Chapter 2.

Over the next week, my team and I had one of our more difficult cases. I had little time to think about Christopher Giordano, or his gorgeous aunt for that matter. But on Tuesday we finally got the break we needed. The patient was suffering from Mycetoma, a nocardiosis infection deep under his skin that he picked up by walking barefoot on soil contaminated with the bacteria. A course or two of Bactrim would cure him.

Left to my own devices, without a medical puzzle to solve, my mind reverted to the problem of the baby I couldn't find and his myriad of symptoms. I took advantage of the empty conference room and began to list those symptoms on the white board, then stood back to study them.

Everything from diarrhea to ear infections, lethargy to inability to sleep for long periods of time. It could be an infectious disease, like the last patient. Then again, there were a couple of autoimmune diseases that would fit. But the most likely was something genetic. Only I didn't know anything about diseases that ran in his family. But there were ways I could find out.

I might not have a clue about his maternal line, but there were three members of his father's family still living in Dorsey. This might warrant a second trip to that town. And of course, a reason to talk to the beauteous Nina.

Wednesday morning dawned sunny and warm, a great day to take the bike out for a ride. It wasn't long before I'd reached Dorsey. My original plan was to 'run into' the two sisters at Boomer's since it was Wednesday again, but it was only ten thirty, a little early for that, so I parked the bike not far from the restaurant and did a bit of recon.

It looked like Giordano senior was in love with his name. Besides the hardware store, there was Giordano's Bakery and Pete's Pets, and I could only assume Nina's was his daughter's dress shop. I decided he must pretty much run the town. But I hadn't heard any antagonism against him from the few folks I'd talked to the week before. Guess people liked things the way they were.

I finished my walk up and down the main street by eleven thirty. The restaurant was opening for lunch, and my leg was ready for me to sit down, so I went inside, taking the same seat at the bar that I'd occupied the week before. The bartender recognized me, and drew me a beer without asking. But when he placed it in front of me, he couldn't help ask, "What brings you back to Dorsey?" and I wondered fleetingly why the town was called Dorsey and not Giordano.

"It was a good day to take my bike out for a ride," I said, indicated the motorcycle parked out front.

He accepted that and went back to wiping the bar and tending to other customers who drifted in. Eventually I ordered a burger and fries, and ate it slowly waiting for the women to appear. I was half-way finished when the little redhead came in alone, followed almost immediately by the blond. The two sisters arrived together and seemed to be arguing about something, but promptly stopped when they saw their two friends. They greeted each other as women do with hugs and bright smiles, then sat down at the same table as the last time.

I could hear them as they placed their orders from the waitress working this side of the room, salads for all but Nina's sister. What was her name? Tess? No, Jess. She ordered a tuna melt and the others kidded her about her appetite and inability to gain weight. It seemed to be a long-standing theme.

I finished my burger and ordered another beer, figuring I could nurse it until the women were leaving and I could approach Nina alone. They seemed in no hurry, but eventually they all had to get back to their jobs. I tossed some money on the bar and timed my exit so I was walking out the same time as Nina, accidentally on purpose bumping into her, and quickly apologizing. "Oh, I'm sorry." I smiled pleasantly at her.

She eyed my cane and then my face. "That's OK," she said, a look of pity masking annoyance. "Didn't I see you here last week?"

"Guilty as charged," I said trying to look sheepish.

"You have business in Dorsey?"

"I'm looking for someone. Actually a couple of someones." I didn't want to let on that I'd been asking about her and knew who she was. "Peter Giordano and his wife and baby. Do you know them?"

She stared at me for so long that I began to think she wouldn't answer. But finally she said, "What kind of nut are you? I'm Nina Giordano. My father is Peter Giordano and he's a widower. He doesn't have a wife and he certainly doesn't have a baby!"

"Oh. I meant Junior," I explained.

Now she was glaring. "My brother isn't married, he doesn't have a baby either, and I haven't any idea where he is except that it's not in Dorsey."

"So I've heard," I said with a nod. "The thing is, I examined a eight-month old named Christopher Giordano a few weeks ago. The baby is the son of Peter and Eleanor Giordano."

"You're a doctor?" She looked me up and down quite skeptically, obviously not impressed with what she saw.

"No I just go around examining strange kids. Wait, that didn't come out the way I meant." I shrugged. "Yes, of course I'm a doctor!"

"Eleanor, you said? My brother actually married Ellie?"

"I wasn't there, so I couldn't tell you for a fact, but that's what it said on the kid's birth record," I replied.

She seemed to think about it for a while. "You should start with where the baby was born," she suggested.

"Now, why didn't I think of that?" I asked facetiously. Then rattled off all I'd learned. "He was born at Trenton General, in the ER. No one remembers much about the parents except that they arrived with the mother in labor and disappeared the next morning from the maternity ward."

"Didn't they give an address or anything?" Nina asked.

"No permanent address, no insurance, not even a Medicaid card, but Trenton General gets lots of cases like that." I sighed. Obviously there wasn't anything more this beautiful woman could tell me. Too bad. I was having fun talking to her.

"Nina, what happened to you?" Her sister appeared at her side. She stared at me. "Who are you?" she asked.

"He's a doctor, Jess, or claims to be, and he also claims that Petey married that Ellie creature and they have a kid," Nina replied for me.

"What are you doing here?" Jess asked me. She was as suspicious as Nina.

"I thought maybe someone in this town gave a crap about what happened to 'Petey' and 'Ellie', and might know where they are."

"Doctors don't do that," Jess said knowingly.

"This doctor sometimes does," I told her. Sure, it wasn't true, but she couldn't know that.

"You care that much?" Nina asked. "You said you only saw Ellie and the baby briefly."

I shrugged. I didn't have to explain myself to these two women. But I tried. "What's wrong with the baby is a mystery, a puzzle, and I love a good puzzle."

The two of them exchanged a glance. "I think you should talk to our father," Jess said with a sigh.

I nodded. "I'd like to. Maybe he knows more about Petey than the two of you."