Crime Plus Music

by Jim Fusilli

  Upstairs, Ben and Kim negotiated in whispers. Their positions, not quite entirely oppositional, were clear. Ben considered it a concession on Kim’s part when she agreed that they would do only what Bowie wanted. “I’ll go with him this time,” she said, “to LA.” Of course, thought Ben, who wondered if she would return. For years, he had assumed she would leave after Bowie set out for college.

  The white stretch limo eased in front of the house at sunset. As Kim retrieved Bowie, Ben stepped outside in flannel and jeans, ignoring the icy chill.

  The driver who had betrayed Ionic Strength hurried to open the door.

  Rising out of the car, Ionic Strength, mustering gravitas, slipped into a long gray fox coat.

  As Ben Thomas thrust a calloused hand toward his visitor, he saw Emily, Bowie’s little classmate, marching with purpose, arms swaying, her toque bobbing. She walked directly to the producer.

  “You suck,” Emily shouted. “Leave everybody alone.”

  “‘Everybody’?”

  She raised her fists.

  As the driver moved in, Ben held out an arm. He said, “I’ve got her.”

  Squeezing past his mother in the doorway, Bowie rushed toward them, crunching rock salt with bare feet. He was bone-thin in a Ramaaker T.

  Ben said, “Emily. Emily.”

  She struggled to escape his bear hug.

  “Emily,” said Bowie Thomas, arriving. “Dad.”

  She wriggled and kicked.

  Whoa, thought Ben, as he lifted her. This girl enjoys her music.

  “I’ll take her, Dad.”

  “I suck?” Ion asked no one.

  His arm around her shoulder, Bowie led Emily past snow mounds toward the house.

  Mortified, Kim stepped aside as Emily began to sob.

  “Sorry about that,” Ben said. Now he and Ionic Strength shook hands.

  “Bah,” said Ion. “Teenage drama. She’s too young to know.”

  “Let’s get out of the cold.”

  WITH EMILY DISPATCHED TO BOWIE’S room and the tea kettle about to whistle, Kim Thomas offered to take Ion’s fox coat.

  “Mom,” Bowie said, “he might not be staying.”

  “Your pop ever work security?” Ion asked. He was remembering the time in São Paulo when a DJ pulled a gun and took a shot at him for knocking his set, the bullet pinging the cash register behind the bar. Then there was that night in New Orleans. . . .

  “Ion, I think I’m going to stay home,” said Bowie Thomas.

  Ionic Strength pointed toward the Ramaaker logo on Bowie’s chest. “He stays home. Losers, they stay home.”

  The producer had a hand to play. He looked at Kim Thomas as he dug into his pocket, produced his cash, removed the clip, and spread the fresh bills on the kitchen table.

  Ben Thomas knew men at the Elks who put a twenty around ten singles and called it a bankroll. Hollywood led with a hundred-dollar bill and backed it with at least thirty more.

  Turning to Bowie, Ion said, “You think I’m on about that?” He pointed at the cash. “That is nothing. Tip money. I’m talking about opportunity.”

  Bowie had yet to look at the cash on the table.

  “Kid, I know you. You’re a stubborn little Eskimo,” Ion continued, “spinning in my face at Chalk like that. All right. Be stubborn. You don’t bend. Fine. It pays.”

  Ben inched past the producer and took his seat at the table.

  “Bowie,” said Kim, as the tea kettle called. “Listen to the man.”

  The boy turned and cut the flame under the boiling water.

  “You spin Saturday night at Chalk,” Ion said. “Show Rakesh you respect his tastes.”

  “He does,” said Kim. “He respects. You don’t know him like I do.”

  “Kim . . .” Ben said softly.

  Ion shrugged. He was thinking Kim Thomas didn’t know as much about Boy Wonder as she thought. The big guy, though: trouble. He sees. Maybe Rakesh would pay out for a million-dollar desk.

  Meanwhile, Bowie calculated. Ion was telling him he had to spin tracks by RM Global clients, but the subtext was that he didn’t have the muscle to force him to do it. “I respect Mr. Malik,” he said. “But it’s not my time. Not yet.”

  “Let the people decide,” Ion said.

  Kim leaned against her son. “He’s right. People know.”

  Some did, Bowie thought. But five minutes in a crowd while an A-list pop EDM producer spun proved it was the scene, not the music, that they craved.

  “You want to advance the culture?” Ion asked. “Win a while and then do what you think you can do.”

  Ben studied his son. The producer had raised a fair point. Given a platform, Bowie could take it wherever he wanted to once he was established.

  “Thank you, but no,” Bowie said.

