Part 32 (1/2)
”Oh, I wouldn't underestimate Ruth Meyers. The woman's got a track record.” got a track record.”
”Sure, she's put a lot of musicians on stage, but-”
”She got your song recorded, Billy.”
”s.h.i.+t!” w.i.l.l.y Jack shook his head in disgust. ”A d.a.m.ned single by Shorty Wayne.” single by Shorty Wayne.”
”Now Shorty's had some hits. He's been up there. And he made a lot of people a lot of money, including Ruth Meyers.” made a lot of people a lot of money, including Ruth Meyers.”
”Well, he ain't made me rich.”
”He's getting some air time.”
”That ain't doing my career a h.e.l.l of a lot of good.” w.i.l.l.y Jack held his empty gla.s.s up for the bartender to see. Jack held his empty gla.s.s up for the bartender to see.
”So what do you have in mind, Billy?”
”An alb.u.m. My alb.u.m . . . and a video. Some TV time. That's That's what I need, someone to promote me.” what I need, someone to promote me.”
”And you don't think Ruth Meyers is?”
”h.e.l.l, Johnny, Ruth Meyers ain't got the clout.”
257.
w.i.l.l.y Jack caught the attention of a barmaid and signaled for another shot of Wild Turkey as the piano player, a scrawny little guy called Davey D., kicked off ”Misery and Gin.”
Davey D. was the only musician left of the four Ruth Meyers had put together to form Night River while she was creating Billy Shadow.
She had hired the best she knew, the best of a hundred bands she had formed and re-formed, mixed and blended- good musicians who knew the ropes and the road. She tracked them down, rounded them up and put them with Billy Shadow.
Then, remembering her days as a girl back in Missouri, memories unaccountably jarred loose by the shape of w.i.l.l.y Jack's lips, and thinking of that Missouri girl and those first delicious nights along the Current River with that first delicious boy, Ruth Meyers called her new singer and her old musicians Night River, feeling somehow that shadow and night might coalesce.
But that hadn't happened. Not because the drummer couldn't keep the rhythm. Not because the ba.s.s player couldn't take a solo.
Not because the guitarist didn't have perfect pitch. It hadn't happened because they were too tall. Only Davey D. was shorter than w.i.l.l.y Jack-and only Davey D. was still around.
And though the replacements were not as good, not as polished as the originals, Billy Shadow's star seemed to be rising nevertheless.
Ruth Meyers had done her work well. But it had been a job of work and it had taken a small army to get it done. w.i.l.l.y Jack had needed a lot of cleaning up.
On that day back in Nashville, Doc Frazier, the dentist, had nearly cried when he looked into w.i.l.l.y Jack's mouth where he found decay, gingivitis and more than twenty years of gunk to sc.r.a.pe through. But a month later, when Doc was finished, Billy Shadow had climbed out of the chair, his teeth capped and bridged and crowned-as clean and white as hospital sheets.
258.
Nina, the beautician who took w.i.l.l.y Jack on, had to first cure him of dandruff, which infected his scalp, his eyebrows and the corners of his nose, a condition she treated for a week with a tar and hot castor oil paste. Next, she cut and reshaped his hair, creating a soft, casual look with curls that tumbled across his forehead. Then she gave him a dark chestnut rinse, a color that made the most of his violet eyes. She toned his skin with mudpacks and treated the puffiness under his eyes with a cuc.u.mber and mayonnaise gel. Finally, after she gave him a manicure and pedicure, she took a picture of Billy Shadow, proof that her beauty school training had paid off.
Jack Gooden, the tailor at Preston's Western Wear, had ushered w.i.l.l.y Jack into the fitting room with instructions to peel off his clothes, the polyester pants and plaid s.h.i.+rt Claire Hudson had given him back in prison. An hour later, w.i.l.l.y Jack was adrape in yards of fine worsted wools and gabardines in rich amber and deep russet, while Gooden pinned and measured and chalked. Two weeks later, Billy Shadow slipped into his new suit that hugged his slender hips and padded his narrow shoulders and swished against his thighs as he walked.
Tooby the bootmaker had looked away that first day, pretended he hadn't seen the newspaper stuck to the heel of w.i.l.l.y Jack's sock.
He knew without looking inside the cheap Acme boots that they were crammed full of paper. w.i.l.l.y Jack wasn't the first short customer he'd ever had. Tooby also knew, several weeks later, when the boy slid his feet into the hand-st.i.tched alligator boots with two-inch heels, that Billy Shadow had never stood straighter and never looked taller than he did that day.
So when Ruth Meyers and her army had finished, w.i.l.l.y Jack Pickens stepped in front of a mirror, smiled at what he saw and watched Billy Shadow smile back.
259.
And Ruth Meyers knew even then how much grief he would cause her. She knew someone's wife would get caught with him in the back seat of a Lincoln or Cadillac. She knew someone's daughter would get pregnant and swear he was the father. She knew someone's kid would get busted supplying him with weed and cocaine. Ruth Meyers knew what was coming.
She knew he'd bend the rules and break the law, sell her short, cut her throat and try to walk away. Ruth Meyers knew who she was dealing with, so she should have known better.
But when Billy Shadow stepped back from that mirror, grabbed Ruth Meyers and kissed her as he danced her around the room, he caused her heart to race and her blood pressure to spike and her throat to tighten at fresh memories of that delicious boy on the Current River.
”Glad you could make it, Johnny.”
”I'm running a little late, but I got tied up. Couldn't find a a graceful way to get up and leave.” graceful way to get up and leave.”
”Well, we get the next set cranked up and-”
”I'm not going to be able to catch the next set, Billy.”
”h.e.l.l, you didn't hear but those last two numbers. I figured you'd-” you'd-”
”I liked what I heard.”
”Yeah?” w.i.l.l.y Jack took a long pull at his drink. ”You like like it enough to represent me, Johnny?” it enough to represent me, Johnny?”
”Whoa! We might be moving a little fast here.” We might be moving a little fast here.”
”I'm ready to move fast. I been on this slow track long enough.” enough.”
”You need to understand something, Billy. As long as you're you're still tied up with Ruth Meyers . . .” still tied up with Ruth Meyers . . .”
260.
”Look. I don't owe Ruth Meyers a d.a.m.ned thing. Not a d.a.m.ned thing.” d.a.m.ned thing.”
”She may think different.”
”I can end that this quick.” w.i.l.l.y Jack snapped his fingers, accidentally spilling the last of his drink. ”She don't accidentally spilling the last of his drink. ”She don't have have nothin' to say about it, neither.” nothin' to say about it, neither.”
”Billy, Ruth Meyers can be a powerful ally, but she makes a a h.e.l.l of an enemy. You sure you're ready for that?” h.e.l.l of an enemy. You sure you're ready for that?”
”Now what you figure she can do to me?”
”I'm just telling you. Ruth Meyers has got a mighty long reach.” reach.”