Original subtitles

Hey, you know anything about music, Mrs. Fletcher? Just a little bit.

Welcome to Road Jam Records. Which novel are you recording? The Corpse Dance at

Midnight. Cool.

Was there a friend of mine there, a singer by the name of Piper? I think I

like him, Holly. Somehow I don't think of you as being into heavy metal, Mrs.

Fletcher. Top of the charts, right, kids? You're betting on Road Jam to go

in the toilet, huh? Fantasy land, my friend. You haven't forgotten where and

how we first met, have you? Don't do that to me, damn it. You mean there was

some emotional blackmail going on?

This isn't like one of your novels, eh?

So I called this young editor to ask him what he thought of my manuscript.

And he said, gee, I don't know.

I'm the only one who's read it.

Listen, believe me, the most difficult part of writing is actually getting

started. I mean, there's nothing so daunting as that blank piece of paper,

you know, staring right back at you. There you sit without an idea in your

head.

So that'll be the subject of our next special seminar.

In other words, how to jumpstart the process.

And in the meantime, I'd like each one of you, if you will, to bring me a five

-page character study about someone that you know.

So I'll see you next week. Thank you very much.

And they're even going to throw in a sound engineer for good measure. Well,

that's great, Holly.

You must have done some heavy-duty arm-twisting. Oh, I can't take the

credit. My friend Julie reminded them that you were taping one of your novels

for the blind, so the cost could be deducted as a charitable contribution.

Well, that's fantastic.

Only problem is, you'll have to record in the evenings, and Julie's asked...

If you could come in tomorrow for a photo session at 11.30 with her boss.

A photo session?

Yes.

Well, I guess so.

I've been considering his generosity.

Maybe you ought to tell me a little something about this music mogul of

yours, Freddie Major.

It's simple terms, Freddy. The deal means outright purchase of your company,

contracts, talent, licenses, catalogs, all buildings and studios.

Road Jam Records becomes a wholly owned subsidiary of Palladium Software.

Yes, but nothing changes. You still run the company just as always.

It's win-win, Mitch. Gonna be great all the way around.

There are some further conditions.

This late in the game? The financial partner wants absolute secrecy until the

papers are signed.

I can live with that.

Second, if Rojam loses anyone who's presently on the artist's roster, the

deal's off.

People drop dead, Mitch. Freddy, please. Exclusive of an act of God.

Now, you got this group, uh, Myra?

Mirabalus. Right.

Anyway, if that's what that clause is all about, that's to guarantee that

they're part of the package, too. Not a problem.

We're meeting with their manager tomorrow to renegotiate, but it's a done

deal. Good.

Now, lastly, you've got somebody running your A&R department, uh, Lefkoe. Yeah,

Rick's been with me since day one.

A background check picked up something that the Palladium family of companies

can't live with.

Lefkoe is mob-connected, and frankly, that's one of the reasons his job

performance at this company's losing ground.

Come on, Rick can't be blamed for that. Freddy, I understand what you're saying.

I respect your loyalty.

Lefkoe goes.

That's a tough one, Mitch.

Any time it hurts, Freddy, think about the windfall you're picking up with the

Palladium options. Freddy, think about how bad you need this.

On a happier note, Michelle here has the most exquisite little voice you ever

heard. Freddie, it'll cost us, but I have persuaded her to sign with the

company.

Smart move.

Welcome to Road Jam Records, Michelle.

Thank you.

How else is a broken-down piano player like you gonna know what's selling in

Michelle's market segment unless you plug into it? Case in point, last week,

a single came on the market, sold 75,000 copies. What was the name of it?

Deseret Times.

Willie Piper on Sly Records.

I understand that that was one of your engineers that moonlighted it. I want

Willie Piper and Sly Records in the deal.

You're saying that's another deal-breaker?

Hey, Freddy, for a tough player like you, how hard is that? I mean, who ever

heard of this guy?

He's not big yet, Mr. Major, but just you watch.

Remember, pal, Sunday's your deadline. All the pieces, Freddy, you deliver, I

deliver.

We have to wait a few minutes, Mrs. Fletcher.

Freddie Major has a photo session with a band called Mirabilis.

Mirabilis? Uh, don't they have a tune out, Burnt something or other?

