Page 6 of King’s Ransom

She jerked her chin at the bio sheet.

‘First wife: brilliant computer engineer who he met when they were both at M.I.T. Second wife, his executive secretary from his first company who he was banging while married to Wife No. 1. And now this third one: a former lingerie supermodel from Russia.’

Heidi gave me a look. ‘What is wrong with you men? Are you mind-controlled by your dicks?’

‘Mostly, yes,’ Bill said.

‘Where are the ex-wives now?’ I asked. ‘Where do they live?’

In murder and kidnapping cases, the first suspect is usually the spouse or ex-spouse.

Hell hath no fury and all that.

Scorned women do sometimes hire hit men to exact revenge on their ex-husbands.

Heidi tapped on her laptop and brought up some data.

‘Okay,’ she said. ‘Wife No. 1, Winnie Tan, lives in a mansion in Southampton, about two hours’ drive from Manhattan. She has two adult kids with King, ages 34 and 32. Still sits on the board of his original company and chairs a charity that upkeeps historic New York buildings.

‘Wife No. 2, Shelby Cox, the former personal assistant, divides her time between homes in Vail, New York City, St. Moritz and West Palm Beach. Has two kids with King, ages 25 and 23. No charities. Lives large.

‘And Wife No. 3, Yasmina Ivanova, the model, age 31. Jesus, she’s younger than his two oldest kids. Lives with King in a mansion on Meadow Lane in the Hamptons and in his penthouse in one of those skinny new skyscrapers in Manhattan. Her two kids with him are much younger, ages 6 and 5. Runs two charities. Gosh, these ladies of leisure have to find something to do with their time.’

(Heidi doesn’t like the wealthy. She often says she prefers ‘people who work for a fucking living’.)

‘Having a Russian-born wife must affect his security clearance,’ I said. ‘Is she a US citizen now?’

‘Sam,’ Bill said, ‘when you donate a few hundred million dollars to the President’s election campaign, you get security clearance no matter who you’re sleeping with.’

‘And, yes, she’s a US citizen now,’ Heidi said.

‘Didn’t he give his kids weird names?’ Bill said. ‘I heard that somewhere.’

Heidi tapped some more on her laptop. Brought up a list:

ARISTO KING: CHILDREN

Helen (f, 34)

Hector (m, 32)

Ajax (m, 25)

Cassandra (f, 23)

Alexei (m, 6)

Katya (f, 5)

‘Not that weird,’ I said. ‘It just looks like he had a thing for the Trojan War: Hector, Helen and the next two, Ajax and Cassandra. But for the last two, Russian names, I presume at the behest of their mother.’

Heidi shook her head.

‘Rich. Famous. Handsome. Oversexed but well read. And now—poof—he’s vanished and five detectives are called in. This is strange, Sam.’

‘Yeah,’ I said slowly. ‘Very strange.’

The second sheet of paper listed the five detectives who had been summoned to New York.