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CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

"Be a sweet girl for Daddy." Tate knelt in front of his daughter and gave her a tight hug. "I'll be back before you know it and bring you a present."

Ordinarily, Mandy's grin would have caused Avery to smile, but she found that impossible to do this morning, the day of Tate's departure. He stood up. "Call me if she has any breakthroughs."

"Of course."

"Or any regressions."

''Yes.''

"The entire staff's been put on notice that if a call comes in concerning Mandy, I'm to be summoned immediately, no matter what."

"If anything happens, I promise to call right away."

Jack tooted the car horn. He was waiting impatiently behind the steering wheel. Eddy was already sitting in the passenger seat, speaking into the cellular phone that had recently been installed.

''About that other,'' Tate said, keeping his tone confidential. "Eddy did as you suggested and asked the nurse for irrefutable proof that you'd had an abortion. He grilled her good, gave her a taste of what she would be up against if she went to the press or to Dekker's people with her story.

"He also did some investigating. As you guessed, she was fired from her job and wanted to embarrass the doctor even more than us. Eddy used that as leverage, too, and threatened all kinds of litigation. For the time being, she's cowed."

"Oh, I'm so glad, Tate. I would have hated to have that darken your campaign."

He gave a short laugh. "It couldn't look much darker than it already does."

"Don't get discouraged," she said, laying her hand on his sleeve. "The polls aren't gospel. Besides, they can be reversed at any time."

"They'd better be damn quick about it," he said grimly.

"November's going to be here before we know it." Between now and then, his life was in danger and she couldn't even warn him of it. During this trip she wouldn't be there watching for a tall, gray haired man. Maybe she should mention that—just give him that much head start against his enemies.

"Tate—" she began. Jack honked the horn again.

"Got to go." He bent over and kissed Mandy's cheek again. "Goodbye, Carole." She didn't get a kiss, or a hug, or even a backward glance before he got into the car and was driven away.

''Mommy? Mommy?''

Mandy must have addressed her several times. By the time Avery stopped staring at the curve in the road where the car had disappeared from view and looked down at her, her little face was perplexed.

''I'm sorry. What is it, darling?"

"How come you're crying?"

Avery brushed the tears off her cheeks and forced a wide smile. ''I'm just sad because Daddy's leaving. But I've got you to keep me company. Will you do that while he's gone?"

Mandy nodded vigorously. Together they went inside. If Tate was temporarily beyond her help, she could at least do the best she could for his daughter.

 # # #

The days crawled by. She spent most of her time with Mandy, but even the activities she invented for them weren't enough to absorb the endless hours. She hadn't been exaggerating when she had told Tate all those weeks earlier that she needed something constructive to do. She wasn't accustomed to inactivity. On the other hand, she seemed to lack the energy to motivate herself into doing anything more than staring into space and worrying about him.