Burnt Memories.

I had you packed for Lincoln Center type, and here you are jamming

Mirabilis. Well, I wouldn't say jamming, but I think I like their sound.

Okay.

Yeah. See you at four.

Oh, that's a great angle. Good, good.

Okay, let me get in this one, huh? Here we go.

Come on.

Top of the charts, right, kids?

You're on, Freddy. You too happy? Anything you need?

Nah. Okay, you're a true believer, aren't you?

I'm with you, Mr. Major.

All right, that'll do it, Mr. Major. Thanks, guys. See you Saturday.

Okay, let's just get one more.

Yeah, get in here. Okay, real tight now, okay?

Let's give it.

Hold on one minute.

Holly, hi.

Hi. This is my friend, J.B. Fletcher.

Julie Knight. Hello, Julie.

Thanks so much for your help. Oh, it's my pleasure.

It looks like we're ready for you. Oh, great.

Later, Mrs. Fletcher. Bye, Holly. Bye.

So,

tell me about the book you're recording with us, Mrs. Fletcher. Well, it's

called A Corpse Danced at Midnight, and I'm taping it for the blind.

We're certainly very grateful to you for the use of your studio and your

technicians. Yeah, sure.

Hey, you know anything about music, Mrs. Fletcher? Oh, just a little bit.

When I was a kid, my folks wanted me to enter the Tchaikovsky competition.

I was pretty good at the piano, but I wanted to write songs.

And the joke was, I was lousy at it.

Those two that just left, they have a tune that could be a rock classic called

Bulletproof. Only the sample bass line they're playing is wrong, and they don't

want to change it.

You hear this?

They go to the A when they should have stayed on the C.

It needs more tension.

Something like this.

All right, that'll do it, Mr. Major. Mrs. Fletcher, thank you very much.

Well, I couldn't make it as a songwriter, so now I'm Mr. Fix-It.

We're shooting the video this Saturday. Why don't you come? You'll give the

operation some class.

Well, I don't know about the class, but yes, I think that would be very

interesting. Thank you. Good.

Make the arrangements, will you?

Chuck, Rick, meet J.B. Fletcher, the writer. Hello, Rick Blufco. Hello.

Rick's vice president for artists and repertoire. And the one and only Charles

George Drexler, who manages Mirabilis.

How do you do?

We got a meeting?

Right, let's get started. Uh, show Mrs. Fletcher around, Julie. Sure.

Saturday? You bet.

Fine.

I'm taking Mrs. Fletcher on the tour, Holly.

Good. Don't forget tomorrow night.

What's tomorrow night?

I'm playing hooky, remember?

We have freebies to the Magnatech concert.

Magnatech? Oh, Magnatech? Yes. Oh, no, I hadn't forgotten.

I'll see you later.

Okay.

Somehow I don't think of you as being into heavy metal, Mrs. Fletcher. Well,

I'm not, but Holly is indoctrinating me into the cutting edge of pop.

Oh.

Sorry.

Fellas will make the deal simple.

It just boils down to dollars. Frankly, it's one I can make across town even as

we speak. But the kids say they like you, Freddie.

You've been good to them, and they want to stay with the Rojam Records.

Great. Give me the numbers.

Numbers work out to $3 million a year against profits, three years firm, 10%

bumps, and a signing bonus.

A million for the kids, a million for management.

Signing bonus?

And what's with this management crap? Hey, hey, hey, it's not out of line for

me to get something for keeping them here, Freddy.

As far as the dollars go, I'll remind you that Mirabilis was the only thing

that kept you in the black last year.

I'll be in my office till two.

I won't wait any longer than that.

No, I'm sorry.

You've run my A&R for 20 years, Rick.

How come all of a sudden we're at the mercy of a bloodsucker like Drexler?

Eh.

Nobody bats a thousand, Freddy.

You mean not since they took Plugola away from you.

Face it, that's when this company started going downhill.

This company wouldn't even be here today if it wasn't for the independent

promoters that I brought in. You mean the hoods? You didn't complain when you

had 10 in the top 40.

Don't badmouth your friends, Freddy.

It's not nice.

What? You're saying somebody will rearrange my face?

Huh?

Come on, Freddy.

Let me take you to lunch.

