TRANSVESTIA

Her lips quivered as she tried to reply but no words passed her lips. Suddenly, with a look of contempt on his face, Cort strode past her into the small living room.

"Why don't you go get him?" he said, punctuating the "him" with a sneer. "I've quite a lot to say to you both."

Astonishingly, Angie just nodded at Jean's flustered report of Cort's entrance. Coolly he stood, smoothed out the blue silk dress, and taking Jean by the hand, led her down the short flight of steps to where Cort sat, frowning and sullen, at the far end of the living room.

Quite deliberately, Cort remained seated as the two entered, but Angie seemed hardly put out at all. Keeping a tight hold of Jean's hand, he led her to the loveseat opposite the one Cort had chosen to sit in. Sitting down, he casually and girlishly smoothed the back of the dress, causing a gentle rustling of the petticoats. Even as he kept hold of Jean's hand, he crossed one of his nylon stockinged legs over the other, again causing a distinctly feminine rasping sound.

Seeing Angie dressed so, Cort was shocked by the undiluted sex appeal of the "woman" who sat opposite him. It was next to impossi- ble to think of such a glamorous object as a man. There was absolutely no masculine gesture or point of reference to give him away.

"Cathy Lord has let us know what gullible fools work at Pacific, and, in particular, what a fool I was." His words, intended to be harsh, sounded merely matter-of-fact.

Angie nodded. "She'd be the one," he said huskily, squeezing Jean's hand tighter. With his other hand, he flicked a strand of hair back over his shoulder, displaying his brightly painted red fingernails. His darkly outlined eyes looked at Cort for the first time. "Jean and I had already decided to quit this whole business. I guess you'll fire us first before we can quit."

Cort stood up. He found that his hands were shaking and he need- ed a drink. "Tell me," he said, his voice shaky even to him. "Why, for heaven's sake, should you be quitting now? You had everyone fooled up to yesterday."

Angie shrugged. "My son needs a father," he said. "That should be reason enough."