The Knapthorne Conspiracy by Malcolm Ballard (best english novels for beginners txt) 📕

“Just have patience and you’ll see.” Whatever his game was, she thought, he’s obviously enjoying himself.

“Does this have anything to do with your telling me to have a light breakfast, maybe?” At that moment he indicated to turn off to the left as the sign for Stansted Airport loomed up in front of them.

Even with the headphones on, the noise of the Bell Jet Ranger’s powerful engine turning over was incredible, especially for someone who hadn’t flown in a helicopter before, which Ben ascertained from the look on Bella’s face as he waited for the revs to pick up.

“Your first time in a helicopter?” She nodded in response. “You’ll get used to it,” he told her, soothingly. “It’ll settle down once we get up there,” he said, looking up and pointing skywards as the noise increased. His voice was very clear and confident through the headset and she couldn’t help but be impressed by the turn of events and his calm control in the pilot’s seat. What other surprises were in store today she wondered. What else was she going to discover about Ben Hollingsworth? As the thoughts ran through her mind, they were off the ground before she realised it and then Ben took them up and around to set a course that would take them to the south west, avoiding the heavy air traffic around Heathrow. She watched, fascinated, as the panorama continued to unfold beneath them, seeing for the first time areas she was so familiar with on the ground, from this new and breathtaking perspective. It was a cloudless, sunny day and he maintained the minimum height, identifying landmarks for her in case she hadn’t spotted them.

“Ben, this is simply amazing!” she yelled into the microphone, like an excited ten year old, using his christian name like they were old friends, something he noted with satisfaction. “Where are we heading?”

“We’re just north of Welwyn Garden City now. That’s it over there, to your left, with St. Albans just beyond that. I’ll take us over Oxford, because that’s fascinating from the air, then on to Swindon and we’ll head due south from there, passing over Salisbury, to Bournemouth Airport.”

“Ben, that sounds marvellous. I can’t believe I’m doing this, it’s fantastic! What speed are we travelling at?”

“Between one hundred and twenty and one hundred and thirty knots, with a bit of a tail wind. We should be there in under an hour.” Her laughter rang in his ears and he turned to glance at her, quickly. “What’s up?”

“In the excitement of all this,” she began, looking around her, “I’d completely forgotten about the cottage!”

They flew on to Oxford and Bella marvelled at the view of the ancient seat of learning, from the air, as Ben identified individual buildings by their spires.

“You weren’t a student here, by any chance, were you?” It seemed a natural question, given his apparent intimate knowledge of the city.

“Student and part-time tour guide, at your service, ma'am!” he chuckled. “Some of the best years of my life.” All too soon, the city lay behind them and Swindon was visible, on the horizon.

“How often do you do this sort of thing,” Bella couldn’t help but ask, wondering if this was normal practice for him or just put on for her benefit.

“Every now and then, when it’s convenient,” he answered with a smile in his voice.

“And what exactly does that mean? City girls like me don’t impress too easily you know, if that’s why you’ve gone to all this trouble!” He was enjoying her teasing, happy to play along with the game.

“It means that it seemed the obvious way to let you see the cottage with the minimum of fuss. If we’d have come down by car, then it might have meant staying over and coming back tomorrow, possibly.” The ball was back in her court, the unspoken inference obvious nonetheless.

“We’re grown up children, Ben, don’t you think? I’m sure we could have handled that.” He glanced across at her, trying to read something in her face, not sure which way to interpret her answer. The one thing he knew for sure was that she was having the most disturbing effect on him.

“You’re married, I take it” she said, off-handedly, looking ahead at the unmistakeable spire of Salisbury cathedral. The usual prevarication sprung to the tip of his tongue but he found, inexplicably, that he didn’t want to lie to her.

“Yes. For the best part of twenty years now. Two teenage girls, a farmhouse in Essex and a large mortgage. I’ve known Tina, my wife, since we were at school together. There, how’s that? Anything else you want to know?” Yes there was, she thought, she wanted to know everything about him. There was a strange intimacy about the cockpit of the helicopter.  Just the two of them cocooned in their own time capsule.

“Ever slept with another woman?” Bella ran her tongue slowly along her bottom lip as she waited for his answer. He turned his head sideways, one eyebrow raised.

“Ever thought of becoming a crown prosecutor?” he retorted, a gleam in his eye. “The judge rules that question out of order,” Ben said, firmly.

“Aha!” Bella exclaimed. “The witness refuses to answer the question on the grounds he might incriminate himself, eh?” She was enjoying the sparring and having more fun than she’d had in a long time. Lingering Doubts had taken a lot out of her and, since its publication, life had become more like a whistle-stop tour.

“What made you take up law?” she asked him, as the glimmering, silvery outline of the sea appeared on their horizon.

“Usual reasons,” he answered, blithely, one eye on the altimeter. “Father had his own practice then became a district court judge. I thought about other careers but nothing took my fancy. Anyway, that’s enough about me,” he said, as he began their descent into Bournemouth. “I’d like to know more about my charming passenger.”

They didn’t take up the conversation