Mick Sinatra: The Harder They Fall Read Online Free

she saw a ghost.   What was that about?”
    Mick was
concerned, but that wasn’t Cat’s business.   “I’m sure I don’t know,” he said as nonchalantly as he knew how.
    “Well you
need to find out because it was a bizarre sight to behold.   One minute she’s fine, then the next minute
she’s running out of the restaurant like somebody had a gun to her head.   And I don’t have to tell you how dramatic and
over-the-top black women can be to begin with.   You know how emotional they are.   You know how,” she continued to say, but suddenly realized that Mick had
already ended the call.
    “Bastard!”
she yelled into her phone, and then hung up too.

 
 

CHAPTER TWO

 
    Roz was
still reeling.   Sitting behind her desk
at the Graham Agency, with tons of work still left undone, she couldn’t even think
straight.   She couldn’t believe it.   What was he doing in Philly?   She knew it was a big town and not that
unusual to eyeball ghosts of the past, but why him?   And why was her reaction to him so
strong?   Why did his presence feel so
devastating?   Then she exhaled.   She knew why.   She just didn’t want to admit it.
    “Jerry
Copeland on line 6,” her secretary said.
    Roz, halfway
relieved to be forced not to think about it, grabbed her desk telephone,
pressed button 6, and answered quickly.   “Jerry, hey,” she said into the phone.
    “Don’t bite
my head off, Roz.”
    “So it’s
true?”
    Jerry
sighed.   “It’s true.”
    “But how
could you go back on your word like that?   We had a verbal contract.”
    “Which is as
good as the paper it’s printed on,” Jerry responded, “and you know that.”   Then he sighed again, a tribute to the ulcers
he already had.   “I had no choice, Roz.”
    Roz shook
her head.   “Let me guess?   The producers?”
    “I thought I
covered my bases,” Jerry said.   “I cast
one of their nieces in a secondary, yes, but a meaty role.   But even that wasn’t good enough for
them.   They threatened to pull funding if
I didn’t give her ass the lead.”
    “That’s
fucking illegal,” Roz said.   “The unions
cracked down on that!”
    “Not if it’s
in the contract,” Jerry said.   “They can
pull their money any time before we go to production.   That’s in the contract.   And they don’t have to give a reason to
walk.”
    Roz
frowned.   “Why would you sign a contract
like that, Jerl?   You’re no novice.   You’ll a major director!”
    “A major
director without a certified hit in over ten years.   You know how this game is played.   It’s not about what you did yesterday.   I couldn’t get any of my old money people to
put up a single dime.   I had to rely on
Texas oil men with plenty of money and zero taste.   They think the Great White Way was named, not
because of the lights of Broadway, but as a tribute to white people.”
    Roz managed
to laugh.   “In a way it is,” she said,
“given the racial makeup of most Broadway shows.”
    “But you see
what I’m dealing with here?”
    Roz understood.   But that didn’t help her client.   “Okay, you gave the niece the lead.   But why not give Kinna something?   Why leave her off altogether?   She needs to eat too!”
    “I would
have given her second star.   You know I
would have.   She’s a phenomenal
talent.   But that was another condition
of their backing,” Jerry said.   “The
niece felt Kinna Franks would be lurking in the wings attempting to steal her
part back, and she, this no-talent niece, couldn’t work under such supposedly
harsh conditions.”
    “Yeah,
right,” Roz said.   “More like her ass
knows Kinna can act rings around her and she doesn’t want the competition.”
    “You know
it,” Jerry agreed.   “But what am I
supposed to do?   Let them pull their
financing on the principle of the thing?   That’ll not only put me out of work, but the crew and actors too.   I can’t let that happen, Roz.   I gave my word