Page 40 of Billion-Dollar Ransom

“I THINK I may know why Old Man Randy is so eager to sideline us,” Mike Hardy said.

He extended a manila file folder to Nicky. She opened it and saw that it was stuffed with printouts of insurance documents from a certain high-end company often used by wealthy Southern Californians. Nicky had dealt with them before. And she saw the name of the client: Randolph Schraeder.

“Where did you get this?”

“Intercepted it from your financial-crimes guy on my way over here,” Mike said. “Some big dude named Lindbergh. He seemed super-proud of himself.”

“So why didn’t you let Ross deliver them?”

“I wanted you to think I was important and useful.”

Oh, Mike was loving this. She used to wonder what it would be like if Mike came to work at the Bureau or if Nicky joined the LAPD. Now she was finding out, and she was delighted to realize she didn’t mind it one bit.

But right now she had to keep her head focused.

“So Schraeder has K and R insurance,” Nicky said, flipping pages.

“A metric ton of it,” Hardy said. “Lindbergh said this specific kidnapping and ransom policy covers practically the full billion.”

“Now why would he carry such a huge policy unless…”

“He thought he’d need it someday? I was thinking the same thing.”

Nicky continued to scan the documents and let out a low whistle. “If I’m reading this right, the yearly tab for the kidnapping insurance is something like zero point zero four of the total policy, and that’s just for Randolph. Factor in the other family members and…”

Mike stared at her. “If you’re asking me to do arithmetic, I’m about to disappoint you. Just ask Father O’Neil at Sacred Heart. He flunked me. And I deserved it.”

But Nicky was running the numbers in her head. “This would cost Schraeder something like thirty or forty million annually. That’s a hefty price tag.”

Now it was Mike’s turn to whistle. “And where does Capital fit into this? Don’t insurance companies have their own investigators?”

“I don’t know, Hardy. I could have asked my financial-crimes specialist if you hadn’t ambushed him.”

“Oops.”

“And why didn’t Schraeder or those Capital guys mention the policy?”

“I think this means old Randy just became our number one suspect.”

Nicky reached for the phone. “I’m calling Ross Lindbergh.”