Strange Bedpersons Read online

  “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