Magnum, P.I. (1980–1988): Season 5, Episode 18 - Let Me Hear the Music - full transcript
Magnum is hired by a country and western singer who is looking for five songs written by his friend 30-years-ago.
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.
5-3-5-7-2.
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!
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.
5-3-5-7-2.
"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
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.
5-3-5-7-2.
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!
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.
5-3-5-7-2.
"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