Bill looked unfazed. “They’re not friends, they’re
my wife’s relatives.” He paused to pour himself more
water. “What about a compromise? Why don’t you let
us in on what you know about anyone who might have
had a motive to kill Bruno? Why not be up-front about
Angela’s drug habit? Why not”—the next word
seemed to gag Bill, who despised buzz-words—
“share?”
Eugenia whirled on Bill, who didn’t budge. “That’s
blackmail! What right do you have to ask such a thing?
Can you imagine the legal steps we could take to silence you?”
“My brother, Bub, is a lawyer,” Bill said quietly.
“Or maybe that wasn’t a threat?”
Joe, who along with Judith was looking relieved
now that Bill had tipped his hand, was nodding sagely.
“I think this is a good idea.” He gestured expansively.
“Take a seat. We’ll talk.”
“No, we won’t,” Eugenia retorted. “At least not until
we’ve consulted our legal counsel. Who, I might add,
is waiting for us in the limousine. We’re going back to
the hotel.” She turned abruptly, almost knocking Morris over.
“Have your suit call our suit,” Bill said as the pair
departed. “Bub’s number is—”
“That’s great, Bill.” Renie could barely contain herself. She was leaning against the fridge, holding her
sides. “You’ve got them worried.”
“They should be,” Bill said in a mild tone. “But I’d
have preferred that they give us some information on
the spot.”
Judith heard the door slam. “Tell us what you overheard from the parlor,” she urged.
Joe sat down at the kitchen table. Bill got out his
notepad.
“As we mentioned,” Joe began, “it was mostly spindoctor stuff. They talked more about how to make it
seem as if Bruno was such a dedicated artist that he
couldn’t survive failure. Eugenia—being Bruno’s
agent—was for that, but there was some disagreement,
especially when they discussed whether or not
“Could it be?” Renie asked.
“Maybe,” Bill put in. “They’d have to cut the running time by almost half. As it is, the film’s not only a
flop, but it’s a distribution nightmare. At four hours,
that means only one showing a night per house. That’s
economically unfeasible.”
“So they wouldn’t make a profit?” queried Judith.
“Not in domestic theaters,” Bill responded, also sitting down. “But these days there are all the ancillary
rights. There are so many other markets—offshore,
cable TV, syndication, merchandising tie-ins. A movie
can lose money in this country and still turn a profit.
