Page 156 of King’s Ransom

‘Reconnected? Jesus, dude, the two of them fuck like college kids.’

‘Daytime and night,’ I said. ‘Like lovers slipping away at any opportunity they get . . .’

I checked all four date stamps.

These trysts were recent.

The last one had been on November 28th.

‘Look at her abs, man.’ Monty whistled. ‘That woman is fine. I looked her up. You should see the old photos. She was chubby and mousy back in the day. Coke-bottle glasses. Now, she’s late 50s, probably had laser eye surgery and has got in shape and all I can say is, damn, Winnie turned herself into a cougar mama.’

I was thinking about something else.

Specifically, that Yasmina Ivanova and Winnie Tan had never met before December 21st.

Not even once.

But this was a link between them, and a current one, too.

I needed to speak with Winnie Tan.

At that precise moment, my burner phone rang.

It was Georgy, Yasmina’s lawyer.

‘Dr Sam,’ he said. ‘I have problem and need your help.’

What could this be? I thought.

‘Ms Yasmina, she is being sued by Sinclair & Loewe.’

It took me a moment to recall what Sinclair & Loewe was.

It was the insurance company. The insurance company with whom Aristo King had his Kidnapping & Ransom policy.

The insurance company whose representative, Quinn McCade, had been at 59West on December 21st handling the ransom demands, some of which—astonishingly—he’d denied.

Georgy went on. ‘It is long and complicated story, but Mr Aristo King is suing Sinclair & Loewe for not paying ransoms on December 21st, which has caused Sinclair & Loewe to countersue him and also to sue Yasmina.’

‘Why would they sue her?’ I asked. That seemed entirely unnecessary.

Georgy said, ‘On December 21st, when it became known that Aristo King had been kidnapped, Yasmina called Sinclair & Loewe, as Aristo had instructed her to do if he were ever kidnapped. He even gave her the direct number for their Kidnapping & Ransom Department to keep in her purse for such an eventuality.

‘Yasmina insists she called them using that number. But Sinclair & Loewe claim that they never received any call from Yasmina on December 21st.’

I shook my head. ‘But, of course, they did. I mean, their man was at 59West on December 21st. I met him. His name was Quinn McCade—’

As soon as I said those words, something clicked in my mind.

Yasmina had insisted she’d called the insurance company.

But Sinclair & Loewe said they’d never received any call.

Yet a man named Quinn McCade from Sinclair & Loewe had turned up at 59West.

No . . .

Could McCade have been . . .?