“Right. But that doesn’t—”
“And this was in the sixties?” Park said.
Tess counted back. “About sixty-five or sixty-six. I can find out for sure.”
“Then legally it doesn’t matter,” Park said. “According to the copyright law of 1976, any work automatically comes under copyright as soon as it’s written. But before that, which means the sixties, we’re dealing with the 1947 law that says works not produced for sale must be registered with the copyright office, and I don’t imagine your hippie buddy did that. Of course, since he wrote it down and gave a copy to your mother, that could be construed as publication, but not enough to remove it from fair assumption that it was public domain. I think Welch is covered.”
Tess listened to him openmouthed and then turned to Nick. “This is Park? This walking textbook of loopholes is Park?”
Nick shrugged. “I told you—nobody knows contract law like Park.”
Park went on as if he hadn’t heard them. “Plus, part of the 1976 law says that plagiarism is only an issue when the new work affects the potential market of the work in question. Frankly, from what I heard, there is no potential market for that drivel. In fact, if Welch’s book makes it big, your hippie buddy could actually profit because then there might be a market for his stuff. Besides, Welch can’t copyright something that belongs to someone else even if he uses it in a copyrighted book. So your buddy could still claim copyright to his old story and publish it.” Park stopped, struck by a thought. “I wonder if he’s represented by anybody. What did you say his name was?”
“I don’t care what the law says,” Tess said, recovering from her shock at Park’s sudden acuity. “I know Welch stole it and that’s wrong. It belongs to Lanny. The least he could do is give Lanny credit Lanny was wonderful.” She stood up. “And I’m going to tell Welch—”
“No!” both men said again.
“Just wait,” Nick said. “Wait until Park and I can look into it.”
Park scowled. “Why? I just told you, legally there’s no prob—”
“Well, there may be a problem morally,” Nick said. “Especially if a thousand enraged former hippies start writing op-ed pieces and faxing them from their Mercedes.”
“Oh, come on,” Park said. “All from one little Ohio commune?”
“He moved on,” Nick reminded him. “He stayed for a while and then moved on.” He turned to Tess. “How long was he with the commune?”
Tess shrugged, still simmering with anger. “Just for the summer. But then, who cares about Lanny? Let’s protect the great Norbert Welch and all of his millions first.”
“Tess, concentrate,” Nick persisted. “About Lanny. Did other people hear the stories?”
“Of course,” Tess said. “There were a lot of us kids there. CinderTess was one of our bedtime stories that summer.”
Nick frowned. “Where did he go when he left? Did he move on to another commune?”
“I don’t know. I don’t even know where he went next. Pennsylvania, probably.”
“So he could have told this story across the country,” Nick said. “Thousands could have heard it.”
Tess smiled, triumphant at this new turn of events. “Yup. Just think of them all out there, waiting to pounce when this thing hits the bookstores.” She looked at the two men virtuously. “We have to confront Norbert Welch. For his own good.”
“No,” they said again, but the vehemence was gone from their voices, and Nick looked thoughtful. Park just looked annoyed.
“Can we sleep on this?” Park said finally. “Welch isn’t publishing this damn thing tomorrow. Can we just wait awhile and give this some consideration first?”
“And then we’ll confront him?” Tess demanded.
“Maybe,” Nick said. “Listen, we don’t want to rush into anything here. There’s a lot riding on this. My partnership, for one thing. If that book doesn’t get published, I’m out in the cold.”
Tess looked at him in disgust. “I can’t believe what a Yuppie scum you are. I should have known you weren’t a prince.”
Park looked at him in equal disgust. “You had to bring her, didn’t you? It had to be Tess.” He shook his head and walked out of the room.
Gina looked after him miserably, turned and looked at Tess in equal misery, and then followed Park.
Nick sighed. “It’s not going to do us any good to go rushing around shouting ‘Plagiarism’ at a crowded book reading. Give it a rest and let me think about it.”
“Until Monday,” Tess said. “I’ll give you until Monday. Then I’m talking to Norbert Welch, and if he won’t see reason, I’m going to the press.”
