Magnum, P.I. (1980) s05e18 Episode Script
Let Me Hear the Music
There's five lost songs worth about a million dollars apiece.
And Thomas and his assistants are going to split 10%.
Believe me, if any of my nurses had been the object of five beautiful love songs, I'd have known about it.
Whatever I have to do, Billy Cockrell is not getting those songs.
She's got them and we must've led him right to her.
You tell me T.
C? You better throw wide and duck.
Come on, you guys.
Last word woman, don't say please Last word woman I'm down on my knees And I'm not the first man that told you goodbye Let me be the first to ask for one last try I'll give you the last word about my money I'll give you the last word about my time I'll give you the last word until the day I die If your last word in my life is goodbye Yes, your last word in my life Is goodbye Thank you all.
Thank you, folks.
Thank you.
Thank you all.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Georgie, hey, come on.
Get up.
Are you okay? I'm okay.
You get him back out there.
Contract says encore.
That was an encore.
Hey, get her on the phone for me, Lacy, will you? I wanna give her the good news.
George Lee Jessup! Yes, now, folks, are we gonna let him get away without one more song? No! No! Operator? Get me Honolulu, Hawaii.
Georgie, hey, you know, listen.
We'll call her from Richmond.
I can have us there in an hour.
Billy, leave him alone! One more song! One more song! George Lee Jessup! He's drunker than hell.
His fans have seen him tanked up before.
It don't bother them.
Why, because you say it don't? Drop it, Billy.
Get the rest of the boys and head for the car.
One more song! One more song! George Lee Jessup! One more song! One more song! George Lee Jessup! Here you go, Georgie.
She's on.
Thanks, Lacy.
Laurie? Hey, baby.
Are you sitting down? Yeah, we're finally gonna do it, honey.
Pack up your uniforms.
Well, I mean, I found me a general who loves my music, and he's gonna get you a transfer to one of them bases in Texas till your discharge papers come through.
And I play Dallas next week.
Now what do you think of that? I'm asking you politely now.
Please step on back.
Hey, we're gonna get married there.
Hey, Laurie, come on now, baby.
Now quit kidding around, now.
You! You! Stop shoving, now.
Now, Laurie, I said, now quit kidding around, baby.
Laurie? Hey, let's get this thing in the air fast.
Talk to Georgie.
I ain't the pilot.
Hey! What do you mean? Of course you're the pilot.
No, Lacy, that's what I wound up being.
I'm a good picker and I'm a good writer and I'm sick of flying and playing bass and getting pushed around by the big star's flunky.
Will you get serious, Billy? You mean to tell me you'd let Georgie take us up tonight? You know he's had too much.
And he and Laurie just had a big spat.
Lacy, those are his problems and yours.
I'm on the next bus back to Nashville.
Damn right! Hey, Georgie, I'll get us a hotel here tonight.
George Billy, please.
Georgie! No, no, no, no.
Pianissimo, ladies and gentlemen, please.
All I'm hearing is one harsh, constant Thomas, can't you turn that thing down? Magnum, stop playing that record immediately! Higgins, now, listen, I'm sorry I disturbed your rehearsal, but I had to listen to it that loud in order to hear the lyrics for clues! No, it's all in the line of work.
Higgins, don't break it! Now, it belongs to the library and it's One of George Lee Jessup's rarest recordings and you may very well have damaged the grooves with this modern stylus! You're into this hillbilly yuck? This hillbilly yuck happens to trace its roots back to the Saxon folk ballads.
Yeah, well, fortunately, Higgins, we don't have to go back that far.
No, your research, I'm sure, begins and ends with 1954.
Higgins You got it! Five million bucks of this guy's old records laying around.
And Thomas and his assistants are gonna split 10%% just for finding the stuff.
Yes, the lost Jessup songs could easily be that valuable if they existed.
They do not.
Higgins, this doesn't concern you.
What concerns me is that you could so easily be duped by such a ridiculous myth.
Every moment of Jessup's hospitalization here has been researched.
There was no nurse, no love affair and therefore, no songs.
Well, yes, the client does admit that no one else has any faith in the songs but him.
But you saw no reason to bring this up before you conned us into this? I didn't con you! This guy has proof! There's five lost songs worth about a million dollars apiece.
That's absurd.
How could he possibly know the exact number? Because he's an expert! Well, no true expert would dare to attempt to determine the value of works by a legend like Jessup.
Hold it! Just hold it! You two guys are arguing about songs that don't even exist? Yes! No! You can count me out.
No! Wait, T.
C.
, Higgins is wrong! Well, that's a pretty good fiddle.
The A string's just a hair sharp.
What's the meaning of this? Oh, it just means that his A's not a perfect fifth from his D.
Who are you? How did you get on the estate? And what manner of man simply picks up a $20,000 violin and plays it without asking permission? Well, Lacy Fletcher's the name.
I come by taxi.
And what manner of man asks a fiddle if it wants to be played? Something wrong, Higgins? Thomas Magnum, Lacy.
I'm sorry I didn't pick you up at the airport.
That's all right.
You didn't have to hire a band to welcome me.
The band is the Oahu String Quartet, Mr.
Fletcher.
We're rehearsing for our maiden recital.
I'm Jonathan Higgins, the conductor, and it's a great honor to meet you.
Likewise.
That's Theodore Calvin.
Rick Wright.
They're helping me out on the case.
Wrong, wrong.
No offense, Lacy, but from what I understand, no one else believes these songs exist.
Including George Lee Jessup's closest friend.
At least that's what he's always told the press.
Correct, Mr.
Fletcher? I thought you told me on the phone that you were a private investigator? Now, wait a minute, Lacy.
Wait, nothing! I've been waiting for 30 years.
Lying to the press, everybody, 'cause if those songs had been found before now, Georgie's estate would've got them.
Well, the time finally comes when whoever finds them, gets them.
And the one person that I tell my secret to has got to blab it all over the island.
Hey, hey, nobody's trying to steal your songs.
In fact, as far as I'm concerned, you're the only one that believes in them.
Mr.
Fletcher, do you have proof that the songs exist? Yeah.
My word.
And this.
Probably all you'll need to find Laurie.
But how could he have called her at the same pay phone every Saturday night, for over a year? Lacy? Lacy! Well, maybe, she lived in the WAC barracks.
Well, fine.
Then all four of the Lauries there in '54 could've used it.
Well, then you just got to look up the pay phones in the different barrack hallways.
Lacy, it's not that simple.
The phones aren't listed numerically.
We could be here all night.
Well, I could've hired anybody to complain.
You gotta expect to put out a little effort for your $500,000.
Put out a little A half day at the Army archives, another half day here.
A whole day with Ms.
Jones at the hall of records.
Put out a little Mr.
And Mrs.
