Fairplay, Denver Cereal Volume 6 (46 page)

“
I will,” Tanesha said.
“Thanks.”

“
You’d do it for me,” Tres
said and hung up.

“
You were right, Jacob,”
Tanesha said. “He went to the Penthouse. Tres says he’s passed out.
He asked if Bumpy to come to look at him. I guess he doesn’t look
good.”

Bumpy got up from his seat.

“
With the prison time,
he’s been clean almost a year,” Seth said. “They probably didn’t
consider that.”

Bumpy nodded good-bye to everyone and left
the Castle.

“
Looks like everything’s
in motion,” Jill gave a little clap.

“
Come on, Ava, Heather,
let’s get dressed,” Sandy said.

~~~~~~~~

Saturday night—6:45 P.M. PDT ( 7:45 P.M. MDT
)

Hollywood, California

“
Yes sir,” Schmidty said.
“I realize it’s confusing.”

He gave the lawyer for Jeraine’s record
company his best naïve smile. The lawyer for the movie studio had
to look away to keep from laughing. Two of the film’s
executive-producers leaned on the polished furniture. The third
stood near the windows. The film’s Director sat next to
Schmidty.

“
But the bottom line is
that the song doesn’t belong to Jeraine,” Schmidty said.

“
Jeraine was hired by
O’Malley to help him create a lead song for the film,” the movie
studio lawyer said. “Bumpy Wilson, you know who he is?”

The lawyer for the record company
scowled.

“
You can hear his
signature back beat on the song,” the lawyer for the music studio
said.

“
O’Malley belongs to me,”
the Director said. “I won’t do a film without him.”

“
We paid a fortune for
him,” the Executive Producer leaning on the file cabinet behind
Schmidty said.

“
We paid three fortunes
for him,” a strong New York accented voice came from the only woman
in the room, the executive-producer standing by the windows. “If he
died tomorrow, heaven forbid, he would already have been worth
every penny.”

“
Listen to the song!
That’s my orchestra,” the Director said. “This song is brilliant.
You better believe O’Malley is worth every penny and then
some.”

“
Jeraine’s voice is on the
song,” the lawyer for the studio said. “We contractually own his
voice. The rest of this is… side business and royalty issues. We
couldn’t be happier that you’ve decided to use our song for your
movie.”

“
Jeraine’s voice is like
frim fram sauce or shifafa,” Schmidty said. Seeing the lawyers
confused face, he shook his head at his ignorance. “Look it
up.”

“
He means that Jeraine’s
voice is a place holder for our actors,” the movie studio lawyer
said. “Frim Fram Sauce was an unfinished song that Nat King Cole
made famous. Frim Fram, shifafa, oss, and fey were rhyming words
the song writer used to hold the place until he found better words.
They needed a song to complete the album so the song was recorded.
That’s what happened here.”

“
Blame Jeraine,” the
lawyer said. “The boy has no boundaries. Have you seen him with
women? He leaked the song. Take up your beef with him. I’m not sure
why this conversation involves us.”

“
The Denver Police cyber
crime lab linked the hacking of Jeraine Wilson’s email box to
employees working in this building. Employees of this company,” the
executive producer near the window said. “Denver Police are waiting
for Jeraine to identify the men before they arrest them. You might
want to call your colleagues in Denver so they have criminal
representation.”

“
Our people can be a
little overzealous,” the lawyer for the record company said.
“Especially prior to a live performance.”

“
You asked how this
conversation involves you,” Schmidty said. “Let’s be clear. Your
company stole the movie studio’s property in order to re-sign my
artist. You own my artists voice, but you don’t own his
work.”

“
I own his work,” the
Director growled. “He works for me. And you stole from
me!”

The corner of Schmidty’s mouth lifted. When
he’d contacted the Director, he’d told him he would be able to pull
this off. The Director had been a child actor. He understood
exactly what Jeraine was going through. It wasn’t until this moment
that the Director’s acting skills became apparent.

“
I’d like to see those
contracts,” the lawyer for the record company.

“
I thought you’d say
that,” Schmidty said. “Is electronic all right?”

The lawyer for the record company blinked at
Schmidty. Schmidty gave him another sweet smile.

“
Sure,” the lawyer for the
record company said.

“
Tell you what,” Schmidty
opened his laptop. “How ‘bout I email them to you?”

“
I still own Jeraine,” the
lawyer for the record company said.

“
Actually,” the movie
studio lawyer said. “You obtained the song illegally…”

“
My
song,” the Director’s head jerked to look at the movie
studio’s lawyer. He pointed at the lawyer for the record studio.
“He stole MY SONG!”

“
Yes,” the movie studio’s
lawyer sounded like he was speaking to a child. “He
did.”

“
I own everything O’Malley
creates,” the Director said. “Everything. That means I own
everything Bumpy and Jeraine create.”

“
Different contracts,”
Schmidty said.

“
We only care about what
our talent creates,” the woman near the windows said. “And they
created this song.”

“
Which means your contract
with Jeraine expired,” Schmidty said.

“
We’d happily take you to
court over this,” the executive-producer who hadn’t spoken yet
said. “But it sounds like you’ll have plenty of work to do
defending your employees.”

“
They don’t take cyber
crime lightly in Denver,” Schmidty said. “And this is a slam dunk –
motive, opportunity – the whole nine.”

Schmidty sat a little
straighter. Since he worked with Seth, he felt like he was
1:1000
^th
cop.

“
We’ll file for copyright
infringement, of course,” the movie studio lawyer said.

“
At the very least!” the
Director said. “We should file for emotional duress
and…”

“
What is it you’d like me
to do?” the record company’s lawyer asked.

“
Retract the song,” the
movie studio’s lawyer said.

“
Let people know there was
some confusion and that the song is for our movie,” the
executive-producer sitting behind Seth said.

“
Officially release
Jeraine from his contract,” Schmidty said.

“
Or?”

“
We’ll file for copyright
infringement,” the movie studio’s lawyer said.

“
Theft of intellectual
property,” the executive producer near the windows said.
“Harassment of our talent. We’ll request punitive damages for
slowing production of the film due to your employees… what was the
word he used?’

“
Overzealous
,” the executive producer
sitting next to the door said.

“
Yes, over-zealousness,”
the woman’s harsh New York accent accentuated every
syllable.

“
And emotional duress,”
the Director said. “I spoke with O’Malley. He’s so upset about this
he’s talking about needing time to recover.”

“
We pay for the Orchestra
and the space whether they work or not,” the executive producer
said. “We’ll need reimbursement for that too.”

“
We’ll consider it,” the
record company’s lawyer said.

His voice was neutral but the tension in the
room remained high. Standing, Schmidty held out his hand for the
lawyer to shake. The lawyer just looked at his hand. Schmidty
chuckled.

“
We’ll see ourselves out,”
the movie studio’s lawyer said.

They filed out of the office leaving the
record studio’s lawyer at his desk. They were in the elevator
before Schmidty started to laugh.

“
Emotional duress?”
Schmidty laughed.

“
I’m sensitive,” the
Director laughed.

Everyone laughed.

“
I’ll tell you James
Schmidt the Fifth,” the executive-producer from New York said. “You
have balls of steel. I don’t think even your father could have
pulled that off. Do you have the contracts?”

“
I will,” Schmidty shook
his head.

“
We have our song, right?”
the Director asked.

“
If this works, it’s all
yours,” Schmidty said.

The movie people clapped.

