Here's another one just for you

Chapter 84.

Jessica stared at Mr. Carruthers. How could she defend herself and all the animals and people at the veterinary clinic? No way would she allow this man to take Bruno back.

Carruthers waved his bat, narrowly missing the woman standing nearest him. She moved to the other side of the room with her calico cradled in her arms. Carruthers bellowed, "He's our dog. You have no right to keep him here. We paid good money for him."

"And then proceeded to abuse him." Jess stood her ground, keeping her fear at bay. "Your wife brought him in at least once a week with injuries."

He smirked. "He's clumsy, always bumping into something."

Jessica glared at him. "Like your fists or that bat? We're having Animal Humane look into your treatment of Bruno. Until they decide that your home is fit for him, he stays here, in our care."

He slapped the bat against his open left palm. "'Cept you take him home with you at night, don't you? Like he belongs to you. That's not right."

"He isn't clumsy in our care, doesn't injure himself. You say you spent good money for him. How much? I'll reimburse you, but only if you agree you won't adopt any more animals to beat."

"Why you—" He rushed toward her, bat raised in the air, but one of the women, waiting to have her Yorkie examined, grabbed the weapon from his hands and he stopped. "That's my bat. Give it back."

She shook her head. "Not if you're going to threaten Dr. Simpson with it."

Once that woman made the first move to protect Jess, the others in the room joined in. It wasn't long before they forced Carruthers to leave. The bat was passed to Jess and everyone cheered.

"Thank you, Mrs. Klein." Jess wasn't sure what to do with the stick in her hands, but it steadied them. Still shaking, she went back to her patient. They'd have to ask for protection from the police if Carruthers wasn't going to stop harassing her.

HHH

Working in tandem, House and Cameron cleared his waiting room just as Dr. Carter arrived. She let House take his patient and waited for any more to arrive. Pointing to the shelves lining one side of the waiting room, she said, "Looks a lot better with all the new files."

Naomi grinned. "Dr. House seems much happier now that he has so many patients, even though many came over from the clinic, and he moans about how much like clinic duty it is."

Cameron laughed. "He always hated that."

"So, how'd the trial go?"

"The case was dismissed, as it should have been," Cameron said. "Seems Mrs. Carson likes to sue people. The judge gave her a talking to, so I'm not too worried she'll sue me. She has a long list of people she'd love to sue and I'm no where near the top of the list."

Naomi added more files to the shelves. "Well, I'm glad you showed up here today."

"Most of the patients were mine anyway." Cameron lowered her voice, "But don't tell House I said so."

HHH

House examined Dr. Carter and compared his blood pressure, heart rate and other vitals to the earlier numbers. The older veterinarian showed enough improvement that House smiled. "You're doing very well."

Carter smiled too. "I've done everything you suggested. Feel better too."

"Doctors sometimes make the worst patients, but you've been compliant and it shows."

Carter changed the discussion to House. "You seem to have added many more patients. Word of mouth often is the best advertisement."

"In this case, Dr. Cameron's need to testify at a trial helped." House didn't explain further.

Carter left with a puzzled expression on his face.

HHH

The patient Hadley found was much more interesting than the one the team first approached. The elderly woman had so many minor ailments, they masked what was more life-threatening, something that was affecting many of her organs.

"Mrs. Valencia, how long have you had arthritic pain?" Jacobs asked.

She automatically rubbed her left hip. "Seems like forever. Guess it started when I was in my twenties."

"And the high blood pressure."

She frowned. "When I was pregnant with my first."

"How many children do you have?"

"Four. All grown now. Only my two girls help me now that I'm old."

They continued to question Mrs. Valencia, building on the data they already had. They left her room, frowning at the confusion of symptoms that could be caused by any or all of her issues.

HHH

Anita arrived at the sporting goods shop across from the town square at two in the afternoon. The shop's owner, Mr. Torrance, stood at his counter surveying the shambles the thief or thieves made of his shelves.

"It'll take hours to put this all back in order and determine what they got." He was a skinny man with a long nose and receding hairline. "I've been meaning to do an inventory, but never got around to it."

"When did you find the store like this?" Anita asked.

"Well, you see, I've kept the shop closed a couple of days a week to stay home and care for Mother."

The logical question would be, "What's wrong with her," but Anita didn't have time for that. She repeated her question.

"I noticed something was wrong when I entered through the back door early this morning. It wasn't locked, and the papers on the desk in my office were disturbed." He shook his head. "Then I came into the store and saw all this." He waved his arm to indicate the mess.

"Did you touch the back door knob?"

His brows crunched together. "Of course. How else could I get in?"

"We'll need your prints to eliminate them from any we find, although nine times out of ten, robbers know to where gloves." She pulled out her phone. "I'll call our forensics guy. Don't touch anything until he's through."

Torrance whined, "Will he make things worse with that powder they use?"