Jones, if you please And the desk clerk smirks on hands and knees Lacy.
Lacy.
Lacy.
Please.
I'm sorry, but two straight days of non-stop country gold is a lot.
Could we just take a break? Hey, break ball don't have to fall on me.
Fine.
Thank you.
You know what? I've been meaning to ask you.
Why didn't you call her at that pay phone after the plane crash? Well, I did.
Soon as I got out of the hospital.
It was disconnected.
What? The five-digit number wasn't converted? Why didn't you tell me? Well, what difference does it make? The difference is, I would've been looking in the right place.
Now, when did you call her? Well, it was early November, 1954.
Why? Lacy, those old phone numbers are listed by their cut-off date.
Right.
Here it is.
"Removed 11-2-54 from Pearl Harbor Hospital nurses' lounge.
" Nurses Hey, you're cooking.
I can tell.
Right, huh? Prince, Prince.
"Sergeant Laura Johnson Prince, "discharged May 1955, married to Desmond.
" Lacy, she's still living here on the island.
Hey, that's great.
Maybe the other three are, too, then, huh? Yeah, but the other three weren't working next to that pay phone all of 1954.
Hey, I think you got it.
But I'm afraid I've never even heard of your Mr.
Jessup.
Well, at least I've heard the name.
He was a cowboy singer in the '50s, wasn't he? Country music artist.
There's a difference.
I see.
I'm sorry.
Mrs.
Crane, are you sure that none of the other Lauries on that list could have worked near that telephone? Well, not in '54.
I was the ward nurses' supervisor.
You positive this woman was enlisted? Yes, ma'am.
She was a WAC.
There's no doubt about it.
Georgie couldn't talk about anything else except when she was gonna get her discharge papers.
Wait a minute.
This was a long time ago.
Honey, you don't recall a girl saying that she had a boyfriend who wrote country tunes? I'm afraid not.
Believe me, if any of my nurses had been the object of five beautiful love songs, I'd have known about it.
Young ladies have a tendency to brag about that sort of thing.
- That woman is lying.
- Now, wait a minute.
She didn't deserve Georgie.
Lacy.
Hey, Magnum.
Well, I found it.
Right here's the place.
This is where he wrote the song.
See, he had this real bad shrapnel wound that he got over there in Korea I know, Lacy.
Yeah, they sent him over here I know, you told me.
Yeah.
To the hospital.
That's the retainer you gave me.
You don't think that there is a case.
Oh It doesn't really matter what I believe, Lacy.
I know it's not in you to doubt Jessup.
That's right.
One thing about Georgie, he never lied.
Well, fine.
Fine.
But George Lee Jessup's word is not a lead.
And the only tangible one you gave me is gone.
You're wrong.
You're dead wrong.
That phone number did its job.
It led us to Laurie.
So you keep telling me, but you've got absolutely no proof.
Don't I? Let me ask you something, Magnum.
How did she know that there were just five songs? Five? Yeah.
That's what she said yesterday, "Five beautiful songs.
" Now, nobody knew the exact number, except me and her and Georgie.
And you're the first person that I've ever told.
Maybe she made a wild guess.
I'm sorry, Lacy, it's not enough.
Well, okay, all right.
You get me a copy of her handwriting, and I'll give you all the proof that you want.
Well, I guess I got no choice but to trust you all the way.
Here, hold this.
There was this private box where I used to pick up Georgie's letters from her.
It was a kind of a secret thing.
Now, this letter here Well, she evidently hadn't heard about the accident when she wrote it.
It was in the box when I got out of the hospital.
It's never been opened.
I know.
That's Georgie's private mail.
Private? Lacy, he's been dead for 30 years.
You never opened this, knowing Hey, listen, I looked after Georgie's privacy when he was alive.
Well, I'm sure not gonna start peeking in his keyholes now.
Well, you're asking me to peek into Laurie Crane's, without good reason.
I've played a darn good poker hand, waiting out that copyright.
You know, when I told everybody that there wasn't any more songs, and they believed me.
Now it comes time to pick up the pot and Well, I need some help.
I hocked everything that I got to make this trip.
If I go back empty-handed Well, I guess you'd say that I'm finished.
That seems like reason enough to me to get one little old handwriting sample.
I'll talk to her again.
Alone.
Yeah.
Talk to me about what, Mr.
Magnum? Well, I was wondering if you could just give me a short written statement verifying what you told me yesterday.
Just for my records.
I fail to see why I should have to verify anything.
Well, no, no, but this'll just take a few minutes.
A few minutes, a day.
I don't have the time or the inclination.
All right? Well, that's fine.
Fine.
Why don't I just jot down what you told me and I'll bring it by for you to sign? It would just say that you never knew Jessup.
No! I'm sorry.
I don't know where everybody got the idea that I was George's lover in the first place.
Yes, where indeed? Mr.
Magnum, you've worn out your welcome.
Now, would you please leave? I'm just trying to You're trying to talk my wife out of something she's handwritten.
Why? And don't tell me it has anything to do with your records.
Look, Lacy has a letter written by this Laurie to Jessup.
Now, this whole thing could be cleared up by a simple handwriting comparison.
Look, we've tried being very nice about this, but if you and those country music people don't stop bothering us, I'm gonna call the police.
Excuse me a second.
"Those country music people"? A Nashville publisher, yesterday after you left and early today.
Believe me, we would gladly take their million if we had the songs, but we don't.
Now you listen to me very carefully.
My wife is not your Laurie.
Sweet, sad and wild We're like a flaming rocket That bursts and then it dies 'Cause after cheating kisses, honey Comes the hurting time Yeah, you got it.
After cheating kisses, honey Comes the hurting time First recorded on March 4, 1953.
Well, I couldn't say for sure.
We cut a lot of songs.
Well, I'd best get back to work.
Higgins, you know, I'd feel a lot better about taking your offer of a room if I could help out around here.
Well, now you could tune Mr.
Lahani's third.
It's a hair out again.
Extraordinary.
I'm not familiar with that music.
Late French? No, it's early Lacy Fletcher.
I really used to be into classical stuff.
Has it ever been performed publicly? No, I'm afraid not.
Never could come up with a decent set of lyrics for it.
I'm quite serious, Lacy.
The Oahu String Quartet would be most honored to premier it.
Well, that's very flattering, Higgins, but Hey, there's no way I could score that in two days.
Lacy? Hey, any luck? Did you get it? Lacy, who's Billy Cockrell? How much did he offer them? A million, and still bidding.
That sneaking Damn! I knew it! The only other person that knows that she's got them and we must've led him right to her! Oh, well, never mind.
I gotta stop him from getting Georgie's stuff.
Calm down, Lacy.
The Cranes didn't accept it.
They're not admitting Oh, sure! Why not wait till he goes to two million? Robin Masters' estate.
