Sally’s kidney condition was at stage five, the end stage, and she needed a new organ. But there were thousands of people on the waiting list and the state had just decided to stop paying for lung transplants altogether, as well as some heart and bone marrow procedures. How long would it be before kidney transplants were added to the list? Sally didn’t want to wait to find out. She didn’t want to spend her last years chained to a machine; she wanted her freedom back but it came at a price. She needed at least $250,000 for the operation. Above and beyond the money she’d need to keep her place at Castle Towers, she had some savings and there was a little money Jean had promised she could have. But she was still tens of thousands of dollars short, which was the reason that when the idea of selling her life insurance policy was presented to her, she was receptive to it.

The call from Howard Essen came at a particularly apposite moment. It wasn’t a coincidence, although Sally would have been upset if she’d known how it came about. Howard found potential clients through an informal network of contacts he’d established at more than two dozen retirement homes and nursing facilities. He paid a mix of orderlies and supers and front-desk staff to tip him off when a resident told them about certain medical or personal issues, like starting dialysis or visiting a heart specialist or not being able to afford to help with their grandchild’s college tuition. Howard found it distasteful, but he felt he had little choice. These were tough times, and he had to find a way to keep his own family’s heads above water. In this case, Sally had told a friendly orderly her predicament, and he mentioned it unthinkingly to the superintendent, who in turn called Howard.

For ten years, Howard had made a decent living selling starter mortgages to young Arizonans. When things were going well he’d been caught up in the all-pervasive hysteria of home ownership. Everyone was selling mortgages with no supporting documentation, so why shouldn’t he? There was no one who said it was a bad thing. After more than six months out of work he’d found this job with LifeDeals. In fact, they’d come after him, looking for once-successful mortgage salesmen and offering a job paid almost wholly on commission. The cheaper Howard bought a policy for, the better his remuneration. It helped him sleep at night when he didn’t squeeze that extra percentage point out of the policyholder. Not that he thought it would have been so easy to get Sally Mason to capitulate.

The first time he paid her a visit, Howard had introduced himself and Sally said, “Essen, like the city in Germany?”

“Yes, ma’am. Exactly.” This was a sharp one, he could tell at once.