Page 56 of King’s Ransom

Audrey hugged me, then shook her head. ‘I’m glad you didn’t tell me what you were going to do. How’s that fear of flying in choppers going now?’

‘I still don’t like it,’ I said.

A shout made us turn.

Yasmina King was waving off the FBI people as she took her son from Heidi.

‘Get away from me!’ she yelled. She rubbed her eyes, shaking off her stupor. ‘Where is my daughter, Katya! She is five years old! Find her, you fools!’

She stalked off the roof with her little boy.

As she did, her eyes found mine and she paused in mid-stride and nodded ever so briefly, the closest she came to saying thank you.

Then she strode off.

Audrey whistled. ‘You’re welcome, lady.’

THE WORLD’S GREATEST DETECTIVES

ROBOT DELIVERY CART

He is the Napoleon of crime, Watson . . . He is a genius, a philosopher, an abstract thinker. He has a brain of the first order.

– Sherlock Holmes, referring to

Professor James Moriarty in The Final Problem

Everyone headed back downstairs to the penthouse.

Longmuir and Hooper led the way, with Winnie Tan between them.

Winnie Tan confirmed what I’d suspected: earlier, downstairs, someone had grabbed her from behind and jabbed her in the neck with a needle. She’d blacked out immediately and woken up in the helicopter hanging off the roof.

I noticed the insurance guy, McCade, lingering awkwardly at the back of the group, looking like he wanted to be anywhere but here. Ms Kimura looked the same; she just followed behind us all with a blank-eyed stare.

Director Longmuir caught up with the long-striding Mrs King who was still carrying her son. ‘Ma’am, for your safety, we should get you out of this building. One of my men is going to escort Ms Tan outside now. You can go with them—’

‘I am not going anywhere till you find my daughter!’ Yasmina King snapped back at him.

As we passed the mechanical floors, I quietly told Audrey, Heidi and Bill about the figure I’d seen there—briefly, fleetingly, behind a pillar—the one wearing white coveralls like the super­intendent had been wearing.

‘The superintendent who no-one can find anywhere,’ Audrey said. ‘Let’s take a look.’

The four of us did a quick circuit of the open-air floor, but found nothing.

No men in white coveralls.

The equipment cabinet was locked; so was the garbage chute’s hatch near the suspect pillar.

Finding nothing, we headed downstairs and rejoined the others in the vestibule on the 95th floor.

‘So what now?’ Director Longmuir said.

‘He’ll call again,’ I said. ‘And I imagine he’ll do it pretty soon. He’s still got Aristo King and the girl, Katya, which means he still has his biggest ransoms to demand.’

As if on cue, Longmuir’s phone rang.

It was him.