Lacy, wait a minute.
No! Whatever I have to do, Billy Cockrell is not getting those songs.
Yes, one moment.
A woman.
Why does she have this number? Because I wanted to be sure she could reach me.
Hello? - Mr.
Magnum? I'm here, Mrs.
Crane.
Well? I don't understand.
You asked for the meeting.
Yes.
And you asked for a sample of my handwriting.
But what you were really interested in is seeing if I'd react to the mention of a letter.
May I see it, please? I don't have it.
Lacy never lets it out of his sight.
I'm sure he would, for the right arrangement.
Mrs.
Crane, that letter's never been opened.
I think that it would mean a lot to Lacy just to give it back to the real Laurie.
Songs or no songs.
The only arrangement he wants is for her to say that she loved George Lee Jessup.
That's not possible.
Maybe even sometime when Desmond isn't around? You were married to him then, weren't you? I checked your marriage license.
Is that what was in the letter? I wrote it the night George was killed.
When he called that night and told me that he'd gotten me a transfer, I'm afraid I'm sure I was very abrupt.
I just said, "No.
" After saying, "How soon?" For three years.
But you kept on saying, "How soon?" even after you were married to someone else? Well, after George was famous, I started reading about somebody I didn't know.
Cancelled performances, bar fights, and the phone calls.
He sounded so different.
So important, I guess.
I really thought that he'd just meet somebody else and forget me.
But he didn't.
Okay.
But after you were married to Desmond.
Why the charade? Apparently you convinced Jessup that he could only reach you at this one phone and only on Saturday nights? He trusted me.
I He believed if whatever I told him.
I didn't know how to destroy that trust.
Or maybe you didn't want to.
I did love him.
They're really beautiful.
I'll miss them.
What about the letter? I just didn't want Des to ever see it.
He probably wouldn't have Wouldn't have minded.
Here they are, Billy.
You know the chances of ever retrieving them are minimal.
I have a very short list of suspects.
Billy Cockrell.
Rick's checking out the license.
If I'm lucky, it'll be a rental in Billy's name.
Look, are you sure that Lacy said he was going back to Pearl? Because I'm gonna call the security gate and see if they'll go find him.
Lacy will know what's happened soon enough.
Isn't there someone else who should be notified first? She now runs a great danger of being exposed.
She should have the opportunity to explain to her husband.
Crane residence.
Tanaka.
Lieutenant? Magnum? I was calling for Mrs.
Crane.
Why are you answering the phone? Because she can't.
Get over here, Magnum.
I want to know the details of your business with the late Laurie Crane.
A neighbor heard a shot and called us.
We notified him at the office.
Why were you calling her, Magnum? I'm sorry, Mr.
Crane.
Yes.
I imagine you would be.
Tell me, were those songs really worth Laurie's life? There is no reason to think there's any connection between what happened and the search for these songs.
Well, why don't we let the police decide that.
Now where's Lacy Fletcher and that publisher? Are we by any chance discussing clients of yours? A client, Lieutenant.
Yes, and Lacy did hire me to find Laurie Crane, but He hired you to harass her into admitting that she was having an affair with a singer.
He had her so upset.
- No! I did not harass her.
Look, Mr.
Crane, you don't know the whole story about Lacy.
If you did, you'd know the last thing he'd want is something to happen to Laurie.
It's not that I question your judgment of character, Magnum, but where do I find him? He'll be at the estate after you've finished your questioning here.
What? I mean, do you always work until after 8 p.
m.
At your office, Mr.
Crane? Yes, as a matter of fact, I do.
When it's necessary.
And was it necessary tonight? I mean, if she was as upset as you say she was, shouldn't you have been here with her? That's enough! I can do my job without help.
And you and Fletcher be around when I call.
It's done, Higgins.
Actually, it was a lot easier than I expected.
You did this entire score this evening? Yeah, well, I I needed something to get my mind off of things.
She was such a Such a sweet person.
He got away with murdering Georgie.
I'm not gonna let him get away with this.
Do you really believe that? All that reading that you've done on Georgie and you don't know about Billy? Well, I've read most everything written about the accident, yes.
Accident, hell! Lacy, I'm sorry, but by your own accounts, Billy Cockrell was guilty of nothing more than an irresponsible act.
Hey, listen, he knew that there was no way that we could get to Richmond with Georgie flying us.
He knew that.
He wanted it to happen.
To my way of thinking, that's just as much a murder as what he done tonight.
Why would he kill her, Lacy? He already had the songs.
Yeah.
So Higgins told me.
Thanks to you, he's probably halfway to Nashville by now.
And thanks a lot for sneaking off and seeing Laurie without letting me know.
What time did you see her? Magnum, Lacy was here scoring his composition since soon after you left.
Except he didn't go to Pearl today.
They have no record of him coming through the security gate.
Now, where were you, Lacy? Oh, come on, Lacy.
Tanaka's talking to Crane right now, then you're next.
Now, I need some answers before he gets here! Now what time did you see Laurie Crane? It's a fact that I was there, is it? Yes! Unless you can produce that letter.
Unopened.
Well, come on, Lacy.
You never let it out of your sight! You really believe that I could hurt her? She meant everything to Georgie.
I'll know more about what I believe when you tell me what happened.
Well, you're gonna have a long wait.
Because the only proof I got is still my word.
You can take it or leave it.
Sorry, Thomas.
That limo's registered to a Lem Tomkins up the north shore.
Exit your Billy Cockrell theory.
What's the address? You don't wanna go there.
Come on, Rick.
Okay.
Fine.
But count me out.
That's no place for a nice kid from Chicago to be seen after dark.
When I die, I may not go to heaven I don't know if they let cowboys in If they don't Just let me go to Texas, boys 'Cause Texas is as close as I've been New York couldn't hold my attention And Detroit city couldn't sing the song Where is he? Do you see him? Wait a minute, T.
C.
It's only just a hunch that he's here.
I won't care 'Cause at least I'll know I'm home When I die, I may not go to heaven Well, maybe it's more than a hunch.
Look, Lacy described him as big and mean-Iooking with red hair.
Well, there are about six guys and three women that fit that description.
Over 50, and he's almost always in a suit.
Listen, oh, there's one more thing I should explain Where's Rick? Rick? Rick who? T.
C.
, come on! Come on, T.
C! Come on, Cockrell, where is he? What have you done with him? No, no, no, no.
Wait a minute now! Come on! They don't have Rick.
I lied.
I made it up.
I'm sorry.
Now give me the songs, Billy! The songs? You told me they kidnapped Rick just so you could send me on a wild goose chase over those stupid No, T.
C.
, they're real! Real? Then you conned me here as backup.
No, I don't need a backup.
Because Billy's gonna give me those songs.
Right, Billy? Hey, come on, I didn't mean for those guys to rough you up.