“You are one hell of a fun date,” Nick said.
“Well, I wouldn’t worry about it, since I’m never going anywhere with you again.” With that Tess stomped out of the room.
“Give me that in writing,” Nick called to her retreating back. Then he leaned back in his chair and groaned.
TESS CONTENTED HERSELF WITH being barely civil to Welch when she said her goodbyes as the afternoon ended. Nick, of course, was more than civil, even though Welch genially told him he needed more time to consider the contract.
“I’ll call you next week, Jamieson,” he said, shaking hands with him and entirely ignoring a confused Park. “Maybe we can have dinner. Bring Tess. I like her.”
“We’d enjoy that, sir,” Nick said, wondering how he was going to talk Tess into a long business dinner when she had just vowed never to see him again.
Tess meanwhile was saying goodbye to the only man in the area she was still speaking to. “I really enjoyed watching you this weekend, Henderson,” she said, and then she stood on her toes and kissed the old man on the cheek. “You’re a wonder.”
“Thank you, Miss Newhart,” Henderson said impassively.
When they were in the car, Nick grinned at her. “You’re going to give that man ideas.”
“At least he doesn’t steal them like his boss,” Tess said, and Nick gave up. She was hopeless. Sleeping with her had been great, well, more than great, and he did care about her, but she was going to be death on his career no matter what he did. As much as he wanted her, as much as he liked being with her, he was going to have to stop calling her.
Which was just as well, since she’d told him she was never going to speak to him again. The last time she’d told him that, it had taken him over a month to get her to talk to him. He didn’t have that kind of time to waste on any woman, let alone one who was a career assassin.
After an hour passed without Tess saying anything, Nick stole a glance at her. She was frowning into the distance.
“What’s wrong now?” he said.
“I need to do something about Lanny.” Tess sounded distracted. “I need to help Gina, too. You were right— she’s leaving the road and trying to get a job at the Charles Theater. I don’t know anyone there, so that’s a problem. But first I need to go home and make some phone calls. I need to try to find Lanny or at least the manuscript, or nobody is ever going to listen to me about this.” She looked over at Nick and all the anger was gone from her eyes. “I know you hate this because of the partnership. I understand. I even understand that you can’t do anything about this just on my word alone. I’m not telling you that I’m going to find that manuscript just to make you mad. I’m not even mad myself anymore. But I want you to know I’m going to find that manuscript. I have to. It’s really important to me.”
“Why is it so important?” Nick asked. “What is this guy to you?” He tried to keep the jealousy out of his voice because it was ridiculous to be jealous of a guy that Tess had known when she was a kid, especially since he was never going to see her again.
“Because I loved him,” Tess said, and Nick felt his jealousy flare in spite of his good intentions.
“You were six—”
Tess interrupted him. “I was eight,” she said. “Not that it matters. At first I just adored him the way kids do movie stars. He was so big and
so full of life and so...full of ideas and stories. Wonderful stories. And then after a while, he was a lot more. Like a big brother and a father and a mother and a best friend. He paid attention to me. And he listened to what I had to say, like it was important. He’d ask me questions and listen to the answers. And he made more sense than anybody else around me. He was always really gruff and acted like he was exasperated to be spending time on me, but he wasn’t, and he taught me useful things. I mean, Daniel would tell me it was important to live a peaceful life in harmony with all things.”
“Daniel?”
“My father,” Tess said. “But the thing was, the gang of kids at the commune could be pretty nasty, and it’s hard to live a peaceful life when you’ve got little Nazis pushing you around. And it wasn’t so much that I was afraid to fight back but that I didn’t know how. So I asked Lanny about it, and he said the key to fighting was never to fight unless the cause was so great that you couldn’t bear not to defend it and the losses you were going to suffer were things you could afford to lose. And then he said, if I did decide to fight, the thing to remember was that I was going to get hurt, because that was what happened in a fight, so I might as well get myself reconciled to it in the beginning and then it wouldn’t matter when it happened.”
“Great advice for a kid,” Nick said, trying not to sound as grumpy as he felt.
