Brenda Benet,
Cameron Mitchell,
Macdonald Carey
Tony is about two weeks into a
new relationship
and head over heels in Love with Hospital administrator,
Joanna Marsh.
(Played by Bixby’s then wife, Brenda Benet)
Joanna is suddenly,
and mysteriously struck down by an Automobile in an garage parking lot,
by a hit and run driver.
She is put into an Ambulance, and Tony immediately goes to the hospital
only to find out she is not there.
By the time he finds the
correct hospital he is given the bad news….
Joanna is dead.
When Tony asks to see her body, he is told the body is not there, and that
an Uncle he had never heard of had already claimed the body.
Grieving and upset,
Tony investigates deeper and finds out Joanna Marsh,
is really someone else named Joanna Osborne.
Tony is able to locate her next of kin.
He visit’s her Aunt and Uncle,
only to be overcome by a couple of men with guns,
who knock Tony out,
and set the Aunt and Uncles barn on fire.
Tony escape’s the burning barn
only to be arrested on suspicion of arson ,
and is also suspected in the disappearance of Joanna’s aunt and uncle.
Tony escapes from Jail and continues his pursuit of Joanna.
Finally he learns that
Joanna was in a witness protection program to protect her from people
who would rather have her dead.
Because Tony is a major celebrity,
Joanna was accidentally exposed of her whereabouts,
and now, as a result, she was dead.
Or was she?
Tony sense’s a cover-up in Joanna’s death.
As it turns out,
Joanna IS alive, her “Uncle” is really an agent
assigned to make Joanna “disappear” for her own safety,
only he does not realize the master magician he is dealing with.
Not Only does Tony uncover the Cover Up,
but he also is able to foil the two syndicate hit men,
who had been trying to get to Joanna for the last two weeks.
All to no avail,
because Tony must still say goodbye to Joanna for her own safety.
Soon she will have a new job and identity somewhere else,
as a witness under the Protection Program.