And the people said you're crazy, man. Why don't you just go away?

That's some guy called Willie Piper. He's done over 70,000 copies.

Yeah? What the hell do we buy him with? We don't.

Would you believe Willie Piper's producer is one of our engineers?

A guy named Paul Atkins.

Guess who washes Atkins' socks?

I give up. Our own director of press and artist development, Julie Knight.

stood in his shoes felt his hopeless heart beating felt his black and blues

they say the lord helps those who help themselves but damn it they'll help

someone else oh these are desperate times when a

man's got to live this way when all the people look and then just turn away

Don't seem to care anymore.

Ooh,

these are desperate times.

Where are the days of the helping hand?

Ooh, where did they go? I just don't understand.

Hi, sweetie. How are you?

Hi. Mrs.

Fletcher, this is my friend Paul Atkins. He'll be your engineer today. Oh, hello,

Paul. Hi, Mrs. Fletcher. Nice to meet you.

Thank you.

Well, that's a nice sound.

That's Willie Piper.

Willie, come here, man.

This is J.B. Fletcher.

She wrote all those novels you're always hollering about.

The J.B. Fletcher.

I am an addict. How are you? Fine, thanks.

Um, which novel are you recording?

Oh, uh, The Corpse Danced at Midnight.

Oh, an early one.

Cool.

Mrs. Fletcher, you're all set and ready out there.

Oh, good.

Many times.

Great.

Daphne Heath would forever remember the weather on that Thursday in November.

She'd gone out early for the paper and felt the wind on her face and seen the

line of angry black clouds stacked on the northern horizon.

A hundred unanswered questions crowded Daphne's mind.

She wanted to ask Alan to clarify so much for her.

But in her heart, she was still uncertain, even about Alan.

Paul Atkins?

We haven't met, Paul.

I'm Freddy Major, and this is Rick Lefkoe, our A&R vice president.

Gentlemen, this is Willie Piper.

How you doing? Hi.

See, they got them working late like us tonight, huh?

We're here to talk to you about desperate times.

I think you've come up with something special.

I'll be up front.

I want to offer you a home with Rojam Records.

Well, that's very kind of you, Mr. Major, but Willie and I already have our

own label.

Sly Records, is it?

That's right.

Uh, Paul, I wasn't very happy with that.

Could we do the second paragraph on page 22 again?

Paul?

I don't think you get the whole picture, Paul.

I'm saying Rojam Records will buy your company along with Willie's contract.

You stay on as producer, you get a piece of the action.

No thanks, but I like what I got.

You have anything to say, Willie?

No.

See, me and Paul have an agreement.

Where he goes, I go.

Would it change your mind knowing Julie Knight's future with Rojam could depend

on your decision?

What the hell does Julie have to do with this?

Sounds to me like she hasn't told you everything about her and me.

Listen, you son of a bitch. Easy, easy.

Just keep Julie out of it, all right?

Think about what I said.

Julie, something very upsetting just happened in there.

I saw.

They're trying to take Paul's dream away from him.

But surely if Paul doesn't want to give in... They always get what they want,

Mrs. Fletcher.

One way or another, they always get what they want.

I've never seen anything like this in my life.

You people call this an album cover? Who's gonna look twice?

Grungy, rockabilly junk.

Where's the youth appeal?

Les, what are you trying to prove?

Mirabalus merges classic rock with a rap in a triptych of disenchanted isolation.

I can't even pronounce it, let alone tell my 18-year-old what it means. Now

go back and redo it, please.

Julie, you got a minute?

I met with your friend Paul Atkins last night.

I know.

Hey, I'm glad for you, baby. You found someone you care for.

But I need your help.

Don't ask me to change Paul's mind. I couldn't if I wanted to. You owe me

something more than that.

Now, you haven't forgotten where and how we first met, have you? Don't do that to

me, damn it. For the first time in your life, you're making good money. You got

a career here as long as you want it. I earn the money.

I do a job for this company, and if that's not enough for you, then fire me.

I could see it in your face. You weren't enjoying the concert.

Well, I think that heavy metal is, well, a little metallic.

I mean, my eyeballs are still rattling.

Sorry about that.

