Flyaway

by Desmond Bagley

  It was about this time that some smart journalist gave him the nickname of Flyaway Peter, echoing the nursery rhyme. It was good publicity and Billson went along with the gag even to the extent of naming his newborn son Paul and, in 1936, when he entered the London to Cape Town Air Race he christened the Northrop 'Gamma' he flew Flyaway. It was one of the first of the all-metal aircraft.

  The race was organized by a newspaper which beat the drum enthusiastically and announced that all entrants would be insured to the tune of?100,000 each in the case of a fatality. The race began. Billson put down in Algiers to refuel and then took off again, heading south. The plane was never seen again, Billson's wife, Helen, was naturally shocked and it was some weeks before she approached the newspaper about the insurance. The newspaper passed her on to the insurance company which dug in its heels and dithered.?100,000 was a lot of money in 1936. Finally it declared unequivocally that no payment would be forthcoming and Mrs Billson brought the case to court.

  The courtroom was enlivened by a defence witness, a South African named Hendrik van Niekirk, who swore on oath that he had seen Billson, alive and well, in Durban four weeks after the race was over. It caused a sensation and no doubt the sales of the newspaper went up. The prosecution battered at van Niekirk but he stood up to it well. He had visited Canada and had met Billson there and he was in no doubt about his identification. Did he speak to Billson in Durban? No, he did not.

  All very dicey.

  The judge summed up and the case went to the jury which deliberated at length and then found for the insurance company. No?100,000 for Mrs Billson — who immediately appealed. The Appellate Court reversed the decision on a technicality — the trial judge had been a shade too precise in his instructions to the jury. The insurance company took it to the House of Lords who refused to have anything to do with it. Mrs Billson got her?100,000. Whether she lived happily ever after the writer of the article didn't say.

  So much for the subject matter — the tone was something. else. Written by a skilled journalist, it was a very efficient hatchet job on the reputation of a man who could not answer back — dead or alive. It reeked of the envy of a small-minded man who got his kicks by pulling down men better than himself. If this was what Paul Billson had read then it wasn't too surprising if he went off his trolley.

  The article ended in a speculative vein. After pointing out that the insurance company had lost on a legal technicality, it went on:

  The probability is very strong that Billson did survive the crash, if crash there was, and that Hendrik van Niekirk did see him in Durban. If t his is so, and I think it is, then an enormous fraud was perpetrated.?100,000 is a lot of money anywhere and at any time.?100,000 in 1936 is equivalent to over?350,000 in our present-day debased currency.

  If Peter Billson is still alive he will be 75 years old and will have lived a life of luxury. Rich men live long and the chances are that he is indeed still alive. Perhaps he will read these words. He might even conceive these words to be libellous. I am willing to risk it.

  Flyaway Peter Billson, come back! Come back!

  I was contemplating this bit of nastiness when Charlie Malleson came into the office. He said, 'I've done a preliminary analysis of the consequences of losing the Whensley Group,' and smiled sourly. 'We'll survive.'

  'Brinton,' I said, and tilted my chair back. 'He owns a quarter of our shares and accounts for a third of our business. We've got too many eggs in his basket. I'd like to know how much it would hurt if he cut loose from us completely.' I paused, then added, 'Or if we cut loose from him.'

  Charlie looked alarmed. 'Christ! it would be like having a leg cut off — without anaesthetic.'

  'It might happen.'

  'But why would you want to cut loose? The money he pumped in was the making of us.'

  'I know,' I said. 'But Brinton is a financial shark. Snapping up a profit is to him as mindless a reflex as when a real shark snaps up a tasty morsel. I think we're vulnerable, Charlie.'

  'I don't know why you're getting so bloody hot under the collar all of a sudden,' he said plaintively.

  'Don't you?' I leaned forward and the chair legs came down with a soft thud on to the thick pile carpet. 'Last night, in a conversation lasting less than four minutes, we lost fifteen per cent of Brinton's business. And why did we lose it? So that he can put the arm on Andrew McGovern who is apparently getting out of line. Or so Brinton says.'

