Chapter 365: Punk'd and Disorderly Studio

Friday. February 3rd, Late Morning (Eastern Standard Time)

Rarely did Nathan venture over to the Scott Building. Not that he didn't like the building, he did. The building came about from Peyton's vision, and its look fitted into the area. Nathan rarely had business there. He was offered an office there for his post-basketball career, but when the grandkids arrived at his door, he decided to work from Raven Hill. Nominally, his name appeared on some of the Scott Family Holdings, but he kept a hands-off approach; Lucas ran things well. Usually, when he came, he was here to visit Haley or bring her lunch. Not today, he came here with an express purpose, and it didn't involve the third floor.

Nathan walked through the front doors of the Scott Building and looked at the lobby. Looking over the lobby, it reflected the industrial mill look Peyton wanted for the building. He smiled and reached into his pocket for his red & black-lined building pass. Like most of the Scotts, Nathan had a "family pass," which would let him in through most of the various doors inside the building. He used his pass to scan his way through the inner doors.

Walking over to the security desk, Nathan saw the security guard sitting there; his face was familiar, but Nathan couldn't place the name. The security guard looked at him and smiled; Nathan noticed his name tag said, Caden.

Caden looked at Nathan, and his eyes went to the building pass. "Hello, Mister Scott, do you want me to ring Mrs. James-Scott and let her know you're here?" he asked.

"No, Caden," Nathan said, "Could you point me in the direction of Punk'd and Disorderly Studios?"

"No problem, Mister Scott," Caden said and pointed, "Just head over that way, and you'll see the doors with the sign on it."

"Thank you," Nathan said.

"You're welcome, Mister Scott," Nathan said.

Nathan moved over in the direction Caden pointed. He hung the building pass around his neck as he headed to the door. Once Nathan got close to the door, he heard the doors unlock. Nathan passed down the small hallway and found the door with a sign that said Punk'd and Disorderly Studios. Nathan nodded and walked through the door.

Inside the lobby of the studio, Nathan looked across the reception desk. The young woman with golden-brown hair looked up at Nathan. He noticed that she had light brown, almost amber eyes with a halo of green around them. She smiled at him and nodded.

"How may I help you?" she asked.

"I'm here to see Ms. McMichael," Nathan said.

"Do you have an appointment?" she asked.

"No, I was hoping she could squeeze me in for a few minutes," Nathan said.

"I'll see if can if you in, what name can I give here?" she asked.

"Nathan Scott," Nathan said.

"Thank you, Mister Scott," she said, "I'll be right back."

The Receptionist stood up and walked through the door behind her. Nathan noted she didn't use the phone. He remembered that Mags was not big on using the phone when a face-to-face would do.

A few minutes later, the Receptionist returned to her desk. She smiled at Nathan, "She'll be out for you in a few minutes," she said and returned to her smartphone.

"Thank you," Nathan said and turned to the inner door. Nathan knew he could walk through the inner door as his pass would unlock it. Out of respect to Mags and how she ran the business, he waited for her to get him.

The inner door opened, and Magdalena "Mags" McMichael stood in the doorway and smiled. "Nathan, this is a pleasant surprise; please come in," she said.

Nathan headed towards the door and looked at Mags. "Hi Mags, thanks for seeing me," he said.

"It's not a problem, Nathan," Mags said and showed Nathan to her office.

Mags took a seat behind the battered and cluttered metal desk. Nathan noted it looked like some government-issued surplus furniture. The desk was covered in a mixture of papers and files; even the phone seemed buried. Where most places have gone mostly paperless, Mags kept extensive files that were digitalized later. Mags gestured to Nathan to take a seat in front of her desk. Nathan took a seat, his knee thanking him, and looked at Mags.

"Can I get you anything to drink?" Mags asked.

"No, no, I'm not planning to take up too much of your time," Nathan said.

"Okay, so what do you want to talk about?" Mags asked.

"I need to talk to one of Brian's old drummers," Nathan said.

"Another woman showed up?" Mags asked.

"Yes," Nathan said.

"Well, which one, as you should know, Pyscho is on tour with Nordwind since he's the bassist and vocalist of the band," Mag said.

"Lucan Adenauer," Nathan said.

Mags nodded, "Mhmm, drummer number two, he was only with Brian at the end of High-Performance Heart Attack and the first two albums of Mental Lapse," she said.

"Would that be about nine to ten years old?" Nathan asked.

Mags nodded, "Very specific, but that sounds about right," she said.

"I was told that Lucan Adenauer does session work here," Nathan said.

"He does," Mag said, "Why do you want to talk to Lucan?"

"As you have guessed, it involves something Brian might have or haven't done back then," Nathan said.

"Yeah, I was joking, but another woman knocking on your door claiming Brian knocked them up," Mags said.

"That obvious," Nathan stated.

Mags nodded, "We're talking about Brian after all," Mags said.

"Yes, a young lady knocked on my door claiming her nine-year-old son is Brian's son," Nathan said.

"He has some ability to program sons," Mags said.

"I don't know," Nathan said.

"Bookish looking, trailer trash, or some lower-class woman?" Mags asked, "Those seem to be Brian's usual type."

"Tall, dancer build, dark brown hair, with cat green eyes," Nathan said.

"Sounds like a tripper," Mags said.

"Based on the pictures she showed me, I'd say that was her work, at least back then," Nathan said.

Mags shook her head, "Can't we get any less cliché?" she asked.

"I could say the same thing about professional basketball players," Nathan said.

"What was her stage name? If you know?" Mags asked.

"Haley seems to think it's Estella," Nathan said.

"Mhmm, interesting," Mags said.

"Why is that interesting?" Nathan asked.

"On their third album, The Road of Excess, there was a track called Estella on it," Mags said.

"How do you know that?" Nathan asked.

"Ask Lucan," Mags said, "Anyway, wasn't he with Gabi back then?" Mags asked.

"Yeah, and he already had Wyatt and Lennon," Nathan said.

Mags chuckled, "Maybe he had a Rockstar checklist for women to bed," Mags said.

Nathan shrugged, "Maybe, with Brian, who knows?" he asked.

"What do you want to ask Lucan? Because he's going to ask," Mags said.

"I just want to show him a picture and ask a few questions," Nathan said.

"Trying to see if she's full of shit, the usual MO," Mags said.

"yes, pretty much," Nathan said.

"Based on my memory, you have a good track record with this sort of thing," Mags said.

"Surprisingly, Brian seems to have been rather careful in that respect, except for Trin and Gabi," Nathan said.

"Maybe, there's a reason for this; Brian always moved to his own beat, as strange as it was," Mags said.

"Yeah, you're probably right," Nathan said.

Mags nodded, "Jut a lot of observations," she said as she went through her old-style Rolodex. Once she found what she was looking for, she pulled out her old messenger phone and typed something out. Nathan watched as she put her old-style phone down and looked at something on a clipboard. Finally, her phone made a sound. Mags reached over and checked the phone.

"Lucan will meet with you tomorrow morning, here," Mags said.

"Thanks," Nathan said.

"No problem, nothing a loyal retainer wouldn't do for their liege," Mags said.

Nathan nodded, "Okay, and thank you again," he said, stood up, and left the office.