Look at the situation from the business perspective. He spent most of his life on other things than the family business. All of a sudden he decides to start an MRO service from scratch. That's a low margin business, and the potential payoff is not fantastic. He does that with a huge chunk of his bank. Thin on cash, has to mortgage a few things. did he even ask DM whether DM wants to run that or not? A sure way to lose money. Seems like he had some sort of an idee fixe that he has to restore Millardair. He wasted his life on booze and baby seals (I , personally, love baby seals). All of a sudden he is so enthusiastic about aviation. Nah, just a late life regret about the wasted time, and an attempt to leave a footprint.
Perhaps WM was onto DM's gangster life (we don't really know when it would have begun, there maybe something -plural- neither police nor media are aware of
yet) and perhaps WM tried desperately to get DM away from it. If WM suspected DM of criminal dangerous habits, he couldn't speak to anyone, I think. He had to bury these thoughts and fears deep inside himself.
MB? Probably the wrongest ever contact person, he could have found. I imagine, sorry, she would have opened a bottle of wine with him (for her own gratification, don't understand me wrong!) and would have told WM, what a failure he was as a father. Of course only MOO.
Another close relative? Non-existent, as far as we know.
EG? Maybe, as WM's partner she knew a little bit, but certainly not his worse worries.
Friends out of the Aviation business and Animal rights activists - surely not a single one of them would have been a suitable intimate contact person.
Probably WM had to think of his son's future all alone, with no help. Probably DM pretended to agree to his father's plans so as not to stir up distrust and to get enough money, if needed. After all, DM knew best to what he was up to. Better, to leave WM in the dark for the starting time and tell him "Yeah, the helicopter business I'm very interested in" or similar.
So I think, since 2006 -CM's death- 2 men were planning the future life past each other, without discussing the truth and they did, until DM felt the "Dir3n33d" to get rid of his uncomfortable father ASAP. Also possible, because Carl died on Nov 21th, DM thought
November would be a "nice" deadline to become the owner of the heritage.
All IMO MOO and only my thoughts (always with a sadness)