Rich People Problems-Kwan 2017 (WWT)

father’s Patek and these gold sovereigns, and a few other things, I can’t remember what. I
thought she would need them to bribe her way into Singapore. But see, she hardly needed
them after all.” Jirasit began winding the pocket watch, and then he held it up to his ear.
“Listen? Still ticking perfectly after all these years! I’m going to have to tell my friend
Philippe Stern about this!” Jirasit picked up the packet of old envelopes tied in ribbon and
studied them for a moment. “What’s this?”
“I have no idea. I assumed they were yours, so I didn’t open them,” Nick said.
Jirasit untied the ribbon and began sifting through the letters. “My goodness! These
were my letters to her after the war. She saved every last one of them!” His pale gray eyes
clouded over with tears, which he flicked away quickly.
Nick had brought with him a prospectus of his Tyersall Park buyback scheme, and he
was about to take it out of his satchel to show Jirasit when the man abruptly stood up and
announced, “Come, let us attend to the matter at hand!”
Nick had no idea what he was talking about, but he followed Jirasit as he strolled
swiftly toward a pavilion on the other side of the lake, marveling at his pace. “Jirasit, I
hope I’ll be as agile as you are when I’m your age!”
“Yes, I hope so too. You seem quite slow for your age. Do keep up! I picked up yoga
when I lived in India, and I’ve never stopped my daily practice. Also, it’s important to keep
your body alkaline, young man. Do you eat chicken?”
“I love chicken.”
“Well, stop loving it. Chickens reabsorb their own urine—and so their meat is extremely
acidic,” the man said as he quickened his pace. When they reached the glass-walled
pavilion, Nick noticed two guards flanking the entrance.
“This is my private office,” Jirasit explained. They entered the room, which contained
nothing but an ancient gold statue of Buddha inset into a niche on one wall and a
beautiful black-and-gilt desk facing a window onto the lake. Jirasit went to a door against
the back wall, and placed his hand on the security scanning pad. A few seconds later, the
deadbolt unlocked automatically and he gestured for Nick to follow him into the room.
Inside, Nick found a space that resembled a walk-in vault with built-in cabinets along
every wall. At the corner was an old antique Wells Fargo safe that had been bolted into
the floor. Jirasit turned to Nick and said, “Here we are. The combination please?”
“I’m sorry, you want me to give you the combination?”
“Of course. This is your grandmother’s safe from Singapore.”
“Um, I have no idea what it is,” Nick said, surprised by this turn of events.
“Well, unless you’re good at safe-cracking, you’re going to need the combination. Let’s
see, why don’t we call Catherine in Bangkok and see if she knows what it is?” Jirasit took
out his phone and moments later had Catherine on the line. The two of them spoke
animatedly in Thai for a few moments, and then Jirasit glanced up at Nick. “Did you bring
the earrings?”
“What earrings?”
“Your grandmother’s pearl earrings. The combination is on them.”