Can you figure out what's wrong with the patients?
Chapter 49
House had a moment alone at the diner. He thought about his patient, Cameron's, and the team's. There were similarities but also differences in their symptoms. Dr. Carter, both the teen and the older man Cameron was treating and the current team patient were having problems with breathing.
It couldn't be the reaction to insecticide that was so widespread in June. No one had sprayed anything in the area recently. In addition, the team's patient was from Snow Hill, but the others lived in Shelby.
It didn't seem to be a form of flu. He didn't think they suffered from seasonal allergies. Even the teans reaction was to something she ate. His reverie was interrupted by Cameron's arrival for dinner.
"Anymore patients with questionable symptoms?" he asked. He'd tell her about the invitations and the election when they were alone.
She chuckled. "'Fraid not. Wait, are you thinking there's a connection among all the patients everyone's treating?" She sat back. "Wow, I never thought about that. They all have problems with breathing. Dr. Carter too, and the team's patient. But with differences."
"Well, yeah."
"And you're ignoring those."
"Who knows whether they're each focusing on what bothers them the most rather than what's really causing their symptoms?"
The team had determined their patient's normal white cell count didn't rule out an infection. Now they just had to figure out what infection it was.
"He's stable, and the infection isn't progressing. Time to quit for the day," Magnani said.
They finished entering what they knew into their computers and added symptoms on the whiteboard then left the hospital. They went straight to the diner where they found Jessica, House and Cameron.
Wilson was the last to arrive. House raised an eyebrow at him, but the oncologist wasn't talking about what had kept him. He smiled and sat next to his girlfriend.
"Now that you're all here, we wanted to show you our invitations." Cameron turned to House.
Another person would've hemmed and hawed, but House wasn't another person. "The print shop screwed them up. They're reprinting." He refused to talk about the mistake they'd made. "I'll get 'em tomorrow.
Cameron might never have raised her eyebrows so high. But she didn't seem to stew over it while she ate. She changed the subject instead. "Where are Hadley and Anita?"
"Anita called earlier to tell our boss woman that she was preparing dinner for the two of them," Magnani said.
With a nod, Cameron changed the subject again. "House has been thinking there might be a connection between all of the patients lately."
"Including Anaya's?" Simpson asked.
His sister laughed. "I was going to say including Dr. Carter."
"Yup." House munched on a carrot.
"It's true they're all suffering partially with breathing problems, but a large percentage of diseases and conditions come with difficulty breathing," Jacobs said.
"Not all," Cameron said. "One of mine just had hives. Or that's what she presented with."
"Let's think about the anomalies for a minute," House said. "Cameron's teen has hives, but all the others have elevated b.p. numbers, and most have breathing problems. But those are the symptoms they reported or we determined. What else is bothering them? Ask 'em. I bet you'll find they have a few similarities."
Wilson narrowed his eyes. "What makes you think that?"
House shook his head, not yet ready to say. "Let's call it a premonition."
"And what does this premonition tell you these patients have in common?"
"All I can say is it's not life-threatening or I'd tell you."
"I'll make you a deal. If we haven't determined what it is by the night of your party, you'll tell us." Magnani looked around at the others who nodded.
"All right. That gives you a bit over a week. But if I have to tell you…" They didn't work for him, so what could he ask of them? "I'll think of something."
"Does that go for Anaya too?" Simpson asked.
House smirked. "I expect you'll clue her in on what I said."
"Meanwhile, you'll treat Dr. Carter based on your diagnosis?" Jessica asked.
"As his doctor, guess I'll have to."
Cameron didn't say anything.
Anita and Hadley lingered over dessert. "Some day I'll have to learn how to make this," Anita took a forkful of tiramisu.
"Where'd you get it?"
"There's a bakery around the corner. Tiny, you can easily miss it walking by."
"They make excellent desserts, judging by this."
"We'll have to try one of their tortes someday."
"It's nice to have dinner here alone, rather than with the gang at the diner."
"Yeah, although I'd like to run some things by them, especially House." Anita shrugged. "It'll wait until morning."
"Did you find out anything else about Curt? I mean, those tweets would indicate he's a spy, too. I mean, not for us, but for the enemy."
"Technically, Russia isn't the enemy right now."
"True." Hadley wiped her mouth. "So, anything else?"
"Not really, although when I did a search on the term Brussels sprouts, I found a series of tweets from the person called spy and another named Russ."
"Appropriate."
"Yeah. I thought so. Couldn't get a name to go with the handle, though. It's not Russ something. Usually on Twitter, that's what names are, and the something is the real name. Or the other way around. The real name a handle."
Hadley smirked, "Look at you. The Twitter expert."
Anita shrugged. "Among the many lessons we spies learned over time."
As they drove home from the diner, House casually said, "You didn't ask about what was wrong with the invitations."
"I assumed you didn't want to mention the problem in front of the others."
"You could say that. They spelled my name wrong."
"What, like Mouse?"
He chuckled. "Well, not quite that bad." He sighed. "Horse."
"At least it wasn't Louse."
He glanced at her then shifted his gaze back to the road.
"There's more." She frowned.
"Yeah. Someone tampered with the absentee ballots."
She raised an eyebrow. "You could vote absentee?"
"Seems that way. Pamela's looking into it, but the election might be delayed."
She just nodded.
Later that night in bed she said, "You'll tell me what you think is wrong with the patients, right? I've got two patients involved in this."