"Don't worry. Stay close and you can tell him where to put your stock as he finishes."

"Oh. Well, all right."

"Cheer up. This way you can take inventory as you go along."

He nodded, but he wasn't smiling.

HHH

Although the encounter with Carruthers left Jessica shaky, she spent the next hour and a half caring for pets. By the time Carter returned, she was tired but not as frazzled.

"Carruthers showed up with this." She handed Carter the baseball bat.

"Oh, dear. Were you hurt?"

"No, but it was a disruption I could have done without." She could still picture Carruthers swinging the bat. She stared at it with distrust.

"I see you carried on, nevertheless."

"Yes. In a way, work was a distraction. How'd your exam go?" She couldn't ask the personal questions she wanted to, about his health, but hoped he'd share the highlights.

He grinned. "Dr. House is very pleased with my progress, so I guess I'm doing well."

A few more dogs and cats along with their families remained in the waiting room and the two veterinarians got back to it.

It took longer than usual to clear the clinic.

HHH

Only two more patients entered House's waiting room after Dr. Carter left. House and Cameron each took one of them, routine exams, nothing critical or demanding. When they were finished, they said good-bye to Naomi and left, each driving their car to the diner.

Wilson joined them soon after they arrived. "The Senator looks to be well on his way to a full recovery."

"But no sign of the aide," House assumed.

Wilson shook his head.

The three were ordering when Anita arrived. She scowled and grumbled to herself.

"What's wrong?" Cameron asked.

"Steve's escaped." She sighed. "This was the kind of day where I wished this place served alcohol." She forced a smiled when Linda came over. "Coffee please, black and hot."

"Is the Snow Hill PD so inept they let him take off?" House asked.

"Seems that way. His car is gone, or so they say. No knowing where he went." She rubbed her eyes.

"Anything we can do to help?" Cameron asked.

Anita shook her head. "I'll drive down there after I get some food in me and get to the bottom of his escape." She didn't even brighten when Hadley walked in with the team. She gave them a brief summary of what she'd already said.

"I'll come with you," Hadley told her.

"Thanks." It would help calm her so she didn't yell at the Snow Hill PD staff too much.

Linda brought Anita's coffee, leaving the pot on the table so the others could fill there's. She didn't go away for long, returning with House, Cameron and Wilson's meals and then taking everyone else's orders and retrieving her pot.

"That looks good," Hadley pointed to Cameron's steak salad. "I'll have mine with Italian dressing."

They others ordered their favorites.

"Where's my sister?" Simpson asked.

Wilson shrugged.

"Carter came in for his followup visit today," House said. "They're probably backed up."

As they ate, though, Jess came in. "Sorry I'm so late."

"I told them you covered the place alone for a while today," House studied her face.

She frowned. "Don't remind me."

"Was it that bad? Lots of critters?" her brother asked.

"One in particular by the name of Carruthers."

Wilson's eyes opened wide. "Bruno's former owner?"

"And he brought a baseball bat along."

"You're not hurt, are you?" Wilson took her hand.

"No. No. Some of my patients' parents helped me subdue him. Don't mind telling you it shook me up." She smiled slightly. "How was everyone else's day?"

That's all it took to open the floodgates. They all took the opportunity to tell what happened to them. Trouble was, they spoke simultaneously. Jessica whistled loudly. That shut everyone up. "One at a time." She pointed to Cameron to start.

She spoke about the trial. They laughed and cheered. She left it to House to tell his story, but he kept it brief, only saying he had five times the number of patients.

Hadley spoke for the team. "It's probably not ethical but call this a consult and then I can tell you what's wrong with our patient."

The list of her ailments was long. With each symptom, another possible cause was added by House and the others.

"Trouble is, she attributes every pain to arthritis and every respiratory issue to allergies," Magnani said.

Anita's complete description of the news about Steve was accepted with groans and incredulous looks.

Finally, Wilson said, "I'll paraphrase Hadley. I shouldn't reveal the Senator's condition or prognosis, but I know you'll keep it in strictest confidence. He had a bleed in his brain that wasn't associated with the earlier surgery and I fixed it."

"I take it the aide never showed," Anita said.

"Your assumption is right." Wilson sipped his coffee. "I'll release the senator tomorrow. No need to keep him any longer. I only hope nothing else happens to him."

"Speaking of tomorrow, gotta get up early and vote," Simpson said.

House smirked. "Twice if you can, and if you're going to vote for Cameron."

"I've been trying not to think about the election," she said. "You're all friends, but I want you to vote your conscience, not your heart."

Hadley took her hand. "Cameron, you're really the best person for the job. You and Will can do wonders for the town."

The others chimed in.

She laughed. "Okay, I appreciate the pep rally. To tell you the truth, I'm beginning to question my decision to run."

"That's just the nerves talking." House dismissed her doubt. "Just think about what it'll be like when you win."