With Lubo Miksik murdered and mobster Eddie Zamporini standing trial, lawyer Billy Noble is starting to feel the pressure as his past, and his family history, catches up with him. But Billy is a fighter and vows to carry on to the end. That is until a stranger invites him to take a journey that could end his nightmare forever. Martin Macari continues the story of Carlton Place.

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The car drew up next to Billy Noble as he left his office. It was a type that was out of place in that part of Glasgow, certainly at this time of night, and he immediately sensed something. Without a word, the driver got out and opened a rear door. Billy could see a figure, a male, in the back.
 
“Get in the car, Mr Noble” said the male, without looking up.
Billy thought about running.
“Get in the car, please, Mr Noble” repeated the male, forcefully.
“Who …the …hell are you?”
The male glanced towards him wearily.
“I’m either your dream come true, Mr Noble, or your worst nightmare” he said. “The choice is yours”
It didn’t seem like a difficult one.
“Can I phone a friend?” whispered Billy. The male said nothing. There was no one to laugh.
Billy Noble got into the car.

They drove for an hour, without any obvious destination. Billy didn’t look at the male next to him, staring intently instead at the driver. He was short haired, well built, smartly dressed. He didn’t look like a normal Glasgow thug.
“It’s time we ended this farce, Mr Noble” said the male, breaking his silence.
“What farce?”
“Tabloid headlines, second rate gangsters mouthing off in the street, supposedly stolen gold etc. It simply won’t do”.
Billy tried to place the accent. He wasn’t from Glasgow. He probably wasn’t Scottish. He had been privately educated, that was for sure.
“Yes, it’s terribly bad form” said Billy, sarcastically “But how would that help me?”
The male sighed and looked away, staring out of the window at the tenements of Glasgow.
“I can ensure that everyone learns the truth about your father. And I can ensure that you enjoy the rest of his money, without problems from the Zamporinis” The male never once looked towards Billy as he spoke  “As I said, I can be your dream come true, Mr Noble”
“The truth about my father?” Billy was intrigued “What truth?”
“Your father was a hero, Mr Noble.”
Billy’s face contorted in confusion.
“A hero? My father was a Nazi.”
“Your father was a German, Mr Noble. Not a Nazi. Very different.”

Billy looked away. It was his turn to stare out at the streets as they continued to drive. It didn’t make sense.
“I’ve seen photos of my father from the war. I know he was a Nazi. I’ve seen the evidence. I’ve heard it”
The male smiled.
“Your father was an agent for British Intelligence, Mr Noble. He was a German nationalist who fought those who were destroying his country”
“What about his looted fortune?”
“Money given to him by H.M.G., Mr Noble. Brave men are not only rewarded in heaven”
Billy shook his head. He would have known if this was true.
“Why would he continue to live a lie if that lie is so damning?”
Now the male shook his head.
“Mr Noble, your father couldn’t reveal the truth because he never gave up his fight. He helped ‘deliver’ many Nazi war criminals after the war because they trusted ‘one of their own’. Is it so hard to believe that your father was a good man?”
The male spoke with such authority that Billy found himself starting to believe. Believe that everything he had known about his father was a lie.
“And how is this truth to be revealed?”
“Everything I have said about your father is documented, if you know where to look. I only have to point a suitable journalist in the right direction and the truth will out, and….”. The male paused.
“And?” said Billy, desperately
“And suddenly Billy Noble becomes someone whose legal practice was built on good old fashioned heroism, not Nazi gold.” The male’s eyes twinkled as he spoke. “Even The Daily Record might print that”.

Billy searched for a flaw.
“No matter what you say, old Mario Zamporini won’t give up because he thinks that money is now his. He was bailed yesterday and I hear he’s on the warpath”.
At this, the male leaned forward and tapped the driver on the shoulder.
“Could you allay Mr Noble’s fears please” he said.
Without responding, the driver stopped the car, got out and opened the boot. Billy looked quizzical.
“It will put your mind at ease” said the male, calmly.
Billy hesitantly walked to the rear of the vehicle. There in the boot was a body. It was the body of Mario Zamporini.
“Jesus….”
Billy felt a wave of nausea grab at his stomach.
“I trust that satisfies you” said the male, as the car moved off.
“How …how did he die?”
“Do not worry about the manner of his death” whispered the male “It is the fact of his death that matters”
“But when his body is found, the Family..”
“His body will not be found” interrupted the male.  
The silence lasted many minutes. Billy pondered deeply. He knew he was out of his depth.
“So what do you want from me?” he said, eventually
“Mr Noble, the means of payment for your father’s work during the war and afterwards...”
Billy nodded
“The Nazi gold or whatever”
“Precisely. The Nazi gold or whatever…” The male hesitated. “Well, we can tell the papers anything. Those previous headlines were based on unsubstantiated guesswork, nothing more. But we now know you have evidence about it and we would like that back. There must be no connection to the Spitzer fortune”
“So it was looted gold” laughed Billy, nervously.
The male said nothing. It was a silence that spoke volumes.
“Christ..” exclaimed Billy, no longer laughing “My father was paid for services to the country with stolen Jewish money?”

The male turned away, his breath now almost visible on the cold window pane.
“War is a dirty business, Mr Noble. Just like law. But H.M.G. would rather this remained …how shall I put it...our little secret”
Billy realised that with Lubo Miksic dead, he was the only one left alive that could formally connect his father’s money to the Spitzer fortune.
‘…With Miksic dead…’
“My god” blurted Billy, breathlessly. It had dawned on him that he may just have solved the murder of the Spitzer heir. “You killed Lubo”
“Me, Mr Noble? I most certainly did not.” said the male, calmly. “Helpfully, Eddie Zamporini will be convicted of that crime. This, as you should understand, will be to your advantage as well as ours”
The male leaned forward and tapped the driver on the shoulder.
“Here will be fine” he said.

Without a word, the driver got out and opened Billy’s door.
“I think you can see our position Mr Noble” said the male “The choice is yours. But there is, of course, no choice.”
As Billy eased himself out of the vehicle and shut the door, the window scrolled down.
“This country owed your father much. Offering you this chance pays off that debt.” The male turned to look at Billy “He was a hero, Mr Noble. He made decisions that were, for him, a matter of life or death. As ever, it seems that history repeats itself.”

As the window shut, the car accelerated off into the night.