“So many things come back to him.” Beauvoir circled Martin’s name. It was easy, since it was the only name on the page so far. “She was only here because of the divorce.”
“And his conviction,” said Lacoste. “What was the case about anyway?”
They both turned to Gamache.
“You’ll have to double-check all this because it’s been a few months since it was in the papers, but David Martin ran the Royale Assurance Company, a very old, very proud Canadian company that specialized in marine insurance. It started, I believe, in Nova Scotia more than a century ago, but moved to Vancouver as the shipping trade grew with the Pacific Rim.”
“Only shipping?”
“Not under Martin. He did two things, if I’m remembering right. He expanded into buildings and infrastructure. Bridges, dams, roads. But the most brilliant thing he did, and his downfall, was he decided to spread the risks. He created a thing called Partners.”
“Surely not the first business person to have partners,” Lacoste smiled.
“Very astute of you.” Gamache smiled back. “But he spelled his with a capital P. It was like a pyramid scheme, though all perfectly legal, at first. He’d insure a bridge project, let’s say, and get a bunch of companies to take some of the risk. They in turn would sell interests to smaller companies, and they’d sell on to individuals. All called Royale Partners.”
“And what would they get in return?” Lacoste asked, her lobster salad forgotten for a moment. This sort of Byzantine dealing fascinated her.
“They paid no money,” said Gamache, leaning toward her, remembering as he went. “And they got a share of the company profits, which were huge. Most of the Partners became millionaires many times over.”
“But?” said Beauvoir.
“But they had to guarantee they’d pay for any loss.”
Beauvoir was lost. But Lacoste was with him.
“I understand,” she said. “He sold some of the profits and all the risk. He was making hundreds of millions and wasn’t in any danger if there was ever a huge claim.”
“Exactly. It worked for years, with everyone, even the smallest Partner, making a great deal of money. People were falling all over themselves to invest.”