RANSVESTIA

"H-how should I know where she is?" Jean Rodriguez dabbed at the expensive makeup on her face. "I'm just her dresser these days. You're her husband, aren't you?"

"In name only." The bitter words were positively spat out of the hard, compressed mouth. "In name only, Jean. Don't you ever forget that!"

Jean quivered and even seemed to shrink before the president of Pacific Studios' forceful attack. Not since the wedding day of Robert Cort and Angie Saunders had she seen Robert Cort so upset. Not that you could have seen anything wrong in the picture on Cort's desk. Angie was positively ravishing as a bride in her white, lace dress. Her shoulder-length golden hair with the crown of flowers, the veil gently pushed to one side, gave her a sexy look even in her bridal wear. Robert Cort, the calm, fixed smile on his face, had not erupted until later, in the privacy of the bridal suite, where Angie and Jean had clung together, absolutely terrified by the dimensions of Cort's rage.

"Call your friends," Cort snapped. "She may be visiting one of your old friends from the Pearl City Revue."

Jean shook her head. "N-no," she stammered. "We've only seen Cathy Lord in the last couple of years. And that's only because she's been under contract here."

"I know that," Cort's manner was even more rude. He stood up and began to stalk about his dimly lit office. "We shall have to bring in a private detective," he said at last. "We can't have the studios' biggest star lost out there."

"But what will you tell them?" whispered Jean anxiously. "You couldn't tell them that ..."

"No. Of course not," snarled Cort. "There are some things we can't tell anyone." He glared at her as he strode back and forth. We'll have to tell the media that Angie Saunders is ill and won't be making any personal appearances for the next month. You'll have to confirm that she's with you out at Whiteside. Prime Cameron and Margot to say that, too, will you?" He scowled as he mentioned Jean's children, to whom he'd been a father over the last five years. He picked up the