As if there wasn't enough going on in this story for House, this plot twist came to me and I couldn't NOT write it.

Chapter 55.

Neither Jess nor I was certain my idea would work. If the other bidder wasn't Wilson, all bets were off. I returned to my office and waited impatiently for Jess to do her part for step one. Soon, I saw her walk by on her way to Wilson's office.

Would he come clean when she griped to him about this third bidder who was interfering with her desire to purchase the condo, or would he at least tell her not to worry because he'd take care of it? We knew he'd never confide in me that he was behind this but he seemed to have Jess' best interests at heart.

I didn't have long to wait. Ten minutes after she entered, Jess left Wilson's office. Seeing no one else in the corridor, she looked directly at me through my glass door, and smiled with both thumbs up. Our ploy had worked!

I smiled back at her, then watched her walk away, back to the room where they were doing the study. One headache to cross off the list. Now all I had to worry about was our patient and the study. Oh, and also how Jess and I would finally drop that bomb about our relationship. But first, it was definitely time for me to make my presence felt with the study and the case, but which one should I interfere with first?

The patient was more pressing, of course. As I walked toward her room, I thought about how I wanted to play this. With amyloidosis ruled out, there were really only a few viable options.

Thirteen was taking a vial of blood when I reached the patient's room. She looked up when I entered but finished taking the sample before she shook her head and said, "The antibiotic isn't working and her fever is only slightly lower. And, our tests have all shown a low platelet count. We didn't do anything that should have reduced it so much from the levels in her file, so I'm thinking our tests are wrong."

"Or the ones done by her doctor were."

"When we can't trust the results of blood tests, how can we be sure of anything?"

I nodded. "You've taken samples from both arms?"

"You think the blood in one arm is different from the blood in the other one?" Thirteen was skeptical.

"Something changed between the previous tests and the ones we've done."

"Next you'll be telling me to get a sample from some other part of our patient's body."

She didn't seem to notice the look of horror on the patient's face.

"It couldn't hurt," I said, causing the woman to gasp.

Thirteen narrowed her eyes at me but did what I said, taking a sample from her left arm, and another from a vein in her neck. "Oxygenation of cerebral venous outflow has been used as a neuromonitor, so I guess blood from the jugular vein can be used for other studies." I wasn't sure she was telling me or the patient.

"They sample blood from there for small animals," I said to reassure the woman. It didn't seem to work.

"Well, she's not a lab rat, but who knows what we'll find. I'll take these down to the lab."

"You do that."

Once she was gone, the patient rubbed her neck and asked in a squeaky high voice, "How many more tests do you need?"

"Did that hurt?"

"Well, no."

"We'll do tests until we find out what's wrong with you." I started to walk away.

"Are you going to take some blood too?"

"You were just complaining about all the tests. Now you want more?"

Instead of answering she started to complain. "Nobody tells me what's going on. First two doctors were here and did some tests. They left and two others showed up. Are you another doctor?"

"I'm their boss."

"Then maybe you can explain what you're looking for. This wasn't what I was expecting at all."

I studied her. She was actually serious. I pulled up a chair and sat down. "Your blood tests are giving us conflicting information, you've had a fever but you're not responding to antibiotics," I began to tick off on the fingers of my right hand. "Dr. Fredericks asked us to consult on your case because he didn't have a clue about what was causing your high platelet count, our tests show a low platelet count..."

"Dr. Fredericks?" She looked puzzled. "Who's he?"

I grabbed the chart hanging on the end of her bed. "Isn't Dr. Fredericks your doctor?"

"I never heard of him."

"You're Estelle Allen?"

"I don't think so." Her eyes narrowed.

I reached for her left wrist and read the hospital bracelet on it. Natalie Kelsey. No wonder our tests didn't jibe with what was in Estelle Allen's file. What was going on? Without another word to the patient, I stormed out of there, intent on getting some answers.

My first stop was the room I'd visited a couple of times before that day. For once I was glad Jess wasn't alone. "Did either of you bozos even check the patient's identity?" I yelled at Taub and Foreman, ignoring Jess and the two people my team members were talking to.

"This is Clark Carlson," Taub said, indicating the young man sitting across from him. "Aren't you?" he asked the subject.

"Yes. I already told you that."

"Not these patients! The one we've been sticking needles into up on three."

"Estelle?" Foreman asked.

"Only her name is Natalie. I agree that sounds the same as Estelle, especially if you leave out the 'n'."

"The patient's name is Natalie?" Taub still didn't get it.

"The patient we've been testing is named Natalie. SO what's happened to Estelle?"

"What kind of hospital is this?" the woman who'd been talking to Foreman asked.

"You should be asking what kind of doctors these are," I replied.

"House!"

"Why are you blaming us?" Foreman asked. "What about Hadley and Chase?"

"Your former girlfriend probably took your word for the fact that she was the right patient. Chase too."

"What about the orderlies and nurses who brought her to us?" Taub was reaching to find someone else to blame for his mistake.

"I guess I'm not going to get any answers here," I said.

"House, instead of affixing blame, why aren't you trying to find out why Natalie was brought to your team, and what happened to Estelle," Jess suggested.

I nodded once. Jess was right. I left to find out who'd caused the switcheroo. Fredericks was a specialist in geriatrics so I went to the Gerontology department. The hospital did a big business in treating elderly patients with all of the problems that come with age. The woman my team had been treating was old enough to fit the profile, and might even have been another of their patients.

The floor nurse was someone I'd dealt with before, a middle-aged harridan with beady eyes and a head of thick steel-gray curls. Her ample figure strained the seams of her pure white uniform. "Can I help you?" She frowned as if she wanted nothing to do with me.

"I need to see Natalie Kelsey's doctor."

"Who? We don't have a patient by that name." She glared at me.

"Then I'll have to talk to Fredericks."

"DOCTOR Fredericks is with a patient."

"Well, DOCTOR Fredericks sent me a patient, Estelle Allen, but the patient who was delivered was Natalie Kelsey. Now I wonder how that could have happened."

"You think WE made a mistake? That's not likely."

"Well, someone did. Check your computer and see whether you can locate any information on the Kelsey woman."

"I hate to think about what happened to poor Mrs. Allen," she muttered to herself as she did what I asked. She looked back at me and said, "There was a Natalie Kelsey admitted for gall bladder surgery six hours ago."

I pushed a boatload of air through my mouth as I promptly turned and walked to the elevators. Next stop, the OR. Hopefully I could stop them from removing Estelle Allen's gall bladder.