What can they believe of the stories Iris told them? House and Cameron aren't about to give up trying to get to the bottom of things.

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Chapter 36. Exploratory efforts.

"I guess no one has a key to the antique shop, either." Iris frowned.

"We can always call the locksmith again." House could see her in the rear-view mirror.

"I didn't see any keys in the house. I thought that was strange." Cameron turned around to face Iris. "Did you notice any?"

She shook her head. "But I wasn't looking for any. I probably should have." She looked contrite.

House looked at Cameron out of the side of his eye. "It would be interesting to find out how much Ian sold while he was running the shop."

Cameron pressed her lips together, not about to mention the receipt Rachel found. House knew about it, but Iris didn't have to. "I never shopped there myself. I wonder who did."

"I guess tomorrow we'll call the locksmith again." Iris said it as if she was reluctant.

"You can even have him make you keys to the house and shop," Cameron ignored her tone, believing she was as anxious as they were to examine the shop.

"They can do without me at the hospital, at least in the morning." He glanced at Iris. "You wouldn't want to go into the shop alone, would you?"

"Why, I... I'd have the locksmith with me. I'll be just fine," Iris reassured him.

"Nonsense. It'd be my honor to accompany you."

Cameron covered her guffaw with her hand at House's chivalrous remark. "I'm afraid I'll have to spend the day at the clinic."

"I'll take care of Miss Sinclair. And then we'll meet you for lunch."

"Maybe I'll invite Anna to join us," Cameron mused. "She wanted to see Iris."

The woman in question was silent.

"The diner again or Sal's? Iris, how do you feel about pizza and Italian food?"

Cameron wasn't certain what House was up too, but she went along with him. "Sal DiMonaco's place is one of the best Italian restaurants in town."

"I like Italian food." Iris sounded tentative.

They'd reached the motel and Iris got out, walking to her room without looking back.

"So, what do you make of her?" Cameron's eyes were slits.

"Have you got a full shaker of salt?" House grimaced. "Nothing she said made sense. It was as if she needed to tell us something, anything but the truth."

Cameron sighed. "I thought it was just me. I do think, though, there's a nugget or two of truth somewhere in that web of lies. The difficult part is figuring out what parts of her story to believe, starting with why she left her husband."

"If she left him and he didn't throw her out."

Cameron's eyes popped open. "I hadn't thought of that." She scratched the back of her head. "We need to analyze this on a whiteboard. List all the 'facts' and then decide which are plausible, which can be proven, and which don't fit with the rest."

House laughed. "I trained you well."

"House, your methods work whether it's a medical puzzle or any other kind."

"Yes, but we don't have a whiteboard here."

"Then we'll have to improvise." She smiled at him. "And I know just the thing to use."

He parked in the driveway and followed Cameron into the house, curious about what she had in mind.

She went straight down the stairs to their place. He sat on the couch watching her as she went straight to a drawer.

Cameron smirked at him before taking out a cutting board and a piece of parchment paper. She covered the board and started writing on it with a black marker, then sat next to him. "Let me know whether I leave anything out." She listed everything she could think of, then turned to him with a lifted brow.

"How about how she got the bruises you treated?"

She nodded and added it to the list, marking it as something Iris never tried to explain. "So, there's very little here that we can believe."

"Only those things we've witnessed ourselves. Unless she's an even better actress than we think, she doesn't know where her brother is."

"Yes. She's looking for him." Cameron put a check mark next to that. "But why?"

"Ah, that's a good question."

"What we also question are whether or not she left her husband and why, what happened in Philly and Baltimore, and why she came here."

"Did she know her aunt was in a nursing home?"

"No, she didn't. And when we told her and I took her to Snow Hill, she was definitely concerned about whether her aunt would even remember her, but they seemed to be happy to see each other." Cameron smiled. "It was hard to get Iris to leave, and she honestly seems eager to return to see her aunt again tomorrow. I watched her while we were having tea with Edna."

"She forgot about that, though, when we started talking about the shop," House pointed out.

"Well, she has the sweater and quilt now, so I expect she'll still want to go, besides checking out the shop."

"What do you think we'll find there?"

"At the shop?" Cameron shook her head. "I have no idea." She studied the board. "It might be connected to whatever she was looking for at the house. Besides Ian, that is."

"I'm surprised we didn't find something there."

She smirked. "Not as surprised as Iris. We did see that Ian was preparing some food, indicating that he left suddenly."

"And didn't take anything with him."

"Or did he? Suppose there was something in the house that he decided was valuable, more valuable than anything in the shop, worth more than all he left there? His car's gone."

House nodded. "We don't even know what kind of car he was driving."

"I guess we can find out, though. It's strange that no one ever reported him missing."

House shrugged. "Maybe there was no one to miss him."

"Not even Pamela." Cameron shook her head. "This isn't getting us anywhere."

