I told him what we’d heard about Tommy Maher and Russell. He nodded.
“I remember that. I’d just started here. That was, what, ten years ago? But I heard about it. You thinking that has something to do with Hayley being missing?”
“We don’t know,” Bailey said. “We’re just checking into all possibilities.”
“Sure. Though it’s hard to see the…well, why don’t I just tell you what I know and leave you two to connect the dots?”
Ned leaned back and held on to the arms of his chair. “Russell came up with that screenplay, and right away there was talk about it being a blockbuster. Wonderland Warriors. You ever see it?”
We admitted we hadn’t. I could see Ned was winding up to tell us a story that was probably recycled for every newcomer on the lot.
“Movie wasn’t half bad. Kind of a kid thing, but adults liked it too. Can’t go wrong when you hit the whole family that way. Action-type film like The Transformers but with a fairy tale attached to it, like The Princess Bride. Anyway, the buzz started right off the bat about this great script and the big deal Russell would be getting. For a young TV writer-hell, for anyone-it was a huge deal. You ask him, he’ll tell you.”
Bailey nodded encouragingly and Ned continued.
“So Tommy gets wind of it and goes apeshit. Starts yelling that it was his script, that Russell stole it from him. Now, Tommy always had been a bit of a loose cannon. Wasn’t the first time he’d complained about someone taking credit for something he’d done. Got into a lot of fights in the writers’ room over people stealing his story ideas-”
“Maybe they did,” I said.
“Sure, maybe they did. Problem was, he cried wolf one too many times in the past. So when he got all nuts about this script, no one really paid attention.” Ned sighed and sat forward. “But that film script was the end of him. Tommy started coming to work drunk, sometimes even got drunk while he was at work-and he wasn’t a nice drunk. Got more and more belligerent. Then, one day, he got into it with Russell over some network notes and decked him. Just ‘boom’! Coldcocked ’im, knocked Russell on his ass.” Ned shook his head. “After that, they moved Tommy out to the edge of the lot-”
“Why didn’t they just fire him?” Bailey asked.
“He was under contract. Easier to put him in Siberia and let his contract run out at the end of the season. ’Course Tommy had to know that was coming.”
“So did he ever sue Russell over the theft of the screenplay?” I asked.