Oh, no, no, no, I enjoyed the new experience, but you have to understand

that I was brought out with Frank and Ella. Yeah, I couldn't get with it

either. It really wasn't my scene.

Plus... Julie was still on your mind.

I don't like seeing her hurt.

Last night, Mr. Major's manner suggested that there was something more between

him and Julie.

Yeah. When Julie first came to town, she dated Major.

Or you mean there was some emotional blackmail going on?

Yeah.

Huh. I've still got time to drop by Annie's and see if she needs anything.

You know, one of these days, I'd love to meet this mysterious foster mother of

yours. She sounds like a remarkable woman. Top-notch clinical psychologist,

living a very full life, and yet she's blind.

Yeah.

Annie can see with her ears and her hands and all of her other senses much

better than most people can with 20-20 vision.

She certainly did a good job with you.

She's a big fan of yours.

Before I left home, I read four of your books to her.

She doesn't know about the one we're taping. I want it to be a surprise.

Will you say hello for me?

I will.

Will I see you tomorrow?

At the video shoot?

Couldn't keep me away.

Last night at the taping, was there a friend of mine there, a singer by the

name of Piper?

Willie? Yes, I met him.

Do you have an opinion, you know?

About Willie?

Oh, well, he's very nice looking, talented.

I think I liked him, Holly.

And I know that he's a good and faithful friend to Paul.

Thank you.

Night.

Good night.

What's with the nutsy rendezvous, Rick?

You got some girls stashed someplace?

Oh, yeah, I got them stashed everywhere.

Freddy's getting ready to sell the company.

Is that so?

Let me guess, he's cutting you out, right?

Look, what's this got to do with me, huh?

Let me tell you a little story.

This broker friend of mine...

Has a weakness for the tracks. He covers his markers with inside information.

Now, he says a certain Charles George Drexler.

That's you, right?

Sold two million shares of Road Jam stock short.

In other words, you're betting on Road Jam to go in the toilet, huh?

Fantasyland, my friend.

Fantasyland, is it, huh?

If Mitch Randall's buyout goes through this weekend, come Monday, Rojam's stock

is going to go sky high.

And you, my friend, are going to lose your pretty silk shirt.

Just supposing you're right.

You've got an act that Freddie needs or this whole deal is off.

Mirabilis.

Now, you hold them out.

Monday, when the market opens, you bail out your stock.

End story.

Where the hell you been?

Freddie and I closed the Mirabilis deal three hours ago. Eight o'clock tonight.

Sure, sure you did.

Assuming there's a grain of truth in any of this.

What's in it for you? I've given Freddie the best years of my life.

And now he's selling me out.

Have a nice time.

Amen.

Okay,

guys.

All right, ball change.

All right, turn, turn. All right, that's good, good. All right, now spot it, spot

it. Keep it uniform, guys. Come on. All right, tuck.

Tuck it in. Good, good. All right.

Isolate it.

Isolate it, fellas.

All right. Looking good. All right. Turn.

All right. Good, guys. And roll.

All right, Lori. Take over. All right.

Let me see you do it again, guys.

Five, six, seven, eight. Step.

Rotate. Slide.

Yeah,

I reckon.

You got it.

Hello, Mrs. Fletcher. I've got to bring some cue sheets to Paul. Want to come

with? Oh, sure.

They're special effects, Holly. They're testing the squibs. Let me tell you,

Mrs. Fletcher, in my old neighborhood, when a balloon pops, you are kissing

asphalt. In the movies, they use squibs to simulate bullet hits.

Hi,

Paul. Hi, Mrs. Fletcher.

What's Julie doing out there?

Oh, just holding hands with some studs from Billboard magazine.

Well, that's funny. I didn't think the head studs of Billboard magazine.

The song's been pre-recorded. Some ravels could be left singing.

Just seeing if you all were awake.

I got to go. Go ahead and take care of that.

I got you. And let's do this.

Listen, Mr.

Major, about that deal you offered, I mean, it's more than generous, but I got

to say no. I'm going to pass.

What the hell is this?

An upstart like you hasn't got a pot to grow peanuts in and you turn down a

paying contract?

Listen, Mr. Major, I mean, it might sound crazy to you, but...

I'm not gonna give up on someone who's had as much faith in me as Paul has.

