Chapter 6.
By morning, the only excuses I'd come up with for leaving two hours after I'd arrived at the hospital were the fact that my team didn't have a new patient, and an imaginary phone call about an imaginary patient in Dorsey that needed my expert help. Stat. Amazingly, everyone bought it.
It was another beautiful day, so I took the bike again. I had a feeling Nina would be doing the driving out to the cabin she'd mentioned in her call, anyway. I hadn't heard back from Jaclyn Cleary or from Ellie, and I was concerned I might miss a call, but Jackie had my cell phone number, so it was good.
I reached Dorsey at one and parked in front of Nina's dress shop. Walking in, I caused every woman there, customers and salesgirls alike, to stop what they were doing and stare at me.
"I guess you don't get many men in here," I told Nina, who'd come forward to greet me.
"Certainly not in the middle of the day," she replied. "Occasionally, on the weekend, one of the women will drag along a husband or boyfriend for their opinion on their selections."
I nodded, not at all interested in the operation or clientèle of her shop. At the same time, I noticed her sister lurking in the background, watching us.
Nina noticed the shift of my gaze. "I hope you don't mind, but I invited Jess to come with us."
"Don't trust yourself alone with me?" I asked with a smirk. But I didn't even try to hide my disappointment.
"Not at all!" she protested.
I didn't believe it for a minute.
As much as I would have preferred some alone time with Nina, I couldn't really refuse to have her sister come along. So the three of us got into Nina's BMW, with Nina driving. I was riding shotgun, and Jess sat in the back like some latter-day chaperon.
We drove along the Delaware River as far north as the Delaware Water Gap, on the New jersey-Pennsylvania border where the Delaware River cuts through a large ridge of the Appalachian Mountains. We took I-80 across the river into Pennsylvania. If I was the type to appreciate the scenery, it might have been an enjoyable trip. Instead, I peppered the two women with questions about their brother. I'd been curious about how wild he'd been. Based on the attitudes towards him by his own family and Ellie's, I expected that he'd done his share of hell-raising in school.
"Oh, no. Petey was always an A student. He played in the school band, that is when he wasn't practicing football," Nina bragged.
"And don't forget how he helped Dad organize the hardware store inventory," Jess added.
Picturing the hardware store from my visit the week before, it didn't seem organized to me, but I wasn't going to interrupt.
"He would have been valedictorian of his class except for an exchange student from Japan," Nina said. "But that didn't bother Petey."
"The bartender at Boomers said he had a way with women," I prodded.
Jess laughed. "It was more that they were after him than that he pursued any of them. Besides everything else, our brother is a good-looking guy."
"I don't doubt it," I said. But I was still wondering what had changed, and when. And also why. Was he suffering from the same ailment as Christopher?
We soon left the Interstate not far from Stroudsburg, taking a winding road into the mountains. We drove past hotels and resorts whose glory days were long ago. A few newer skiing complexes still seemed to be thriving, but not this time of year. Other places advertised fishing and hiking, activities I'd avoided for many years. But it looked like they had plenty of takers.
At the end of a gravel lane we finally arrived at a small cabin. There was no sign of life, so maybe this trip had been in vain. Still, the three of us got out and approached the building. The door was locked, but Nina produced a key and opened it.
Inside was a large room, part living room furnished with comfortable chairs and a couch, and part kitchen. "There are three bedrooms, two down here and one up in the loft," Nina said.
I walked over to examine a coffeepot on the stove. It was warm to the touch. A single plate and mug sat on the dish drainer, and a pot was soaking in the sink. "Someone's been here recently."
Nina nodded. "But he's gone now."
"Maybe if we wait he'll come back," Jess suggested. "He can't have been gone long."
"Check the bedrooms to see whether he's left anything behind," I told her, and she nodded and went right away to do that, starting on the main floor, then ascending the stairway to the loft.
When she returned, she shook her head. "Nothing. Guess he's gone. We should have come this morning!"