“It was great advice for anybody,” Tess said. “I actually ended up walking away from most rights because I didn’t care that much about what they were hassling me about. And when I did fight back, I went in no-holds-barred because I knew I was going to get beat up, anyway. After a couple of times, the other kids pretty much left me alone. That was always the way it was with Lanny. He told you good stuff, true stuff that worked. Like the CinderTess story. No matter how many changes he made in it, it always ended with the real happily-ever-after coming from trying to make the world a better place. And that’s what Welch made fun of. He made fun of Lanny. And when he did that, he made fun of everything I believe in.” Tess turned to face Nick again. “I have to fight this one. And I know I’m going to get hurt. I know Welch is tougher than I am and richer than I am and more powerful than I am. And I know you’re going to help him, not me. But I can’t walk away from Lanny. I can’t walk away from everything I believe in.”
Nick was silent for a while. “Look,” he said finally. “If it’s that important to you, I’ll help.” Tess blinked at him. “What about the contract?” Nick shrugged. “I need to know everything I can about this damn book if I get the contract. And if he really has plagiarized, I need to know.” Nick stopped for a moment, trying to imagine the horror that a real plagiarism suit could turn out to be. Maybe he should be grateful to Tess for discovering this early, while he could handle it. “So here’s the deal. I’ll help you when you need help, and I’ll stay out of your way the rest of the time so you can do this your way. Okay?”
She didn’t say anything, and he stole a look at her. “Tess?”
“It’s more than okay,” she said. “I keep forgetting you can be like this. I get so upset over the press-for-success part of you that I forget about this part.”
“That’s me, a man of many parts,” Nick said.
“Thank you,” Tess said. “Thank you very much.”
“Sure,” Nick said. “Think of it as a goodbye gift.”
They finished the drive deep in their own thoughts, and Nick had almost reconciled himself to never being with her again. It was the only logical plan. In fact, it was so obviously logical, he wasn’t sure why he was trying to find a hole in it.
By the time they were on the third flight of stairs to her apartment, he was convinced he was doing the right thing. Just drop off her stuff and escape. Just walk right on out.
“Listen, I can’t stay...” he began, as they neared the top of the flight to her floor.
“You certainly can’t,” Tess said as she reached the landing. “I’m grateful to you for offering to help, but we’re never going to—”
He bumped into her from behind when she froze at the top of the stairs. Then he peered around her.
Her apartment door had been kicked in.
Chapter Seven
“Oh, no,” Tess said, and went to look through the remains of the door.
Nick grabbed her arm to stop her. “Let me go first.”
The neighbor across the hall opened his door, clutching his beer can with one hand and scratching the strip of belly his T-shirt couldn’t stretch to cover with his other. “Your apartment got hit,” he said to Tess with a total lack of interest. “Last night. I called the police. You’re supposed to call ‘em.”
“Thank you very much.” Nick pushed past Tess to stand in the doorway. “That’s very helpful.”
Tess said, “Thank you, Stanley,” a little dazedly, and then followed Nick to peer in behind him.
The place had been tossed and trashed. Drawers were upended, furniture overturned, and all the furniture cushions were slashed and bleeding stuffing on the floor.
“Oh, no,” Tess said again, her voice little more than a sigh.
“You have any enemies?” Nick asked.
Tess shook her head. “It’s not personal. This has happened before to other people in the building. It’s not me.”
“It’s happened before and you didn’t tell me?”
“We weren’t speaking,” Tess flared. “And I was handling it. I reported the landlord.”
Nick surveyed the ruined door. “Oh, yeah, you were handling it.” He shook his head. “Well, from now on, I’m handling it.”
“Excuse me, I don’t think so—” Tess began.
“They did the same thing to the apartment one floor down last week,” Stanley volunteered. “Just kids looking for cash.”
“Just kids,” Nick said. “Little rascals.” He turned to Tess. “Pack up anything you want to keep. You’re coming home with me. No arguments.”
Tess set her jaw, prepared to fight. “I thought you couldn’t wait to get rid of me.”