~~~~~~~~

Saturday night—8:15 P.M. MDT

Lying naked in bed, Jeraine woke up with a
start. His eyes scanned the room until he saw his mother sitting
next to him on the bed. He tried to sit up.

“
Slowly,” Dionne put her
hand on his chest and pushed him back to the bed. “You’ve had a
rough night.”

“
Momma,” Jeraine said.
“I’m still high.”

“
You’re going to be for a
while,” Bumpy towered over the bed.

“
How Daddy?” Jeraine
asked. “I didn’t do anything!”

“
We think they gave you
GHB in that Red Bull crap you’re forever drinking,” Bumpy said. “Or
that’s what Seth said. We’re going to see if we can snag a sample
later tonight to be sure.”

“
G,” Jeraine said. “That’s
why I’ve blacked out.”

“
Probably,” Bumpy said.
“We’ll have to run some scans next week to see if you have brain
damage. Miss T says you’re a little slow at processing new
thoughts.”

“
GHB, damn,” Jeraine said.
“That’s why I want the women.”

“
That and you’re a horny
bastard,” Tanesha said.

“
Miss T?” Jeraine looked
at his mother for confirmation. “She’s here?”

Tanesha sat down on the bed across from
Dionne. He rolled over to look at her. His hand stroked her
face.

“
I been lookin’ for you
everywhere,” Jeraine said.

Tanesha smiled.

“
Where are we?”

“
You’re in a suite at the
Burnsley,” Dionne said.

“
We’ve pumped your
stomach,” Bumpy said. “And did our best to clean you up. When did
you get all those damned tattoos, son? You look like a prize Stock
Show bull with everyone’s brand all up and down your
backside.”

“
Bumpy, leave the boy
alone,” Dionne said.

“
He looks like a fool,”
Bumpy said.

“
We’ll leave you,” Dionne
said. “You have a half hour or so before you have to
go.”

“
Go where?” Jeraine said.
“Momma, I feel like crap.”

“
Doesn’t matter, son,”
Bumpy said. “Your fans are waiting for you. They’ve been waiting
all day.”

“
Plus, we want to catch
the guys that did this to you,” Tanesha nodded to him. “To
us.”

“
Come on, old man,” Dionne
said. “Let’s let them have a little bit of a happy ending before
the show starts.”

She kissed Jeraine’s cheek. Bumpy put his
arm around her and they left the room.

“
I looked everywhere for
you,” Jeraine said.

“
You passed out at the
first place you looked,” Tanesha said.

“
Yes, but only after I
knew where you were,” Jeraine said. “You went to your
Gran’s.”

Tanesha smiled.

“
Who’s the good looking
Mexican?” Jeraine asked.

“
Tres,” Tanesha
said.

“
Damn, you should get with
him,” Jeraine said.

“
I’m in love with someone
else,” Tanesha said.

“
Anyone I know,” Jeraine
said.

“
I hope so.”

Jeraine pulled her to him and she
laughed.

CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED and EIGHTY-FIVE

Slave

Saturday night—8:45 P.M. MDT

“
What do you mean you gave
Schmidty permission to sell my song to the movie studio?” Jeraine
asked.

Tanesha didn’t like his tone and gave him a
sour look. She got up from the dining table of the Penthouse suite
at the Burnsley Hotel where they were eating pizza with his
parents. Sandy met her at the door to the kitchen and they laughed
their way in to the kitchen. Heather looked up from the sofa and
went into the kitchen to join them.

“
Why are they laughing?”
Jeraine asked.

“
Because you are a fool,”
Bumpy said. “I love you son, but…”

Bumpy shook his head.

“
What did
I
do?” Jeraine asked. “I
d’nt do nothing.”

“
The problem isn’t what
you did.” Ava leaned over to pick up a slice of pizza. “The problem
is what you don’t understand.”

“
What don’t I understand?”
Jeraine asked.

“
Your song was leaked to
the radio station,” Ava said. “Your contract with your record
company and your agent has been renewed. Right?”

“
Right,” Jeraine
said.