  If tarred with an associate with Ion and crass EDM, he knew he could never recover. To the commercially minded, any move toward making original music would seem a step down. And the musicians he admired would view him with suspicion.

  “Bowie . . .” Kim moaned.

  Ion reached for the cash. “There’s always another, you know. Another you.”

  “Maybe so,” Bowie said.

  Oh no there isn’t, thought Ben.

  Ion needed an exit line. “I’ll send the plane. Bring the folks.”

  “I’ve got a gig,” Bowie told him, as he walked toward the door. He was going back to the warehouse. Two sets: all ages at 8 p.m.; and then he’d return at midnight.

  As Ben stood, Ion looked at Kim. He had a mind to turn her in, but he saw she was broken. It rarely paid to be kind, but he was thinking he might be coming back to the UP. EDM was going to die one day. Maybe a Bowie Thomas would have a different kind of currency.

  Ionic Strength ran a finger along Bowie’s cheek. “You want the hoodie?”

  Bowie smiled, said no.

  By the time Ion’s limo pulled away, Bowie was in his bedroom.

  Sheepish, her cheeks glistened with tears, Emily stood surrounded by his gear: the synths there, the bass in its stand, his drum pad on his swivel seat. A photo of Ramaaker was his screen saver. His bed was a tangle of comforters and sheets.

  “Emily,” said Bowie. “You are one harsh critic.”

  “Did I—”

  “But not wrong.”

  ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTORS

  GALADRIELLE ALLMAN is the author of Please Be With Me, A Song for My Father Duane Allman. She studied writing at Sarah Lawrence College and lives in Berkeley, California, where she is working on a novel about teenage love and punk rock music.

  A lifelong New Yorker and recovering journalist, PETER BLAUNER is the author of seven novels, including the Edgar-winning Slow Motion Riot and the New York Times bestseller The Intruder. His short fiction has been anthologized in Best American Mystery Stories and on NPR’s Selected Shorts from Symphony Space. He has been a writer for several television shows, including Law & Order: SVU and Blue Bloods. His novel, Proving Ground, will be published in summer 2017. Website: www.peterblauner.com

  Called a hard-boiled poet by NPR’s Maureen Corrigan and the “noir poet laureate” in the Huffington Post, REED FARREL COLEMAN is the New York Times bestselling author of Robert B. Parker’s Jesse Stone series. He has published twenty-five novels in several series and standalones including the acclaimed Moe Prager mystery series and the Gus Murphy series. He is a three-time recipient of the Shamus Award for Best PI Novel and a three-time Edgar nominee in three categories. He has also received the Audie, Anthony, Macavity, and Barry awards. Website: www.reedcoleman.com

  DAVID CORBETT is the author of five novels: The Devil’s Redhead, Done for a Dime (a New York Times Notable Book), Blood of Paradise (nominated for numerous awards, including the Edgar), Do They Know I’m Running (“A rich, hard-hitting epic”—Publishers Weekly, starred review), and The Mercy of the Night (“Superlative”—Booklist, starred review). His novella, The Devil Prayed and Darkness Fell, appeared in 2015, and his story collection Thirteen Confessions
was released in 2016. His book on the craft of characterization, The Art of Character, has been called “a writer’s bible.” He’s a contributing editor for Writer’s Digest, and his nonfiction has appeared in The New York Times, Narrative, and Zyzzyva, among others. Website: www.davidcorbett.com

  TYLER DILTS is the author of the Long Beach Homicide series of crime novels featuring Detective Beckett. The son of a policeman, he grew up wanting to follow in his father’s footsteps. Along the way, his career goals changed, but he never lost his interest in the daily work of homicide detectives. Now an instructor at California State University in Long Beach, his novels include A King of Infinite Space, A Cold and Broken Hallelujah, and, most recently, Come Twilight. Website: www.facebook.com/tylerdiltsbooks

  BRENDAN DuBOIS is the award-winning author of twenty-one novels and more than 150 short stories. He is currently working on a new novel and works with award-winning New York Times bestselling author James Patterson. He is also a Jeopardy! gameshow champion and a co-winner of the trivia gameshow The Chase. Website: www.BrendanDuBois.com

  BILL FITZHUGH is the award-winning author of nine novels, ranging from comic thrillers to social satire to humorous mysteries. He has written for radio, television, film, and the theater. He lives in Los Angeles. Website: www.billfitzhugh.com

  JIM FUSILLI is the author of eight novels, including Closing Time and Tribeca Blues, and several books of nonfiction about music, including Catching Up: Connecting With Great 21st Century Music. He is the rock and pop music critic of the Wall Street Journal and is the founder of www.ReNewMusic.net, a music website for grownups. He lives in New York. Website: www.jimfusilli.com