Think twice about that, Willie.

What? My people got a background on you.

Three years ago, under another name, you did time for robbery.

Being faithful to Paul will amount to diddly if that leaks out.

Noon tomorrow, I'll want a big yes.

Hey, hey, Paul. Hey, work with me, huh?

Let's see if we can't create some order out of all this chaos.

You ready?

Any time you order, David. Oh, let's do this.

Hey, listen up, fellows and ladies. This is gonna be a full dress rehearsal right

from the top.

All right, people, people, people, move it.

I need to see more energy, and I need to see you hit your accent. Here, Mrs.

Fletcher. Have a seat. Oh, thank you, Holly.

Uh, yes?

I want you to add...

if you can.

Fellas, dancers, you're not hitting your marks early enough. William, you're

lurking, brother.

Background, I want you to move as if it means something to you.

Ladies, something happening in every muscle in your body.

Look, I can't hear you.

What?

Yes,

yes, I will tell him.

Y'all got that?

Mr.

Major. They want you in the VIP lounge. Now?

Yes. Okay, thanks. I'll see you around.

Not friends in Hollywood.

Give me a call.

Have lunch.

Look great, Peter.

I gotta check one of these amps. I'll be right back.

Okay, rehearsal.

In a world of true temptation Hearts get broken and dreams go wrong

My love's defined its destination Here with you is where

I belong

That sounded like a real gunshot.

Nah, it's just a drum beat, Mrs. Fletcher. Go with it.

I've never known such satisfaction.

With you, it's easy to feel so right.

In bounds, you'll have all the action you'll ever need to keep you warm at

night.

indestructible

Okay.

Get it into forensics right away, Ralph. Right away.

You know, the wardrobe man was missing one of those.

Look, let's suppose that the killer, male or female,

lured Major over to this location disguised in that thing.

and then killed him with a single shot close up. Yeah, and the body fell onto

the conveyor, and the killer made his or her escape. Right.

Al, are you sure that the killing occurred here?

I mean, Mr. Major had a call to the VIP lounge just as the rehearsal was

beginning. Six witnesses said they heard a shot from this direction just before

the body was discovered, including yourself.

Jess, come on, don't do that.

Don't do what? There's a look you get that says that this guy is talking

through his hat.

But, Al, with all the squibs and the playbacks, I mean, there were enough

gunshots to wipe out an entire regiment, and any one of them could have killed

Mr. Major.

I'm sure that I heard a shot much earlier over there, right by the VIP

lounge.

Does this change your mind? A 9mm bullet casing.

We have statements from everyone on the guard's roster, Lieutenant.

Is there anything else? Tell them to go home and get that over to Ballistics.

Right away.

If it's okay, I'd like to send someone over tomorrow to pick up the keyboard in

the VIP lounge. The kids have a concert in Buffalo on Tuesday.

The cordon should be lifted by three any time after that. Thanks, Lieutenant.

All right, did he tell you he's the one person who stands to make a few million

dollars off of Freddy's murder?

You took my statement, Lieutenant.

Don't be shy, Drexler.

When the news of Freddy's murder hits Wall Street on Monday, Rojam's stock

will be worth next to nothing.

Sounds crazy, but on the big board, you can bet on failure.

Drexler here?

Oh, he does that in spades.

What's in it for you, huh?

Chucky? Three?

Four mil? Huh?

You'd think he'd be worrying about keeping the company together.

Mrs. Fletcher.

You know most of these people, Jess?

Well, not all. Just some of them.

Any theories?

Well, not really. I mean, we both know how misleading the obvious can be.

Right.

Well, I'll let you know when I come up with something.

Oh, Jess, Jess.

I know it's a little early, but I've got some covered seedlings in the kitchen

window. I'm betting you at dinner, my squash comes up bigger and tastier than

yours, say, by mid-August.

Well, mine will be a little later coming up in Cabot Cove, but they'll still be

bigger and tastier than the ones from your New York garden.

You're on, Joe Willigan.

Oh, Julie, I didn't mean to startle you.

Holly and I were planning to go back to town together, but I can't find her.

I haven't seen Holly.

Julie, are you all right?

Mrs. Fletcher, I saw you with the lieutenant, so don't pretend that you

don't know.