In fact, I told them not to! Just give me the songs! Yes, and they had better be real! 'Cause if you pulled this backup con for nothing I don't need a backup, T.
C.
And there's not gonna be any trouble.
Now, just give me the songs, Billy.
Been mistreated When will I be loved? Right.
No trouble.
No backup.
I've been lied to I'll handle this.
When will I be loved? Hey, come on, you guys.
They weren't doing anything! Cool it! Cool it! No, no, no, no! Let them go on.
He's doing fine.
Always breaks my heart in two You better throw wide and duck.
It happens every time I've been cheated If all this is over these, take them.
They're not worth a dime.
What are you talking about? T.
C? Wait a minute.
Aren't these the lost songs? Yeah, yeah.
There's Jessup's name on the top of all of them.
Georgie couldn't write that high-class eighth and quarter note stuff.
He used the Nashville Number System.
Any expert would laugh you out of the room if you tried to pass that off as his work.
It happens every time See, no backup.
I've been cheated Been mistreated Junk.
When will I be loved? Higgins, where's Lacy? I I suppose he went on to bed.
I just checked his room.
He's not there, and all his stuff's gone.
Well, I don't understand.
We were listening to yesterday's quartet rehearsal.
Jessup's songs? I don't know.
Did you ever hear of the Nashville Number System? Well, yes, of course.
It's a very simple method of musical notation created by By country writers who couldn't read music? Like George Lee Jessup.
But the chord patterns are vintage Jessup.
They're unmistakable.
Or vintage Fletcher? You looked for him on the hospital grounds, of course? He hasn't been there.
I've checked hotels, all-night bars.
I don't know.
Maybe he took a red-eye back to Nashville.
Lieutenant Tanaka was quite upset to find both you and Lacy gone.
He cryptically assured me that you should not feel alone in your search.
Come on, he put out an APB on Lacy? Magnum, Lacy's fingerprints were all over the room where Laurie Crane was murdered.
Okay, fine, Higgins, he was there! He wanted to give her the letter.
But he certainly wouldn't hurt the one person that Jessup really cared for.
No.
A very complete and complex devotion.
Odd that the fifth song should be missing from so cherished a collection.
I'm more interested in why that letter is missing.
Well, its disposition hardly seems important under the circumstances.
Higgins, whoever killed her thought it was very important or it wouldn't have disappeared.
She told you the letter was nothing more than a rambling confession to Jessup about her marriage.
Right.
But did she ever confess the whole thing to the guy she was married to? It doesn't matter what she confessed, Magnum.
Crane did all the confessing I can handle this morning.
So you got him downtown? No.
His story didn't add up.
Details he couldn't cover.
And the lamps and the tables, they were overturned too neatly.
I know a staged job when I see one.
And he finally broke and told me the truth.
Her letter to Jessup must've been more brutal than she remembered.
She had a prior history.
It was thoughtful of your client to drop it on her.
But what can you expect? The guy's a real basket case.
Nashville police report? Twelve counts of assault.
And he even sings on street corners.
Lieutenant, he sings everywhere.
I mean, come on, he's harmless.
Look, all these counts are related.
He only goes after people who are insulting to George Lee.
Where's Crane? Lacy? I'm over here, Crane! Believe me, you needed no cheap, second letter blackmail lie to meet with me.
Well, I needed something to get you out here.
Where a good man really loved the woman that you murdered.
You're accusing me? You and that letter, that's why Laurie's dead.
She finally stopped blaming herself until you came along.
And then she had to Then she had to remember what she had written to that drunken, trashy Here.
She couldn't part with that one.
Why the hell did you have to come looking for those childish, maudlin songs? You read Georgie's letter Private letter? I didn't have to read it.
I knew about the affair from the night she wrote that letter to Jessup.
You didn't know till last night, and you couldn't stand to find out that she loved Georgie more than you.
We were married a whole year before that plane crash.
That's a lie! She was coming to marry Georgie.
Me! She was married to me! But she blamed herself.
Because she thought that he was drunk that night because she said no to him.
That's a lie! You read the letter and couldn't take it! She didn't even remember his name.
I actually convinced her that she never met him.
She loved Georgie.
She was Georgie's.
She was mine! Lacy, stop! Leave us alone! He killed her.
No! It was suicide.
This time I wasn't there to stop her.
So you destroyed the letter and made it look like she was murdered, Desmond.
Why? Laurie didn't deserve the scandal of suicide.
It wasn't her fault.
It wasn't her fault? Will the two of you just stop? Look what you're doing to yourselves.
You'd stand here and kill each other before you'd admit that those two weren't saints! Desmond, Laurie had real emotional problems.
You're just gonna have to accept that.
And live with it.
And, Lacy I mean, can you even remember that you're the real talent behind Jessup? You wrote all those hits.
No, no, they was Georgie's.
Fine, fine.
So you don't want the truth known.
But at least admit it to yourself.
I got the other four from Billy.
They're all the same.
Five million shot to hell.
Well, there goes the museum, Georgie.
A museum? Don't you think you've done enough for Georgie? No, you can't do enough.
He was special.
Special.
That's why that he needed special songs.
Songs that he wrote himself, so So people would know that he was singing from the heart.
Oh, well.
If he'd just copied the first ones like I thought he did, like we'd done all the rest, they'd all be monsters.
Instead of my useless tunes.
Doesn't that kind of say something about how special he was? Hmm? They were both special.
Lacy, they could all be chartbusters if you'd just listen to reason.
You mind holding it down? I'm trying to listen to my piece.
Do you mind? Lacy, come on now.
Billy's trying to end the war.
What do you want? Nothing, not from him.
Yeah, well, you're gonna get it.
I wanna record those songs and give you all the royalties.
But you gotta do them as Lacy Fletcher tunes.
Over my dead body.
You're trying to make a fool out of Georgie.
No, damn it, I'm just trying to make things up to him and you! Guys, come on.
Everyone can hear you.
Please.
The money from those songs could build that museum you want.
And if it don't, I'll put in the rest of the money.
But I want to do them as your songs, Lacy.
I won't see you lie for Georgie anymore.
Ladies and gentlemen, it is a great honor to present the composer of the beautiful piece we have just premiered.
Mr.
Lacy Fletcher.
Thank you.
I appreciate it.
I know this isn't exactly the place for country, but I got another little premiere here for you, if you don't mind.
This is one of five songs that Well, they're all gonna be classics because they were all written by the great George Lee Jessup.
And I had the wonderful privilege of writing down the notes for him.
I'm a thousand miles from nowhere Near the flashing neon lights And I'll try to get through One more Ionely night People keep on moving Just filling up the space All I keep on seeing Is the memory of your face I just want to hold you And listen deep within Listen to the music That let me live again Let me hear the music That keeps my world in time Let me hear the music And let me hear the rhyme
And Thomas and his assistants are going to split 10%.
