Chapter 13.

Luckily we soon heard the weak cry from one of the bedrooms. "That's Chris," Cleary said, handing Chase and Thirteen their iced teas, and walking quickly toward the source of the cry.

Thirteen smiled. "It's good that Christopher has the Clearys. I'm not sure I can see his aunts being so concerned about him."

"They were concerned enough that they let us take their blood," Chase pointed out.

I nodded. "It's their father who has no interest in the baby. And maybe Christopher's father. I still think Nina and Jess want to help."

To prove my point there was a knock at the door. I exchanged a look with my minions, glanced toward the hallway down which Cleary had disappeared, then answered the door. I half expected to find Nina on the landing, so it was quite a surprise that it was her sister.

"I...I'd like to meet my nephew," Jess said.

I shrugged and stepped aside for her to enter.

"Mr. Cleary has the baby in the bedroom," Thirteen told her. "He's just waking up."

"Have a seat," I told Jess.

"Is your name really Thirteen?" she asked as she sat down next to Thirteen, then bounced back up when Cleary returned holding the baby.

Jess seemed to forget for the moment that Chase, Thirteen and I were there. She walked to Pat Cleary and Christopher and asked, "May I hold him?"

Cleary studied her a full minute before handing the baby to her.

"He's so tiny," she said, brushing her fingers gently across his right cheek. "He looks a little like my brother."

"He has Petey's coloring," Cleary agreed.

"Hello, Christopher," Jess said. "I'm your Aunt Jessica."

Christopher's eyes focused on her. I'd noticed before that he didn't always focus on the person holding him or talking to him, but something about Jess seemed to draw his eyes.

"What do you think is wrong with him?" she asked, turning her head to look at me.

"There are too many possibilities to be sure," I replied. "It's something he was born with, though. And as I told you before, very probably genetic."

"And the symptoms?"

"Yes, there are all sorts of symptoms. Frequent ear infections, to start. Those are common enough in infants, especially if the ear canals haven't fully formed or expanded. But combined with his listlessness and the stiffness of his joints, occasional rashes, and lack of coordination, they indicate something more serious. He's had some digestion problems as well."

"But you think you can figure out what's causing all that?" she persisted.

"That's what I do. And that's why I keep coming back to this town," I told her. "Did you think it was for my health?"

"I...I thought it was partly because you'd taken a fancy to my sister," Jess said with a smirk.

I left that one alone, knowing she wasn't that far off the mark. But I watched the way she was holding the baby. She cared a lot more than I'd thought initially. She seemed to want our reassurance that Christopher would be OK, but I couldn't guarantee that if I didn't know what was wrong. "Some genetic diseases are treatable, even curable," I said. "But we don't know enough about what's wrong with your nephew to know whether that will be the case."

"You mean there's a possibility that there's nothing you can do for him, even if you find out what's wrong?" Cleary asked.

"I don't want to give anyone false hope," I said.

"What Dr. House means is that there are no guarantees," Thirteen said. "All we can do is find out what it is and treat him."

She bit her lip. "And testing my father and my brother might help you?"

"Jess, do you think you know where Petey is?" Chase asked.

"I...I didn't want to say anything before, but since we got back from the cabin, I've been thinking about the other places he liked to go," she said. She looked at Christopher who'd reached out to touch her face, and she smiled. "Petey loved amusement parks, everything from Great Adventure to Hershey Park. Maybe he went to one of them." She sounded hopeful that what she was telling us would help us find him.

"And what about your father?" I asked.

Jess shook her head. "I'll try to work on him. He tends to listen to me more than to Nina, but like you said, I don't want to give anyone false hope. He seems to have developed a blind spot about Christopher." She handed the baby back to Cleary. "I've gotta go."

"We'll let you know what happens with our tests," Thirteen told her.

"Thanks, Thirteen."

"My name's actually Remy."

"Thanks, Remy."

"You're welcome to come back and visit Christopher again," Cleary told her.

"I'd like that." She walked to the door. "Bye, everyone," she said, and left.

"She was always nice to Ellie," Cleary said, watching Jess go. "I'm not surprised that she cares about Christopher more than any of those other Giordanos."

"Even Nina?" Chase asked.

"Nina? Little Miss Stuck-up? Ellie never called her that, but some of her friends did and it wasn't far off the mark. And she never went out of her way to help anyone that I know of."

I wanted to defend Nina, but all I knew was that she was gorgeous and sexy. I was beginning to get a different picture of the sisters Giordano from Cleary's comments. "Well, thanks for your time," I told him. "We'll leave you to tend to the baby."

Cleary nodded. "Thank you all for taking the time to come out here, and for trying to find out what's wrong with my grandson."

"We'll let you know when we have our results," Thirteen told him.

We left and got back in my car. "Where to now?" Chase asked.

"You guys hungry?" I asked. "Because I'm starving."