"Nothing we can do about it now," Nina said.
"Didn't you say there were other places he might go?" I asked, trying to mask my disappointment.
"This was the most likely, but yes. His best friend in high school, Jerry Fields, lives in Philly now. Petey may have gone there or at least talked to him."
"Do you know how to get in touch with Jerry?"
Nina hesitated, but then shook her head. "That's another reason I didn't suggest him before."
Jess piped up. "He's in commercial real estate sales. Maybe we can find contact information for him online."
A phone rang. I knew it wasn't mine, since I'd assigned ringtones to anyone who had my number. I looked around for any sign of a land phone, but Jess pulled a cell from her pants pocket. Glancing at the screen, she said, "It's Dad." She rolled her eyes but answered anyway. "Hello."
Even standing ten feet away I could hear Giordano's voice booming, "Where the hell are you? No one knows where you or your sister got to!"
Jess seemed to think quickly. "It was such a beautiful day, we decided to take a drive into the country."
If anything, Giordano's voice became even louder, "Well, get back here right away!"
"Why?" Jess asked. "Has something happened?"
"Something doesn't have to happen for me to want the two of you here in Dorsey," he replied. "How long will it take you?"
"We can be back within an hour if we don't hit traffic," she said in a placating voice. "We're on our way."
"I'll meet you at the dress shop."
"OK," she agreed meekly.
As we left the cabin, Nina locked up, and we got back into the car, I wondered about several things. Why had Giordano called Jess rather than Nina? Why was he so upset that they'd taken off for a few hours? And what would happen when they showed up with me in tow?
We sped back down the gravel road and then toward the Interstate, I also wondered what else I could do to track down Junior, Ellie and the baby. Time was ticking by and I had no idea whether the baby was getting worse.
As we sped eastward, I knew I needed answers to at least some of my questions. So, in as conversational a tone as I could muster, I said, "Your father didn't sound pleased that the two of you left Dorsey." Then I sat back and waited to see who would explain it.
"He likes us to stay close to home," Nina said.
"Or at least let him know when we leave," her sister added.
"He was worried about you?" I asked.
"We are his daughters," Jess said.
"But he couldn't care less about Petey or about his grandson," I stated.
There was silence for a good five minutes. I guess they were each wondering how much to tell me, a stranger who asked too many questions.
It was Nina who broke first. "Dad became more...obsessed with our safety after our mother died."
"Yours, but not Petey's."
"I think at first he even hated Petey," Jess admitted. "He was driving, after all. He'd just gotten his learners permit. Nina and I were injured slightly, and Mom..." Jess' voice broke. "Petey didn't have a scratch on him."
Now that explained a lot, although not everything. "Did Petey change after that?"
"Not right away," Jess said. "For a while he bent over backwards to please Dad. But it was no use, and by the time he graduated high school, he realized that Dad would never forgive him."
"So he decided that it didn't matter anymore," Nina picked up the tale. "He started doing things he knew would infuriate Dad."
I nodded. I could relate to how Petey reacted to his father's disapproval. How many times did I do things just because I knew my father would find out about it? Sure, I knew he'd retaliate, punish me in any way he could, but he would have found a reason to do that anyway, so why not make a game of it?
"How do we explain why Dr. House is with us to Dad?" Jess asked her sister as she exited the Interstate on the Jersey side.
After a moments hesitation Nina said, "We can say that you and he hit it off the other day, but I wouldn't let you go off with him without me to escort you."
"I'm not sixteen years old!" Jess exclaimed. "Besides, I think Dr, House is more interested in you than in me."
"If you hadn't noticed I'm sitting right here," I reminded them.
"Isn't it every guy's dream to hear what women have to say when they talk about him?" Jess remarked.
I turned around to see whether she was smirking at me, but her expression was more amused.
"Well, let's just get our story straight before we reach Dorsey," Nina said.