RANSVESTIA

"The job that Mr. Cort has for you," said Mayer quietly, "is a job that requires a fine sense of discretion." Lincoln nodded. He could be discreet if the price was right. "You will be very well paid. And, should you succeed, the company would be willing to extend to you a retainer so that your fine services will always be available to us."

Lincoln blinked and jerked his head. He was definitely intrigued. A permanent retainer! It was what he'd been looking for... No, what he desperately needed... since he'd left police work. He was about to subject Arthur Mayer to a barrage of eager questions, but they were interrupted by the sudden arrival of Pacific's president.

Cort stalked toward the shining, glass-topped, mahoghany desk. Mayer leapt from the high, leather, padded chair, and scudded over towards the chair beside Lincoln like a sailboat at the approach of a high wind. Glen Lincoln took on Cort's tanned, muscular figure at a glance, the expensive sports shirt and well-tailored slacks. The grim. set of the mouth and the quick glance from beneath the dark brows spoke of an unrestrained, relentless intelligence. The man must be a tireless worker, thought Lincoln. I'd guess that he drives his secretaries almost insane. Already Glen could feel the dislike rising within himself. This wasn't his kind of person. He wondered what a super-dish like Angie Saunders saw in him.

For his part, Cort was quite disappointed by Mayer's choice of detective. Lincoln was young, sandy-haired and apparently open and honest. Cort would have preferred someone older, greyer, more devious. He frowned, but remembered Mayer's success rate at dis- covering talent. Only Angie Saunders had fooled Mayer, but then she'd made the studios money on all of her fourteen pictures to date.

Cort sat down and looked directly at the pale eyes which were so busy sizing him up, too. "My wife, Angie Saunders," Cort stated flatly, "has been missing now for five days." Lincoln's face registered only polite surpirse and Cort was put out. "It will be your task to find her."

"All right," said Lincoln calmly.

There was a silence for a moment as each man eyed the other coolly. "This will not be an easy task," said Cort. "You must not involve the police, nor the media, in this affair. And neither must you