They're hounding Paul just because he left the video console during rehearsal.

No, I... I didn't know.

What time is your class, Holly?

Eight o'clock.

I really appreciate this.

I want you to tell me what you think of that bread, because I found a new

bakery. Okay.

Aren't you having any? No, I'll have something later. I've got too much in my

head right now.

Holly, just before the dress rehearsal this morning, you got a call on your

walkie-talkie. Someone wanted Mr. Major in the VIP lounge.

I know what you're going to ask, but there was so much noise.

I can't even be certain if it was a man or a woman. There's a rather strange man

that I'm very curious about.

I bumped into him, literally, at Road Jam Records the other day.

And I saw him again this morning.

A skinny guy, maybe 29 with dirty blonde hair and shifty eyes.

That's him.

Yeah, shiny gray suit that had been dry cleaned to death.

Frayed cuffs, white socks, and scuffed black wingtips.

Very good, Holly. Go on.

Well, I didn't like the looks of him either.

After the murder, I talked to this cool police sergeant about him, and he said

the guy's name is Bert Sellers, and he's a low-life private eye.

He does down and dirty things like wiretaps and surveillance, but doesn't

have guts enough to kill anyone.

Hank, the sergeant said if they weren't so busy with the homicide, they would

have busted him then and now.

I wonder what he was doing at the filming.

Maybe it had something to do with the buyout.

Buyout?

Yes, Richie?

Oh, yes. Please, send her up.

It's Julie.

What buyout?

One of those rooms that go around among secretaries. A Midwestern conglomerate

was talking to Freddie Major about acquiring his company.

Buyout talks are generally held in secret.

In which case, someone in the Road Jam music building may have hired Sellers to

do a bugging job.

And you're thinking, if you knew who hired Sellers... And whose privacy he

was hired to invade.

They arrested Paul for murder.

On what evidence?

They found a gun underneath the seat of his car, and they say it's the murder

weapon. Julie, sit down.

Listen, this afternoon, you told me that Paul had left the shoot during the

rehearsal. Did he tell you why?

He'd gone to look for Willie.

Did he find him?

No, and then when he got back, they'd already found the body.

Mrs. Fletcher, I know that you have influence with the police. Please tell

him that Paul would never hurt anybody.

Look, Julie.

Lieutenant Terwilliger is a very savvy policeman.

He's always open to new evidence.

Don't you worry.

You go on in there and freshen up, and then go to Paul, all right?

Mrs. Fletcher, are you sure Paul didn't murder Freddy Major?

Holly, at this point, I'm not sure of anything.

Something I can help you with?

I'm so sorry. You startled me.

Georgi Papavasilopoulos. At your service, Mrs. Fletcher.

Oh, you know my name.

Your picture graces numerous book jackets in my library.

Oh, how nice.

If you're looking for sellers, he won't be back.

He was six months behind in the rent.

And it got so the process service looking for him earned parking

privileges. Do you happen to know where he went?

You can bet at some place nobody can find him, I'm sure.

I saw him yesterday. He must have cut out in the middle of the night.

Well, from the looks of things, he left in quite a hurry.

Mr. Papa... I'm so sorry.

Papa Vasilopoulos.

But you can call me Yorgi.

Yorgi, do you happen to know if there's a trash incinerator shoot in this

building?

Ah.

This isn't like one of your novels, eh?

Pay dirt, Mr.

P.

I see.

Why are you so disappointed, Mrs. Fletcher?

The transcripts tell you it was Rick Lefkoe who hired sellers.

He found out he'd lose his job if the buyout went through.

In spite of that, I don't believe that Lefkoe killed Mr. Major.

Why not?

Lefkoe's timetable doesn't work for me.

And there are others with equally strong motives.

Mr. Drexler stood to lose a lot of money in the stock market if the buyout was

successful. Or Paul Atkins to prevent Major's takeover of his only asset,

Wooly Piper.

And Julie Knight?

Yes. Julie, because she loves Paul and might have killed to protect his

interests.

Jessica? Al, you called.

Yes, Al.

I've come across some information that's material to the Freddie Major case, and

I think that you should have it. Good.

Look, we've earned some R&R for working all weekend.

Bring whatever you've got, and let's discuss it over brunch.

