Rebecca Winters - Manhattan Merger

“In Ms. Wrigley’s novel, there’s a part where the hero has just found out he’s dying of leukemia. Memories of his past life flash through his mind. One of them is running along the beach with his dog when he was a boy.

“This hero is a loner by nature. Obviously his dog meant a great deal to him. That’s why I painted it in.”

“Did Ms. Wrigley mention the breed?”

“No.”

“Then why a bulldog?”

“For years I’ve had an English bulldog named Winston, after Winston Churchill, my favorite figure in history. At present the dog is staying with my parents until I can find a place that will allow pets.

“While I was doing the painting for Manhattan Merger, Winston happened to be sitting on one of the kitchen chairs watching me. He was so darling, I put him in the picture without even thinking about it.”

Incredible. Absolutely incredible. Payne could only shake his head.

“Ms. Bennett, you testified that you’d never been to New York before you moved here. You also testified you went to school in Italy. Did your flight involve a stop in New York?”

“No. I took a nonstop charter from Denver to Frankfurt, Germany, and from Germany back to Denver when school was over. You can contact the art department at Colorado State to verify everything.”

“Thank you. Will you tell the court the location of the eight paintings with my client’s likeness?”

“Five of the authors have bought the paintings from me. I own the other three, one of which is Manhattan Merger. They’re hanging in my apartment.”

“According to the testimony we’ve heard, you only saw my client in a photograph for a few minutes, then painted him from memory.”

“Yes.”

“If Your Honor will permit, I’ll ask the bailiff to give this sketch pad and pencil to the witness.”

The judge nodded.

“Now if Your Honor will assist me by picking another person in the photograph from Exhibit Two? Show it to the witness. Let her study it for a moment, then ask her to draw this person from memory.”

Payne whispered an aside to Drew. “If Ms. Bennett can pull this off, then we have no stalking case, thank God.”

“Amen,” Drew muttered.

First five, then ten minutes went by while the room sat in frozen silence waiting for her to finish her drawing. Payne watched her face and body change expression several times. Her concentration was almost as disarming as her femininity.

Finally she looked over at the judge and rendered him the sketchbook. He studied it and compared it to the photograph.

“You not only have a photographic memory, Ms. Bennett, you’re a very gifted artist.”

“Thank you.”

“You may step down.”

He signaled the bailiff to take the sketch and photograph to Drew. An impatient Payne was forced to wait until he could examine both items for himself.

“Good grief-” he blurted when Drew moved aside. “It’s Mac- She’s done a perfect likeness of him!”

“Her talent is remarkable.” Drew turned to the judge. “I have no more questions of these witnesses, Your Honor.”

“Ms. Carlow? Do you wish to make your closing remarks now?”

“Yes, Your Honor. I believe the facts speak for themselves. In future, Red Rose Publishing will require every artist to use licensed models for their covers. Needless to say, Mr. Sterling’s likeness will never appear on another cover of a Red Rose Romance.

“I instructed Ms. Bennett to bring all drawings and disks with Mr. Sterling’s likeness to this court. They can be turned over to him, or Red Rose can destroy them. Whatever the court wishes.

“It’s worth noting that the cover of Manhattan Merger won first prize out of all the romance covers printed in the United States within the last twelve months.

“Ms. Wrigley also won first prize for the best Touch of Romance novel for Manhattan Merger. Both women were going to be honored at a banquet this fall.

“Under the circumstances they’ll forego those awards in order to spare Mr. Sterling any unnecessary publicity or exposure. Our company will instruct the people at the U.S. Romance Author/Publisher Convention to pick two other winners.

“As for the books already in print and shipped out through the book club, it would be impossible to judge how many readers would know the man on the cover is Mr. Payne Sterling.

“Your Honor?” she said after taking a drink of water. “Would it be permissible to ask how Mr. Sterling came to find out his likeness was on the cover of Manhattan Merger?”

The judge looked at Drew. “Mr. Wallace?” he prompted.

Payne nodded when Drew turned to him for permission.

“His sister’s daughter reads romances and noticed the likeness. So did the maid who’s also a romance reader.”

Ms. Carlow smiled. “Thank you, Your Honor.”

“Is there anything else, Counselor?”

“No.”

