by Ed Nelson
“Mum, it’s Rick, have you learned anything about Olga and her family background that I should be aware of?”
She replied, “They have been chased out of Denmark and told never to come back. They will be arrested if they step foot in the country.
“By Danish law, they cannot lose their titles or citizenship, but the Danes are so mad they are considering changing the law. It is such an embarrassment that it has been kept out of the news.”
“This banning from the country includes the Princess. She and her father had gone through his inheritance, so they got a scheme going that defrauded a public pension fund. It was in the millions of dollars.”
“They lived high and wild while they could. When they were caught, they were broke again. I hope you enjoyed your flight and hotel stay but if you are smart you will run as fast as you can.”
That left me in a bit of a quandary. What to do tonight. I knew that Olga would expect me to knock on her door. If I didn’t, she would knock on mine.
If I didn’t answer her, she would raise a ruckus. I knew her well enough to predict her reaction. I took the easy way out and called her room.
When she answered I asked her directly if she and her father had been kicked out of Denmark for stealing from a pension fund, she admitted it with no shame.
I told her we were through, even though we had barely got started. She didn’t take it well. After the shouting I told her a car would be available to take her to the London airport and a ticket would be waiting at Icelandic Air.
She wanted to know why that airline, and I told her it had good connections. She would end up in LA.
What I didn’t tell her was that it would be a coach ticket. There would be an eight-hour layover in Reykjavik. She would have to change airlines in New York and that there would be another airline in Saint Louis with a four-hour layover. Petty, I know, but still fun to think of.
An acquaintance at Oxford had taken the flight from London to Reykjavik to New York with the layovers. His flight to Iceland also had a goat in the passenger cabin. One could only hope.
For myself, I had some bridges to mend. In the morning after I was certain that she had left for the airport. First, I called Mr. Norman and let him know that I regretted the unkind words I had spoken.
I had finally smartened up and found out about her and her father. He accepted my apology. I did ask him why he didn’t tell me himself.
“Richard, one thing I have learned is not to be the one who exposes the feet of clay. Even though you are right, you are never forgiven.”
“It was my Mum who told me.”
“That is different, she has been telling you how wrong you are for your whole life, so you expect it of her.”
“You are right about that.”
“While you are still in England the Queen would like to see you tomorrow for lunch.”
“I’ll be there.”
I wondered if she would roast me.
Next, I ate crow with Grand Mum. She was nice about it, but you could tell she still thought I was a ninny. I knew that because she said so. It didn’t bother me, she called Mum that all the time.
I made some more phone calls and arranged to meet my friends at the pub this evening. I wanted to let them know that beauty isn’t everything. How I had dodged a bullet.
I shouldn’t have bothered. They thought she would have been worth it until the police hauled her away. Even when I explained she was only after my money they thought she would be worth a fortune or two.
The next day I met the Queen for lunch at the Palace. It wasn’t as though she could pop down to Mr. Treacher’s place with me and get some fish and chips. I even told her about them. She told me she would try some takeaway.
She didn’t mention my Danish Princess at all. She wanted to talk about Hong Kong. I gave her an update on the improved quality of their products with the help of Dr. Deming. Also, the marketing plans are in place to highlight their products.
She thought this was wonderful and that it was a shame that it wouldn’t work in England. I asked her why and she told me that socialism had the country in a state of malaise.
No one seemed interested in getting ahead, just getting by. Those that wanted to get ahead were leaving England. They had what the newspapers called a brain drain going on. Soon only the mediocre would be left.
She then showed interest in my escape from the gulag. She assured me that the intelligence services were trying to get me free but were always a step behind me.
I did ask about my status as an aide to her. She wanted to continue that but realized that I couldn’t function as a Queen's Messenger. She still wanted me to keep the credentials for my airplane. It would be convenient for me, and if they ever did need my help urgently it would be in place.
After lunch, I returned to my hotel suite where I checked that the rooms had been cleaned and the sheets had been changed.
Now the truth was out about Olga I got the willies just thinking about her. I hoped I didn’t have any diseases. I had the hotel send a doctor to examine me, but it was too early for me to show any symptoms, so he just took blood and urine samples for examination. I later received an “All clear.”
The next morning, I boarded my 707 for the flight back to California. Mum had called and she wanted to borrow the plane to take her and Mary to New York City for an interview on the Tonight Show. I wondered how it would go with Mary on national TV. Nothing could go wrong, could it?
When I boarded the aircraft, the first question, I had was about the sheets being changed. My Head Stewardess sniffed as she told me that the ones on the bed had been tossed. I didn’t know it was possible to sniff while talking. I thought it was only in stories.
On the flight home, I thought about the last week. I had almost become entangled with a fortune hunter who could have ruined me. At the same time, I learned about some new pleasures in life.