Uh, tavern on the green. Say, uh, 1 o'clock?

Oh, Al, you don't have to do that.

By hook or crook, the department will pay for it.

Be there.

Naturally.

I've got a date with a policeman.

Come on, Holly, I'll drop you.

There's another possibility you haven't mentioned Mrs. Fletcher. Willie Piper,

right? And why not? I mean, where was Willie when Paul left the shoot to go

looking for him?

It's just hard to believe.

I mean, Willie's all about love and peace. He wouldn't hurt a fly.

Who said anything about music and murder going together?

Come to think of it, the only person I ever wanted to murder was my piano

teacher.

I never could learn the notes. The open spaces between the clef lines stood for

F-A-C-E.

That spelled face.

That was easy enough. It was the lines I could never remember.

I know. E-G-B-D-F.

Someone should have told you. It stands for Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge. Then

you would... Oh, my goodness.

What is it?

You don't have to worry about Willie anymore.

You and your piano teacher have just helped me to put my finger on a very

important piece of the puzzle.

I'm going back to the plant where we were yesterday. I want you to call

Lieutenant Terwilliger at the Tavern on the Green.

Tell him to meet me at the VIP lounge.

Tell him that I know who murdered Freddie Major.

Hi there, Mrs. Fletcher.

Mr. Drexler, here to pick up the keyboard?

The kids and I have that gig in Buffalo day after tomorrow.

Just wondered what business you have here.

Well, I don't think you'll be able to make that gig, Mr. Drexler.

Come again?

I think it's more likely that you'll be a guest to the city of New York as the

killer of Freddy Major.

Come on, Mrs. Fletcher. I was standing right beside you when Freddy was killed.

I don't think you'll find that alibi quite as... Ironclad, as you think.

That was the second gunshot that everybody heard. But I'd heard an

earlier gunshot. And now I'm quite sure it came from inside this room.

My friend Holly suggested it was a drumbeat. But when I examined the

musical score, I found no timpani indicator.

Furthermore, I found evidence that the second shot had been caused by a

theatrical squib you planted earlier on the metal framework of the conveyor

belt. close to where the police just happened to find a 9mm shell casing.

As the dress rehearsal began, you called Holly on the walkie-talkie, knowing she

couldn't identify your voice over the din.

You summoned Freddie Major here to the VIP lounge.

As he waited, he started going over the musical phrase in bulletproof that had

bothered him so much.

Out of sight of the dress rehearsal, you carried Mr. Major's body to the conveyor

belt. You left the bullet casing on the ground to establish a phony murder site.

Then later, you planted the murder weapon in Paul Atkins' car.

You overcharged the squib to make sure that it was heard all over the plant,

then detonated it remotely as you stood beside me.

That's close enough, Mrs. Fletcher.

I'm just curious about one thing, though.

Why were you so convinced it was me?

Mr. Drexler.

Before you kill me, why don't you play it?

Freddy Major was still trying to fix Bulletproof.

But knowing that he was about to die, he was determined to betray you.

He did it with those three notes.

They had nothing to do with the tune, but everything to do with his murderer.

C.G.D.

Mr. Charles George Drexler.

Drop it! Police!

Drop it!

Mrs. Fletcher, are you all right? Yes, thank you, Holly, I'm fine.

Holly, go back to the car, call for some backup.

Yes, right, right.

Freddy never did get it right, did he?

Bulletproof?

Maybe not the notes he wanted, no.

But in the end, I do think he got it right.

Don't you, Mr. Drexler?

I have one criticism which applies to all of your papers.

Far too many words to express something simple.

You know, the old jingle bears repeating.

The written word should be clean as bone, clear as light, firm as stone.

Two words are not as good as one.

I'll see you all next Monday.

Good point about words, Miss Fletcher.

Only, um, sometimes there aren't enough to really express how you feel.

But when is that, Willie?

Well, take Julie. Yeah, how is Julie?

Well, Willie's new song got a big advance sale, and Julie's left Road Jam

Records to head up Paul's A&R department.

Looks like Sly Records is turning into a real family affair.

You're kidding.

You mean... Mm-hmm. Next weekend.

i'm the best man and i'm the maid of honor they want you to be there too well

i wouldn't miss it for the world