Chapter 5.

The girl behind the counter at the Chinese take-out place handed me my food and I paid her and left. Stowing it in a compartment I'd added to the bike to carry packages, I continued on home, beginning to salivate at the thought of the meal I planned.

A half hour later I was ensconced on my couch, making my way through soup, dumplings, and the best Hunan chicken on the Eastern seaboard. I flicked on the TV, but let my mind continue to plan my next moves. When I'd had enough to eat for a while, I took some of the containers to the kitchen and picked up the phone, pulling out the envelope that Mr. Cleary gave me.

Jaclyn Cleary didn't answer her phone. Her father had said she was getting by with waitressing jobs and it was possible she was at work. I didn't want to leave a message. She didn't know me from Adam, and probably wouldn't return the call from a strange man no matter what I claimed. I'd have to wait to call her again in the morning.

It had been a long day. I guess I was pretty tired because I fell asleep without the usual tossing and turning. I'm sure my mind continued to work during the night, but it hadn't come up with anything new by morning.

I had to make an appearance at the hospital. Staying away for two days in a row was bound to set the vigilantes after me. I was sure my team didn't have a new patient, since no one had tried to call me the day before, so instead of going to my own office, I headed straight for Wilson's. Among other things, it would forestall his usual panic moves when he didn't know where I was or what I was up to.

"Ever been to Dorsey?" I asked, barging into his office.

It took him a second to register that I was there, let alone what I'd asked.

"I don't even know where that is," he said, shaking his head.

"Small town on the Delaware. Run by a man named Giordano."

"House, are you still trying to find that baby?" He'd recognized the last name.

I'd made the mistake of mentioning Christopher to him at one point, so of course he decided it was my newest obsession. As if. "Neither he nor his parents are there," I said, summing up all I'd learned the day before in one succinct and grammatically correct sentence.

"So why are you asking about the town?"

It was so easy to confuse my friend. I shrugged. "No real reason. It was just a good opening line."

"House, I realize you've got an intriguing medical puzzle to solve, but there's nothing I can do to help."

"It's not just the medical puzzle," I protested. "I really care about them." As I said it, I knew I'd never convince him.

"House, I'm busy," he said making a point of looking at the stack of files on his desk.

He should know by now that dismissing me was not going to work. "It might interest you to know that Christopher has three gorgeous aunts." Well, one that I knew of, and another who wasn't bad. I had no idea what Jaclyn looked like.

"And that's supposed to pique my curiosity?"

"Have you sworn off gorgeous women now?" I asked.

"House, go annoy someone else for a change," he demanded.

Obviously he wasn't going to say anything that would trigger my brain into connecting the dots. "Don't say I didn't offer," I told him as I exited his office. I walked next door to mine, deciding what my next step would be. Certainly, I could call Jaclyn again, find out what information she possessed.

I leaned back in my desk chair and dialed her number. Her phone rang twice before a groggy-sounding female answered. "Hello?"

Obviously, like her father, she worked evenings and slept during the day.

"Is this Jaclyn Cleary?" I asked to make sure I wasn't wasting my time talking to someone else.

"Yes. And I don't want any."

I could tell she was about to hang up. "Wait. I'm calling about Ellie. And Christopher." I figured that if she recognized the baby's name, she knew her sister was now a mother, and there was more of a chance that she knew where they were.

"What...what about them? Oh, God, has something happened?"

Bingo! "No. At least not as of two weeks ago. Jackie, I'm a doctor in Princeton, New Jersey and I examined the baby back then, but I need to follow-up and I don't know where to find them." Maybe if I didn't tell her that her sister ran off with the baby she'd be more forthcoming.

"How do I know you're not lying to me?" she asked.

"Now why would I do that?" I asked. "Is Eleanor hiding from someone? You can ask her about her visit to the clinic at Princeton Plainsboro, if you don't believe me."

She was quiet while she considered that. "Why are you looking for them?" she asked.

"Because Christopher is sick and I still want to find out what's wrong with him."

"How...how did you find me?"

"I spoke to your parents yesterday," I replied.

"And you told them about the baby? You had no right to do that!"

"It was the only way to get their help," I said. "They're concerned about your sister and about their grandson. Which is more than I can say for Peter Giordano."

"Where is Petey?" she asked. "Ellie hasn't heard from him in a couple of months."

"I have no idea where he is, I meant his father. He and Petey's sisters don't seem to care about him or anyone else for that matter."

"All right. Um, let me talk to Ellie and see what she wants to do. What was your name again?" she asked."

"Gregory House. Dr. House. I think she'll remember me."

"I can't promise you anything," Jaclyn said. "All I can do is ask Ellie to call you, or whether she wants me to call you for her."

I began to agree, but then realized, that I wanted to prove to myself that I really cared about this baby, and not just figure out what was wrong with him, so I told her, "If she won't talk to me, please tell her to get medical help for Christopher."

We left it at that. I'd just closed the connection when my phone rang. Was it Jaclyn calling back already? But the caller ID showed a New Jersey number and the word 'unknown'. Hoping that it was one of the people I'd talked to in Dorsey, I answered with a curt 'House'. If it was someone wanting to talk specifically to me, they'd know they'd reached me. And if it was one of those annoying telemarketers, they could make whatever they wanted from it.

"Dr. House, I'm glad I caught you!" I recognized Nina's voice. It hadn't just been her gorgeous face and figure I'd paid attention to.

"How can I help you, Miss Giordano?" I asked.

"It's how I can help you," she said. "I have a few ideas about where my brother is."

I didn't want to stop her, even though, based on my conversation with Jaclyn, Petey wasn't anywhere near his wife and son. "Go on." There was always the possibility that he knew where they were.

"Our grandparents had a cabin in the Poconos," she said. "We used to spend part of every summer there when we were kids. They're gone now, but they left the cabin for us to use any time we wanted."

"And you think Petey went there?"

"He always liked it there better than Jess and I did," she said. "He could stay there for weeks, months even, without anyone knowing, and he wouldn't need very much in the way of cash."

"Would you be able to take me there?" I asked.

"I can give you directions," she offered instead. "I do have a business to run, you know."

"Of course." Too bad she couldn't see my eye roll.

But maybe she sensed my attitude. She sighed. "OK, I guess I can take an afternoon off and take you."

"How does tomorrow work?" I asked. The sooner the better.

"I'll see what I can arrange and call you in the morning."

It was the most I could expect. Then again, I'd have to come up with an excuse to take off again myself. Something to think about the rest of the day.