“Who have the money to pull it off,” Dean pointed out again.
“But not a motive. If anyone wanted to bump Jules for a role, they’d be more successful flirting with a casting director or sleeping with a producer. These are professional, grown-ass adults. They don’t try to hoodwink their colleagues unless there’s a screw loose.”
“I might’ve said the same thing before this whole Mason Marlow disaster. He’s A-list. He’s in the upper echelon, but trust me, his PR team is in overdrive right now. Maybe they’re taking advantage of the situation.”
Jules poked her head out the door. “Who’s that?”
“Dean.” Rhys put him on speakerphone. “Jules walked over.”
“Any news?” she asked.
“Still working on some ideas, but here’s one we haven’t tried. Who don’t you get along with professionally?”
She glanced at Rhys, her brow knitting, and shrugged. “I don’t know. Why?”
“Humor me.”
“Obviously, Mason and I aren’t seeing eye to eye.”
“What about someone you beat out in a casting decision? Or an award they thought they deserved more than you?”
“Um…”
“Margot’s working with Scarlett and making a list of possibilities, but what’s your gut reaction?”
“My gut doesn’t say anything. I don’t have a list of people like that. I mean, it’s a cutthroat business. No denying that. We all have roles we wanted and were passed over for. But at the end of the day, we move on to the next audition.”
“What about long-term frenemy-type situations?” Dean asked.
Frenemywasn’t a word Rhys would have expected to come out of Dean’s mouth.
“I don’t know.” She crossed her arms. “Olivia?”
“That’s someone who messed up, not who hates you. What about someone who smiles to your face and talks about you behind your back?”
“To be honest, I don’t have a huge friend circle. You’ve seen how people have burned me over the years. They sell secrets to tabloids and blogs. They don’t tell me to retire.”
“Maybe someone close to you,” Dean pushed. “Tabitha?”
Jules shook her head. “She talks trash to my face.”
“And,” Rhys tacked on, “she’d lose out on the attention she gets by hanging out with you.”
“Yeah,” Jules replied.
“How about someone who’s always chasing the same auditions?” Dean asked. “Someone Margot struggles to handle?”
“Margot’s a shark. No struggling with her.”
“All right.” Dean sighed. “We’ll brainstorm names and send them over. Let us know if anyone makes you say, ‘Huh.’”
She raised her shoulders and dropped them as though she didn’t have a clue. “Sure.”
Rhys ended the call.
Jules gnawed on her bottom lip. “What didn’t Dean spell out for me?”
“The man from this morning? Someone paid him a lot of money to do that.”
