To make things more interesting, I'm throwing in a new case for House and his team.

Thanks to all of you who are reading my story.

Chapter 103.

I drove the sisters back to Princeton. "You're both really getting into this looking-for-office-space thing, aren't you?"

"The more I think about it, the more I'm sure we could use a place like that." Jess chuckled. "And I guess we might as well work with Ricky to find it. He's a known quantity now."

I was more determined than ever to accompany Jess and Nina when they met with him to see the other properties. I'd made progress looking for a connection to Molino, learning that Ricky had his car altered for his use at Molino's place, but I needed to go further and find out whether he knew Francesca, or even the man himself.

"But the one we saw today won't do." Nina shook her head. "That didn't come close to what we need."

"What did you think of Ricky?" I watched her face in the rear-view mirror as I drove.

"He's young but he seems to know his business. I don't blame him for trying to sell us on one his own listings. Doesn't he get more of a commission if he does?"

"Yes," Jess said. "The rental fee he gets is probably five or six percent of one month's rent if he represents both the renter and the owner, but only three percent if it's only the renter." Jess knew some interesting facts.

Jess got out with her sister when we reached Nina's place. I continued on to PPTH. The last I heard, my team didn't have a patient, but I knew I should show up. I found Chase, Foreman and Thirteen in the conference room, and they all seemed surprised to see me.

"Nice of you to show up." Chase smirked at me.

I shrugged. "There hasn't been anything for me to do here, and plenty to do elsewhere."

"And of course you're not going to tell us what that was." Thirteen rolled her eyes. "It wouldn't involve your girlfriend and her sister, would it?"

"You don't really think you still have a chance with Nina, do you?" I countered, and her cheeks reddened.

"We were going over some cases, hoping to pick one." Foreman had to spoil my fun by interrupting.

"Without my consent?" My challenge made him squirm.

"You weren't here. We would have gotten your approval before we began, in any event."

"So, whaddya got?" I sat down next to Chase and peered over his shoulder.

He let out a long-suffering sigh. "Thirteen-year-old girl with shortness of breath, nausea and swollen ankles."

"She's pregnant. Next."

"She's thirteen." Foreman repeated as if it was a symptom.

"So? In some cultures the women start having babies at eleven or twelve. She's probably been fooling around with a boyfriend. Or maybe two."

"She's a shy kid from a well-to-do family," Chase objected.

"Since when did having money serve as a means of birth control?" I wondered whether we should take the case anyway, since we'd be able to prove our diagnosis with a quick test and wouldn't have a patient any more by this time tomorrow, but I also didn't want to be bored. "With apologies for repeating myself, but, next."

Thirteen had one. "Forty-year-old male can't keep food down but he's hungry all the time. Plus, his vision is blurry and his hands shake."

"And don't say he's pregnant." Foreman glared at me.

"OK, I won't." I puffed out my lips. "It's hypoglycemia."

"Are you sure? Foreman was going for Essential Tremor or Parkinsons." Thirteen stared at me.

"The neurologist would think of those. Of course I'm sure."

They shuffled the rest of the files. Eventually Foreman passed one to me. "How about this toddler? Failure to gain weight and frequent infections, occasional bluish skin."

The file was thick. The fifteen-month-old boy had been in and out of the hospital four times in his short life. "OK, we'll take this one." We might not be able diagnose him in a day, but we could make a good start, certainly better than any of the doctors who'd treated him in the past. "Thirteen, talk to the parents and see if there are gaps in the family history in his file."

She stood with her copy and left.

"Start genetic testing, recheck his vitals, and run a scan on his intestines. I doubt we can rely on most of the results in here." I tapped the folder.

"What are you thinking?" Chase asked.

I shook my head. "Best to start off with a blank slate for this one. Let's see what we find in the next twenty-four to thirty-six hours. He hasn't died yet, so there's no rush."

Chase left to arrange the tests, but Foreman stayed behind. "You usually have some ideas before you even begin."

"Not this time." I hadn't even seen the kid, but already I could feel there was something about this case, something that would make a difference in my life, even more than finding and treating Christopher Giordano had.

