Free Rock & Roll Homicide by R J McDonnell

to the contract negotiations, it got acrimonious.
    Kaufmann said, “I’m afraid we’re not at liberty to discuss the contract with you. It’s privileged information.”
    “I work for Mrs. Terry Tucker. She inherits all of Terry’s publishing and recording interests,” I said.
         “We work for Doberman’s Stub. As much as we were sorry to see Terry die and all, he’s no longer a member of the band. We’re now accountable to the surviving three members and not to Terry or his widow,” said Kaufmann.
    “Do you agree with this?” I asked Dumanis.
    “Certainly. We’re talking about privileged information. If we share anything with you we are betraying confidentiality,” he said, then looked at Kaufmann and smiled.
    “Then you won’t mind if I call my firm’s Entertainment Law Attorney?” I asked.
    They both looked a bit flustered at this suggestion, but agreed. Of course my firm doesn’t have an Entertainment Law Attorney on retainer, so I did the next best thing and called Bernie Liebowitz. I made the call from the desk phone. When Bernie picked up I said, “Attorney Liebowitz, this is Jason Duffy. I need your expert opinion on a contract matter.”
    “I take it you’re scamming some unsuspecting schmuck as we speak,” he replied.
    “That’s correct. I’m meeting with the manager of Doberman’s Stub, Kirby Kaufmann and their attorney, Elden Dumanis.  Can I put you on speaker phone?” I asked.
    “Give me a minute to shove this stick up my backside. OK, I’m ready,” he said.
    “Thanks. Here we go,” I said and switched to speaker mode. “Let’s be informal. Bernie, this is Kirby and Elden. Guys, this is Bernie.” After everyone said hello I said, “Bernie, I’m working for Terry Tucker’s widow. I’m sure you read about the murder in the papers.”
    “Of course,” Bernie said.
    “Kirby and Elden feel they can’t talk with me about the contract they were working on with Terry since, being deceased and all, he’s no longer a member of the band. Now I feel Chelsea Tucker still has a right to be kept informed, particularly since her husband wrote about half of the songs and performed on the new album,” I said.
    “Does Chelsea inherit?” Bernie asked.
    I replied, “She gets everything. There are no ex-wives, no children, and not even any parents. Chelsea is the sole heir.”
    “Then here’s the deal. Kirby and Elden are right. They can tell you as her representative or tell her face-to-face to take a hike and not share a thing about the contract,” Bernie said and the guys lit up like a Christmas tree. “However, if they choose to do that Chelsea can file an injunction against both the band and the record company, delaying the release of the album indefinitely. All of the proceeds of past albums would be put into a trust fund and held without disbursement until the matter is settled. She could even submit the court documents to ASCAP and hold disbursement of royalties from airplay until the case is decided,” Bernie said.
    Elden chimed in, “If we fight this thing she could be broke for years.”
    “Actually, her father owns a very profitable construction business. She doesn’t need the money,” I said.
    Bernie added, “The only one who would profit from a fight is you, Elden. If it went on long enough you could own Kirby’s house.”
    “Nobody’s puttin’ up their house over this thing. We just didn’t want to get sued by the band members for disclosing financial information to a non-band member. If the law says we have to talk, then as law abiding citizens we’ll talk till we’re blue in the face,” Kirby said.
    “Thanks Bernie,” I said, ready to disconnect.
    “I’ll just bill you for a half-hour on this one,” Bernie replied and hung up.
    Over the next hour I confirmed two things. First, Terry was completely in charge of all facets of the negotiation with Cerise Records and second, he hired these two clowns based on their level of incompetence. Elden