RANSVESTIA

Eddie was feeling better. Perhaps it was the fresh air. "What's to tell?" he said lightly.

Carlos pondered, fingers on his lip, then he wagged it in the air. "You're a showgirl, right? You must work in one of Rizetti's night clubs." He paused and looked at Roxanne closely. "That man you came in with works with Rizetti doesn't he?" He was extremely thoughtful. "Tell me, lovely Roxanne, why does a friend of Rizetti's set me up with such a fantastic girl. And why are you upset?" His face became very hard. "Do you have a special address that you're to take me to and then have me photographed?" His lips parted in a snarl. "What kind of a fool do you think I am?" His smile was hard, his hand pressing Eddie's so tightly that it felt numb. "But we can cross them up." A twisted smile came to his lips. "You can come back to my place. Wait here." He lightly brushed his fingers to Eddie's lips and then strode across the garden to where the iron grey-haired man was holding forth, brunettes on either arm, to the amusement of two blondes. The iron-grey broke off as Carlos approached. The two spoke furiously but quietly for a full five minutes, before Carlos suddenly stopped arguing, stared at the girls with his companion, and then back at Roxanne. He strode back to Eddie's side quickly, but there was a sheepish grin on his face.

"So, Roxanne, you're not quite the woman you seem to be," his voice was amused. "I'm sorry, but I'm not quite up for someone like you tonight. You work for Rizetti, and I don't trust him, or anyone who works for him. But, if you ever get free of him, and you're still the way you are today, look me up." He bent over, hugged Eddie-Roxanne to him, and kissed him fully and passionately on the lips. "Oh, baby," he said, still holding the uncooperative Eddied around the waist. "Could I ever have gone for you?"

With Carlos leaving him, though obviously with reluctance, the party came to a quick end for Eddie. He was bundled off by a furious Benny into a mini-bus with the girls who had been with Rizetti. "Where are you from?" asked the smaller brunette.

"I work at the Gold Coast," said Eddie. “And you?”

"Collette and I are at the Ladybird," the brunette's eyes, heavy with mascara, still flashed with the excitement of the party. "You must have an act," she said. "We're in the chorus."

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