Overall, I would chalk it up as a win.
It would be some time before I would trust any newly met women.
The flight was a good one and I picked up some more flight time. That part of this trip was a winner.
When not on the flight deck I gave some serious thought about what I could do to help develop China and the newly acquired Siberian territories. There was no question that infrastructure had to be put in place. Especially roads.
In Siberia, there was no such thing as a through road or train track. That would be the number one priority for that area. The question was how to finance it and set it up to pay loans back.
China not only needed roads, but they need to move beyond subsistence agriculture in the provinces.
Then there was the setting up of my centralized airfreight delivery. I still wanted to have a trial in California. I would need to find someone to set it up.
More likely several. I was talking about a combination airline and local ground delivery service. I doubted if any single person had that combined knowledge.
I also needed to keep close tabs on the IC Chip development. Multiple fortunes were riding on that business. I didn’t want to mess it up.
Halfway across the Atlantic, I started kicking myself. I had been at The Meadows and hadn’t checked on how the excavations of the Roman fort were going. Oh well, the next trip.
Somehow, I had to visit Australia and see about purchasing land there. It was about the only civilized country where large swathes of land could be bought at reasonable prices.
With all that weighing on my mind, I took a nap. I had so many loose ends that I couldn’t keep track of them. I needed a plan and to stick to it.
Sure, I had plans in place when I went to play golf in Hong Kong. I remember someone made a quote about plans and life happening. That was me, stumbling from one thing to another.
Chapter 10
Upon arriving home, all those thoughts I had were gone out the window. While I was trying to make plans for the future, plans were being made for me.
Crown Prince Chia-Hao of China ha
d been killed in an accident. I had to go to the funeral. His body would lie in state for a week, so I had time to get there.
As soon as we landed in Ontario, they started preparing the plane for a quick round trip to New York City. My sister was going to be interviewed on the Jack Paar show. Mum would be accompanying her as she was only eight years old.
I did send a telegram of condolences to the Empress on the death of her son, I also sent separate ones to his wife Ann and his two children Chun-Chieh and May-ling.
Queen Elizabeth sent me a telegram asking that I convey her condolences while her ambassador would give the formal message. That telegram had barely reached me when I received a call from the White House asking for the same assistance.
The one person I didn’t send a telegram to was the late Crown Prince’s brother, Prince Haoran. I detested the man and thought if any foul play were involved, he would be the instigator.
One thing I did accomplish in the next two days was to hire a search firm to find three people, one who knew the airline business, another for local ground freight operations, and a third that could act as the CEO for both operations.
I also asked Jim Williamson to see if we had any contacts in Australia who knew someone in large property real estate. I was interested in anything over five hundred thousand acres.
Between that and catching up with my family I was busy the next few days. I did read a story in the LA Times about the Glucksburg family being deported back to Denmark. It appears they were involved in fraudulent activity in Hollywood.
Sometimes you get lucky.
That weekend Mum had another one of her many charity fundraisers. I was drafted as an escort for any young lady, as yet to be named, who was brought along by her parents without a dinner date.
This dinner was being held inside instead of being an informal cookout. That meant I had to dress up. I thought about my full uniform rig but decided that was too much. To tell the truth, Harold was the one who convinced me that it was too much.
I was hoping there would be no unescorted females present but I wasn’t that lucky. I had the great honor of escorting Linda Richardson the daughter of a Los Angeles banker.
Linda proved to be a nice person of what I would call average looks. That meant she looked pretty as she was all dressed up tonight as though going to Prom, but during the day she would be just another girl on the street.
I didn’t mean to be harsh in this opinion; the movie industry had given me the habit of thinking about how they would look in various roles. In other words, no ravening beauty, but pretty in a girl next door sort of way.
She was a decent conversationalist. She knew of me and had read about many of my adventures, both business and physical. At the same time, she treated me like a real person. It was a pleasant change after Princess Olga.
To my surprise, the evening flew by. I don’t know who was more shocked after dinner when I asked her if I could call her for a date.
She gave me a measured look which told me not to get fresh on our date, as she said she would love to. It left me a little flustered because I had no date plans at the start of the evening and had no idea where to go.
She must have seen the panic in my eyes because she told me there was a movie she would like to see. It was a romantic comedy from England. Something about a bookseller and a romance with a high-powered American movie star.
That sounded very familiar to me. Since I had no better idea, I told her that would be fun. I’m sure that there is a special circle in Dante’s hell reserved for guys who said a romantic comedy would be fun.
I picked her up at her house Saturday evening. I had to face her polite parents. At least Dad wasn’t cleaning a weapon. You could tell Linda’s mother was dying to ask, why was I dating her daughter.
I let it be known that it was hard for me to meet normal people, especially girls my age. I had to always be on guard against gold diggers.