"You heard what I told the others." He turned away from her.
"Ah, but I'm not the others." She moved closer and pressed her lips to his ear, something he seemed to like, because he turned halfway back. "I can be persuasive in ways they can't."
"True." He whispered something in her ear then held a finger to his lips. "Mustn't tell anyone."
When she could close her dropped jaw, she said, "How did you guess that?"
"Something Carter said when I was examining him."
"I don't know if the teen I was treating will return to the clinic, but Mr. Stein is bound to." She was already planning how she'd treat him, and the questions she'd ask. She had contact information for the teenage girl too.
"We can't tell the team what we've done for our patients, because that'll give it away."
"Right." She smiled. "I'll be curious to see if they figure it out."
He smiled a decidedly evil smile. "Now I have to come up with something diabolical for when they don't."
"What diagnosis do you think House has come up with?" Magnani said.
Jacobs sighed. "No idea."
"And without an idea, we don't know what questions to ask our patient, or suggest Anaya ask hers." Simpson shook his head. "So what do we do?"
"We can always ask what else is bothering them." Magnani pointed to the board filled with conflicting results and information that was inconsistent. "Even the slightest problem they've had recently will help."
Simpson still wasn't convinced. "Could House be right? I mean about all the patients having the same problem?"
"It's House," Jacobs shrugged. "You have to accept he knows what he's talking about."
"Or not talking about." Simpson's brow furrowed.
"Is there some way we can help the team find out what House has on his mind?" Jess asked.
"Knowing House, it's likely to be completely out of left field."
Jessica's mouth twisted. "I hate sports metaphors."
Wilson laughed. "You can talk to your boss and find out how House is treating him."
She nodded. "And then we can tell the team."
He pulled her close. "House and his games."
The next day was Saturday. Strictly speaking, the team had the day off, but they were eager to get started. They ran into Chatterji in the elevator.
"I see you're working Saturday too."
Simpson told her about House's challenge. "Your patient is included, so if you have any ideas, it might help us."
Anita pulled open the door to the squad room at the Shelby P.D. to find Anderson waiting for her. "What's up?" She still wanted to find Steve, but if the chief needed her to do something else, she had to.
"The election board called to let me know the absentee ballots for next week's election are missing. They've been stolen."
"Who'd take 'em?" Her brows drew together.
"That's what I need you to discover."
"I'll get right on it. Where were they supposed to be?"
"At city hall, in a locked room. Once they come in, they're stored there to be counted on election day."
"Who has a key?" Anita asked.
"Two members of the board, Pamela Bradford and Gus Hamburg."
"Her son-in-law is running for mayor. Is that wise?"
Anderson shrugged. "No one questioned it."
"Okay. I'll set up interviews with the two of them. Who reported the robbery?"
"Mrs. Bradford. She said at last count they had nine hundred and twenty-four ballots."
Anita let out a whistle. "I'll start with her."
"Here's her number and Hamburg's."
She nodded and strode to her desk formulating questions to ask. Mrs. Bradford answered immediately. "This is Officer Anita Morrow, Shelby Police. I'm following up on your report about the missing absentee ballots."
"Oh, good. Yes, we discovered that they were missing yesterday. We spent a few hours looking for them."
"You said we. I assume that including Mr. Hamburg?"
"Yes, and we called in a couple of other people. Anna Eisen, who's a member of the Board of Elections, and Owen Marshall, who's on the board." She sounded frustrated. "We searched high and low, literally. They're nowhere to be found. That's why I called the department this morning."
Anita hoped they hadn't destroyed any evidence of a break-in. "Could I meet you at city hall, just to have a look at the room where they were supposed to be."
"Of course. It's so close to the election. They'd hate to call it off or postpone it or something. We do have that option, to postpone it and have everyone who sent in a ballot resend them."
"It would be much better to find them."
"Exactly."
As soon as the chief left, Anita called Pamela Bradford.
Cameron was pleased to see Mr. Klein back with his daughter on Saturday. She'd prepared a series of questions and got right to them. How's the antibiotic working?"
"Dad's feeling better but not tip top," Jill replied.
"Jill, have you been feeling well since your father started complaining about his symptoms?"
The daughter's eyes narrowed. "I've been fine. Well, except for a toothache, but my dentist took care of that. Filled a cavity in my tooth." Jill pointed to her mouth.
"Who's your dentist?"
"Oh, Dr. Nathan in Snow Hill. He's very nice."
Cameron nodded. "Mr. Klein, how have your teeth been," she said in a soft voice.
"What did you say? Jill, what did she say?"
"I asked how your teeth have been." Cameron moved in front of the man.
"Not a problem, not since I had 'em all capped." He smiled to show her his bright white teeth.
Stepping to the side, Cameron snapped her fingers. She did that at a few places. Only Jill reacted.
Returning to Mr. Klein sight, Cameron said, "I'd like to send you to an audiologist. They'll test your hearing. But first, let me have a look at your ears and the lymph glands in your neck."
"I sometimes have to turn on closed captioning for him," Jill said. "It helps him make out what people are saying."
Cameron finished looking at Mr. Klein's ears and felt his neck. "Even I do that with some British shows." As she suspected, the lymph nodes were swollen. She smiled at Mr. Klein and Jill as she wrote down the specialists she wanted him to see. As they left, she thought, "House is probably right."