  'Don't you believe him?'

  'Whether he's telling the truth or not isn't the point. The point is that our business is being buggered in one of Brinton's private schemes which has nothing to do with us.'

  Charlie said slowly, 'Yes, I see what you mean.'

  I stared at him. 'Do you, Charlie? I don't think so. Take a good long look at what happened yesterday. We were manipulated by a minority shareholder who twisted us around his little finger.'

  'Oh, for God's sake, Max! If McGovern doesn't want us there's not a damn thing we can do about it.'

  'I know that, but we could have done something which we didn't. We could have held the Whensley Group to their contract which has just under a year to run. Instead, we all agreed at the AGM to pull out in ten days. We were manoeuvred into that, Charlie; Brinton had us dancing on strings.'

  Charlie was silent I said, 'And you know why we let it happen? We were too damned scared of losing Brinton's money. We could have outvoted him singly or jointly, but we didn't.'

  'No,' said Charlie sharply. 'Your vote would have downed him — you have 51 per cent. But I have only 24 to his 25.'

  I sighed. 'Okay, Charlie; my fault. But as I lay in bed last night I felt scared. I was scared of what I hadn't done. And the thing that scared me most of all was the thought of the kind of man I was becoming. I didn't start this business to jerk to any man's string, and that's why I say we have to cut loose from Brinton if possible. That's why I want you to look for alternative sources of finance. We're big enough to get it now.'

  There may be something in what you say,' said Charlie. 'But I still think you're blowing a gasket without due cause. You're over-reacting, Max.' He shrugged. 'Still, I'll look for outside money if only to keep you from blowing your top.' He glanced at the magazine cutting on my desk. 'What's that?'

  'A story about Paul Billson's father. You know — the accountant who vanished from Franklin Engineering.'

  'What's the score on that one?'

  I shook my head. 'I don't know. At first I had Paul Billson taped as being a little devalued in the intellect — running about eighty pence in the pound — but there are a couple of things which don't add up.'

  'Well, you won't have to worry about that now. Franklin is part of the Whensley Group.'

  I looked up in surprise. 'So it is.' It had slipped my mind.

  'I'd hand over what you've got to Sir Andrew McGovern and wish him the best of British luck.'

  'You've seen him recently?'

  I thought about that and shook my head. 'No — Billson disappeared when we were in charge of security and there's still a few days to the end of the month.'

  'Your sense of ethics is too strongly developed.'

  'I think I'll follow up on this one myself,' I said. 'I started it so I might as well finish it. Jack Ellis can stand in for me. It's time he was given more responsibility.'

  Charlie nodded approvingly. 'Do you think there's anything in Billson's disappearance — from the point of view of Franklin's security, I mean?'

  I grinned at him. 'I'll probably find that he's eloped with someone's wife — and I hope it's Andrew McGovern's.'

  CHAPTER FIVE

  I went down to Fleet Street to look for Michael English, the journalist who had written the article on Peter Billson. His office thought he was at the Press Club, the Press Club invited me to try El Vino's. I finally ran him to ground in a pub off the Strand.

  He was a tall, willowy, fair-haired man whom I disliked on sight, although what he had written about Billson might have influenced my feelings. He was pl
aying poker dice with a couple of other journalists and looked at me doubtfully when I gave him one of my business cards to prick his curiosity.

  'Security!' he said. There was a shade of nervousness.

  I smiled reassuringly. 'I'd like to talk to you about Billson.'

  'That little twit! What's he put you on to me for?' Apprehension surrounded English like a fog.

  'You've seen him recently?'

  'Of course I have. He came to the office making trouble. He threatened a law suit.' English snorted with unhumorous laughter. 'Our lawyer saw him off smartly on that one.'

  I was deliberately obtuse. 'I'm surprised he bothered you. If your article was correct he stands a good chance of a jail sentence — although his grey hairs might save him, I suppose.'

  English looked at me in surprise. It wasn't the old man. It was someone who claimed to be his son — said he was Paul Billson. He made quite a scene.'