“Well, yes, but I meant out of my life, not out of life in general,” Nick said, ignoring her to peer through the door. “You are not staying here. If you’d rather stay with Gina, fine, but you’re not staying here.”
“Gina has one room, an efficiency,” Tess said. “She couldn’t squeeze Angela in, let alone me.” She stopped suddenly.
“Fine,” Nick said, oblivious to her silence. “Then you’re staying at my place. There’s a guest bedroom. Your virtue is safe.” He turned and saw her face, white with fear. “What’s wrong?”
“Angela,” Tess said, and bit her lip. “I don’t see Angela.”
Nick moved to put his arms around her, and she leaned against him gratefully. “Angela is not a stupid cat,” he said into her hair. “When the Brady Bunch showed up, she probably went out the window.” He tightened his arms around her and then said, “Come on. Let’s get your stuff and go.”
Tess nodded, and Nick moved cautiously ahead of her into the apartment. He checked her bedroom before she could, to make sure Angela wasn’t bleeding into the bedspread. Not only was there no Angela, there was no bedspread. The bedroom was as ransacked as the rest of the apartment. He turned back to Tess. “Pack.”
She opened her mouth to argue, and he overrode her. “Look, you want to find a new place tomorrow, no problem. But you can’t stay here. Not ever again. I’d never sleep again waiting for these guys to come back and do to you what they did to the couch.”
“Okay,” Tess said. “All right.”
Nick watched her rescue what she could from the place, brushing off her mismatched sofa pillows and picking up odds and ends of God knew what. And while he watched, he tried a little deep breathing to calm the fear and rage that were making him insane. If he hadn’t dragged her off to Kentucky, she could have been here, in this dump. Pure luck of the draw. The thought of losing her in any way made him cold, but losing her like this would have been—
“I’m all right,” Tes
s said, and he looked up to see her standing in the doorway with a laundry basket full of clothes. “I know you’re upset, but I’m all right and I’m leaving with you and I’m not coming back. I promise.”
“Thank you,” Nick said. “Is there anything you want in the kitchen?”
“Yes,” Tess said. “But I don’t suppose it’s in one piece anymore. Did you look in there?”
“It’s not good,” Nick said. “Come on. I’ll help.”
They managed to rescue a few odd pieces of china and glassware.
“Was this stuff your mother’s?” Nick asked, and Tess looked at him oddly.
“Elise doesn’t have stuff,” she said. “This is just stuff I found in thrift stores that I liked.” She gazed at it sadly. “Maybe I liked it because it’s the kind of stuff that mothers are supposed to give to their daughters. That’s pathetic.” She stood up, leaving the china on the floor. “I don’t want it. All I want is Angela.”
“I’ll work on it,” Nick said. “Get your things together, and I’ll take the first load down to the car.”
He took the laundry basket out on the landing and knocked on the door across the hall. The neighbor looked out. “Yeah?”
“You know that big black cat that belongs to Tess?” Nick said.
“Yeah?”
“I’ll give you a hundred bucks if I can pick up that cat tomorrow.”
“How the hell am I supposed to get that cat back?” Stanley whined.
“Well, if I were you, I’d buy about ten cans of cat food and sit over there until the cat comes back,” Nick said.
“That could be hours.”
“That’s what I’m paying for,” Nick said, handing over his business card. “Take it or leave it.”
Tess came to the door carrying her duffel bag and Nick’s suitcase. “This is everything.”
“Great,” Nick said. “Let’s go.”
TESS SAT LOST IN THOUGHT on the way to Nick’s, grateful for the silence he gave her, trying to figure out why she felt so torn. It wasn’t that she loved her apartment; she hated it. Nothing ever worked right, and the street was noisy, full of shouting and squealing brakes, and even now and then a gunshot. But it had been hers, and now she was going to Nick’s, and she was pretty sure that wherever Nick’s was, there wouldn’t be screams or shots or cockroaches or broken anything. She was pretty sure it would be clean and safe and expensive and tempting as hell.
Strange Bedpersons Page 10
