Kuhn offers options for Kat's audition

The two of you walk down the steps and into the foyer. As you open the front door, you hear a door open behind you and a male voice call out.

"Ms. Stewart, so good to see you. I assume you'll be back by 6?"

You stop in your tracks knowing exactly who that is. You turn around and see Mr. Decard standing outside the entrance to the building gym. He's wearing a pair of sweats but you're pretty sure if he was in there it was just to leer at another tenant working out. You **** a smile on your face.

"I sure will. I still have a bit of cleaning to do, so I'll be back early."

"Good. See that you do. I am looking forward to the walkthrough."

You nod, quickly wave goodbye and pull Kat out the front door.

"Who's that, strawberry? You don't look thrilled at all."

"Jim runs the building and is a super perv. I try my damnedest to dodge him whenever I can."

You open the driver's door on the Sonic, hop in, and unlock the other one for Kat. Soon you have the car cruising toward campus.

"So where is your ride?"

"Over in the parking lot in front of Charlie quad."

"Near the Delta frat?"

"In front of the frat of course," she answers. "Where are the best parties on campus?"

You shake your head as you drive on over. You round the corner into the quad parking when you see the damage. It looks like a tornado hit the front of the frat. Several policemen are inspecting the broken windows while workmen are boarding them up. You slowly drive past as Kat points at her little beater parked off to the side.

"That's it right there."

"Ok, I was just going to drive by and make sure you wanted to get out right now. I mean there's a really good chance the police are going to want to question anyone stopping," you offer. "I can drop you down here if you like. I can't get caught up in it, the rental place will have someone out for the car at 1 sharp."

"That's cool. Drop me here."

You pull over and let her out. You look over as she closes the door.

"I'm heading back to my place. See you when you get home!"

Kat offers a thumbs-up as you turn around and leave the way you came. You take it nice and slow until you see her walk up to an officer. Then figuring she's safe, you roll back home. You park the car out front of your building, head upstairs, and set the laptop up. As it boots, you grab a juice from the fridge and sit down at the desk. Then it's time to open the video software and place a call to Kuhn. He picks up on the second ring.

"Hello, Simone. A call just after noon? This seems late for you."

He looks pretty comfortable wearing a white muscle shirt but he's still holding a damn Coke. Why bother working out if he's going to chug that crap?

"Yeah, my day got weird pretty quick. I have a friend that's looking into modeling so I promised to nose around a little."

He looks at you for a second and then nods.

"Is your friend a she, he or ummmmm. . ."

"Ummmm? There's a third choice?"

He laughs, "You never know. People are weird these days."

"She's definitely a she."

"That's easier. Don't get me wrong, we employ male models but not many. Their path inside is a bit more complicated. Anyway, if she's young, cute, and willing, it won't be hard to get her seen. No guarantees of course but the odds are good."

"So what are the options," you ask knowing how you did it but curious what he offers.

"Well if she's in La Grande, Brett is the easiest. I can hunt down his casting schedule or you can email him."

"And if she wanted a harder route because she likes a challenge," you smirk feeling a bit saucy.

"There are really three ways for a girl to get in the door here. You know about the castings. The second most common way is to join one of the escort firms. After a few successful jobs there, girls are usually offered an in if the manager thinks they'd be a good fit. The closest one to you is in Seattle, though. I've been told Jenn Perkins down in Austin was very impressed with you so you might cut a favor there I guess. The least common way is through one of our production teams."

"Well, I'm glad Ms. Perkins was happy with me. What's the deal with the last one?"

"Video is known for this one. Occasionally they'll find someone they want to work with. Actors are a dime a dozen and Firebox doesn't care where they get them but models are different. If video wants to make a movie with a model, she has to be on the payroll for various legal reasons. Exceptions are very rarely made there so if they insist, she's a 'probation' hire until the film is complete. If it goes well, she becomes a regular model. If not, they cut her loose."

"So I have three routes here to look into I guess. Thanks for the info, Walker."

"Three," he asks looking somewhat confused?

"Sure. I can contact Brett or Jenn as you mentioned. If I feel really adventurous, I have Mr. Agra's card in my purse. He seemed rather pleased with me too," you offer a satisfied smirk.

"I suppose you could. He's part of the company, you don't need to go through me to talk to him. Keep in mind, you still have a few weeks before you can accept a job without my sign off on it. Also, I'd be careful with Lon. He's a grand schemer and might try to drag you into something. . . weird."

"No problem. I don't know that I'd be comfortable negotiating a contract with him by myself yet. I just like considering all my options. Please send me the casting schedule though, so I have that info handy."

"Fair enough. I assume you aren't ready to discuss work yet?"

"Sorry. I have a few things on my plate I have to deal with first. I'll call soon, I promise," you offer a smile hoping that's a good enough answer.

"Ok, Simone. Take care. Walker out."

As usual, he hangs up right after the last word. You just shrug, you're kind of getting used to it. You shut the laptop down and finish your juice.

The simplest thing to do is just give her Brett's casting information and call it a day. Kat can make her own decision and it isn't your fault what she chooses to do. It's a bit of a cop-out but she is an adult. You could also email Brett to try and ease her in as smoothly as possible. You have no idea what he may want for any favors though.

Calling Lon Agra is also an option. Rocquelle made the point that Agra loves the whole goth thing and Kat has that going on in spades. There's a pretty good chance that Agra would have something available for her pretty quick. There's also a pretty good chance he leverages that to get you on board with something. . . weird as Walker put it.

There's also Jennifer Perkins. You haven't a clue how you impressed her. Your only conversation with her was in Austin before you met Beckett and you can't think of a single thing that was noteworthy about the talk. Still, that's an option if you and Kat wanted to fly down there. It seems pretty excessive though especially since you don't even know how the escort business works. Do they do the same thing you did with Beckett all the time or is it different?

Of course, you could also just pass the buck, talk about it all with Kat, and see how she wants to approach it. There's no guarantee any of this would make a lot of sense to her but it's probably the fairest way to handle it.

You look at your phone and see it's 12:30. So you sit on the loveseat, turn on Nat Geo and watch a nature documentary as you wait for the person to arrive to pick up the rental. What better time to think about business while you watch a pride of lions stalk a water buffalo?