I've got another one for you. But next weekend, I'll be signing and selling my original books at the Duke City Comic Con, so I doubt I'll have a chapter on Sunday evening.
Chapter 21.
Wilson's eyebrows went up a half inch in response to House's statement he wasn't opposed to an open house party. "I'll welcome an invitation."
"Didn't you hear Cameron? You're helping us move in." House grinned suddenly. "We can even make it a moving in party, complete with food and drink provided by those offering to help."
"So you want us to carry boxes and help unpack them. In exchange, we get to eat whatever we bring?"
"That's what I said."
Anita set out in search of the young men who attacked Jessica and the door to House's office building, possibly also the vandals who scrawled graffiti over four premises. She wasn't sure where to start, although Pete had said one of the men frequented the dock area. The drive out Harbor Road to the shores of the Chesapeake was pleasant enough. Much of the land wasn't developed. She passed the lane to House and Cameron's new home. From the road, it looked substantial, a ranch house spread over the property. She'd seen it from the backside, of course, when she'd been out to the pharma plant.
She reached the dock area. The first time she'd been there. A large building housing a restaurant and offices overlooked four fingers of docking spaces. About half were filled with boats of various sizes from small cabin cruisers and dinghies to good-sized yachts. Who knew!
The offices seemed the best place to start. She strode along the plank walkway, reading the signs outside each space until she came to one marked, Harbor Manager. A large man in t-shirt and jeans talked to a short, plump woman in flowing white pants and a nautical print blouse.
Anita knocked before turning the knob to open the door and entering. "I'll wait." She stood as far from the man and woman as possible in the small office and studied the prints on the wall, boats and men fishing.
The woman suddenly stormed out, but the man addressed Anita in a pleasant voice. "How can I help you?"
Anita whipped out the sketches and placed them on the man's desk. "Do you know these young men?" Then she showed her badge and ID.
The man looked from the pictures to the door.
"Was that Susie Peck?" she guessed then tapped the sketch of her son. "And he's Wilbur."
"Yeah. She was just in here asking me to send him back to school if I see him around here. Wants to separate Wilbur from his new friends." He tapped the other almost complete image. "That's one of them, Hatch. I think his first name's Steve."
"Have you seen them recently?"
"That's what Susie wanted to know, and like I told her, not for a week or so. I chased 'em off then, loafing on the docks when they should be in school." He shook his head.
"That wasn't all they were doing. We suspect they've been spraying graffiti on some shops, but worse then that, Wilbur may have hit a woman over the head before smashing a glass door of a doctor's office."
"He wouldn't do that, not Wilbur. I can't believe it." His head went back and forth without stopping.
"Look, Mr. … Sorry, I didn't get your name."
"Gordon Peck."
"Any relation to Susie and Wilbur?"
In addition to the head shake, he wrung his hands. "She's my wife, and he's my son. He's not really a bad boy. Maybe Susie's right. It's that gang he hangs around with."
"I'm afraid the woman who was attacked says he was the one who hit her. That's a serious charge, much more than vandalizing stores."Anita wondered if the man understood what she was saying. "Mr. Peck, if you see your son or any of his friends, call me immediately. We can go lighter on them if they turn themselves in." She handed him her card and collected the drawings. "Thanks for your time, Mr. Peck."
She didn't know whether the man had any influence over his son or not, but hoped he'd get the message across. On the off chance the young men would show up, she hung around for a while, staring out to the water, watching boats and water skiers go by. She found a bench a little further along the offices and shops where she could breathe in salty sea air. A gull called from a piling then flew off. Chesapeake bay was a wide estuary into the Atlantic and the amount of traffic indicated that it was a vibrant waterway.
At four-thirty, she stood and made her way to her car. Maybe someone warned Wilbur and his friends that she was looking for them. As she passed Peck's office, she noticed he was still at his desk. She didn't stop.
The team was still stumped about their patient.
"Just because 'it's never lupus' doesn't mean that's always the case," Hadley told them.
"Huh?" Simpson studied her.
She laughed. "It's something I got from House. Didn't he ever tell you guys that?"
All three shookl their heads.
"I see there are gaps in your education. Guess he's been too distracted to fill you full of his bits of wisdom." She smiled. "No worries. I'll make sure you learn everything I did from House."
Jacobs tapped the current file. "Our patient."
"Yes. I hate to tell you this, but you're likely dealing with a patient with lupus."
"Isn't that an autoimmune disease? Chronic."
Hadley nodded. "And it presents with conflicting blood chemistry and symptoms. There are a couple of ways to know for certain." She left it at that. They could do the research themselves. As she left the conference room on her way to her office, she brought up Anita's number on her phone and called.
"Hi there."
"Hi there to you too." Hadley grinned. "How's the search for the perps going?"
"I have a name and I've met the young man's father. Hung around on the dock for while just in case they showed. No luck. I just pulled into the lot at headquarters, but after I record the info I gathered, I'll see whether Pete's at Mo's. I want to run something by him."
