The plot is thickening, like a rich and tasty stew.

Can't wait to hear what you think about this chapter.

Chapter 86.

I pondered who might know where Jess and Nina were, if they were even together. Hadn't Thirteen said something about going to a movie with Nina? I called my token bisexual and she answered on the first ring, not a good sign.

"Did you speak to Nina today?"

"Hello to you too, House. And, no, I told you I haven't spoken to her in days."

"Any ideas on what restaurants she and Jess were targeting?"

There was silence on the other end of the line. Finally, a tentative voice replied, "The only one I know about is the Mexican restaurant on Fourth."

"La Hacienda. OK. Thanks."

"House, what's this about?"

I hesitated. How much could I tell her. "Jess hasn't come home tonight."

"Maybe she finally saw the error of her ways and decided you weren't who she thought you were."

"Not likely. The two sisters were heading for a meeting this afternoon, and she said she'd be home as usual."

"Do you think something could have happened to them? Do you even know they're still together?" The pitch of her voice rose. Now I'd gotten her worried too.

"They must have had another appointment I didn't know about."

"You don't believe that. Otherwise, you wouldn't have called me." She sighed. "Sorry I don't know anything more. Call me when you hear, OK?"

"Yeah, yeah," I said absentmindedly as I closed the connection.

Thirteen wasn't Nina's only admirer. With renewed hope I called Wilson. Why hadn't I called him first? He'd know where Nina was, and Jess, too.

"House, I'm glad you called. Have you or Jess heard from Nina tonight? She was supposed to come over for dinner and never showed."

"And you waited for me to call you?"

The pitch of his voice rose. "House, what's going on?"

"The sisters are missing." I finally admitted it to myself. "Jess never came home. I don't think they had a meet planned for tonight, and neither does anyone else."

"Anyone else being...?"

"Uncle Johnny and Thirteen."

He was silent.

"Wilson?" I prompted.

"I'm thinking."

"No, you're worrying. Thinking sounds different."

"You're worried too."

"Uh-uh. I leave that to you. What I am is..." But I couldn't come up with a word for what I was feeling. It was that unusual.

"You're worried. And you should be. OK, let's try to think about this logically, systematically."

"I talked to Jess about two. She was headed for one more meeting with Nina and someone in downtown Princeton after a couple of successful meetings this morning."

"OK. Go ahead."

"That's it. That's all I have." And that was contributing to my feeling of helplessness.

"Did she leave any record about who the earlier appointments were with?"

"No. I can surmise they weren't downtown. That's it."

"Anything unusual happen today?"

"What do you mean, like my girlfriend not coming home for dinner?" Sarcasm didn't make me feel better, but it was a knee-jerk reaction. "Papa Peter came to call."

"He was in Princeton?"

"Yeah."

"Well, there's your answer. They're with him."

There was some kind of logic to what he was saying, and yet it didn't sound right. Granted Giordano had been eager to make amends with his daughters and then I burst his balloon. Had I driven him to abducting them? I couldn't really imagine it. Not without lots of help, help he didn't have in the Princeton area. "I'm not ruling that out, but it's not at the top of my list either."

"Than what is?"

"Ever hear of organized crime?"

"Now you're being melodramatic."

"You don't think the mob's involved in the restaurant and catering businesses in central New Jersey?"

"I'm sure it is, but what would they want with small potatoes like Nina and Jess?"

"Maybe they don't think our girls are such small potatoes. There's a euphemism in there somewhere, but I'm not going there right now."

"House, they're two young women, starting up a new company with few resources beyond their own abilities."

"Maybe they inadvertently stepped on the wrong toes. And we don't know what opponents any of their new associates might have. Uncle Johnny's a nice guy, but he didn't get where he is today without making enemies."

"You have a point."

"Of course I do!"

"So what do we do about it?"

"I've got Johnny worried now, too. Maybe he'll come up with something along these lines himself, but it wouldn't hurt to give him a nudge." Should I call him or see him in person, I wondered. "I think I need to do a face-to-face. Wanna come along?"

"You can't keep me away. But I'm driving. Be there in ten."