  I looked around and saw an empty corner table. 'I'd like to talk to you about it. Over there where it's quiet. What will you have?'

  English hesitated, then shrugged. 'I don't mind. Make it a double scotch.'

  As I ordered the drinks he said, 'I suppose you're investigating for the insurance company.' I made an ambiguous murmur, and he said, 'I thought they gave up years ago. Isn't there a time limitation on a crime like that?'

  I smiled at him as he splashed water perfunctorily in his glass. The file is still open.'

  English had been called into his editor's office the day after the article had appeared — the day before Billson went missing. He found the editor trying to cope with an angry and agitated man who was making incoherent threats. The editor, Gaydon, said in a loud voice, 'This is Mr English who wrote the article. Sit down, Mike, and let's see if we can sort this out.' He flicked a switch on the intercom. 'Ask Mr Harcourt if he can come to my office.'

  English saw trouble looming ahead. Harcourt was the resident lawyer and his presence presaged no good. He cleared his throat and said, 'What's the trouble?'

  Gaydon said, 'This is Mr Paul Billson. He appears to be disturbed about the article on his father which appeared in yesterday's issue.'

  English looked at Billson and saw a rather nondescript man who, at that moment, was extremely agitated. His face was white and dull red spots burned in his cheeks as he said in a high voice, 'It was nothing but outright libel. I demand a retraction and a public apology.'

  Gaydon said in a calming voice, 'I'm sure that Mr English wrote the truth as he saw it. What do you say, Mike?'

  'Of course, you're right,' said English. 'Every matter of fact was checked against the original court records and the contemporary newspaper reports.'

  'I'm not complaining about the facts,' said Billson. 'It's the damned inferences about my father. I've never read anything so scurrilous in my life. If I don't get a public apology I shall sue.'

  Gaydon glanced at English, then said smoothly, 'It shouldn't come to that, Mr Billson. I'm certain we can come to some arrangement or agreement satisfactory to all parties.' He looked up as Harcourt entered the office and said with a slight air of relief, This is Mr Harcourt of our legal department.'

  Rapidly he explained the point at issue, and Harcourt said, 'Do you have a copy of the article?'

  He settled down to read the supplement which Gaydon produced and the office was uneasily quiet until he had finished. Gaydon tapped restlessly with his forefinger; English sat quite still, hoping that the film of sweat on his forehead didn't show; Billson squirmed in his seat as the pressure within him built higher.

  After what seemed an interminable period Harcourt laid down the magazine. 'What exactly are you complaining about, Mr Billson?'

  'Isn't it evident?' Billson demanded. 'My father has been blackguarded in print. I demand an immediate apology or I sue.' His finger stabbed at English. 'I sue him and the newspaper.'

  'I see,' said Harcourt thoughtfully. He leaned forward. 'What do you believe happened to your father?'

  'His plane crashed,' said Billson. 'He was killed — that's what I believe.' He slammed his hand on the magazine. 'This is just plain libel.'

  'I believe that you will be unable to sue,' said Harcourt. 'You can sue only if your own reputation is at stake. You see, it's an established principle of law that a dead man cannot be libelled.'

  There was a moment of silence before Billson said incredulously, 'But this man says my father is not dead.'

  'But you believe he is dead, and you would be bringing the case to court. It wouldn't work, Mr Billson. You needn't take my word for it, of course; you can ask your own solicitor. In fact, I strongly advise it.'

  'Are you telling me that any cheap journalist can drag my father's name through the mud and get away with it?' Billson was shaking with rage.

  Harcourt said gravely, 'I should watch your words, Mr Billson, or the shoe may be on the other foot. Such intemperate language could lead you into trouble.'

  Billson knocked over his chair in getting to his feet. 'I shall certainly take legal advice,' he shouted, and glared at English. 'I'll have your hide, damn you!'

  The door slammed behind him.

  Harcourt picked up the magazine and flipped it to English's article. He avoided looking directly at English, and said to Gaydon, 'I suggest that if you intend to publish work of this nature in future you check with the legal department before publication and not after.'

