The Interior

13

AN HOUR LATER, AFTER MAKING A PLAN FOR THE NEXT day, Investigator Lo dropped David and Hulan off at the entrance to the Shanxi Grand Hotel, then drove away to park the car. As they passed through the lobby on the way to the elevator, a woman's voice called out, "David Stark!" He looked around and saw a woman he didn't recognize approaching him. She was Chinese, but dressed unlike most women he'd seen here. She wore khaki trousers and a silk blouse. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail, and large gold earrings hung from her earlobes. She extended her hand. "Mr. Stark, I'm Pearl Jenner. Would you join me for a drink?"

He knew he'd heard the name before but couldn't place it. "I'm sorry," he said. All he wanted to do was get to his room and look at Sun's papers. "We're just on our way up. It's been a long day."

Pearl Jenner studied Hulan, then turned back to David. "I've come a long way," she said. "This isn't the easiest place to get to."

"Yes, well…"

"I would think you'd want to talk to me. I'm from the Times. I've been covering the Tartan acquisition."

Now David realized who this woman was. She'd written the article he'd read on the day of Keith's funeral, saying that the federal investigation into bribery allegations would now be dismissed because of his death. She had gotten her facts wrong and no doubt caused unnecessary pain for the Baxter family.

"I'm not interested in giving an interview at this time," he said, taking Hulan's elbow and leading her away.

"I know about Ling Miaoshan," Pearl called out after them.

David and Hulan stopped and turned around.

A triumphant smile played around Pearl 's lips. "Why don't you join me in the bar? There's someone there I think you'll want to meet." She spun on her heel, utterly confident that David and his companion would follow.

The bar was in the basement next to the gift shops. She sat down at a table where a young man nursed a half-empty bottle of orange soda. "I want you to meet Guy Lin. Guy, this is David Stark and… Miss Liu, isn't it?" Hulan didn't acknowledge her. Instead she shook the young man's hand and sat down. Guy was young, twenty-two at most. His complexion was sallow and his eyes miserably sad. His shoulders sagged and his frayed cotton shirt hung loosely on his thin frame. To Hulan, he looked like an Overseas Chinese; to David, he looked like a mainlander. In a way they were both right.

"Guy is from Taiyuan, but like you, Miss Liu, he was educated in America. In fact, he's a graduate of your alma mater."

"You went to USC?" Hulan asked the boy. He nodded.

David kept his eyes on Pearl, reflecting on the fact that she had not been introduced to Hulan and yet knew not only who she was but also where she'd gone to school.

"Yes, he went to USC to study chemistry on a scholarship," Pearl went on. "But things didn't go according to plan. See, he gets there, takes a sociology class to fill an out-of-field science requirement, gets interested, and goes out to do a little community service for extra credit. Guess where he ends up? OSHA."

"I don't see what any of this has to do with us," David said.

"Hear me out." Pearl Jenner was attractive, but her smile was not in the least bit friendly. "First Guy volunteers in the office, assisting people with their claims, answering questions, filing papers. He begins to like it, and the folks there like him too. Pretty soon he's forgotten all about chemistry. All he wants to do is go out and help his new friends in their work. He especially likes going into factories and helping people who're being treated badly. Only one problem. He's in America on a student visa. He gets pulled over for a speeding ticket. No big deal, right? Only his name gets run through the computer and by now he's illegal. His friends at OSHA try to help him. They're government people, but even they can't do anything. Two weeks later he's back in China."

"Ms. Jenner, it's late. If you have something to tell me-"

Pearl raised her voice and spoke right over David. "He's seen the outside world. He's seen the good part of the U.S., but he's also seen the shit. You know what I mean? Put a greedy American and a hundred illegals together and you've got a nice sweatshop operation going. But he knows how it should be. So he's back in China and he starts poking around. He hears about these American companies that have been opening in his home province. He gets hired by one, works a couple of days, and if he were a different kind of person he probably would have stayed there because the pay's good, the dormitories are better than government-assigned housing, and the work's not too hard. But he quits and tries another factory-Knight International. The problem here is he's only a day worker in the warehouse, so he can't see what the place is really like. Then one Saturday he gets an idea. On Saturdays at one the local men and women leave the compound together. He sidles up to the most beautiful girl he can find and strikes up a conversation."

David interrupted, "How long ago was this?"

The young man looked up. "Three months," he said. "But she"-he motioned to Pearl with his elbow-"is making it into something it wasn't. I wanted to know about the factory, but when I first saw Miaoshan, all I wanted to know was her. On that day I walked her home. She didn't want me to come inside, but she said she would meet me the next day." He hesitated, then asked, "Did you know her?"