“Very well.” The judge looked at Drew. “Mr. Wallace? Are you ready to make closing remarks?”

“Yes, Your Honor. The extensive amount of testimony provided by the defendants has ruled out any hint of stalking violations which was my client’s primary fear.

“My client could wish the published books with his likeness on the covers weren’t in the public domain. However in view of Ms. Carlow’s assertion that my client’s likeness will never again grace a future Red Rose Romance cover, another fear has been removed.

“At this time my client and I would like to thank the court for hearing this case in such a timely manner. I also wish to congratulate opposing counsel for the outstanding defense she prepared on such short notice.”

After Drew sat down, the judge removed his glasses. “I too want to compliment both parties for conducting yourselves in a professional manner. This is an unusual case to come before the court.”

Payne suddenly heard a voice cry out from the other side of the room.

“Your Honor?”

“Yes, Ms. Bennett?”

“Could I say something?”

“Go ahead.”

“If I had been Mr. Sterling, I would have brought this case to court just as he did in the hope of preventing another tragedy. But Red Rose Publishing is not to blame. Neither is Bonnie Wrigley.

“I-I’m the one who painted him without permission and brought him more grief unknowingly,” her voice trembled. “Ignorance is no excuse. I’m the guilty party. I feel so horrible about it, I don’t know how to begin to make restitution.

“If there’s to be a severe financial punishment, let it be on my head, no one else’s.”

“Thank you, Ms. Bennett. I do believe you’ve learned an important and necessary lesson in the early stages of your brilliant career. You never know who the stranger in the crowd or the photograph might turn out to be.

“A priceless gift like yours is going to have to be used with care in the future, as you’ve discovered. Call it destiny or fate, you happened to paint the one man whose phenomenal success in life has made him vulnerable to the ugliest elements in our society. The tragedy that befell his fiancée should never have happened.

“It is also unfortunate that no one at Red Rose Publishers caught the problem in time to rectify it. However Ms. Carlow has assured the court that the company will require its artists to use licensed models from now on. A very wise move which will prevent unwanted occurrences like this from happening again.

“As for Ms. Wrigley’s scholarly researched fiction novel which paralleled Mr. Sterling’s life to a great degree, testimony has proved it to be one of those inexplicable coincidences. Counsel for the plaintiff said it best. ‘Art imitating life.’

“In conclusion, the court has listened to testimony and finds no evidence of evil doing or intent to do evil on the part of Ms. Bennett, Ms. Wrigley or Red Rose Romance Publishers.

“Opposing counsels can get together to decide on disposition of drawings, disks, paintings, books already in print that can still be pulled, books that are still awaiting translation for foreign markets, et cetera.”

The judge pounded his gavel. “Case dismissed.”

THE second the judge left the courtroom, Rainey was so relieved she leaped from the chair to hug Grace Carlow. The attorney dwarfed her five foot six inch body.

“It turned out as I knew it would, my dear.”

“Only because of you,” Rainey half sobbed the words. Relief swept over her in waves.

“Rainey’s right,” Bonnie chimed in, giving both of them a hug. “Without your confidence, I would have had a coronary before we ever got off the phone.”

Grace smiled. “It’s over, and the lesson we’ve learned has been instructive for the company.”

Rainey nodded.

“We also learned something else, ladies.” She cocked an expressive brow.

“What?” Rainey and Bonnie were both wiping their eyes at the same time.

“Mr. Sterling only has one sister. It means Senator Sterling-Boyce’s daughter and maid read our romances. That’s the kind of inside information guaranteed to make Mr. Finauer’s day.”

Rainey had never met the CEO, but she’d heard that when he erupted, everyone felt the shock waves. If this case had gone the wrong way…

“All’s well that ends well, honey.”

“Oh, mom-” Rainey turned to embrace her mother and brother. “Thanks for flying to my rescue on such short notice and bringing everything. The outcome would have been very different without you two!”

Craig gave her a hug. “Congratulations on your big honor, even if you can’t accept the award.”

“Thanks.”

“Trust my sister to pick the one billionaire face in the crowd,” he teased.

She groaned, still shuddering from nerves which had been playing havoc with her emotions over the last twenty-four hours.

Her brother grinned. “I guess I’m going to have to break down and read Manhattan Merger to find out why Mr. Megabucks felt so violated.”