Chapter 24.

Jess was indicating a young man, slim and of medium height. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but I was struck by his clean-cut good looks and the big smile on his face as he chatted with another shorter man.

"Petey!" Jess called to him and he started. Surprise registered on his face, but it wasn't accompanied by any sense that he'd been discovered where he shouldn't be.

"Jess? What are you doing here?" Petey Giordano said, coming over with his buddy trailing behind. "This isn't usually your kind of place." He glanced at me, but seemed to dismiss my presence.

"We were looking for you," Jess said. She seemed happy to see him, and not just because we'd wanted to find him. "You look good!"

"Why were you looking for me? Has something happened to Father or Nina? And how did you know I'd be here?" The questions came fast and furious.

"No, Father and Nina are fine. It's Christopher," Nina told him. I watched his face to gauge his reaction to his son's name. A fleeting look of concern was all there was. "Petey, there's something wrong with him and the doctors are trying to find out what it is. It may be genetic, so we all have to be tested, especially you."

"Yeah, I guess," Petey said. "It's not just a cold or flu or some kind of kid's disease?"

"No," I said. "It could be life-threatening, and as your sister says, finding out what it is will be the first step in treating him."

"Petey, this is Dr. House, the doctor in charge of Christopher's case," Jess said to introduce me.

"And if it's so serious, what's he doing here with you?" Petey asked.

"I'm here to get a blood sample from you, that's all," I answered for Jess. "You obviously don't care about your kid, but we do. So if there's someplace private I can do this, we'll just get it over with and be on our way, and you can get back to living out your childhood fantasy." I looked around for a suitable place to sample his blood.

"I have to get to work," Petey objected. "Maybe during lunch break."

"When is that?" Jess asked him.

"At twelve thirty," he replied. He sighed. "Meet me here and we'll go to one of the restrooms that the workers are allowed to use." With that he walked away, opening a door behind the ride that I hadn't noticed before. His friend went with him.

"So, what do you want to do while we wait?" I asked Jess.

"We could go on some rides," she said. "These are much more my kind of thing than the sissy rides at Disney!"

Of course, we spent more time waiting on lines than riding the rides, but Jess was right. These were kind of cool. The Harry Potter ride and Spidey lived up to their reputations. I think I actually came off those rides laughing. Although the standing did nothing for my leg, I was in a good enough mood to tolerate the occasional throb and the constant ache.

At noon we found a bench near the rear of the Spiderman ride and waited for Petey. Jess claimed she was tired of the rides, but I knew she said it because she'd learned the day before how much walking and standing I could take. It was getting hotter, too, and she'd picked a bench in the shade.

While we sat there, my phone rang. I knew from the ringtone that it was one of my team. Maybe they had news about Christopher.

"Having fun yet?" Chase asked when I answered.

"As a matter of fact..." I replied.

"Right, so have you found Petey?"

"As a matter of fact..." I repeated.

"Really? So?"

"He's a maintenance worker at Universal Islands of Adventure, working on the Spiderman ride," I said.

"And?"

"We're waiting for him to take his lunch break. We'll get his samples and be back in Princeton tonight or tomorrow."

"Doesn't he want to come back with you and see Chris?" another voice asked.

"Chase, when did you have a sex change? Or at least a voice change."

"House, answer my question," Thirteen demanded.

"He doesn't seem to. Well, it's been fun chatting with you. Gotta go."

"House! Wait! Don't you even want to know why we called?" she asked.

"I presume it was to ask inane questions."

"Christopher's worse," she stated, knowing it would cut through my bullshitting.

"What happened?" I was suddenly serious.

"He was beginning to pay more attention, to hold his head up better, and to focus on anyone who talked to him," Chase began.

"I saw that before I left. I repeat, what happened?"

"He reverted to how he was before," Thirteen finally answered. "And he's whimpering more."

"So the improvement was only temporary," I concluded, my mind pondering what had caused even that temporary change, and why it hadn't lasted.

"Well, you could put it that way."

"But he's no worse than when we first brought him to the hospital?" I asked. "Or when you first saw him in Dorsey?

"We don't think so," Chase said. "But Ellie's freaking out, saying he's worse than ever."

"And you still don't have any more helpful results."

There was silence on the other end of the line for a full minute. "No," Chase finally admitted.

"Well, keep looking," I told him. "We'll be back soon." I closed my phone. When I looked up at Jess I saw dismay all over her face. Of course, she'd been listening to my side of the conversation.

"Is Chris worse?"

I wasn't going to lie to her, at least not much. "He's not any better."

"So why did they call?"

"They wanted to know whether we found Petey," I said. OK, so I lied about not lying.

But Jess had heard my half of the conversation and she wasn't stupid, far from it. "They're concerned about the baby."

I looked down at my Nikes. When I felt I could look her in the eyes again, I lifted my head. "Yeah. He was alert when we left Princeton, but now he's back to being listless and inattentive. Ellie's much more worried."

"We have to tell Petey that," she said. "Maybe it'll convince him that he has to come back with us."

"Do you really think he cares enough to leave his dream job?" I asked.

She grimaced just as Petey and his buddy walked out of the back of the ride.

"You're still here," he said.

"We said we would be," I told him.

"Petey, House's team just called to say that Christopher is worse again," Jess told him, letting her own concern show in her voice and on her face.

Petey shrugged. "So? You want some samples from me, you can have 'em. But I'm staying here."