When David shook his head, Guy said, "She was beautiful, but she had inside of her so much…" He struggled to find the word, then said, "She wanted to know all about America, and I told her. When she found out why I was at the factory, she said she'd help me. She was alive with ideas. She told me what it was like in there: the girls who were too young to work, the way the managers lied about the pay, the way people got injured and how often."

"Did she have proof?" David asked, thinking that if the factory employed child labor, Hulan surely would have told him.

"She told me what she saw."

"But those could have been made-up stories," David suggested. "Just how young are the women? Did she get ID's from them? Was she able to introduce you to anyone who'd been hurt? Did she have medical records?"

"Mr. Stark, hear him out," Pearl said. "He'll get to all that." Then to Guy she said, "Tell him what you thought you'd do with the information you collected and why it was important."

Not knowing Hulan's background, Guy explained that in America things were very different. If someone got hurt from a product, then the manufacturer could be sued. If a product was made in an unsafe manner, then the workers could sue. Most amazing, if the manufacturing process caused damage to the environment, then neighbors or the government could go after the company to clean it up and even make retribution to the people and the state.

"When I left China, we didn't have any recourse if we were burned or dismembered by products," he continued. "But while I was away, a consumer-rights law went into effect. Now even state-owned enterprises can be sued! There have been about half a million individual suits each of the last three years. I am sure you have read of the different campaigns in regards to this movement."

Although Hulan always tried to avoid campaigns, she-like any other citizen of China -couldn't avoid them, especially since the cornerstone of any campaign involved the press. So of course she'd seen articles like "Is a Chinese Life Worth Less Than a Foreign Life?" and "A Needle in My Father's New Kidney!" In fact, the media was very much at the heart of the new consumer law. Since press reports could be introduced in court as evidence, smear campaigns went a long way in swaying judges. This resulted in costly counterattacks mounted in the media by the defendants. And while awards to plaintiffs weren't as lucrative as in the States-the record still stood at about $30,000 U.S., given to the family of a woman who'd been asphyxiated by a faulty water heater-judges regularly granted monies to dubitable claimants based on a "fairness principle" that implied that the rich should help the poor.

"But what does this have to do with Knight?" David asked. "They've never had a product-liability case."

"It's not the products I care about," Guy said. "It's how they're made. For me that includes not using child labor and providing a safe environment. Three years ago we didn't have consumer rights or product liability, but we have them now. Why can't we take the next step and push for workers' rights?" Guy searched David's face. "Every country, including yours, had to start somewhere. Miaoshan and I thought that somewhere could be Knight. But the women in the factory never helped us. They never said a word because they were afraid they would lose their jobs. Still, she kept asking."

"Even after the women wouldn't respond?" Hulan asked.

Guy nodded. Hulan put two fingers to her lips and tapped gently, deep in thought.

"When the women wouldn't help," Guy continued, "I said, 'Let's forget it.' But Miaoshan had another idea. There was a man in the factory, an American, who liked her. Sometimes during the week she would go and talk to him at night. She said he was worried about the factory. He thought it was unfair how the women were treated. He began to tell her things-money things-that went on inside. That's when I knew we couldn't do everything on our own. I have a friend who's in business in Taiyuan. He has computers in his office, and he let me use one. I got on the Internet and looked for help."

"That's how he found me," Pearl interjected. "At the paper we get information out of China in the usual ways-press conferences and speeches by politicians. The things the government wants you to know are easy to find out. But what about something like Tiananmen? We had reporters in Beijing at the time, but we also relied heavily on the students who communicated with us through fax machines. The same goes for a lot of other stories. We hear about things, but it's difficult to work officially, if you know what I mean. Nowadays, with the Internet, getting information is easier than it used to be. China blocks the Times' website, but enterprising people like Guy are able to get around the firewalls."

"So for you it's not personal," Hulan said. "It's professional."

"What isn't?" Pearl asked. "There isn't a business reporter in the

States who hasn't tried to get at a story like this, but it's been completely closed to us by both the Chinese and the Americans."

"Why does it matter to you what happens in a factory in China?" Hulan asked.

"Because it's a human-rights issue and that's a hot-button issue that sells."

Hulan said, "The people who work in the Knight factory aren't prisoners…"

"Human-rights violations come in many forms: political prisoners in solitary confinement, prison laborers, but I would also include what happens to the women and girls in factories like Knight."

"I agree it's bad in there," Hulan said, "but is it worse than working in the fields?"

David hid his surprise. Hadn't Hulan just gotten on his case for using this same argument? Was she using this as a tactic to provoke Pearl?

"That's not the point."

"Really?" Hulan retorted. "Do you have any idea what a factory like Knight has done for the surrounding area? I'm not defending the company. I've been inside, but I also see a new prosperity in the countryside that was unimaginable twenty years ago."

