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Chapter 8.

I started with Ellie, of course. She answered on the second ring. "Dr. House, thanks for calling."

"Your sister tells me that the doctors you took Christopher to have decided he's just suffering from allergies."

"She said you don't believe it," Ellie replied.

"No, I don't. That wouldn't explain all of the symptoms I saw, and that was without testing him," I said. "Where are you? Can you bring him back to PPTH?"

"I...I'd rather not," she said.

"What are you afraid of?" I asked.

"I don't want my husband to find us," she said.

"Petey? What did he do?" Now that was more than curious. "Ellie, no one seems to know where he is, and I certainly can't tell him where you are," I said.

She seemed to hesitate. "How do I know I can trust you? He could be there with you, using you to get to me."

"Ellie, I promise you. I haven't seen Petey. I don't know where he is." I wasn't going to tell her that I was doing all I could to find him. "My main concern is you and your son."

"And you're sure it isn't just allergies?"

"I think he has some sort of hereditary condition, but I can't be sure unless I examine him," I told her. "If you won't come here, is there somewhere I can see him, a way I can get some blood and other samples?"

She hesitated again. "If you think it's necessary."

"I do."

"And Petey isn't in Dorsey?" she asked. It was a strange question, but I guessed she had her reasons.

"I'm sure. His family hasn't seen him and has no idea where he is."

"Do you know where my parents live?" she asked.

"Yes. That's where I talked to your father," I replied.

"Oh!"

"He and your mother are concerned about you, and very much want to meet their grandson," I told her.

"You spoke to my mother, too?"

"Yes."

"And Petey's family? His father? His sisters?"

"All of the above," I replied. "They're not as concerned."

"I doubt Mr. Giordano is concerned at all, about me and Christopher, or even about Petey."

"You're right." But I had to be honest with her. "Unfortunately, if his illness is genetic, we'll need to do some testing of his father's family as well as yours."

"Oh!"

I'd known that wouldn't sit well with her, but it was better that she knew it up front. "What time do you want to meet me?" I asked.

"How about seven thirty, eight o'clock at my parents' place?" she suggested.

"I'll be there," I told her. Calling the others back could wait. Seeing Christopher again was a lot more important.

Once we'd ended the call, I gathered the equipment I'd need to take the preliminary samples from the baby, as well as Eleanor and her parents. I decided to take the car for this trip to Dorsey, and set out at about five. With a stop for dinner at a restaurant I'd passed on my previous trips, I arrived in the small town at seven twenty.

I'd heard of towns where they rolled up the sidewalks at six, but never experienced one. Even Boomers seemed closed. Dorsey was like a tomb. The two traffic lights were still working, although there was no traffic whatsoever. I continued south of town, looking for the entrance to the trailer park. Not that it was hard to find, since there was little else this far from town.

An old Honda was parked outside the Cleary residence. I mounted the three metal stairs to the front door and knocked. Willa Cleary answered.

"We've been expecting you," she said, ushering me into the slightly shabby but comfortable-looking living room. Ellie sat on a flower-print couch, looking thinner and more distraught than when I'd seen her about ten days before. The baby lay in a carrier on the floor at her feet. He was awake, but very quiet.

"My husband had to go to work," Willa said. She looked around as if she was trying to see the place through my eyes. "Have a seat. Can I get you anything?"

I would have liked a beer or even better, a few fingers of bourbon, but under the circumstances I said, "A glass of water would be fine." I leaned down and picked up the baby, then sat in the chair closest to his mother.

"How has he been sleeping?" I asked her just to get her started talking.

"OK," she said. "I mean, he still gets up at least once during the night, but he hasn't been fretful or anything."

"Any changes in his bowel movements?" One of the symptoms she'd reported initially had been bouts of diarrhea.

"The diarrhea isn't as bad," she said. "I've started giving him some baby cereal. Maybe that helped?" She sounded so tentative, so unsure that she was doing the right thing, but that wasn't so unusual in first time mothers.

The baby had seemed slightly dehydrated the last time I saw him. That wasn't as obvious now, so maybe the cereal was working. Scratch celiac disease as the culprit, although I'd really doubted that from the start.

"I'll need to take some samples from the baby, and from you and your parents, too," I said. "I brought the equipment with me," I added indicating the bag I'd carried in.

Willa brought my water and I nodded my thanks. "What time does your husband get back from work?"

She shook her head. "Not until six in the morning," she said.

"Guess I'll have to come back. OK, who's going to be first?" I began taking out vials, needles and swabs, but neither of the women volunteered. "Maybe I'll start with Christopher. You won't mind, will you, young feller?" I asked as I deftly found a vein in his little arm and drew some blood. His little face scrunched up at me and he started to whimper, but not for long. "He's really a good baby," I told Ellie and her mother, although I knew there might be other reasons why he hadn't cried.

Next I ran a stick inside the baby's mouth and put the sample I got in a plastic sample bag. I'd wait on his other tests. "Now are you going to be as brave as little Christopher?" I asked Ellie, handing the baby to his grandmother, and reaching for his mother's arm.

She took a big breath and nodded. Fifteen minutes later I had samples from her and her mother to run through analysis at the hospital.

"Will you be staying here for a while?" I asked Ellie. If she stayed put it would be easier for me to diagnose and treat the baby.

"I told her that might be best," Willa said. "We can help her with Christopher, and maybe she can even get her old job back."

"At Boomer's," I said with a nod. "Good idea. Of course, I wonder how the townspeople will react to seeing you back in Dorsey, and without Petey." I watched her face as she realized that might be a problem. "Especially his sisters and their friends."

"You've met them," she said, staring back at me. "They're OK, really. A little stuck-up, but that's the way they were raised. They always tipped me well even after Petey and I started seeing each other."

"And what do you think of Christopher's grandfather?" I asked.

She couldn't stop the frown that appeared on her face. "He was very mean to Petey, you know. After the car accident, especially."

"So I understand. He held him responsible, didn't he?"

"Full of questions, aren't you?" She looked over at the baby. "I'll admit I've had my own problems with Petey, but his father had no call to be so angry with him. Yeah, he was a new driver, but they were hit from the side by a drunk goin' through a red light."

I felt my eyebrows go up a couple of inches. That was a part of the story that Nina and Jess hadn't mentioned. Did they think Petey could have avoided the accident if he'd been more experienced or a better driver? I decided to get back to what we'd been talking about before we became side-tracked. "I think you could get your old job back if that's what you decide to do. The bartender seemed to think you'd been one of the best waitresses he'd ever had."

"Jake? Really?" Ellie smiled, and some of the weariness in her face seemed to disappear. "It was a good job. Most of the customers were really nice."

"Well, I think I've done all I can here for now," I told her as I finished packing everything up. "Tell your dad I'll be back tomorrow or the next day to get samples from him."

Willa saw me to the door and walked me out. I guessed that she wanted a private word with me. "Christopher's going to be OK, isn't he?" she asked.

"I can't swear to that," I told her honestly. "Not until we know for sure what we're dealing with. But he hasn't gotten any worse than he was when I saw him before, so that's a good sign. Ellie's taking good care of him. She can use your help and your husband's, though."

"Yes, of course."

She'd slipped back inside by the time I'd gotten back in my car and started it up. I just hoped I wasn't making a mistake leaving the baby there and not taking him back to the hospital with me.