Horns of Dilemma by Peter Rimmer

Author:Peter Rimmer [Rimmer, Peter]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kamba Publishing
Published: 2020-01-31T05:00:00+00:00

3

The Honourable Barnaby St Clair was impressed. Smithers had gone out for the newspapers. When he came back Barnaby had spread them out on his dining room table. The Ridgeback advertisements were in every paper. In the Mirror was an article on Harry Brigandshaw mentioning his new venture together with his background as a World War One fighter pilot. The twenty-three kills were mentioned; the disappearance during his flight down Africa in a seaplane; coming out of the jungle alone after three years. William Smythe had written the article which was placed next to a large advertisement for Ridgeback cigarettes. Horatio Wakefield had done a similar piece in the Mail. The cigarettes were a way for the man in the street to reward a war hero. The man in flying gear smoking a Ridgeback was leaning against the lower wing of a Sopwith Camel biplane, the inference clear: brave men smoked cigarettes. Barnaby just had to chuckle. Instead of Harry doing Frank a favour it was the other way round. Frank, the new man on the public relations block, had hit the jackpot. The introduction by Frank to Cohen Wells and the PR blitz that followed was going to make Harry Brigandshaw another fortune. The one per cent of advertising spend paid to Frank by Cohen Wells was not costing Harry a penny. The boy was a man after his own heart. It was the perfect backhander directed at himself as the boy’s biological father and Tina for not telling the truth. Poor old Harry. Always trying his best to do the right thing.

Getting up from the table and the spread of newspapers, Barnaby went to the window. Across the road in Green Park there was no one sitting on the park bench. Outside it was wet and cold. The ever-present traffic up and down Piccadilly was picking up for eleven o’clock on a Tuesday morning. Barnaby had the urge to phone Frank and ask him for a drink. The boy was good. A man after his own heart.

Later, when the phone rang, it was Harry Brigandshaw. Smithers had answered the phone in the hall. With the lousy weather, Barnaby had not gone out. He could smell the waft of lunch coming through the open door of the kitchen which Smithers had left open when he went to the phone.

“Harry! What a surprise.”

“What do you think of it?”

“The boy’s a genius. There are some friends of mine who could do with his advice. The rather overdone bits on you next to the ad, set the tone. I almost gave him a ring. Has he made contact with you or his mother?”

“Not a word. Paul Crookshank keeps me informed. Quite a chip off the old block, Barnaby. I thought he had pulled a fast one on Cohen Wells. The other advertising companies had nothing like this to say for themselves. Every wholesale tobacconist in the country is on the phone. Katherine is overwhelmed. We’re having to put in a switchboard chop-chop. Oh, my goodness.

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