I looked over at Billy who was still smiling.

“Okay.”

As soon as I hung up the phone with her, Billy asked me, “Is she hot?”

I started laughing. “She’s extremely hot, like a perfect cup of expensive, brown coffee.”

He nodded and continued to grin. “Wait till you see the new models Mr. Vissel has at the mansion.”

For a minute there, he made it sound as if we were going to the Playboy Mansion. That made me curious.

“So, Marcus has models all around his mansion estate, like Hugh Hefner and Playboy?”

Billy continued to smile. “I’ll just let you see it, and you can see for yourself.”

California was one of those places where you could drive right up on the rich and famous without much to it. They were so used to stars and stardom in that area that it all seemed normal. So we drove up to Marcus Vissel’s mansion among Bentleys, Rolls-Royces, Mercedes, Maseratis, Ferraris, various limousines, including several photography vans that were all parked around the circular driveway. The mansion was set nearly a hundred yards off the main road, but it was still in plain view. There weren’t any gates to keep you off the property or anything.

“I see the boss is doing quite well for himself,” I commented to Billy.

He smiled again and tossed the keys to the valet. There were about five guys in their early twenties dressed in white shirts, black ties, gold vests, black pants, and black shoes, who were parking all the cars at the front of the mansion.

We approached the front door, which had a huge Roman archway.

“Well, here we go,” Billy told me before we walked in.

I had nothing else to say until I saw what he was talking about.

We entered the mansion of high ceilings, striking colors, artwork, hardwood floors, and plenty of inspirational sculptures spread about. There was an immediate carnival atmosphere going on. Male and female models were working every part of several downstairs rooms, with photographers snapping their pictures for high fashion. They also worked the T-shaped staircase that led upstairs. And there were spectators everywhere, watching whatever photo shoot and models they wanted to watch. It looked as if the fashion world was on display for Mr. Vissel’s wealthy invited guests.

I looked at Billy and asked him, “What’s this, a fashion shoot showcase? There’s a photo shoot going on all over the house, huh?”

He grinned and said, “This is just the front end of the house. Mr. Vissel wants to talk to you in the back.”

I said hi to a few of the cameramen and models I recognized before following Billy around to a side door that led us through a long, outside walkway toward the back of the mansion.

“There’s a lot of new ideas that the boss came up with to create this atmosphere for modeling and fashion, but I’ll let him explain it all to you himself. He wouldn’t have it any other way.”