Sharing the Trough

Sean and Rachel thought it was about time their sons were now directly involved with the 'empire'. They had established fine careers of their own of course, but the O'Reilly brand was their inheritance and they needed to understand everything about it. There were so many divisions now. The airport was a bustling meeting place for the airlines and their clients. What was once an almost derelict aerodrome now had two terminals. One to cater for relatively local flights, those within the United Kingdom and the new large terminal for long haul and package holiday flights. This was now one of the most modern airports in Europe, and one of the busiest. Other interests included business aircraft charter, servicing and repairing machines. Away from the flying activities were the insurance and mortgage companies, car hire and taxi firms, scrap metal dealership and recycling plant. All of which were leaders in their field and all producing enormous wealth for the O'Reilly group. As the family's chartered accountant it was decided that Michael should take over the financial sectors which Bill had been responsible for since he joined the company. Sean had difficulty in persuading Bill to retire, his energy seemed boundless even though he was now well into his seventies. In the end it was Jane who was able to persuade him to step down on the understanding that they would buy a home in sunnier climes. Spain beckoned. Michael decided to scrutinise the accounts of each of his new responsibilities and put his own mark on them. He announced his intention to the heads of each department. It came as a surprise to him and the rest of the family when there was a mad exodus by these top level executives before he had even started! Alarm bells started ringing with a deafening urgency. Why on earth should these very well paid people jump ship in such a hurry? The answer appeared almost as soon as the first balance sheet was presented to Michael by one of the filing clerks. There was obviously criminal activity going on. This first glance at the books of the airport showed very different figures to the ones that had been presented at Bill's year's end report. The bottom line of these figures was many thousands of pounds less than the actual figures suggested which meant that huge sums had been creamed off by someone. The same result occurred at each of the main enterprises. It was pretty obvious that far too much trust had been placed in the managers. Sean had never checked up personally. That was Bill's job! Michael tried to contact Bill to try and find out what had been going on behind his father's back! There was a small problem now, Bill could not be found. His house was deserted. Sean was shattered. This man had been trusted for so many years, even treated almost as a brother. Why did he do this?. How could he do it? As Michael went painstakingly through every scrap of paper, every file on every computer he found evidence of fraud on a gigantic scale. This would have to be turned over to the Serious Fraud squad of the Police, but not quite yet! Sean tried to trace his ex best friend through the airline which must have carried him and Jane to their retirement destination. At first he thought it should be an easy matter to trace them. It was Spain he said he was retiring to wasn't it? Obviously many years practice of deceit had taught him to lie about anything and everything. He wouldn't have gone anywhere near Spain now would he? Sean decided to try and find out more from Bill's old superior, John Shepherd and contacted him by phone. "Mr Shepherd? Sean O'Reilly here. I wonder if you can help me. I'm looking for Bill Fraser, you wouldn't know where I might find him would you?" "I'm sorry Mr O'Reilly, I haven't seen him for some time. May I be of some help otherwise?" "I just need to talk to him soon that's all." Sean was surprised at Shepherd's reaction as they were supposed to be in touch on an almost daily basis it seemed virtually impossible that he hadn't been in contact for some time. Very curious……