THE FUNERAL PLANNER

Chapter 11 Part 2: Risk & Mitigation - The Stakes Keep Rising

Chapter 11 Part 2

Within eight minutes, I’m sitting across the desk of Vertihore’s head of legal affairs and corporate communications, Sanford Aidelman. I lay out my paperwork with all of the facts, check my watch and then look straight at Aidelman. “You should be receiving calls from your head of legal af­fairs at Panda House and Agam Publishing any moment now. I would appreciate it if they hear this on a conference call.”

At that moment, Aidelman’s intercom buzzes. “Mr. Darwen and Ms. Hadley are both on the line,” says the voice of his secretary.

“I’ll take them both,” he says, staring at me with raised eyebrows. “Darwen, Hadley, welcome to the meeting. Ms. Banks here apparently has something very important for us to know about. Ms. Banks?”

“Thank you for your attention. Mr. Aidelman, Ms. Hadley and Mr. Darwen, the truth is that Derek Rogers of Tribute in a Box stole the pamphlet from our pay-per-view blog to sell you his so-called handbook. You all have copies of the files I dropped off, which contain the trademark, copyright, digital rights watermark and encryption code for the pam­phlet. It all proves that the DNA of Derek’s handbook was plagiarized from our pamphlet and is hence highly illegal. If you want further proof, compare the business plan of Lights Out Enterprises dated and launched six months prior to Tribute in a Box—also a case of plagiarism. But more importantly with respect to this publication, I can prove it right now with my do-it-yourself backup encryption code.”

Aidelman’s assistant slips in and out of the office with a cup of hot tea for me.

“Thanks,” I say, and I promptly forget about it as I flip open my computer for a PowerPoint presentation. I jump to a slide with two alphabets, one on top of the other. “I used the Roman cipher to protect my intellectual property. In this case, I shifted the bottom alphabet over by three letters, so A equals C, B equals D, C equals E and so forth. Just in case anyone was to try anything. Now compare Derek’s handbook on pages 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16 and 18 with our pamphlet on pages 7, 9, 11, 13, 15 and 17.” I point out the code, which spells “Derek Rogers has black dye under his fingernails.” “Everyone see?”

Aidelman lets out a long sigh. “Adam Berman wasn’t kid­ding when he said I should take you seriously. Darwen, Hadley, please get on this right away, and in the meantime, stop all distribution of Mr. Rogers’s handbook immediately.”

I freeze, having a moment of victory. I finally release a breath. One battle won, or at least one move gained that will keep Derek behind the scrimmage line, but for how much longer? That’s one question I’d like to put to rest forever.

Aidelman stares at me. “Madison Banks. Do you have a few minutes to stay and talk about your pamphlet?”

It was a question loaded with a first-and-ten position for me. “Yes, I do,” I say, sliding into quarterback mentality.

Approximately twenty-nine hours later, I’m behind the bar at the Eagle’s Nest cleaning shot glasses and recounting my New York adventure to Richard, Rocky and Mrs. Jones. Mrs. Jones strokes Siddhartha’s head while she listens.

“And then he asked me, ‘How many copies of your pam­phlet have you sold?’ I told him ‘fourteen thousand at 2.99apiece.’ He said, ‘That’s approximately...’ and I beat him to it, saying ‘$41,860.’”

“Damn,” says Rocky. “That’s awesome!”

“Wait, there’s more. Then he says, ‘How would you like a book deal with Panda House?’ And I told him as long as my co-author and I retain worldwide e-publication rights, I’m open.” I turn to Richard. “So, Richard, are you open to a publishing deal?”