Pearl seemed ready for Hulan's challenge. "You want the big picture? All right, here it is." For the next few minutes Pearl talked about her and her colleagues' efforts to cover American manufacturing practices in China and their deeper cultural and political implications. Manufacturers went overseas for cheap labor and great tax breaks, but they could also skirt around American laws by hiring children, by using chemicals that would never pass U.S. safety standards, by having working conditions that were dangerous, and by employing people for inhumane numbers of hours.

"Occasionally some company or person gets targeted by a watchdog group," Pearl said. "You've read about them. Some conglomerate hires a celebrity who endorses a line of children's clothing that turns out to be manufactured using child labor. What do the celebrity and conglomerate do when the truth comes out? They plead ignorance." Pearl sighed. "The truth is, they probably are ignorant, but that doesn't make it right. Then you get reporters who want to go and see what it's like in a factory like Knight, but we can't get in. You have to wonder about that."

"But does anyone wonder about it?" Hulan asked.

Pearl 's eyes narrowed. "Meaning?"

"Meaning I lived in the States for a while. I never noticed anyone caring much about China one way or the other."

Every once in a while Hulan said something that showed animosity toward the U.S. David knew she sometimes did it just to elicit a reaction. Other times he thought she was giving her real opinion. Right now, watching these two women-one Chinese, the other Chinese American- he wondered what exactly Hulan was doing.

"That's the beauty of the story," Pearl exclaimed. "Most Americans never think at all about China, and to me that's very strange, because China plays a part of our everyday lives."

"What are you talking about?" Hulan asked, agitated now.

" China 's invisible," Pearl responded, "producing invisible work and invisible products. From the moment we wake up in the morning until we go to sleep at night, we are coming in contact with China. Our alarm clocks, our T-shirts, our designer clothes. The tires on our cars. The electronics we use all day. Take any holiday-Easter, Halloween, Christmas- all the decorations are made in China. The toys our kids play with, even those that we consider to be the most 'American'-Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, G.I. Joe, Sam amp; His Friends, and of course Barbie. Tens of millions of Barbies are made in China every year. Without naming names, I can say that there are some American factories in China that pay only about twenty-four dollars a month. That's six dollars a month less than what the Chinese laborers working on the transcontinental railroad were paid in the last century."

"But these things aren't unique to China," Hulan said, again defending her home country.

"You're right. They also happen in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Haiti, but I'm Chinese American, and what happens here matters to me."

Seeing Hulan's dubious look, Pearl said, "When Guy first contacted me, I didn't know what to believe. Then he started e-mailing information about the factory's conditions. They sounded really awful." She turned to David. "Like lawyers, reporters also need proof. I tried to set up several appointments with Henry Knight, but he always canceled. Then, when I heard that Tartan was going to buy Knight, I tried Randall Craig, then Miles Stout. They were pleasant enough, but of course they told me nothing. About three months ago, I called Keith Baxter. He denied any wrongdoing by Knight or his client, Tartan. But I kept calling and giving him pieces of information that only someone on the inside, someone like Guy, could know. The more I pressed Keith with those tidbits, for lack of a better word, the more I could sense his softening. Did you know that Keith used to come out here a lot?"

David nodded. Miles had told him that Keith had been over here at least once a month for the last year, sometimes staying for a week or two at a time.

"He knew that what I was saying was true," she continued, "because he'd seen it himself. I think at the end he was ready to give me proof, tangible evidence of Knight's activities here."

"Of what?" David asked. "Here's what I'm hearing: Knight has a factory in China that has bad working conditions. But Tartan is about to buy Knight. Once that happens, any irregularities that exist-and I'm not saying they do-will be immediately remedied."

"Unless Henry Knight's hiding the truth from Tartan to keep his stock prices high. That should be of great concern to you and your client."

David had had enough of Pearl 's insinuations. The papers he'd seen at Suchee's house already troubled him. He needed to get up to his room and see how they related to Sun's. Gnawing at him was the thought that he was representing a client who might be up to his eyeballs in illegal acts. If this was so, he was trapped by an ethical code that said he would have to continue to represent Sun. At the same time, he had a responsibility to Tartan to make sure the sale went through smoothly and without illicit shenanigans attached. What Pearl had just suggested about Knight International was fraud, pure and simple. He couldn't let Tartan get pulled into that muck. He had to know if she had any real information.

"Are you saying that the Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating the sale?"

"No," Pearl answered.

"Did Keith give you proof that there was a violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act?"

"Of course not."

"Did Keith give you any reason at all to believe that there was a federal investigation of any sort?"

"No," she responded.

