Chapter 38

Gloria Jackson had not yet got her substantial frame out the chair when the receptionist buzzed her phone.

"Uh, Miss Jackson," the young woman said in a tentative voice.

"What is it?" Gloria snarled.

"There is an attorney representing Allie Timmons on Line Two," the voice said.

"Who in the fuck is that?" Gloria almost screamed.

"She is one of the girls here," the receptionist informed her. "She works under the name of Ashley Malibu."

"God damned, son of a bitch, motherfucker!" Gloria yelled. "Tell the lawyer I'm not available."

"Yes, Ma'am," the voice answered. "She warned me that she would filing suit in District Court this afternoon on Ms. Timmons' behalf, alleging misconduct and malfeasance on the part of Elite if you couldn't find a few minutes to talk to her."

Gloria steepled her fingers and took a deep breath.

"Tell him I'll call him at 3:30, it's the first time I have available," Gloria said, closing the intercom connection. It buzzed again before she could stand.

"She said she is leaving the office at 1:30 to file the paperwork," the young woman announced, fear evident in her voice. "'By 3:30, the only thing you'll have to discuss is how much you're willing to settle for.'"

"What's the bitch's name?" Gloria said angrily. The girl was in a quandary. She didn't really know which bitch Gloria was referring to. She hedged her bets.

"The attorney is Celina Gomez," she answered. "She represents Allie Timmons aka Ashley Malibu. She is on Line Two."

Gloria hit the flashing button for Line Two without breaking the intercom connection. The half dozen people in the outer chamber got to listen to half the conversation for free.

"This better be good," Gloria said in lieu of a greeting. "I don't care for threats."

"No threat," Celina replied in a cheery voice. "A simple recitation of fact. I represent Allie Timmons, who works for your agency under the name of Ashley Malibu. In the past week, several job offers have been declined on my client's behalf by your agent without any discussion with Ms. Timmons. I have a copy of your contract. She has a clear right of refusal on all jobs but she also has a right of notification. Your agent has clearly breached the contract. Ms. Timmons has given me access to her telephone records, which indicate she has received only three calls from your agency in the past two weeks, none lasting longer than three minutes. She alleges that during that time, the only jobs she was presented were outside of her interests and they did not include a discussion of the lucrative offers she had received but consisted entirely of what she refers to as 'third-tier' jobs. I have the list of jobs she was offered if you would like to check it against your records."

"That won't be necessary," Gloria said frostily. "What do you want?"

"Oh, it's not a matter of what I want," Celina said, again in her sweetest voice. "I want to parade down Sunset with Sven Swenson's head on a pike with his cock and balls stuffed neatly in his disgusting, lying mouth. But Allie will settle for release from her contract without penalty and reimbursement of all lost income she failed to earn due to Mr. Swenson's malfeasance, a conservative amount, really, $15,000. You are aware he let his licensing requirement lapse, aren't you? He is not covered by your agency's insurance. You will have to pay for his mistake out of your own pocket because you allowed him to remain employed at your agency without bond."

Celina laughed as she heard Gloria's hand strike the desktop. It was satisfying. She was glad when she learned that all contracted representatives had to be licensed and she was ecstatic when she found that Sven Swenson, or Larry Warren as he was called by his parents, had failed to renew his. Thus the agency could not turn in any claims against its insurance.

"This is total fucking bullshit," Gloria said, seeing the dollar signs disappearing from her personal account. "I'll fight this as far as I have to."

"Glad to hear it," Celina said. "That just means when I bill you for my fees, you'll have to pay me too. Fight it, Ms. Jackson. Take it all the way to the Supreme Court, if you want. You'll lose every step of the way. You know he screwed up and you know you are responsible for it. All you'll do is cost yourself more and more money and Allie and I will laugh all the way to the bank."

"When do you need to know?" Gloria said, relenting. The woman was right – and she obviously wasn't cowed by Gloria's bluster.

"I am leaving in seven minutes to file," Celina told her. "I doubt you will make up your mind in that time so we can discuss it after you are served. I'll have the relevant paperwork couriered over to your office tomorrow morning. Have your attorney call my office and we can work out the details."

Celina hung up without giving Gloria a chance to respond.

Sven Swenson wasn't at his desk when Gloria managed to make her way down there. She called his cell phone from his desk and wasn't surprised to hear loud music in the background when he answered.

"Where are you?" Gloria demanded. Sven gulped his drink down before answering.

"Charlie's Cabaret," he said. "There is a girl here we should look at."

"The girls come to us, we do not troll after them," Gloria said archly. "Why haven't you called Daystar back?"

"Daystar?" Sven asked. The memory of their offer to that stuck-up cunt made its way into his alcohol-addled brain. "Oh, she passed on the deal."

"She passed," Gloria repeated. "Ashley Malibu passed on a deal to be a contract player for Daystar Studios? You really expect me to believe that?"

"She is a dumb bitch," Sven answered before he remembered who he was talking to.

Gloria bit the inside of her lip.

"Give me her number," Gloria demanded. "I want to discuss this with her myself, to let her know exactly what she is passing up."

"Look, Miss Jackson," Sven tried, "this girl is strictly small time. She has never had any decent offers before. I think she probably boned one of the guys at Daystar. When they find out how big a pain she is, they'll drop her and we'll be laughed at for sending her there."

"Small time?" Gloria said, trying the repeating act again. "Do you have anything booked for her?"

"Some dance gigs in the Midwest," Sven said. "Not much of anything. It won't make us much but it will get her out of our hair."

"And she agreed to this?" Gloria asked, she noticed Sven had not given her Ashley's number so she poked around on his computer until she found his address book and copied down the number.

"She will," Sven said. "She doesn't have a lot of options. She turned down everything I've set up for her, including Daystar and Peaches Magazine."

"You set up a shoot for her with Peaches?" Gloria wondered. "I wasn't aware you did the work on that account."

"Tara didn't do a damned thing," Sven protested. "I don't care what she told you."

"She simply told me the shoot fell through," Gloria said. "Right before I fired her."

She added the last sentence purely out of malice.

"Now, you need to get back to the office and have all the details on the Daystar deal on my desk in 20 minutes," Gloria said. "If you can't do that, don't bother coming back at all. Now, give me the 'stupid bitch's' phone number so I can discuss this with her personally."

"I, uh, I don't have it on me," Sven said.

"Not even in your cell phone?" Gloria asked politely. Sven was immediately on guard.

"Uh, yeah, I might," he said. "Let me look."

He read off a number than was nowhere near what Gloria had written down.

"I think that is it," he said. "I need to get going if I'm going to be back there in 20 minutes."

"Eighteen minutes," Gloria said. "Not just back here but back here, with the Daystar documents on my desk. Get moving."

She hung up the phone and waddled back to her office – where she committed another major gaffe.