Page 98 of Billion-Dollar Ransom

TIM DOWD’S BODY was discovered beneath the Manhattan Beach pier just after sunrise by a couple of surfers on the dawn patrol.

Tyler Schraeder was still considered a captive, but security cameras at the San Diego border crossing picked up the image of a woman who strongly resembled his girlfriend, actress Cassandra Bart.

A local FBI team was dispatched to pick her up and see what she might know about the missing heir to the Schraeder fortune.

Maybe she’d talk. Maybe she’d lawyer up.

Boo Schraeder was discovered hitchhiking back to Beverly Hills.

At first, she refused the ride in an LAPD squad car, saying that she just wanted to breathe fresh air and not feel like a captive anymore.

The car crawled alongside her until she finally relented; she was rushed to Cedars-Sinai for medical evaluation.

Cal and Finney Schraeder had walked into an LA fire station, apparently unharmed.

A search team was dispatched to the San Gabriel Mountains to look for the money, but Nicky knew it wouldn’t be there.

And there was no further word or demands from One, who seemed to have vanished into thin air along with the rest of the kidnappers.