Chapter 57.

The next day, Jess and I put our latest plan in motion. It had been her idea, so I let her do all the work, of course.

Meanwhile, I needed to find out what Chase had in store for Thirteen. I hadn't really thought about how he'd use the patient mix-up to toy with her. Besides everything else, she wasn't as gullible as some I could mention.

I found the two of them in Estelle's room. Thirteen had to have realized that the woman in the bed wasn't the one she'd been poking and prodding the day before, but for some reason she was railing on Chase about wasted time and people playing games.

The minute she saw me, she switched her focus. Her teeth locked together, and she said through them, "Yesterday was a complete waste of my time! I wonder what this hospital is coming to. Although why I'm surprised after all this time, I don't know."

"Didn't you get the memo about musical beds? Or was that musical patients?"

"House, Chase joked about the same thing, but this is serious. This woman's treatment has been delayed unnecessarily!"

"I agree. So why are you wasted more time arguing about it? Diagnose her."

She glared at me. I think Taub's the only one on the team who hasn't perfected the 'House, you're making me angry' glare, but she's even better at it than Foreman.

"Besides, I'm sure the tests you did yesterday were very helpful for Natalie's doctors," I went on.

"Who?"

"Natalie. The former occupant of this bed."

Her eyes narrowed. "Chase said she was here to see how well our testing and analysis procedures worked. And we passed because our tests disproved the symptoms we were initially told."

"And you believed Chase?"

"The alternative was unthinkable."

"Think again. But if you believed Chase, why are you so upset that you did those tests?"

"House, you're spoiling it!" Chase protested.

"So why was she really here?"

"She was in the hospital for a cholecystectomy."

"Gall bladder!" She nodded. "That would explain a lot."

"So, what's wrong with Estelle?" I asked, aiming my cane at the woman in the bed.

"Are we sure this is really Estelle?"

Rather than assume I told her, "Check her wrist band."

She didn't hesitate. "She's Estelle."

"And?"

"The platelet count is close to what was in her file. She has some sort of infection."

Chase added, "We started an antibiotic, but it hasn't been long enough to tell whether it's taking effect."

"Aren't there any other symptoms to show us where the infection is, if not what kind?"

Thirteen shook her head. "No rashes, inflammation or feverish spots, her head's not stuffed up, and she claims there aren't any new aches or pains."

"Do urine and stool cultures," I ordered. "Something's bound to turn up."

I returned to my office just in time for my office phone to ring. An entire seventeen hours had gone by without a call from Bonnie, so I suppose I was due. "How many people are bidding on the condo now?" I asked her before she could say a word.

"Uh, just you and Miss Giordano."

"What happened to the third bidder?"

"He dropped out."

"He? So it wasn't the owner after all."

"Why would the owner be bidding on the place?"

"To jack up the price."

"Oh!"

"Don't tell me that's never happened to you before? Don't answer that. So, where do we stand now? Who bid last and what's the bid?"

"Uh, I think we're at one seventy, by Miss Giordano. Are you ready to bid more?"

I sighed loudly. "I guess I'll let her have it. But if another place like it turns up, you will call me first, right?"

"Sure, House." She wasn't very convincing.

I'd done my part in getting the ball rolling on Operation: Big Reveal. The harder part would be to convince Wilson that I was despondent over the loss of the place, but even that should be child's play. I ticked off on my fingers where we stood on everything that was going on. Jess was about to buy the condo, the patient's diagnosis was finally in good hands, and we had a plan for us to come clean. That just left the hyperacusis study.

I wondered whether the latest data was being cooperative, falling neatly into the framework of what we wanted to prove. Did I dare check in on Jess without ruining anything else? But I had to know.

Jess was huddled over her computer screen with Taub looking over her shoulder when I reached the study room.

"What've you got?" I asked.

"Slicing and dicing the numbers gives us a slightly better convergence than we had before, but it still might not be enough," she said.

"Any specific problem?"

"Only about half of the subjects so far have the marker we've been assuming was connected to their hyperacusis," Taub said. "The others don't and just under ten percent of the control group have the marker."

"So, maybe our assumption is wrong."

"But here's the thing," Jess said, "I took your thought about various levels of the disease into account." She clicked on another series of graphs. "Those with the most severe symptoms are the least likely to have the marker. It's only those with a less obvious problem, like my brother, who all have it."

"So maybe it's more than one syndrome," I concluded. I'd been thinking along those lines but these results seemed to confirm. "Those patients diagnosed with hard-core hyperacusis may have a different condition entirely."

"Or at least a different genetic cause," Taub said, nodding. "This is major!"

"Don't get ahead of yourself," I warned. "We'll have to see whether the remainder of the subjects bear out what we're saying."

"And we have to explain why those in the control group with the marker show no signs of the disease," Jess added.

"And, finally, we have to find out if there's a different marker for the patients with severe hyperacusis."

"Foreman is examining some of the subjects right now. I'll go tell him what we're thinking," Taub volunteered.

Once he was gone, Jess turned to me. "This is exciting!"

"I'm glad you think so."

"House, admit it. We're on the verge of a new discovery about a disease. I'd think you'd be as excited as anyone about it."

"Yeah, yeah." I wasn't going to let anyone, not even Jess realize that I was, so I changed the subject. "Bonnie tells me the third bidder dropped out, and I told her I wasn't going to try to outbid you."

"When I told Wilson that I was going to approach the condo's owner, he turned white as a sheet. He doesn't have the staying power to go up against you for long, does he?"

"Especially when it's not just me, but you too." I grinned. "So we go head with Operation Moving Day."

"Is that what we're calling it now?"

"Oh, it'll change several times before we're finished."

She chuckled. "Are you finished here? Because I have to get back to number crunching."

"Yeah. I guess I can find something else to do."

"See you later."

I left her to her data and headed back to my office, but along the way I decided there was something more I had to do. I didn't even bother to knock on Wilson's door, thinking it was a waste of time. I barged in to find he wasn't even there. Smiling to myself, I took the opportunity to peruse what was on his desk. I may have even opened a drawer or two before I heard him approaching and promptly took up residence on his couch.

"House, what are you doing here?"

"I need consoling," I pouted. "Your dream came true and Jess beat me out of the condo."

"You couldn't outbid her?"

He had to know I hadn't even if I could, but I shook my head anyway. "She's got deeper pockets than I'll ever have."

"Well, I can't say I'm disappointed."

"Some friend you are!" I added just a tad of bitterness to my voice. It wouldn't do to overplay this.

"I'm sure Bonnie will find you something else now that she knows the kind of place you want."

"But I wanted that one!" Was my whine a little too plaintive?

"House, you can't always get what you want."

"That's what Jagger said. At least you're quoting the best."

He took a deep breath and let it out. "Tell you what. I'll treat you to a steak dinner tonight. Will that help ease the pain?"

"Only if I get to have dessert too."