"And yet you wrote-"

"I had to pressure him somehow."

"You made that stuff up!" David jabbed out the words.

"I always said it was alleged," she answered defensively.

"Alleged? Alleged by whom? You made it sound like he was the target of a criminal investigation. Do you have any idea what that did to him?"

"Well, I had to keep the pressure on," she repeated lamely. "I had to make him believe that an investigation already existed so that he'd bring me the papers. You know, take his case to the press-"

"Do you have any concept of how your lies made his family feel after his death?"

"That's why I wrote that the case was no longer an issue. That's why I manufactured the quote from Henry Knight. It was unethical, but I'm not the first reporter to do it."

"But there never was a case!" David's hands bunched into fists. He'd never felt so strongly the desire to hit someone-a woman-before.

Pearl regarded him coolly, then asked, "Have you considered that Keith might have appreciated what I wrote? That maybe it provided a safe cover for him, especially if he was going to be a whistle blower?"

"We'll never know that, will we?" David said through clenched teeth.

David's fury grew as he realized Pearl 's indifference to the pain she'd caused. Guy continued to sit there, pathetic in his misery. Around them business travelers swilled down a last beer or scotch before retiring.

"What are you doing in my country?" Hulan asked, her voice frigid in anger.

David looked over and saw on Hulan's face what he felt-utter loathing for this woman. But Pearl seemed indifferent.

"As you already know," Pearl said, "I knew about Miaoshan. A week before her death, Guy said that she'd smuggled papers out of the factory and that he'd send them to me once he got a copy. The day after she gave them to him, she killed herself." Pearl looked around. "But none of us believes that, do we? That's why I thought it would be good to get them in person."

Hearing of the papers, David stifled the desire to catch Hulan's eye.

"You say you have papers," Hulan said to Guy in a tone that revealed nothing but a kind of general interest. "What are they?"

"She never explained to me what they were," Guy said, "but she said they were the proof of many things."

"What did she mean by that?"

"Miaoshan always talked on many levels," he said. "She was very smart. I went to university, but she was much smarter than me." Guy reached down and pulled a sheaf of papers out of his satchel. "These plans show how the factory was designed. There aren't many doors and very few windows. If there were a fire, many people would die." David had thought the same thing when he'd seen them at Suchee's, but he didn't say so now. "But also, if they use chemicals, then there isn't proper ventilation."

David's thoughts turned instantly to the baby. His hand covered Hulan's as she said, "I haven't smelled anything when I've been there."

"I don't know if they use them," Guy admitted. "I'm just saying that if they did, it would be very dangerous."

"Was there anything else?" David asked, momentarily relieved.

Guy rummaged through his satchel again and pulled out a Xeroxed set of spreadsheets, but before David or Hulan could get a real look at them to verify that these were the same ones they'd seen at Suchee's, Pearl Jenner reached out and scooped them up.

"I don't think you need to see these," Pearl said with a grin. "But when you're ready to cooperate with me, I'll be happy to show them to you."

"At least tell us what they are," David said.

"I don't think so," Pearl responded.

Hulan interrupted this exchange by switching to Mandarin and addressing Guy directly. "How did Miaoshan get the papers?"

"I told you. There was a man at the factory, an American," Guy answered, also in Mandarin. "He helped her."

"Hey! Speak in English!" Pearl ordered.

"Aaron Rodgers? Sandy Newheart?"

"A man, that's all I know." Guy's sorrow was palpable. "She would go to him at night. He liked to talk and she listened. I told her to stop, because I was afraid. What if this man decided to stop talking? What if he wanted sex? She was alone with him. I worried about her and the baby."

Hulan squeezed David's hand. She switched back to Mandarin again. "Miaoshan was pregnant with your child."

Guy's eyes brimmed with tears, and he nodded. "I loved her," he said in Mandarin. "I saw a future for us. But I pushed her and pushed her. I wanted success for myself. And I have lost my family and my future in one moment."

"What are you saying?" Pearl demanded. When neither Hulan nor Guy translated, she looked at David. When she saw he wasn't going to help her, that characteristic hard smile came back to her lips. She stood and motioned for Guy to join her. They took a few steps, then Pearl stopped and came back to the table.

"You can't hide the truth from me," she said to David. "As you say, what Knight's doing may not be against the law, but it is against human law." When he didn't respond, she added, "Tartan can get its side out or not. Frankly, I don't care, because I'll do the story with or without you."

"Tartan Incorporated has no comment at this time," David said with all the lawyerly command he could muster.

Pearl Jenner flipped her ponytail behind her. She looked inordinately amused. "You have a reputation in Los Angeles. You're respected. People speak of you as one of the good guys. I'm going to have a lot of fun proving they're wrong."