"Then I won't keep you. See you there in an hour or so." Hadley was still smiling when she ended the call.
Anita met Anderson as she entered the building. She told him what she had to put in her report.
"Good work. I'm glad you could identify at least one of the perps and have a partial on another."
"I'm hoping the father will lean on his son, but I'm not counting on it," she said. "My report will recommend that a patrolman be stationed near the dock offices with a copy of the sketches."
Anderson nodded. "Agreed. I'll arrange it. How do you like this kind of work compared to the investigations you did for the Bureau?"
"I guess my attachment to the town makes me feel any crimes here much more deeply." She smiled. "The good folks of Shelby shouldn't be subjected to any disturbance of the tranquility it promises."
Anderson laughed. "You make it sound like paradise."
"Comparatively. Have you ever lived in D.C. or Baltimore?" she asked.
"No, but I can see you have a point." He crossed his arms over his barrel chest. "I've been Chief of Police here for eight years, and before that I was a detective on the force. In that time, I've seen a range of crimes. If there were none, there'd be no need for us." He winked.
She glanced at her watch. "I'll finish my reports. Mind if I cut out early?"
"Got a hot date?"
"No. My partner won't leave the hospital in Snow Hill until five, but I'd like another word with the people who ID'd Wilbur. Now that I know more about him, I have some questions for them."
Linda was still at the diner, of course, but there was no sign of Pete.
"Got a minute?" Anita asked the waitress after she sat in the otherwise empty booth.
"For my favorite fed turned local cop? Sure."
"Do you know any others?"
Linda laughed. "Got me there. How can I help now?"
"I visited Mr. Peck this afternoon, and I think the woman leaving his office when I arrived was his wife. Can you describe her?" Anita asked.
"Susie? Blond flyaway hair, about five five and plump," Linda said. "How did you know where Mr. Peck worked?"
"Tricks of the trade. They were arguing when I arrived, about Wilbur according to Mr. Peck."
"He's her son from her first marriage. If she was ever married. She arrived in town with the kid, met Gordon Peck. When they married, he adopted Wilbur. He's been trying to make the kid love him ever since."
Throughout Linda's recitation, Anita nodded and took notes on her phone. "So Gordon adopted him but he's not his biological father. He makes excuses for the kid to compensate."
Linda nodded. "That's what I said."
"Explains his attitude toward the kid."
"Don't know how old Wilbur is, but can't be more than seventeen, eighteen."
"Right." That fit. "My impression is that he should have been in high school rather than running around town causing mischief."
"Knocking doctors over the head, you mean."
"Only one to my knowledge. Anderson said he'd stake out the dock. I'll stick to the village square and the streets leading off it." Anita was half talking to herself.
"Has Mrs. Brewster's store been vandalized?" Linda asked. "You weren't here when her nephew tried to poison her so he could get ahold of her estate. But she's back in business now, selling antiques and such."
Anita checked her notes. "No. None of the shop owners is named Brewster."
"Good. Enough trouble has befallen the poor woman." Linda moved closer to whisper, "Not poor in money, you understand."
Their conversation was interrupted by a customer motioning for Linda's attention.
"If I think of anything else about Susie Peck, I'll tell you."
Alone again, Anita sipped her iced tea and read through her notes. She added her impressions of Mr. and Mrs. Peck. I should have asked the chief if Wilbur had a record, she thought.
She wasn't alone long. House showed up at four thirty followed by Wilson and Jessica ten minutes later. In the short time only she and House sat in the booth, she brought him up to date on the investigation into the attack on Jessica and his office. She then told Jessica only that they identified her assailant as Wilbur Peck.
"I finally forced Jessica to sleep for a few minutes." Wilson cast a watchful gaze on Jess.
"I'll sleep tonight. There was too much to do today." She patted Wilson's hand. "Don't fret over me."
"That's something Wilson does best, fretting," House said.
Cameron arrived shortly after five. "What did I miss?"
So Anita repeated what she'd told Jessica and Wilson, knowing House would fill in the gaps for her later. "How was your afternoon at the clinic?"
"Still busy. If it gets any busier, I'll have to hire another doctor, but there's no money for one. The clinic's budget is strained as it is." She gratefully accepted a cup of coffee from Linda.
"If you have enough for a fellowship, fellows work cheap." House smirked at her.
"Don't I know it."
Linda returned to tell them, "The special tonight is fried chicken with mashed or French fried potatoes and salad."
"Sounds good." Wilson grinned. "With mashed."
"To me too," Anita said.
Linda waited patiently for the others to decide.
"Oh, why not. I'll have mine with fries." Cameron sighed deeply. "There goes that diet."
"I'm having what she's having." House pointed to Cameron.
That left Jessica. She glanced at Wilson, but finally joined the crowd. "Me too. With fries."
While they waited for their food, Wilson said, "We went by the house again. Door's fixed so now it's ready for Will."
Cameron smiled. "After we eat we're going out to the Harbor Road house for a walk-through with him."
"That's exciting," Jess said.
But House muttered something about, "Too bad we won't be alone."