"At least we know what we don't know. I don't harbor any hope that the trip to the shop will reveal anything, but it's worth a shot. But that's tomorrow. Right now, I've got another exploration in mind."

"Oh, yeah?" She grinned at him as he began to open the buttons on her shirt.

They abandoned their differential on the Sinclairs and settled together on the couch. Cameron slipped her slim arms out of her sleeves and House kissed her soft shoulders, sending shivers down her spine, but she didn't pull her shirt back on. She knew he'd warm her up.

His lips settled on hers, pressing them apart just enough to allow his tongue to touch hers. His long fingers began their own search for whatever would make her respond. Each sigh told him he was doing something right, something that was making her feel good.

She smiled at the light in his blue eyes, a light that only appeared when he was enjoying himself. It touched her heart to know that she could bring that to him, but it also elicited other responses in her body, a need that she knew he wanted to fulfill just as she would fulfill his.

His hands unhooked her bra to release the small firm mounds of her breasts just before she took off his shirt. As skin touched skin, more tingles coursed through her. His mouth engulfed one nipple and then the other and she felt a warmth between her legs.

More clothing was removed until they sat together, completely naked, filled with longing. House stood as Cameron stretched out on her back. He gazed at her for a few moments before lowering himself so they could join. They rode the crests, completely in sync, and their passion grew until it exploded like fireworks, sending sparks through them both.

They finally caught their breaths again and pulled apart with a shudder.

"Wow! You haven't lost your touch." Cameron smiled at him, kissing his lips and then snuggling close.

"Uh, Cameron? Could you move your elbow?"

"Oh, right. Sorry." She adjusted her position. They remained in that spot for a while. Surprisingly, it was Cameron who said, "I'm hungry."

House laughed. "That's usually my line."

"Bet you wouldn't mind some food."

"I wouldn't touch that bet with a ten foot pole."

They rose, putting on a minimal amount of clothing, and Cameron went scrounging for a late night snack. "There's some leftover Chinese, and I think this is a slice of pizza." She held up a limp triangle wrapped in foil.

House nodded. "That'll do."

The combination was strange, but they'd eaten stranger. It didn't bother them. They finished every bit, along with a couple of beers, then tossed the containers in the trash.

Without a word, Cameron opened the bed. They got in together, hugged for a while, then turned over and went to sleep.

In the morning, House woke with a plan. "I'm going to take Iris to see her aunt, and I'll stop in at the hospital. Could you arrange for the locksmith to meet us at the shop this afternoon?"

Cameron nodded as she slipped out of bed. "Sure." She pulled on her kimono and padded to the bathroom. When she returned, she smiled.

House had already made coffee and was rummaging in the refrigerator for breakfast. Without taking anything out, he slammed the door. "Mo's."

Cameron chuckled. "Even if we had something in there to eat, you would have wanted to go there. Especially after we finished the leftovers last night."

He shrugged before ducking past her and into the bathroom himself.

She dressed in dark gray slacks and a pale pink sweater and closed the couch while she waited for him to return. When he did, she sat down to watch him dress, a mug of coffee in her hand.

"Like what you see?" he teased.

"Oh, yeah." She grinned at him. "But get a move on. I'm starving!"

As they drove to the diner, she said, "I wonder if there's a way I can find out what Iris was hiding in her room last night when we picked her up."

"You didn't even get a peek inside, did you?"

"No."

The first person they saw when they walked into the diner was Iris. That wasn't surprising since she was staying at the motel and had to eat. But she was sitting at their booth.

Linda saw their frowns and said, "I'm sorry, but since she ate with you yesterday, I didn't see any harm."

"It's alright, Linda." Cameron forced a smile. "Maybe we can use the situation to our advantage." She sat down next to Iris and House slipped in facing the woman.

"So, here we are again," House said. "Sleep well?"

Iris looked from one to the other, her mouth open wide. "I...I didn't expect you here for breakfast."

"The cupboard was bare." House reached across the table and nabbed a piece of bacon from her full plate.

"House was thinking he'd take you to see your aunt this morning," Cameron said. "Meanwhile, I'll arrange for Matt Walters to meet you both at the shop this afternoon."

"Oh." Iris looked like she was going to object, but couldn't come up with any reason to.

"It's a great plan," House faked his enthusiasm over spending the day with the woman. The bright spot for him was that he'd be with her when she visited her aunt's shop, and would see what was, or wasn't there along with her.

"Of course." Iris sipped her coffee.

House looked up as Linda approached their table. "I'll have the works today."

"Don't you always?"

"Not always."

"Dr. C?"

She looked at the pancakes on Iris' plate, but shook her head. "Eggs and sausage, I think."

Iris glanced at House with a frown, then turned to Cameron. "Are you sure you can't come with us today?"

"I'm certain. But you're in good hands with House."

Iris looked at him again, her frown replaced with a wary look.