  'Are we in the clear?' asked Gaydon.

  'Legally — quite,' said Harcourt, and added distastefully, 'It's not within my province to judge the moral aspect.' He paused. 'If the widow takes action it will be different, of course. There is a clear implication here that she joined with her husband in cheating the insurance company. How else could Peter Billson profit other than with his wife's connivance?'

  Gaydon turned to English. 'What about the widow?'

  'It's okay,' said English. 'She died a little over a year ago. Helen Billson married a Norwegian during the war and changed her name to Aarvik. It was when I stumbled over that fact that I decided to write up the story of Billson.'

  Harcourt snorted and left, and Gaydon grinned at English. 'That was a bit close, Mike.' He picked up a pen. 'Be a good chap and pick up that chair before you leave.'

  I bought English another drink. 'So Paul Billson didn't have a leg to stand on.'

  English laughed. 'Not a hope. I didn't attack his reputation, you see. Christ, I'd forgotten the man existed.'

  I said mendaciously, 'I'm not really interested in Paul Bill-son. Do you really think that Peter Billson faked his death to defraud the insurance company?'

  'He could have,' said English. 'It makes a good story.'

  'But do you believe it?'

  'Does it matter what I believe?' He drank some scotch. 'No, of course I don't believe it. I think Billson was killed, all right.'

  'So you were pretty safe in issuing that challenge to come forth.'

  'I like to bet on certainties,' said English. He grinned. 'If he did defraud the insurance company he wasn't likely to rise to the bait, was he? I was on sure ground until his son popped up.'

  I said, 'About that insurance.?100,000 is a hell of a lot of money. The premium must have been devilish high.'

  'Not really. You must remember that by 1936 aeroplanes were no longer the unsafe string-and-sealing wax contraptions of the 'twenties. There wasn't a great deal of doubt that an aircraft would get to where it was going — the question was how fast. And this was at the time of a newspaper war; the dailies were cutting each other's throats to buy readers. Any premium would be a drop in the bucket compared with what they were spending elsewhere, and?100,000 is a nice headline-filling sum.'

  'Did Billson stand a chance in the race?'

  'Sure — he was a hot favourite. Flyaway — that Northrop of his — was one of the best aircraft of its time, and he was a good pilot'

  'Who won the race?'

  'A German called Helmut Steiner. I think Billson would have won had he survived. Steiner on
ly won because he took a hell of a lot of chances.'

  'Oh! What sort of chances?'

  English shrugged. 'I don't remember the times personally — I'm not that old — but I've read up on it. This was in the times of the Nazis. The Berlin Olympics were on and the Master Race was busy proving its case. German racing cars were winning on all the circuits because the Auto-Union was State subsidized; German mountaineers were doing damnfool things on every Alpine cliff — I believe some of them dropped off the Eiger at the time. It didn't prove they were good climbers; only that they were good Nazis. Germany had to beat everybody at everything, regardless of cost.'

  'And Steiner?'

  'Subsidized by the Hitler regime, of course; given a stripped military plane and a crackerjack support team seconded from the Luftwaffe. He was good, all right, but I think he knew Billson was better, so he took chances and they came off. He pressed his machine to the limit and the engine blew up on him as he landed in Cape Town. He was lucky it didn't happen sooner.'

  I thought about that. 'Any possibility of Billson being sabotaged?'

  English stared at me. 'No one has come up with that idea before. That really is a lulu.'

  'What about it?'

  'My God, the lengths to which insurance companies will go! What will you do if Billson was sabotaged? Sue the German government for?100,000? I doubt if Bonn would fall for that one.' He shrugged. 'Billson's plane was never found. You haven't a hope.'

  I drained my glass. There wasn't much more I could get out of English and I prepared a sharp knife to stick into him. 'So you don't think you'll have any trouble from Paul Bill-son.'

  'Not a chance,' he scoffed. 'Harcourt may be pious and sanctimonious but he tied Billson into knots. You can't libel a dead man — and Billson swears his father is dead.'