Mirror Image

it with his dying breath.
    * * *
    “I’m glad you came with us,” Avery said, giving Tate a tentative smile. A receptionist had seated them in Dr. Webster’s office to await their private consultation.
    “It was the only decision I could make.”
    The psychologist had been with Mandy for almost an hour. Waiting for his prognosis was taking its toll on them. The idle conversation was an attempt to relieve their nervous tension.
    “Will Eddy stay mad at me for the rest of the trip?”
    “I spoke with him before we left the hotel. He wished us luck with Mandy. I guess Mom and Dad calmed him down. Anyway, he never really gets mad.”
    “That’s odd, isn’t it?”
    Tate consulted his wristwatch. “How long does his session with her last, for crissake?” He looked at the door behind him as though willing it to open. “What did you say?”
    “About Eddy never getting mad.”
    “Oh, right.” He shrugged. “It’s just his temperament. He rarely loses control.”
    “Iceman,” she murmured.
    “Hmm?”
    “Nothing.”
    She fiddled with the strap of her handbag, weighing the advisability of pursuing the subject. Irish had advised her to learn as much as she could about these people. Her career had been built on her ability to pose pertinent questions, but to phrase them subtly. She had been adroit at squeezing information out of people who were sometimes reluctant to impart their secrets. She decided to test her talent and see if it was still intact.
    “What about women?”
    Tate tossed aside the magazine he had just picked up. “What women?”
    “Eddy’s women.”
    “I don’t know. He doesn’t discuss them with me.”
    “He doesn’t discuss his sex life with his best friend? I thought all men swapped success stories.”
    “Boys might. Men don’t need to. I’m not a voyeur and Eddy’s not an exhibitionist.”
    “Is he heterosexual?”
    Tate hit her with an icy blast of his eyes. “Why? Did he turn you down?”
    “Damn you!”
    The door swung open. The two of them guiltily sprang apart. The receptionist said, “The doctor is finishing up with Mandy. He’ll be in shortly.”
    “Thank you.”
    After she withdrew, Avery leaned forward from her chair again. “I’m only asking about Eddy because your niece is throwing herself at him, and I’m afraid she’ll get hurt.”
    “My niece? Fancy?” He laughed with incredulity. “She’s after Eddy?”
    “She told me so the other night, when she came home with a battered face.” His smile disappeared. “That’s right, Tate. She picked up a cowboy in a bar. They got high. When he couldn’t maintain an erection, he blamed it on Fancy and beat her up.”
    He expelled a long breath. “Jesus.”
    “Didn’t you notice her black eye and swollen lip?” He shook his head. “Well, don’t feel too badly. Neither did her own parents,” she said bitterly. “Fancy’s like a piece of furniture. She’s there, but no one really sees her… unless she’s behaving outrageously. Anyway, she has her sights fixed on Eddy now. How do you think he’ll reciprocate?”
    “Fancy’s just a kid.”
    Avery gave him an arch look. “You might be her uncle, but you’re not blind.”
    He rolled his shoulders uncomfortably. “Eddy had his share of coeds while we were at UT. He visited the whorehouses in Nam. I know he’s straight.”
    “Is he currently seeing anyone?”
    “He goes out with some of the women who work at headquarters, but it’s usually a platonic, group thing. I haven’t heard any scuttlebutt that he’s sleeping with one of them. Several would probably be willing if he asked.
    “But Fancy?” Tate shook his head doubtfully. “I don’t think Eddy would touch her. He wouldn’t get involved with a woman almost twenty years his junior, particularly Fancy. He’s too bright.”
    “I hope you’re right, Tate.” After a thoughtful pause, she glanced up at him and added, “And not because I’m interested in him myself.”
    He didn’t have time to comment before the doctor opened the door and entered the office.

Twenty-Five
    “Don’t feel too bad, Mrs. Rutledge. Your guilt over past mistakes won’t help Mandy now.”
    “How am I supposed to feel, Dr. Webster? You’ve all but said that I’m responsible for Mandy’s retarded social development.”
    “You made some mistakes. All parents do. But you and Mr. Rutledge have already taken the first step toward reversing that trend. You’re spending more time with Mandy, which is