I left Foreman in the conference room and went to my office to do some research. The back of my mind was still focused on the Julio-Molino-Locarno enigma, of course, but I was a doctor and I had an intriguing case to pursue, so I set it aside to concentrate on what was wrong with the kid.

Each of the symptoms could have several causes. Even taken together, there were enough possibilities that we couldn't make a definitive diagnosis without the tests Chase was doing. And a whole lot more.

The boy was already getting treatment for some symptoms. It was possible, in the end, that would be all we could do, but I knew I wouldn't give up until I'd exhausted every clue to what the cause was.

I became so absorbed in following the trail of my research that I didn't hear my phone at first. But I'd dug it out by the third ring, and smiled when I saw it was Jess. "Hey, what's up?"

"Julio called to find out whether we'd learned anything from Tina's relatives."

"He knew about that?" I was surprised, since I never told him we were following up after our talk with the girl.

"I'm not really sure how, but he seemed to think we would just demand answers from her uncle and brother." She chuckled. "I told him we didn't operate that way, and that we hadn't learned anything yet, but would be seeing Ricky again tomorrow."

"I can just imagine how he'd handle it, go in guns blazing and demanding they tell him what happened to his cousin."

"I'm not so sure. After all, he was sent here to get revenge against their family yet so far hasn't done anything. In fact, he and Tina have become good friends."

"Maybe that's his way to get revenge. Seduce the girl and hurt them that way. If Molino thinks one of them did that to Francesca, it would be fitting. Kind of an eye for an eye."

"Greg, she's just a kid. I think Julio really cares about her. Besides, it was only after they became friends that he found out she was a Locarno. And don't forget that message from Molino, demanding that he carry out his marching orders. There was no mention of Tina."

"True. Did Julio at least offer any suggestions about how we should approach them? I sometimes think he's even more clueless about what's going on than we are."

"I suggested he talk to Tina. There may be things she was reluctant to tell us, but she'll tell him."

"Good idea." I sighed. "Well, we've got a case, so I'll be busy all afternoon. Don't know when I'll be getting home tonight."

"That's OK, I'll have dinner with Nina instead. She seems pleased that we asked her to help with our investigation of the Locarnos."

"She provides a bit of realism to the office space hunt, especially when the two of you don't always agree. Maybe she has some ideas that we didn't think of." I saw Chase in my doorway, so I had to end the conversation with Jess. "I'll try to call when I know how late I'll be." When I'd closed my phone I looked up at Chase. "Find something?"

"He has a heart defect." He was frowning. "I don't understand why no one noticed that sooner."

"Interesting." I tapped my fingers on my desk. "Have you scheduled the genetic tests?"

"Yes. Rogers will start as soon as he finishes his backlog."

Rogers was the best geneticist on staff. He'd helped when we were working on our study of hyperacusis, and his expertise was in high demand. "Well, make sure he tests for any chromosome deletions."

"House, there's something else. It doesn't have to do with this case, but I just heard the paper we submitted on our study was accepted for publication in JAMA next month. I know you've been preoccupied with Jess' and Nina's abduction..."

"That doesn't mean I'm completely unaware that you submitted our results."

"We gave credit to everyone who worked on the study, including your girlfriend."

I nodded. "So now you can focus on this case."

He smiled at me. "Of course."

When I was alone again, I renewed my search with the added symptom, the field narrowed substantially. The genetic test would help, too. But I still had a nagging feeling that I wasn't approaching this the right way. Had I been concentrating so much on Jess, her kidnapping, and the reason for it that I'd lost my touch? It didn't seem likely.

I needed to work out what we knew about the child and what it might mean. The white board was calling. My conference room was empty when I entered this time. I picked up a marker and started to write. I was still at it when Thirteen returned.

"The parents didn't have anything to add to what we already knew," she reported.

I nodded. "Chase found a heart defect."

"That wasn't in Billy's file." She shuffled through the copy in her hand.

"Strange, isn't it? After all of his visits to the hospital, all of the doctors who've examined and treated him, none of them noticed?"

"Maybe it's something new." She stood next to me, reading what I'd written.

"I doubt it. It's not the kind of thing that happens suddenly to a kid at fifteen months."

"No, it isn't. But how else would you explain it?"

"Other doctors are idiots?"

She chuckled. "Well, that's true enough."