Believe me, if any of my nurses had been the object of five beautiful love songs, I'd have known about it.
Whatever I have to do, Billy Cockrell is not getting those songs.
She's got them and we must've led him right to her.
You tell me T.
C? You better throw wide and duck.
Come on, you guys.
Last word woman, don't say please Last word woman I'm down on my knees And I'm not the first man that told you goodbye Let me be the first to ask for one last try I'll give you the last word about my money I'll give you the last word about my time I'll give you the last word until the day I die If your last word in my life is goodbye Yes, your last word in my life Is goodbye Thank you all.
Thank you, folks.
Thank you.
Thank you all.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Georgie, hey, come on.
Get up.
Are you okay? I'm okay.
You get him back out there.
Contract says encore.
That was an encore.
Hey, get her on the phone for me, Lacy, will you? I wanna give her the good news.
George Lee Jessup! Yes, now, folks, are we gonna let him get away without one more song? No! No! Operator? Get me Honolulu, Hawaii.
Georgie, hey, you know, listen.
We'll call her from Richmond.
I can have us there in an hour.
Billy, leave him alone! One more song! One more song! George Lee Jessup! He's drunker than hell.
His fans have seen him tanked up before.
It don't bother them.
Why, because you say it don't? Drop it, Billy.
Get the rest of the boys and head for the car.
One more song! One more song! George Lee Jessup! One more song! One more song! George Lee Jessup! Here you go, Georgie.
She's on.
Thanks, Lacy.
Laurie? Hey, baby.
Are you sitting down? Yeah, we're finally gonna do it, honey.
Pack up your uniforms.
Well, I mean, I found me a general who loves my music, and he's gonna get you a transfer to one of them bases in Texas till your discharge papers come through.
And I play Dallas next week.
Now what do you think of that? I'm asking you politely now.
Please step on back.
Hey, we're gonna get married there.
Hey, Laurie, come on now, baby.
Now quit kidding around, now.
You! You! Stop shoving, now.
Now, Laurie, I said, now quit kidding around, baby.
Laurie? Hey, let's get this thing in the air fast.
Talk to Georgie.
I ain't the pilot.
Hey! What do you mean? Of course you're the pilot.
No, Lacy, that's what I wound up being.
I'm a good picker and I'm a good writer and I'm sick of flying and playing bass and getting pushed around by the big star's flunky.
Will you get serious, Billy? You mean to tell me you'd let Georgie take us up tonight? You know he's had too much.
And he and Laurie just had a big spat.
Lacy, those are his problems and yours.
I'm on the next bus back to Nashville.
Damn right! Hey, Georgie, I'll get us a hotel here tonight.
George Billy, please.
Georgie! No, no, no, no.
Pianissimo, ladies and gentlemen, please.
All I'm hearing is one harsh, constant Thomas, can't you turn that thing down? Magnum, stop playing that record immediately! Higgins, now, listen, I'm sorry I disturbed your rehearsal, but I had to listen to it that loud in order to hear the lyrics for clues! No, it's all in the line of work.
Higgins, don't break it! Now, it belongs to the library and it's One of George Lee Jessup's rarest recordings and you may very well have damaged the grooves with this modern stylus! You're into this hillbilly yuck? This hillbilly yuck happens to trace its roots back to the Saxon folk ballads.
Yeah, well, fortunately, Higgins, we don't have to go back that far.
No, your research, I'm sure, begins and ends with 1954.
Higgins You got it! Five million bucks of this guy's old records laying around.
And Thomas and his assistants are gonna split 10%% just for finding the stuff.
Yes, the lost Jessup songs could easily be that valuable if they existed.
They do not.
Higgins, this doesn't concern you.
What concerns me is that you could so easily be duped by such a ridiculous myth.
Every moment of Jessup's hospitalization here has been researched.
There was no nurse, no love affair and therefore, no songs.
Well, yes, the client does admit that no one else has any faith in the songs but him.
But you saw no reason to bring this up before you conned us into this? I didn't con you! This guy has proof! There's five lost songs worth about a million dollars apiece.
That's absurd.
How could he possibly know the exact number? Because he's an expert! Well, no true expert would dare to attempt to determine the value of works by a legend like Jessup.
Hold it! Just hold it! You two guys are arguing about songs that don't even exist? Yes! No! You can count me out.
No! Wait, T.
C.
, Higgins is wrong! Well, that's a pretty good fiddle.
The A string's just a hair sharp.
What's the meaning of this? Oh, it just means that his A's not a perfect fifth from his D.
Who are you? How did you get on the estate? And what manner of man simply picks up a $20,000 violin and plays it without asking permission? Well, Lacy Fletcher's the name.
I come by taxi.
And what manner of man asks a fiddle if it wants to be played? Something wrong, Higgins? Thomas Magnum, Lacy.
I'm sorry I didn't pick you up at the airport.
That's all right.
You didn't have to hire a band to welcome me.
The band is the Oahu String Quartet, Mr.
Fletcher.
We're rehearsing for our maiden recital.
I'm Jonathan Higgins, the conductor, and it's a great honor to meet you.
Likewise.
That's Theodore Calvin.
Rick Wright.
They're helping me out on the case.
Wrong, wrong.
No offense, Lacy, but from what I understand, no one else believes these songs exist.
Including George Lee Jessup's closest friend.
At least that's what he's always told the press.
Correct, Mr.
Fletcher? I thought you told me on the phone that you were a private investigator? Now, wait a minute, Lacy.
Wait, nothing! I've been waiting for 30 years.
Lying to the press, everybody, 'cause if those songs had been found before now, Georgie's estate would've got them.
Well, the time finally comes when whoever finds them, gets them.
And the one person that I tell my secret to has got to blab it all over the island.
Hey, hey, nobody's trying to steal your songs.
In fact, as far as I'm concerned, you're the only one that believes in them.
Mr.
Fletcher, do you have proof that the songs exist? Yeah.
My word.
And this.
Probably all you'll need to find Laurie.
But how could he have called her at the same pay phone every Saturday night, for over a year? Lacy? Lacy! Well, maybe, she lived in the WAC barracks.
Well, fine.
Then all four of the Lauries there in '54 could've used it.
Well, then you just got to look up the pay phones in the different barrack hallways.
Lacy, it's not that simple.
The phones aren't listed numerically.
We could be here all night.
Well, I could've hired anybody to complain.
You gotta expect to put out a little effort for your $500,000.
Put out a little A half day at the Army archives, another half day here.
A whole day with Ms.
Jones at the hall of records.
Put out a little Mr.
And Mrs.
Jones, if you please And the desk clerk smirks on hands and knees Lacy.
Lacy.
