Chapter 26

Thankfully, Dee finished eating, then after Allison cleaned her face, she quickly climbed up onto her mother's lap and promptly went to sleep for her afternoon nap. Nearly half an hour later, House walked into the living room with Anderson behind him. He took a seat in his chair and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees as he tapped his cane on the floor. Within seconds, Tony and Allison joined them. Anderson looked at House who was still watching the tip of his cane.

"Okay. Let's hear it," Tony said to his father.

House looked up at him a long moment. He had been trying to figure out a way of easing into this conversation during the entire ride home. Nothing came to him.

"I didn't want you to be around Ryan when you heard what happened after he left you here last night," House finally spoke.

"Okay," Tony said slowly as he stood with his hands in his pockets, leaning against the wall. "I could ask why–but more important–I'll ask–what happened?"

"First of all–I'll answer why. Because I know you, and your first reaction isn't going to be kind. I know you'll have things to say that you don't want Ryan to hear."

"Okay," Tony said again. "So what happened after he left?"

"He drove to the Becker house and had sex with Tara in the back seat of her car."

"Oh, my God," Allison put her hand to her throat.

Tony stared at his father, nodding his head as he bit his lower lip. He looked at the floor, then back to his father. Then he couldn't seem to hold his anger in any longer.

"How the fuck could he do something so goddamned stupid? I know he's an idiot–but doesn't he have a brain in his head, at all? Why would he have done something like that? How could he have been so moronic considering what she did to all of us! He has got to be the dumbest son-of-a-bitch in the world to go to her in the first place–then to actually have sex with her!" Tony raged.

"This is why we sent him home with Wilson," House explained.

"Are you saying I'm not right?" Tony asked his father with wide eyes.

"Of course, you're right. Only an imbecile would've gone to check to see if she was alright after what she put you through. But–he doesn't need to hear that from you. Were you aware that he has a history with her?"

"Yeah. I knew he was with her before I started dating her."

"And Ryan didn't mind that you more or less stole her from him?" Allison asked.

"There was no stealing about it. He didn't have her–not really. He wanted to be with her, but the Beckers didn't like him so much. So, they stopped seeing each other that way. As far as I know, he hasn't been with her since."

"Except the night she gets murdered," House reminded him.

"Did he say "why" he drove to her house?"

"He wanted to make sure she was alright. Evidently he felt guilty for insulting her virtue while at the diner–so he needed to go clear his conscience and evidently empty his scrotum."

"Greg!" Allison scolded.

Tony remained quiet for some minutes then looked up at his parents. "Okay. So Ryan's an idiot. There's nothing new about that. And he's a sensitive fool, otherwise he wouldn't have wanted to go to her house in the first place." He looked at his father. "Believe me–he could've had any number of other chicks "empty his scrotum" if that was his purpose. Now we've got to figure out how to clear his name."

"You," Anderson began, "are going to stay away from Ryan for a while–at least until we know what the police are going to do. At this point, I have no doubt that as soon as they get some solid evidence, such as Ryan's DNA, they'll be arresting him for Tara's murder."

"Why do they have to wait for the DNA? I mean, he admitted that he had sex with her," Tony asked.

"They'll be looking for other areas such as whether there's any of his skin under her fingernails. If they can find nothing else, they'll fall back on the sperm. But like I said, at this point, I want you to stay low. You're not one hundred percent cleared, but we'll learn more about that within the following week or so. At this point I think they're pretty much directing all their attention on Ryan."

"But that's ridiculous. There's someone out there who did this to Tara–they should be looking for him!"

"They will be–as long as there's no conviction and no admission of guilt–they'll still be looking."

"Don't lie to the kid," House spoke up. "Once they put the nitwit in jail–they're going to close the books on this case."

"Not if I can help it," Anderson told him. "I suggest, if you had any thoughts of going to this girl's funeral, you forget it. And stay away from the parents."

"That may be difficult," Allison spoke up. "Dr. Fleming has been making a point of singling Greg out at work."

"She's interested in pursuing a relationship with you?" Anderson asked House.

"She made little effort to pretend otherwise," Allison told him. "She made a habit of coming into his office almost daily–sometimes more."

"Did you encourage these visits?"

"No, not really. But I did allow it to go on–probably longer than I should have. She was amusing me," House told him.

"Amusing you? How so?"

"Watching her play her game. She has such an inflated sense of self-confidence that she not only didn't find my wife a threat to her plans, it was almost as if my wife didn't exist. I found that incredibly funny."

"In other words you allowed her to stroke your ego."

"No, I didn't say that. I hardly felt complimented when the woman who found me attractive was delusional enough to think I'd prefer her over my wife. If she couldn't see that she was nothing in comparison to Cameron–then I'd say she wasn't dealing with reality in a rational way."

"So, you never tried to end this infatuation she had with you?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact, he did. Yesterday," Allison told him. "We had a face-off with her and we made it quite clear that she was to leave us alone."

"Did this come from you? Or your husband?"

"Both of us–but it was more or less Greg letting her know she had better stop. She threatened to ruin Wilson's reputation by accusing him of having an affair with her daughter while Tara was still a minor–but Greg told her he'd get every boy in the high school who had been with Tara in to testify that she was. . .well, loose."

"I see. So, the last time she spoke to you both–she left with no doubt that her pursuit was in vain?"

"I don't see how she could have left thinking otherwise."

"Alright," Anderson wrote some notes in his notebook then flipped it closed and put it in his pocket. "I've got to get to the Wilson's and see what we can do about Ryan. In the meantime, I want you all to sit tight. Dr. House, Dr. Cameron-House, if you wish to communicate with the Wilsons, you may, but keep it reasonable. Tony, on the other hand, I'd suggest you not try to get in touch with Ryan for awhile. I'll get back to you by the end of the day today."

"Thank you, Barry," Allison said, walking him to the door and letting him out.