Page 143 of Turnabout Is Fair Cosplay
It was a setup. My mom sent her to me as a client. I take a seat on Lorraine’s sofa. “Why didn’t you say something?”
“They told all of us we weren’t allowed to.”
“All of us?”
“It’s silly, isn’t it? But they wanted to make sure you had a healthy pool of clients for your FroggoDoggo empire. And truth be told, I think they wanted a way of keeping tabs on their baby girl. Don’t be mad at them, dear.”
A few weeks ago, I would have been livid. But now I laugh. It’s sweet and ridiculous, but then again, so is retiring from law to become a dog walker.
“Lorraine.” Dad brings in a box of oranges. “Thanks for meeting with us on such short notice.”
“Happy to! I had a look at the trust over my espresso this morning.” Lorraine winks at me. “And what this woman is doing is completely predatory,” she says. “Grandma knew her mind, and her trust is clear and irrevocable.” She puts on her glasses. “She included a disinheritance clause for spouses of her heirs. If Grandma’s son and this ex-wife had had children, things would be different. But they didn’t. Michael Benedick is the only beneficiary. No judge would give this two minutes of their time, but not every young man knows that. I’m sure the Honorable Dewey Cheatem and Howes are, as we speak, preparing a letter offering their services to Mike. They’ll be more than happy to represent both parties and settle this family squabble out of court.” Lorraine shakes her head, rolling her eyes. “Lucky for Mike, that won’t happen.”
“So I send a letter, and they back off.”
“They’ll run with their tail between their legs if you put it on your father’s letterhead. But a letter, a phone call, and your insistence that all correspondence regarding Mike’s estate and Grandma’s trust go through you, his attorney, should do it. Sometimes you have to bare your teeth, beat your chest, and hiss a little to get these types to listen, but that’s nothing you can’t handle. I like to think that I’m on an errand of angels whenever things get particularly nasty and I have to pull out the big guns.” Lorraine smiles sweetly and pats my hand. “That isn’t going to be the case here. Praise be to Grandma. Cake, anyone?”
“Who says no to cake?” Dad cheerfully accepts a slice.
I turn to him. “When were you going to tell me you asked all your friends to hire me to walk their dogs?”
“It wasn’t just me. Portia dug up half your list. Julie wrote the nondisclosure agreement, though.”
I laugh. “Who found Cheryl and Princess Kitty?”
“That lead was all you, dear.” Dad pats my shoulder.
We thank Lorraine for her time, and I promise to bring her a slice of Mike’s grandma’s Swiss black forest cake when this is all over.
“You want to talk about the AI case over pancakes?” Dad asks outside.
My phone pings with a new email notification. My heart starts beating faster than it has any right to. “Actually, I need to take a rain check. Something just came up.” Something big. “Plus, I’ve got a pile of documents to draft before I meet with Mike tomorrow. Why don’t we meet up for pancakes next week, and we can talk then?”
“Glitter blackberry pancakes?” Dad asks, pulling me in for a hug.
“Is it worth eating any other kind?”
“It’s a deal.”
Chapter 43
The next morning, I knock on Mike’s Dutch door.
“It’s open,” he says, but he comes over and unlatches the bottom half of the door.
“How are you?” I set my file on the coffee table and take a seat on the couch. “You look like you haven’t slept…”
“In two days.” He rubs the stubble on his jaw.
“I brought you a Pellegrino.”
“Can I have your ginger ale?” Mike reaches for my bottle. “It goes better with licorice.”
Okay, so we’re living off of sugar and adrenaline. No big. “I’ve reviewed your case. Well, cases, I should say.”
“And?”
“I can represent you.” I pull the first folder out of my file and hand it to Mike. “Artificial intelligence may be the Wild West, but copyright law hasn’t changed much. They didn’t use your voice in any transformational way. They stole it and used it for the audio of all their Shakespeare productions that they’ve splashed across the front page of their website, along with your image and Instagram handle, instead of paying you to perform them. The use of your image and likeness is also a breach of contract. Nowhere in your contract or emails did you agree to being filmed.”
