Thanks for all the great comments on Chapter 2. I'll try to post a chapter every Sunday, but I'll be doing NaNoWriMo in November, so chapters may be slower coming then.
Chapter 3.
By the time House arrived at the hospital the next day, the patient had been taken for his nerve conduction test. House reread the file, made a note or two to himself, and pretended to be asleep when his team knocked on his door. Must keep up appearances.
"Nerve conduction is normal," Jacobs announced in a voice that implied 'now what?'.
House sat up. "Check his electrolytes and vitamin levels, and thyroid function, too."
"The previous doctors did complete analyses of his blood."
"Do 'em again. Oh, and check for heavy metals, too."
"Aye, aye, mon capitan." Magnani saluted. They left to collect the patient's blood and do a tox screen.
House called after them, "Have you gotten the results from the rash culture yet?"
A 'no' drifted back to him.
House grimaced and told himself to be patient. The tests took time.
###
One of the high school seniors Cameron had picked to shadow her appeared at the clinic as she was unlocking the door in the morning. Rusty Rondello was a gangly young man with reddish-brown hair and soft brown eyes. He'd made the basketball team at the high school, but only as a second-string player.
As they passed through the reception area, Cameron noticed Carol's chair remained empty. "C'mon back to the examination room, Rusty, and I'll show you where I keep everything. Today, I'd like you to watch how I work. By next week, you'll be able to assist me, at least with the routine procedures, OK?"
"Sure Dr. Cameron." He'd been in her exam room himself for flu shots and the tests the school required, not only for athletes, but for all their students. "Whatever I can learn."
Someone knocked on the door, their first patient of the day. Carol still hadn't shown up.
Cameron worked through the morning. Rusty left at eleven to return to school for the rest of the day but would be back on Friday for a couple of hours. He'd already picked up a lot and proven a quick study.
By noon, Cameron had become worried about Carol. If she hadn't felt well, she would have called in. Rather than go to lunch, Cameron drove to Carol and Seth's place off the same west bound road that led to the high school and to House and Cameron's new place.
Carol's car sat in the driveway. Cameron parked behind it and marched up to the front door. The bell rang somewhere inside, but no one came to the door. Something was definitely wrong. She turned the knob, but the door was locked. Time to call for help.
She reached the dispatch officer at the police department. "Hello, this is Dr. Cameron. I'm out at Carol and Seth Davis' place. Her car's here but no one's answering the door. She never came in to work this morning."
"One minute, Dr. Cameron. I'll see who's free to come out there and help you."
While she waited, Cameron walked around the house to the back gate. It was latched but easy to open. The back door, leading to the kitchen, was locked, and none of the windows were open. She went back to the front walk to wait. No sense using the break-in skills House taught her if the police were coming.
Five minutes later, Chief Anderson himself pulled up at the curb. "Thanks for calling, doc." He pulled out a set of skeleton keys.
Once they were inside, Cameron ran up the stairs, calling Carol's name. She found her in the master bedroom, moaning on the bed, bruises on her arms and legs already turning a myriad of colors.
"Carol, what happened?" She rushed to Carol's side, examining her head first, her eyes which were responsive, and then her extremities. "Who did this to you? It wasn't Seth, was it?"
Carol tried to swallow. Cameron turned to Anderson who stood behind her. "Bring her a glass of water and a wet cloth from the bathroom."
Once Carol drank a bit and Cameron bathed her wounds, the doctor repeated her questions. "What happened? Who did this?"
"It wasn't Seth." Carol seemed to feel it was most important to tell them Seth wasn't to blame. "Someone broke in while we were eating breakfast. He threatened my husband and chased me up to the bedroom. Seth pulled him away from me but not before the guy beat me with his fists. He and Seth fought."
"Did you recognize the perpetrator?" Anderson pulled out his recorder.
Carol shook her head, but cradled it in her hands. "That hurts."
"Carol, can you answer the police chief's questions?"
"Yes. It may be the only way to help Seth." She sipped more water. "He wore a mask, the man who attacked us. He pulled out a gun forced Seth downstairs. I heard the door slam, but my head hurt so much, and so did my arms and legs. I...I couldn't move."
"Carol, do you know whether or not Seth was having a problem with anyone, either at work or anywhere else?" Anderson asked.
"I don't know. He's been acting strangely lately." She turned to Cameron. "I think some of our arguments were due to his state of mind."
Cameron had to know. "Did you tell him about the baby?"
Carol nodded slowly, probably to avoid more pain. "Last night. In fact, we had a great talk. I took your advice. And now he's gone."
"Carol, we'll find him." Anderson turned off his recorder. "Doctor, you've got things under control here?"
"Yes. My assistant here will recover faster when you find her husband."
Anderson left to get the wheels rolling in the search for Seth Davis.
"I'm so afraid when they find him, Seth will be dead." Carol's tears fell down her bruised face.
Cameron brushed Carol's hair back from her forehead. "You should spend your energy recovering both for yourself and for that child you're carrying. Worrying about Seth won't help. Anderson is much better at this than you or I."