  USA Today bestselling author ALISON GAYLIN has been nominated for the Edgar, Anthony, and ITW Thriller awards and won the Shamus award for her Brenna Spector suspense series. Her ninth novel, What Remains of Me (William Morrow), is out now in hardcover and paperback. Website: www.alisongaylin.com

  A. J. HARTLEY is the British-born international bestselling author of mystery/thriller, fantasy, historical fiction, and young adult novels, including The Mask of Atreus, On the Fifth Day, the Darwen Arkwright children’s series, and, most recently Steeplejack, a young adult alternative detective series. He is currently the Robinson Professor of Shakespeare studies at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte, where he specializes in the performance history, theory, and criticism of Renaissance English drama, and works as a director and dramaturg. Website: www.ajhartley.net

  CRAIG JOHNSON is The New York Times bestselling author of the Walt Longmire mystery series, which has garnered popular and critical acclaim. Titles include The Cold Dish, Death Without Company, Another Man’s Moccasins, The Dark Horse (Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year), Junkyard Dogs, Hell Is Empty (Library Journal Best Mystery of the Year), and As the Crow Flies. The Walt Longmire series is the basis for the hit A&E drama, Longmire. Johnson lives in Ucross, Wyoming, population twenty-five. Website: www.craigallenjohnson.com

  DAVID LISS is an Edgar- and Macavity-award winning author of ten novels, most recently Rebels, the second book in the Randoms trilogy. His previous bestselling books include The Coffee Trader and The Ethical Assassin, both of which are being developed as films, and A Conspiracy of Paper, which is now being developed for television. Liss is the author of numerous comics, including Mystery Men, Sherlock Holmes: Moriarty Lives and Angelica Tomorrow. Website: www.davidliss.com

  VAL McDERMID is a best-selling, award-winning Scottish crime writer best known for her mystery, detective, and suspense novels including series featuring Dr. Tony Hill, Kate Brannigan, and Tony Hill with Carol Jordan. Her recent novel Out of Bounds, is The Sunday Times number one bestseller. Website: www.valmcdermid.com

  Born under a bad sign, GARY PHILLIPS must keep writing to forestall his appointment at the crossroads. He writes comic books, novels, short stories, novellas, scripts, and anything else he can get away with. He is currently president of the Private Eye Writers of America. He lives in Los Angeles. Website: www.gdphillips.com

  NAOMI RAND has published three Emma Price mysteries including The One That Got Away, Stealing for a Living, and It’s Raining Men. Her fiction and literary criticism appears in many small press magazines, among them The Flexible Persona, Other Voices, Melus, and North Dakota Quarterly. She has contributed to Hard Boiled Brooklyn and has written for numerous magazines and newspapers including Redbook, Parents, Ladies Home Journal, The New York Times, and the Boston Globe. She lives in Montclair, NJ, twelve miles west of New York City. Website: www.naomirand.com

  PETER ROBINSON is a Canadian crime writer born in Britain. He is best known for his crime novels set in Yorkshire featuring Inspector Alan Banks. Several of the novels have been adapted for television under the series title DCI Banks. His work has received a number of honors including the Edgar, Anthony, and Arthur Ellis Awards. Website: www.inspectorbanks.com

  ZOË SHARP opted out of mainstream education at the age of twelve and wrote her first novel at fifteen. She began her award-winning crime thriller series featuring bodyguard Charlotte ‘Charlie’ Fox after receiving death-threats in the course of her work as a photojournalist. She now writes fiction full-time, interspersed with stints as an international pet-sitter. She lives in the English Lake District. Website: www.zoesharp.com

  MARK HASKELL SMITH is the author of five novels including Moist, Delicious, Salty, Baked, and Raw: A Love Story, as well as the nonfiction books Heart of Dankness: Underground Botanists, Outlaw Farmers and the Race to the Cannabis Cup, and Naked at Lunch: A Reluctant Nudist’s Adventures in the Clothing Optional World. He lives in Los Angeles. Website: www.markhaskellsmith.com

  WILLY VLAUTIN is the author of four novels: The Motel Life, Northline, Lean on Pete, and The Free. He is also the main songwriter for the bands Richmond Fontaine and The Delines. He currently resides in Portland, Oregon. Website: www.willyvlautin.com

  ERICA WRIGHT’s latest crime novel The Granite Moth (Pegasus) was called “brisk, dark, slinky” by USA Today. Her debut, The Red Chameleon (Pegasus), was one of O, The Oprah Magazine’s Best Books of Summer. In addition to crime writing, she is an acclaimed poet, and is the poetry editor and a senior editor at Guernica Magazine as well as an editorial board member for Alice James Books. Website: www.ericawright.typepad.com

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