Lacy.
Please.
I'm sorry, but two straight days of non-stop country gold is a lot.
Could we just take a break? Hey, break ball don't have to fall on me.
Fine.
Thank you.
You know what? I've been meaning to ask you.
Why didn't you call her at that pay phone after the plane crash? Well, I did.
Soon as I got out of the hospital.
It was disconnected.
What? The five-digit number wasn't converted? Why didn't you tell me? Well, what difference does it make? The difference is, I would've been looking in the right place.
Now, when did you call her? Well, it was early November, 1954.
Why? Lacy, those old phone numbers are listed by their cut-off date.
Right.
Here it is.
"Removed 11-2-54 from Pearl Harbor Hospital nurses' lounge.
" Nurses Hey, you're cooking.
I can tell.
Right, huh? Prince, Prince.
"Sergeant Laura Johnson Prince, "discharged May 1955, married to Desmond.
" Lacy, she's still living here on the island.
Hey, that's great.
Maybe the other three are, too, then, huh? Yeah, but the other three weren't working next to that pay phone all of 1954.
Hey, I think you got it.
But I'm afraid I've never even heard of your Mr.
Jessup.
Well, at least I've heard the name.
He was a cowboy singer in the '50s, wasn't he? Country music artist.
There's a difference.
I see.
I'm sorry.
Mrs.
Crane, are you sure that none of the other Lauries on that list could have worked near that telephone? Well, not in '54.
I was the ward nurses' supervisor.
You positive this woman was enlisted? Yes, ma'am.
She was a WAC.
There's no doubt about it.
Georgie couldn't talk about anything else except when she was gonna get her discharge papers.
Wait a minute.
This was a long time ago.
Honey, you don't recall a girl saying that she had a boyfriend who wrote country tunes? I'm afraid not.
Believe me, if any of my nurses had been the object of five beautiful love songs, I'd have known about it.
Young ladies have a tendency to brag about that sort of thing.
- That woman is lying.
- Now, wait a minute.
She didn't deserve Georgie.
Lacy.
Hey, Magnum.
Well, I found it.
Right here's the place.
This is where he wrote the song.
See, he had this real bad shrapnel wound that he got over there in Korea I know, Lacy.
Yeah, they sent him over here I know, you told me.
Yeah.
To the hospital.
That's the retainer you gave me.
You don't think that there is a case.
Oh It doesn't really matter what I believe, Lacy.
I know it's not in you to doubt Jessup.
That's right.
One thing about Georgie, he never lied.
Well, fine.
Fine.
But George Lee Jessup's word is not a lead.
And the only tangible one you gave me is gone.
You're wrong.
You're dead wrong.
That phone number did its job.
It led us to Laurie.
So you keep telling me, but you've got absolutely no proof.
Don't I? Let me ask you something, Magnum.
How did she know that there were just five songs? Five? Yeah.
That's what she said yesterday, "Five beautiful songs.
" Now, nobody knew the exact number, except me and her and Georgie.
And you're the first person that I've ever told.
Maybe she made a wild guess.
I'm sorry, Lacy, it's not enough.
Well, okay, all right.
You get me a copy of her handwriting, and I'll give you all the proof that you want.
Well, I guess I got no choice but to trust you all the way.
Here, hold this.
There was this private box where I used to pick up Georgie's letters from her.
It was a kind of a secret thing.
Now, this letter here Well, she evidently hadn't heard about the accident when she wrote it.
It was in the box when I got out of the hospital.
It's never been opened.
I know.
That's Georgie's private mail.
Private? Lacy, he's been dead for 30 years.
You never opened this, knowing Hey, listen, I looked after Georgie's privacy when he was alive.
Well, I'm sure not gonna start peeking in his keyholes now.
Well, you're asking me to peek into Laurie Crane's, without good reason.
I've played a darn good poker hand, waiting out that copyright.
You know, when I told everybody that there wasn't any more songs, and they believed me.
Now it comes time to pick up the pot and Well, I need some help.
I hocked everything that I got to make this trip.
If I go back empty-handed Well, I guess you'd say that I'm finished.
That seems like reason enough to me to get one little old handwriting sample.
I'll talk to her again.
Alone.
Yeah.
Talk to me about what, Mr.
Magnum? Well, I was wondering if you could just give me a short written statement verifying what you told me yesterday.
Just for my records.
I fail to see why I should have to verify anything.
Well, no, no, but this'll just take a few minutes.
A few minutes, a day.
I don't have the time or the inclination.
All right? Well, that's fine.
Fine.
Why don't I just jot down what you told me and I'll bring it by for you to sign? It would just say that you never knew Jessup.
No! I'm sorry.
I don't know where everybody got the idea that I was George's lover in the first place.
Yes, where indeed? Mr.
Magnum, you've worn out your welcome.
Now, would you please leave? I'm just trying to You're trying to talk my wife out of something she's handwritten.
Why? And don't tell me it has anything to do with your records.
Look, Lacy has a letter written by this Laurie to Jessup.
Now, this whole thing could be cleared up by a simple handwriting comparison.
Look, we've tried being very nice about this, but if you and those country music people don't stop bothering us, I'm gonna call the police.
Excuse me a second.
"Those country music people"? A Nashville publisher, yesterday after you left and early today.
Believe me, we would gladly take their million if we had the songs, but we don't.
Now you listen to me very carefully.
My wife is not your Laurie.
Sweet, sad and wild We're like a flaming rocket That bursts and then it dies 'Cause after cheating kisses, honey Comes the hurting time Yeah, you got it.
After cheating kisses, honey Comes the hurting time First recorded on March 4, 1953.
Well, I couldn't say for sure.
We cut a lot of songs.
Well, I'd best get back to work.
Higgins, you know, I'd feel a lot better about taking your offer of a room if I could help out around here.
Well, now you could tune Mr.
Lahani's third.
It's a hair out again.
Extraordinary.
I'm not familiar with that music.
Late French? No, it's early Lacy Fletcher.
I really used to be into classical stuff.
Has it ever been performed publicly? No, I'm afraid not.
Never could come up with a decent set of lyrics for it.
I'm quite serious, Lacy.
The Oahu String Quartet would be most honored to premier it.
Well, that's very flattering, Higgins, but Hey, there's no way I could score that in two days.
Lacy? Hey, any luck? Did you get it? Lacy, who's Billy Cockrell? How much did he offer them? A million, and still bidding.
That sneaking Damn! I knew it! The only other person that knows that she's got them and we must've led him right to her! Oh, well, never mind.
I gotta stop him from getting Georgie's stuff.
Calm down, Lacy.
The Cranes didn't accept it.
They're not admitting Oh, sure! Why not wait till he goes to two million? Robin Masters' estate.
Lacy, wait a minute.
