When I got back to the office late that morning, I went to see Bob Marcus. I told him I was making progress on the France-in-China story, and that I wanted to concentrate on it for the next week or two. I told him that if my reporting went well, I would be able to document that the French had paid a $15 million bribe to a former Chinese minister. That made Marcus happy. Editors are bivalves: when you have a good story, they’re content; when you don’t, they hate you. He didn’t ask where I was getting my information, and I didn’t volunteer it.

That afternoon I read carefully through the material Rubino had given me and tried to think how I should begin my own reporting. Rubino had outlined a human chain—from Peyron to Bézy to Gaspard to the Wu family. He had also described a corporate chain that led from Banque des Marins to New Asia Development Corp. to NADC Ventures, S.A. I figured my best shot was to go after the corporate chain. It was more concrete, easier to verify. I could begin at either end of the chain—in Paris or Hong Kong—or I could begin in the middle, with Gaspard’s operation in Bethesda. I liked the idea of starting close to home.

In this kind of reporting, my technique—if you can call it that—has usually been to go for the jugular. When you have a lead about someone, don’t play games; don’t try to go in the back door. Call up your target, identify yourself as a reporter and ask your questions. Shake the tree as hard as you can and see what falls to the ground.

So that afternoon I called the number in Bethesda that Rubino had given me for New Asia Development Corp. A young woman answered, with a pleasant trace of a French accent. I identified myself as a reporter for the Mirror and asked to speak to Mr. Jean-Luc Gaspard. She asked what it was about, and I said I was working on a story about companies that invest in Asia. She put me on hold while she checked with someone, who had to be Gaspard.

“I’m sorry,” she came back. “Mr. Gaspard cannot speak with you. He is not available. He does not give interviews to the newspapers.”