have you.”
Naomi shook her head.
“I don't understand.”
Henry leaned forward.
“Victor doesn't know who you are.”
Naomi laughed softly.
“I'm a waitress.”
“No.”
Henry's voice was firm.
“You're a trained economist who understands Mandarin and has spent six years observing wealthy people talk when they think nobody important is listening.”
Naomi stared at him.
“That doesn't make me an investigator.”
“No.”
Henry smiled.
“It makes you something more useful.”
“What?”
“A witness.”
The word settled heavily between them.
Naomi looked down.
“I don't want trouble.”
“I know.”
“I have my mother.”
“I know.”
“I can't lose my job.”
“You won't.”
“How do you know?”
Henry was silent for a moment.
“Because I'm going to make sure you don't.”
Naomi looked up.
Henry's expression had changed.
He wasn't speaking as an investor anymore.
He was speaking as someone who had made a decision.
“I am withdrawing from Victor's project.”
Naomi nodded.
“That makes sense.”
“No.”
Henry shook his head.
“I'm not simply withdrawing.”
He slid another document toward her.
It was a letter addressed to Victor.
NOTICE OF SUSPENSION OF INVESTMENT NEGOTIATIONS PENDING INDEPENDENT FORENSIC REVIEW.
Naomi read it.
Then she looked up.
“You're accusing him.”
“We're asking questions.”
“He'll know why.”
“Yes.”
“He'll come after you.”
Henry smiled.
“He can try.”
Naomi looked at Daniel.
“Why is everyone so calm?”
Daniel laughed.
“We aren't.”
Henry leaned back.
“This is the part where people like Victor make mistakes.”
“What kind?”
“They become desperate.”
Naomi thought about the previous evening.
Victor's eyes.
His anger.
His certainty that she was nobody.
She suddenly understood.
He had made the same mistake twice.
First, he assumed she knew nothing.
Second, he assumed nobody would believe her.
Henry looked at her.
“I want you to help us document what happened last night.”
Naomi nodded.
“I can do that.”
“Every detail.”
She took out her notebook.
“Where do I start?”
Henry answered:
“Start with everything Victor said when he thought you were invisible.”