"Seems to me without your help and House's, he would never have found proof about Ian's guilt."
"He pulled his own weight."
Carol sighed. "All right. I'll take your word for it." Carol squeezed her eyes shut. "I wish my head would stop hurting."
"I'll get you some Tylenol and more water. Now, lay back and relax." Cameron took the empty glass and went to the bathroom. The medicine cabinet didn't hold anything suspicious. She took out the Acetaminophen and refilled the glass before returning to Carol.
Carol took the two white pills from her and wash them down with the water.
Cameron also brought some salve to treat the cuts on her face and arms.
"That feels better." But Carol began to cry again. "Why can't I stop?"
"Because you've been through a traumatic experience. Carol, you're hurt, you're worried about Seth no matter what I said, and on top of all that, you're hormonal due to the pregnancy." Cameron put the cap back on the tube of salve.
"So what do I do about it?" Her voice was a wail.
Cameron had been trying to decide what to suggest. "There has to be a reason why someone came after the two of you. You say Seth has been acting a little strangely, but if this doesn't have anything to do with him, could it have anything to do with you?"
"Me?" Carol's forehead furrowed. "Why would someone be after me?"
"I can't think of any reason, and they took Seth. That's why I believe he's the one. Now we have to find out a reason someone would want to harm him."
"No." Her voice was so high it squeaked. "Allison, you know us. What did we ever do to anyone?"
"Well, there was that incident when Seth practically poisoned the entire town." Cameron smirked and squeezed Carol's shoulder to show she didn't think anyone would hold a grudge after all this time. "I doubt it had anything to do with that accident. Everyone's fully recovered. I bet most have even forgotten."
"I hope so."
"So, tell me a little about Seth's family." Cameron had never heard Carol mention any in-laws.
"Well, you knew he was an orphan, right?"
Cameron shook her head. "I don't think I did."
"Yeah. The Davis family adopted him when he was about three."
Something clicked that had been stuck in the back of Cameron's head for a while. "So, he's related to Will and Sharon?"
"Why, yes. Again, I thought you knew that."
"Davis is a common enough name. And as many times as Rachel has worked at the clinic, you never mentioned anything about it."
"I guess I haven't. The family adopted four kids, Seth, Will, Valerie, who's a stockbroker in New York, and Celeste. Poor Celeste. She died in her twenties from an overdose."
"Were Seth and Will close growing up?"
"Not really. Will's about ten years older. The two girls were in between in age."
"Are the adoptive parents still alive?" Cameron was getting a funny feeling about all of this.
"Tom passed on about ten years ago, and Beth's in a facility in Baltimore. Seth goes to visit her about once every month or two."
"I don't think Will's ever mentioned his family, either."
"I doubt what happened here is family-related."
Cameron wondered how much she could tell Carol about what Owen Marshall said about threats to Will. "Carol, remember when Mr. Marshall came to the office yesterday?"
"Yes. What does that have to do with this?"
"He told me someone might be after Will."
"Why would they try to get to him through Seth? I told you. They're not close."
"But someone might think they are."
"Wouldn't they go after Sharon and Rachel before us? And they're closer to Sharon's mother than to us."
Cameron agreed with Carol. Still, it was a possibility, especially since they hadn't come up with another reason anyone would attack Seth and Carol. "Let's wait and see what Chief Anderson comes up with."
Carol examined her fingers and sniffed back her tears. "I still have that bad feeling about Seth. Like he's hurt badly, or even..." Sobs shook her body.
Cameron rubbed her back, small circles and than larger ones, as she let Carol cry.
###
The tests on the team's patient were inconclusive, although the rash was definitely not from an infection. The tox screen showed no heavy metals in his system.
House sent Jacobs and Magnani to order an echo-cardiogram, even though there were no signs there was something wrong with his heart. He had Simpson return to the patient to review his family history.
Meanwhile, House listed all the negatives they'd established on his new whiteboard. The strangest thing was the lack of any positive data beyond the consistently high temperature.
He was studying the board when Lembach came to his door. "I understand your team is treating Mr. Kendall."
"Who?"
She chuckled. "Your current patient. He's a close friend of Dr. Meisner's, so I wanted to tell you he expects a quick diagnosis."
House shook his head. "The case will take as long as it takes." He pointed to the board. "We've ruled a lot out. That'll help us hone in on what's wrong with him."
"So you still don't know. You'll tell me when you do?"
"Oh, we'll know before long." In his head he added, I hope.
"Good." She left, and he went back to studying the board, tilting his head this way and that, as if it would help him. But then he erased the whole thing, and replaced it with the initial symptoms. "What would explain all of these? Or are we looking at two distinct causes?" he muttered to himself.
His phone played "Beautiful". He ignored it, then shook his head and picked up just before the call went to voicemail. "This better be important."
"House, you know I wouldn't call if it wasn't. Someone attacked Carol and Seth at their house this morning, and then abducted Seth."