Linda and I went to the movie which did have its funny moments. Afterward, we went to a coffee shop where I shared some inside stories about that movie that I was almost in.
It was a pleasant evening that didn’t even result in a good night kiss. That was okay with me. A night of normalcy was a reward in itself.
Linda told me at the coffee shop she was getting ready to start college and didn’t plan on dating as she got settled into school. Since the school term was in the second quarter, I asked her why she was just starting now.
She had mono last fall and was now pronounced recovered enough to start in the spring quarter. This was why she wanted to concentrate on school as she would be carrying a heavy load. I could respect that.
It wasn’t as though I was desperate for a girlfriend right now. I felt like I had been pushed from pillar to post on the female front recently.
It was finally time for me to fly to China for the funeral. Upon landing I was taken to the Forbidden City to the suite of rooms that I had used previously.
A letter was waiting for me from Ann, the wife of the late Crown Prince. That puzzled me. She was asking for a private meeting. The letter was hand-delivered, and the messenger was to escort me to Ann immediately.
I wasn’t sure what her title would be now that her husband was dead. I asked the messenger what I should call her. He told me it still would be Princess as she was the mother of the new heir apparent.
I was taken in her presence as soon as we arrived. She was bearing up well, but you could tell she was grief-stricken.
“Duke Richard thank you for coming.”
“I’m sorry to be seeing you in these circumstances.”
“They may be worse than you think.”
“How could that be?”
“I think my husband was murdered.”
I was taken aback by that statement.
“Why do you think that.”
“His death is attributed to a hunting accident. He supposedly tripped and his shotgun went off, killing him.”
“That happens.”
“My husband hated hunting and would never have gone.”
“Where did this happen.”
“At one of Prince Haoran’s estates. That is another thing, he and Haoran didn’t get along with each other. He wouldn’t have gone there in the first place.”
“What does the Empress say about this?”
“I tried to talk to her, but they are both her sons, she doesn’t want to hear any talk about it.”
“What can I do?”
“You are the only court outsider that I know who has the resources to investigate the death without raising suspicion.”
“I will have quiet inquiries made about the Crown Prince's agenda for that time.”
“Please do, I fear for my children's lives.”
The full import then struck me, why would Haoran kill the Crown Prince. The logical answer was to take the throne.
“I will start the investigation at once.”
I couldn’t bear the thought of something happening to the Empress, who I considered a friend. To endanger the beautiful May-ling was unthinkable.
I can remember Ping telling me at one time she had never married and had no children. She had maintained this façade for years to protect her family during the Mao years.
As the rightful heir to the throne, she was always under threat of being killed. If they knew there was a line of descent, they would have killed them all. What a burden to live under.
I returned to my room for a restless night's sleep.
The next morning, I was admitted to the Empress’s presence. Normally she had an ageless vibrant look about her. Now she looked tired and worn.
I passed on my condolences and those of the Queen and President Kennedy. She accepted them with a tired nod.
“Richard, I need to speak to you alone.”
At that, the room was cleared. She then led me to another suite of rooms and then into a small room which I recognized as a SCIF.
It was soundproof and electronic surveillance p
roof. I don’t know what the letters stood for, but I had been in several built into embassies around the world.
“Richard, I have to ask a large favor of you. I know Ann has already asked you, but would you please investigate my son's death.”
“I thought you refused Ann’s request.”
“I did, if it got out that Haoran was suspected of foul play what do you think would happen?”
“If nothing else it would move his agenda up.”
“Precisely, we need time to find out the truth so we can’t let on that we consider it to be anything but an accident. There is also the fact that Haoran is my son and I do hate to think he would do such a thing.”
“This must be very difficult for you.”
“It is, but I must protect my China. While I don’t think Haoran had done this I know he would be a terrible leader, and that to be that leader he would have to kill me and the grandchildren.”
“I’m not certain how to proceed but I will do my best.
Chapter 11
I didn’t have the faintest idea of how to investigate the Crown Prince’s death. I did know someone who would. My Dad.
He was a military police investigator in the Army. He even was involved in the investigation of the death of George Patton.
I went to the British Embassy and asked if I could use a secure telephone line. I had more influence with the British than the Americans but that wasn’t the only reason that I was reluctant to go to them. Why, I can’t tell you, it was just a feeling.
It only took half an hour to get a connection with my Dad. I tersely explained the situation. He told me that there were two avenues of approach that could be followed.
The first was establishing the movements of the Crown Prince as best as possible. Did he go to Haoran’s hunting preserve willingly?
Next was Haoran’s movements. Was he directly involved? According to Dad, if Haoran was seen in the Crown Prince's company there was a good chance it was a hunting accident. If it weren’t Haoran would have kept himself at a distance.