The longer I waited for Wilson, the more I thought that I was onto something. Whether or not Johnny was involved in any way in Jess and Nina's disappearance, he knew enough of the players to give us leads we wouldn't have otherwise. When Wilson arrived, I'd already decided what I would ask the girls' uncle.

We drove to his restaurant in record time. I'd never seen Wilson drive so fast. It was a testament to how worried he was about Nina.

The place was as busy as it had been the last time we were there. We walked through the front door and asked the hostess to let 'the boss' know we were there to see him. Johnny didn't take long to come get us himself.

He took us to the booth he'd shared with the girls the last time we were there. "I've been thinking about this ever since I spoke to you earlier. I assume you've had no word from my nieces?"

"No, none."

"Mr. Giordano, pardon me for asking, but do you have any enemies? Anyone who might try to get to you through them?" Wilson had a good point, one I hadn't thought of.

Johnny shrugged. "Every businessman has enemies. People who are rivals for business. And I have many companies, you understand?"

"Any mob connections?" There was no time for me to beat around the bushes.

He chuckled. "You are quite blunt, Dr. House. Everyone thinks every Italian is somehow connected to organized crime, but of course, that's not true. I've managed to steer clear myself over the years. My...let's call them rivals...not all of them are so...unconnected, capisce?"

"Si. I understand."

"How do you protect yourself from them, if that's so?" Wilson asked. "How have you managed to, as you say, steer clear?"

Johnny's head went up and down. "That is a good question. It hasn't been easy." He sighed. "What do you know about the organization of the mob in central New Jersey?"

"More than you think." I remembered my last encounter with members of the mafia. It had been many years ago, and I'd lost contact. Could I call on them if necessary? I wasn't ready for that yet. "They have hands in many businesses in the state, including restaurants, construction, and gambling."

"Quite so. They don't just have hands, as you say, in those businesses, but control them. Still, they'll tolerate other...entrepreneurs, especially any who stay out of their territory. Why do you think I located this restaurant here? It's not in the city for a reason."

"So why would they try to get at you through Nina and Jess?" Wilson asked.

Johnny shook his head. "I don't think they would. However, there are a few other restauranteurs who've been eying this area for their next ventures for the same reason I'm here."

"And you represent an obstacle, an established competitor."

"Success has its disadvantages." He snapped his fingers to get the attention of a passing waiter. "Can I get either of you anything? A drink, some food?"

Wilson grinned. "House can always eat. Especially food as good as you serve here."

"And Wilson hangs around me so that he can eat well, too."

The waiter came over and Johnny ordered a few dishes I hadn't seen on the menu. "And a bottle of the chianti superiore."

"Very good, Signor Giordano." He turned on his heels and scurried off.

"So, do these new restauranteurs have names?" I resumed our conversation.

Johnny nodded. "I'll tell you what I know."

Over the next hour, as we ate some of the best Italian food I'd ever had, and that's saying something, he told us about three groups of people who'd been investigating the area as a prime site for a new establishment. A group of Russian immigrants, who'd built up a chain of pierogi and blintzes shops in Brighton Beach and Brooklyn, wanted to branch out into something fancier. Two brothers, who ran a few cheesesteak food trucks in Philly, were itching to establish a foothold in N.J. And finally, a Chinese family, whose noodle shops in New York's Chinatown might have been financed by a Tong back in China, had proposed an Asian Fusion restaurant just across the road from Johnny's place.

"But would they resort to anything like abducting two young woman who were only recently associated with you?" I asked.

Johnny shrugged. "Stranger things have happened." He sipped his expresso and stared out into the crowded restaurant. "There is another possibility, of course."

"What's that?" I was afraid he'd say Nina and Jess had disappeared voluntarily.

"My brother, Peter. He might have found a way to force them to go home with him."

I glanced at Wilson. Now would be the time I told Johnny about Peter's visit to my office earlier in the day. "Maybe. But somehow, I don't think it's likely. Peter's beginning to realize that high-handed control of his kids' lives is not the way to win their love back."

Johnny raised a bushy eyebrow. "It sounds like you know something I don't."

I nodded slowly. "Time you heard about a little visit I had earlier today."