No! Whatever I have to do, Billy Cockrell is not getting those songs.
Yes, one moment.
A woman.
Why does she have this number? Because I wanted to be sure she could reach me.
Hello? - Mr.
Magnum? I'm here, Mrs.
Crane.
Well? I don't understand.
You asked for the meeting.
Yes.
And you asked for a sample of my handwriting.
But what you were really interested in is seeing if I'd react to the mention of a letter.
May I see it, please? I don't have it.
Lacy never lets it out of his sight.
I'm sure he would, for the right arrangement.
Mrs.
Crane, that letter's never been opened.
I think that it would mean a lot to Lacy just to give it back to the real Laurie.
Songs or no songs.
The only arrangement he wants is for her to say that she loved George Lee Jessup.
That's not possible.
Maybe even sometime when Desmond isn't around? You were married to him then, weren't you? I checked your marriage license.
Is that what was in the letter? I wrote it the night George was killed.
When he called that night and told me that he'd gotten me a transfer, I'm afraid I'm sure I was very abrupt.
I just said, "No.
" After saying, "How soon?" For three years.
But you kept on saying, "How soon?" even after you were married to someone else? Well, after George was famous, I started reading about somebody I didn't know.
Cancelled performances, bar fights, and the phone calls.
He sounded so different.
So important, I guess.
I really thought that he'd just meet somebody else and forget me.
But he didn't.
Okay.
But after you were married to Desmond.
Why the charade? Apparently you convinced Jessup that he could only reach you at this one phone and only on Saturday nights? He trusted me.
I He believed if whatever I told him.
I didn't know how to destroy that trust.
Or maybe you didn't want to.
I did love him.
They're really beautiful.
I'll miss them.
What about the letter? I just didn't want Des to ever see it.
He probably wouldn't have Wouldn't have minded.
Here they are, Billy.
You know the chances of ever retrieving them are minimal.
I have a very short list of suspects.
Billy Cockrell.
Rick's checking out the license.
If I'm lucky, it'll be a rental in Billy's name.
Look, are you sure that Lacy said he was going back to Pearl? Because I'm gonna call the security gate and see if they'll go find him.
Lacy will know what's happened soon enough.
Isn't there someone else who should be notified first? She now runs a great danger of being exposed.
She should have the opportunity to explain to her husband.
Crane residence.
Tanaka.
Lieutenant? Magnum? I was calling for Mrs.
Crane.
Why are you answering the phone? Because she can't.
Get over here, Magnum.
I want to know the details of your business with the late Laurie Crane.
A neighbor heard a shot and called us.
We notified him at the office.
Why were you calling her, Magnum? I'm sorry, Mr.
Crane.
Yes.
I imagine you would be.
Tell me, were those songs really worth Laurie's life? There is no reason to think there's any connection between what happened and the search for these songs.
Well, why don't we let the police decide that.
Now where's Lacy Fletcher and that publisher? Are we by any chance discussing clients of yours? A client, Lieutenant.
Yes, and Lacy did hire me to find Laurie Crane, but He hired you to harass her into admitting that she was having an affair with a singer.
He had her so upset.
- No! I did not harass her.
Look, Mr.
Crane, you don't know the whole story about Lacy.
If you did, you'd know the last thing he'd want is something to happen to Laurie.
It's not that I question your judgment of character, Magnum, but where do I find him? He'll be at the estate after you've finished your questioning here.
What? I mean, do you always work until after 8 p.
m.
At your office, Mr.
Crane? Yes, as a matter of fact, I do.
When it's necessary.
And was it necessary tonight? I mean, if she was as upset as you say she was, shouldn't you have been here with her? That's enough! I can do my job without help.
And you and Fletcher be around when I call.
It's done, Higgins.
Actually, it was a lot easier than I expected.
You did this entire score this evening? Yeah, well, I I needed something to get my mind off of things.
She was such a Such a sweet person.
He got away with murdering Georgie.
I'm not gonna let him get away with this.
Do you really believe that? All that reading that you've done on Georgie and you don't know about Billy? Well, I've read most everything written about the accident, yes.
Accident, hell! Lacy, I'm sorry, but by your own accounts, Billy Cockrell was guilty of nothing more than an irresponsible act.
Hey, listen, he knew that there was no way that we could get to Richmond with Georgie flying us.
He knew that.
He wanted it to happen.
To my way of thinking, that's just as much a murder as what he done tonight.
Why would he kill her, Lacy? He already had the songs.
Yeah.
So Higgins told me.
Thanks to you, he's probably halfway to Nashville by now.
And thanks a lot for sneaking off and seeing Laurie without letting me know.
What time did you see her? Magnum, Lacy was here scoring his composition since soon after you left.
Except he didn't go to Pearl today.
They have no record of him coming through the security gate.
Now, where were you, Lacy? Oh, come on, Lacy.
Tanaka's talking to Crane right now, then you're next.
Now, I need some answers before he gets here! Now what time did you see Laurie Crane? It's a fact that I was there, is it? Yes! Unless you can produce that letter.
Unopened.
Well, come on, Lacy.
You never let it out of your sight! You really believe that I could hurt her? She meant everything to Georgie.
I'll know more about what I believe when you tell me what happened.
Well, you're gonna have a long wait.
Because the only proof I got is still my word.
You can take it or leave it.
Sorry, Thomas.
That limo's registered to a Lem Tomkins up the north shore.
Exit your Billy Cockrell theory.
What's the address? You don't wanna go there.
Come on, Rick.
Okay.
Fine.
But count me out.
That's no place for a nice kid from Chicago to be seen after dark.
When I die, I may not go to heaven I don't know if they let cowboys in If they don't Just let me go to Texas, boys 'Cause Texas is as close as I've been New York couldn't hold my attention And Detroit city couldn't sing the song Where is he? Do you see him? Wait a minute, T.
C.
It's only just a hunch that he's here.
I won't care 'Cause at least I'll know I'm home When I die, I may not go to heaven Well, maybe it's more than a hunch.
Look, Lacy described him as big and mean-Iooking with red hair.
Well, there are about six guys and three women that fit that description.
Over 50, and he's almost always in a suit.
Listen, oh, there's one more thing I should explain Where's Rick? Rick? Rick who? T.
C.
, come on! Come on, T.
C! Come on, Cockrell, where is he? What have you done with him? No, no, no, no.
Wait a minute now! Come on! They don't have Rick.
I lied.
I made it up.
I'm sorry.
Now give me the songs, Billy! The songs? You told me they kidnapped Rick just so you could send me on a wild goose chase over those stupid No, T.
C.
, they're real! Real? Then you conned me here as backup.
No, I don't need a backup.
Because Billy's gonna give me those songs.
Right, Billy? Hey, come on, I didn't mean for those guys to rough you up.
