Wishing all my readers a wonderful holiday season.

Chapter 80

Jessica sat with Cameron and the senator's wife in the waiting room

Cameron pressed her lips together. "Should I bring you something?" she asked Suzie.

Suzie took a moment to answer. She licked her lips. "Tea would be good."

"I'll go," Jessica said.

Cameron nodded and said, "Get me one too." She handed Jess ten dollars.

"I'll be right back." Jessica took off for the cafeteria, jogging up the stairs one flight. She got in the line for drinks, paid for three cups of tea, filled the to-go cups, making sure the lids were tightly secured before returning to the waiting room. This time she used the elevator. She hoped Cameron and Suzie would be gone, because that would mean the senator was in recovery, but the two women sat where she left them.

She handed out the tea and took the same seat she'd spent almost an hour in before.

House found the team and Hadley throwing out obscure possibilities for Les, even though they'd already diagnosed him as having allergies, sleep apnea and a TIA. They shot each suggestion down because it didn't quite fit the test results.

"What's the simplest explanation?" he asked.

They looked up, surprised he was there.

"What do you mean?" Magnani asked. "What simplest explanation?"

"The simplest for each of the symptoms. Maybe if you eliminate a few it'll become clearer. Wild speculations never solved a case."

Hadley crossed her arms. "I remember cases where wild speculations let to the correct diagnosis."

"That's rare, as you've seen. No, the answer here has to be something you've overlooked. For example, we know his allergies caused this." House crossed out a symptom. "And we suspect he was poisoned some time before he collapsed from a TIA at Cameron's clinic." More fell by the wayside. House squinted at what remained. "You made this too complicated by leaving those on the board."

The remaining symptoms were intermittent low oxygen levels and high blood pressure.

"Those happen to everyone. The low O2 sat levels might be due to the sleep apnea," Jacobs said. "We still don't know what triggered the TIA since his tox screens when he was brought in didn't show any poisons," Jacobs said.

"That's the real mystery, isn't it?" House tapped his cane. "What and who. He didn't see Steve or Curt."

Simpson narrowed his eyes. "What about this Palmer guy?"

Hadley shook her head. "Les would recognize him."

"So, there's someone else involved."

"Wonder how long the diner keeps any video surveillance tapes," Hadley said.

House smiled. "Call your partner and have her find out."

Hadley walked as far as a corner of the room and called Anita. "Did anyone ever check the diner surveillance tapes from the day Les was there?"

Anita gasp. "Why didn't we think of doing that at the time? I'll call now and find out if they still have them."

"Did Palmer show?" Hadley asked.

"Nope. At least, not before I left." Anita added, "The senator should be out of surgery by now."

Wilson came out of the OR, believing he'd gotten all of the clot that was interfering with Charles Carmichael's speech. Only time would tell. His recovery would take a while, but Wilson knew the senator would insist on working anyway. Perhaps his wife will ensure he takes it easy.

After he removed his scrubs, he found Mrs. Carmichael with Cameron and Jessica in the waiting room. "He's in recovery. You can wait there."

Mrs. Carmichael stood immediately.

"Want me to go with you?" Cameron offered.

"I want to be alone with him, if you don't mind." Suzy smiled. "Thank you both for sitting with me until now."

"Enjoyed talking with you."

"Yes," Jessica said. "Let us know if you need someone to listen."

"One thing," Wilson said. "Encourage your husband to take things easy for a few weeks. I know we can't stop him from working."

"No, I suppose not."

"But at least make sure he gets enough rest."

"Will do."

After she left, Cameron, Wilson and Jess lingered. "It really was good talking with Suzie."

When they made for the door, a tall man entered. "Excuse me, can any of you tell me where—" he hesitated until his gaze came to rest on Wilson. "You're the doctor who performed his first surgery."

Wilson nodded. "You're Lansing, one of the senator's aides."

He nodded.

"Were you able to find Palmer?" Cameron asked.

Lansing shook his head. "He seems to have disappeared."

Wilson grimaced. "That figures. The senator's in recovery. His wife is with him."

"What happened?"

"He suddenly couldn't speak. I found a clot and removed it. He should be fine but has to slow down."

Lansing laughed. "Fat chance. Thanks. I'll head up to recovery."

After he left, Cameron asked, "Do you think Palmer will show up?"

"If he hears the senator is here again, he might, probably go straight to the room."

"Guess that's where we'll wait."

Cameron, Wilson and Jessica went to the room the senator had left the day before. They hadn't wheeled the senator back from recovery yet. It was still empty but prepared for Carmichael's arrival from recovery.

Cameron and Jessica entered the room and walked to the window, stood side-by-side, and stared out.

"How did we ever become caught up in all this spy stuff?" Jess asked.

Cameron laughed. "Being around House, I never know what kind of craziness we'll be caught up in."

Jessica turned to Wilson. "What are his chances? Be truthful with me."

"I'm always truthful," Wilson replied. "After the first procedure I thought he'd make a full recovery, but now, I still don't know why the clot formed and can't be sure there won't be another."

"So you'll keep a close eye on his condition."

Wilson nodded. "Very close."

Orderlies arrived with Carmichael and transferred him to his bed. After that, his wife wouldn't let go of his hand.

Earlier, Cameron had gotten the impression that Suzie didn't entirely agree with some of her husband's decisions, but now she saw how devoted she was.

Lansing walked in with a large woman in a tailored suit, her hair in a chignon. "Dr. Wilson, this is another aide to the senator, Gina Scarletti."

"Miss Scarletti, the senator's condition is stable but he'll need round the clock monitoring for the next couple of days," Wilson said. "I removed the clot that affected his speech."

