I replied to Rita’s email to confirm the four songs and said I would do any of those. I added a note that she might want to find me a voice coach if she didn’t want her TV special to be a flop.
Lexi came into the kitchen.
“What are you doing?”
“Rita sent me the list of songs to choose from. I sent her back four that I’d be willing to do. I’ll let her pick which one she wants,” I explained.
Lexi changed into PA mode and wanted my list of songs. She promised to get me video examples and the lyrics so I could learn them. I told her to get in touch with Rita about a voice coach. I only had two weeks to sound decent.
Dad came downstairs and gave me the stink eye. Mom must have called him. I tried the little angel’s face, but he wasn’t buying it.
“Do you want your mother mad at us?” he asked.
“Why would she be mad at me?”
“Because you invited a supermodel to stay with us, and she has attracted the ‘wrong kind of women’ for me to be around,” Dad said with air quotes.
And a smirk.
He was jerking my chain.
“Did you get to meet our housekeeper and her mom?” I asked.
“If you continue to poke your mom, I might have to clue Brook in to your little infatuation.”
I felt myself flush and shook my head ‘no.’ Nope, I didn’t need Brook worried about that.
“Yes, I met them. Paulina is married to the president of the research company that the couple who rented us this house works for. Her daughter, Teresa, is our housekeeper. Paulina was confused when she learned that her daughter had a job. I don’t think they’re hurting for money, and it sounded like Teresa was barely able to pick up her own room. They have a housekeeper.
“Teresa finally admitted that she took the job to meet you,” Dad shared.
I groaned. That would explain the video.
“It gets better,” Dad said. “Paulina called me after they returned home. I guess their housekeeper did most of the work as she ‘taught’ Teresa what she needed to know. I told Paulina we would give her some cash so she could reimburse the woman. She just laughed and said that Teresa had paid their housekeeper with the money she got for working for us.”
“It looked like they did a good job. In the end, I don’t care how it gets done,” I said.
“I guess Adrienne talked to the daughter for a while. Teresa wanted to know all about you, so Adrienne showed her photos of you and some movie clips. Adrienne said that the mother seemed to be just as interested. She suspects that Paulina is a trophy wife and wants to find her daughter a similar situation. You being under fifty is just a bonus.”
“Sounds like you’re more their target than me,” I said.
Dad didn’t buy it. Frankly, neither did I.
◊◊◊
We had a break in the morning shoot schedule so they could change locations. Lexi and my dad found me, and we grabbed a conference room to call Ms. Dixon about Springbok and Southwest Central State.
“We have Robert and David Dawson, Duane Morris, Madelyn Addison, Beverly Mass, and myself on the line,” Ms. Dixon said to introduce everyone. “Ms. Addison is with our criminal law division, and Bev offered to listen in since she’ll be joining us at the first of the year.”
Bev was currently the Cook County State’s Attorney. She’d lost her reelection bid in the primaries. I’d dated her daughter Harper, and she’d helped me put Brandon Rigby behind bars. I was part owner of their family business. Jack, her husband, was helping me with the remodel of my Malibu home and sat on my board of directors.
“We’ve had a chance to review all the video that you sent us,” Ms. Dixon began.
“May I ask how the video was obtained?” Ms. Addison asked.
“David and I wore bodycams and had pen mics with us. David has had to wear those sorts of things because of his celebrity status. It avoids a lot of misunderstandings and potential traps. Carol has cameras in her office for the same reasons. We have them at all our places of business and even in our home,” Dad explained.
“Were either Mr. Parker or Mr. Foster made aware of the recordings?” Ms. Addison asked.
Great, here we go focusing on the trivial stuff.
“Federal law permits recording telephone calls and in-person conversations with at least one of the parties’ consent. This is called a ‘one-party consent’ law. In this case, Rob, Carol, and David were the ones consenting,” Mrs. Mass said.
“California is a two-party consent state. I just want to be clear that this might be a problem. In a public venue, where you can expect to be overheard, you might be okay,” Ms. Dixon said.
“I understand. I just wanted to be clear as to how the recordings were collected and whether the other parties had consented or not,” Ms. Addison clarified.
“No, they were not aware,” Dad said.
“Have you ever been approached by or received a benefit from a university or someone affiliated with them, such as a booster?” Ms. Addison asked.