In fact, I told them not to! Just give me the songs! Yes, and they had better be real! 'Cause if you pulled this backup con for nothing I don't need a backup, T.
C.
And there's not gonna be any trouble.
Now, just give me the songs, Billy.
Been mistreated When will I be loved? Right.
No trouble.
No backup.
I've been lied to I'll handle this.
When will I be loved? Hey, come on, you guys.
They weren't doing anything! Cool it! Cool it! No, no, no, no! Let them go on.
He's doing fine.
Always breaks my heart in two You better throw wide and duck.
It happens every time I've been cheated If all this is over these, take them.
They're not worth a dime.
What are you talking about? T.
C? Wait a minute.
Aren't these the lost songs? Yeah, yeah.
There's Jessup's name on the top of all of them.
Georgie couldn't write that high-class eighth and quarter note stuff.
He used the Nashville Number System.
Any expert would laugh you out of the room if you tried to pass that off as his work.
It happens every time See, no backup.
I've been cheated Been mistreated Junk.
When will I be loved? Higgins, where's Lacy? I I suppose he went on to bed.
I just checked his room.
He's not there, and all his stuff's gone.
Well, I don't understand.
We were listening to yesterday's quartet rehearsal.
Jessup's songs? I don't know.
Did you ever hear of the Nashville Number System? Well, yes, of course.
It's a very simple method of musical notation created by By country writers who couldn't read music? Like George Lee Jessup.
But the chord patterns are vintage Jessup.
They're unmistakable.
Or vintage Fletcher? You looked for him on the hospital grounds, of course? He hasn't been there.
I've checked hotels, all-night bars.
I don't know.
Maybe he took a red-eye back to Nashville.
Lieutenant Tanaka was quite upset to find both you and Lacy gone.
He cryptically assured me that you should not feel alone in your search.
Come on, he put out an APB on Lacy? Magnum, Lacy's fingerprints were all over the room where Laurie Crane was murdered.
Okay, fine, Higgins, he was there! He wanted to give her the letter.
But he certainly wouldn't hurt the one person that Jessup really cared for.
No.
A very complete and complex devotion.
Odd that the fifth song should be missing from so cherished a collection.
I'm more interested in why that letter is missing.
Well, its disposition hardly seems important under the circumstances.
Higgins, whoever killed her thought it was very important or it wouldn't have disappeared.
She told you the letter was nothing more than a rambling confession to Jessup about her marriage.
Right.
But did she ever confess the whole thing to the guy she was married to? It doesn't matter what she confessed, Magnum.
Crane did all the confessing I can handle this morning.
So you got him downtown? No.
His story didn't add up.
Details he couldn't cover.
And the lamps and the tables, they were overturned too neatly.
I know a staged job when I see one.
And he finally broke and told me the truth.
Her letter to Jessup must've been more brutal than she remembered.
She had a prior history.
It was thoughtful of your client to drop it on her.
But what can you expect? The guy's a real basket case.
Nashville police report? Twelve counts of assault.
And he even sings on street corners.
Lieutenant, he sings everywhere.
I mean, come on, he's harmless.
Look, all these counts are related.
He only goes after people who are insulting to George Lee.
Where's Crane? Lacy? I'm over here, Crane! Believe me, you needed no cheap, second letter blackmail lie to meet with me.
Well, I needed something to get you out here.
Where a good man really loved the woman that you murdered.
You're accusing me? You and that letter, that's why Laurie's dead.
She finally stopped blaming herself until you came along.
And then she had to Then she had to remember what she had written to that drunken, trashy Here.
She couldn't part with that one.
Why the hell did you have to come looking for those childish, maudlin songs? You read Georgie's letter Private letter? I didn't have to read it.
I knew about the affair from the night she wrote that letter to Jessup.
You didn't know till last night, and you couldn't stand to find out that she loved Georgie more than you.
We were married a whole year before that plane crash.
That's a lie! She was coming to marry Georgie.
Me! She was married to me! But she blamed herself.
Because she thought that he was drunk that night because she said no to him.
That's a lie! You read the letter and couldn't take it! She didn't even remember his name.
I actually convinced her that she never met him.
She loved Georgie.
She was Georgie's.
She was mine! Lacy, stop! Leave us alone! He killed her.
No! It was suicide.
This time I wasn't there to stop her.
So you destroyed the letter and made it look like she was murdered, Desmond.
Why? Laurie didn't deserve the scandal of suicide.
It wasn't her fault.
It wasn't her fault? Will the two of you just stop? Look what you're doing to yourselves.
You'd stand here and kill each other before you'd admit that those two weren't saints! Desmond, Laurie had real emotional problems.
You're just gonna have to accept that.
And live with it.
And, Lacy I mean, can you even remember that you're the real talent behind Jessup? You wrote all those hits.
No, no, they was Georgie's.
Fine, fine.
So you don't want the truth known.
But at least admit it to yourself.
I got the other four from Billy.
They're all the same.
Five million shot to hell.
Well, there goes the museum, Georgie.
A museum? Don't you think you've done enough for Georgie? No, you can't do enough.
He was special.
Special.
That's why that he needed special songs.
Songs that he wrote himself, so So people would know that he was singing from the heart.
Oh, well.
If he'd just copied the first ones like I thought he did, like we'd done all the rest, they'd all be monsters.
Instead of my useless tunes.
Doesn't that kind of say something about how special he was? Hmm? They were both special.
Lacy, they could all be chartbusters if you'd just listen to reason.
You mind holding it down? I'm trying to listen to my piece.
Do you mind? Lacy, come on now.
Billy's trying to end the war.
What do you want? Nothing, not from him.
Yeah, well, you're gonna get it.
I wanna record those songs and give you all the royalties.
But you gotta do them as Lacy Fletcher tunes.
Over my dead body.
You're trying to make a fool out of Georgie.
No, damn it, I'm just trying to make things up to him and you! Guys, come on.
Everyone can hear you.
Please.
The money from those songs could build that museum you want.
And if it don't, I'll put in the rest of the money.
But I want to do them as your songs, Lacy.
I won't see you lie for Georgie anymore.
Ladies and gentlemen, it is a great honor to present the composer of the beautiful piece we have just premiered.
Mr.
Lacy Fletcher.
Thank you.
I appreciate it.
I know this isn't exactly the place for country, but I got another little premiere here for you, if you don't mind.
This is one of five songs that Well, they're all gonna be classics because they were all written by the great George Lee Jessup.
And I had the wonderful privilege of writing down the notes for him.
I'm a thousand miles from nowhere Near the flashing neon lights And I'll try to get through One more Ionely night People keep on moving Just filling up the space All I keep on seeing Is the memory of your face I just want to hold you And listen deep within Listen to the music That let me live again Let me hear the music That keeps my world in time Let me hear the music And let me hear the rhyme