"Has he said anything since he woke up?" Scarletti asked.

"You'll have to ask Suzie that."

She nodded and stepped closer to the bed. For a large woman, she moved gracefully.

Suzie smiled at her. "Gina, you came."

"Did the senator say anything since he recovered from surgery?" she asked.

"Only my name, but it was clearer than his speech before. That's a good thing, right?"

Scarletti nodded and spoke directly to her boss, "Senator, you made it through surgery. How do you feel?"

The senator started to speak. Only a cough came out at first, but then he said, "What happened? Did I have another operation? Am I back in the hospital?"

Suzie brushed a hair off his forehead. "You had a clot and Dr. Wilson removed it."

"I'm in Snow Hill again, not D.C."

"You had difficulty speaking. I had faith that Dr. Wilson could find out why, and I knew you wanted any medical issues to be kept away from prying eyes."

The senator looked around the room again. "You notified my staff."

"Yes. And these other doctors stayed with me during surgery."

Jess stepped forward. "Dr. Jessica Simpson. A pleasure to meet you despite the circumstances."

"And you?"

"I'm Dr. Allison Cameron. We were partly here for your wife, but also because we need to speak with your aide, Palmer."

The senator's eyes opened wide. "Palmer? What in blazes for?"

"He was feeding information to a government agent," Jessica said. "Seems to have disappeared."

Cameron and Jessica found House consulting with the team. They'd come up with three simple causes of Les's symptoms and were working out why he'd had a TIA that led him to her clinic.

"Ready to go home?" he asked.

"Yeah. Palmer isn't coming," Cameron said. "No reason to hang around, unless there's more you can help the team with."

"No, I think they have it from here."

They drove back to Shelby.

"Want us to take you home?" House asked. "Or to the diner?"

Jessica rubbed her stomach. "Diner. Don't know when Jim will be home. Might as well eat without him."

They found Anita sitting alone at the booth, leafing through her notes. She smiled at Jess. "Guess us medical widows should stick together. I was just about to order."

"What you have there?" House asked.

"Our notes on Steve. I'm going to try to interview him tomorrow. Maybe now that he's in jail, he'll cough up the rest of the story." She looked at the surveillance cameras. "They didn't have footage from the day Les was here, by the way."

"Being incarcerated won't force Steve to say anything."

She shrugged. "But it's worth a try. How's the senator?"

"Recovering from the surgery," Cameron reported. "A couple members of his staff are visiting him, but Palmer's in the wind."

"Both PDs and the bureau are looking for him."

They ordered and sat back. It had been an eventful day.

Monday morning, Anita asked the chief to send her to Snow Hill to be Shelby's representative during Steve's questioning. She wasn't too surprised to see Curt standing outside the interrogation room watching through the one way mirror. "Making sure he doesn't talk about something crucial to our national defense?"

He nodded. "Something like that. They've agreed to allow me ten minutes alone with him. Too many loose ends."

"Any way I can convince you to let me join you?" she asked.

He looked at her. "You quit the bureau. No longer have clearance."

"No, but I think I know more about the situation that you do."

"Then enlighten me." Curt put his fisted hands on his thighs. "You're obligated to do so, you know."

Anita grimaced and sighed. "If I tell you what you know, I want in."

Curt shook his head. "I don't have the authority to allow that."

"Do I have to call your boss? I will, you know."

"I know you'll find a way, but that doesn't mean I have to like it or make it easy." He pointed to her phone. "Go ahead. Call him."

She smiled and did. "Hi, it's Anita. I want to sit in with Curt when he questions Steve."

"Curt's questioning Steve?"

"Yes. You were informed that he was charged with resisting arrest, weren't you?"

"Yes. I thought the local police were handling him. For now. We'll get our hands on him when they're done."

"I see." She watched Curt's face as she talked. He was becoming paler and paler. "So, as a member of the local police, I get a crack at him before Curt?" The smile on her face became a grin and Curt turned green.

"Sure."

She ended the call. "Interesting."

He dared to ask, "What's interesting?"

"Your boss seems to think the locals have first crack at our boy Steve. That means me." She pointed to herself. "You shouldn't even be here. As to authority, you have none."

Curt seemed to consider the situation. "You'll let me stay here while you interrogate Steve, right?" He didn't sound hopeful.

But Anita took pity on him. "I have no objections long as you stay out here." She pointed down to emphasize her point.

In the room, the officer stood, indicating the questioning was over. Anita knocked on the door. "Chief Anderson sent me to ask the prisoner a few more questions."

The officer must have recognized her. "Go ahead. I'm not getting anywhere."

Anita took his place opposite Steve and smiled. "So, what's it to be?"

"What do you mean?"

"Are you going to tell me about your stake-out at Lorelei's apartment? Who did you hire to attack you?"

"Are we back to that again? I told you."

"Tell me again. On the record." She turned on the recorder on her phone.

Steve stared at the machine. Swallowed and began, "I was supposed to watch her place to see if anyone went in."

"It was a large building with probably forty or fifty apartments. How were you supposed to know if they went to hers?"

"I watched for the light to go on or the curtains to twitch, that sort of thing."

Anita nodded but didn't say anything, almost forcing Steve to go on.

He swallowed again. "So I saw when someone entered and turned on the light."

"You didn't wait for back-up, just went in after them? You couldn't have known how many were there or whether or not they were armed."

"I—" He shook his head, stopping at the crucial point just like he'd done in the past.

"You should know Palmer is gone."

His eyelids flickered.

She smiled. "No one can find him." She expected that to prompt Steve to say something about where Palmer fit in this puzzle.

Instead, he smiled. "I'm not saying anymore until I talk to my lawyer."