The dinner isn't over yet. Let's see what else they talk about. And what happens next.

Chapter 117.

By unspoken mutual agreement, the rest of the dinner passed without much controversial conversation. That's not to say we were quiet. Jess' father was effusive in his praise of the food and décor of his brother's restaurant. So when Johnny joined us for dessert, I told him, "Your brother is jealous."

"Jealous of what?" Johnny studied Peter.

"Of the food here, the ambiance, everything about this place." Jess smiled and waved a hand to encompass the entire restaurant."

Johnny grinned. "It's taken me a while. Picking food with a wide appeal was difficult. And finding a good chef or two wasn't easy, either."

"What's so special about 'here'?" Peter shrugged his broad shoulders.

"There are some excellent culinary schools in the area. But it still took a few tries to find two excellent cooks and a superb pastry chef." He pointed to the tiramisu Peter was devouring. "You like? Guido has a way with pastry and mascarpone. And don't think you can steal any of my people away from me." He smiled broadly as he said it, to indicate it was a joke.

I watched to see whether Peter took it that way. It took him a while, but finally he burst out laughing and slapped Johnny on the back. "You were always a joker."

"Did Jessica tell you that we'll be supplying some of the food for her catering enterprise? She and Nina lined up some of the best restaurants in town to supply their offerings, including this one."

Peter dropped his fork. "Is this true?" He looked from his brother to Jess.

"Yes. Uncle Johnny was one of the first we signed, but there are six others, each offering different kinds of food."

"You thought this through." His eyes narrowed.

"Why are you so surprised, Dad? Did you think we'd do this without a plan, a concrete idea of what we wanted and what we'd need to get there? If nothing else, you taught us how to approach a business venture like this. Yes, we were thorough."

Finally there was a gleam of respect in his eyes as he looked at her, and a smile on his face. He seemed unable to say anything. Time to change the subject yet again.

"So, have you found a site for your restaurant?" I asked him.

Peter shook his head. "The places my real estate agent showed me would never work. They were either in bad neighborhoods or too small."

"I can recommend the realtor we used, Ricky Locarno. His office is in Trenton. As a matter of fact, Greg and I are going to see him tomorrow morning."

"He's good?"

"Very. His family handles business properties in the better parts of Trenton and Princeton." She opened her purse. "I think I have one of his cards here." She found it and handed it to him.

Peter examined the card. "Locarno Realty. Why does the name sound familiar?"

"His family is well-known in this part of the state. They're involved in many sponsoring high-profile civic events." But as I said it, I wondered if he knew the family in another connection.

Johnny nodded. "The old man, I guess that would be Ricky's grandfather, is involved in state politics."

"Yeah, I guess that's where I've heard the name." The speculative look on Peter's face implied he thought otherwise. He tucked the card in a pocket. "Thanks for the recommendation." He studied Jess again. "Perhaps once my place is established I can be one of your suppliers."

"Perhaps." She grinned at him.

It was a thought I had back when we first learned he was opening a restaurant in town, and one I'd dismissed immediately. I hoped Jess wouldn't encourage him too much.

"What kind of food will you serve?" Johnny asked.

"I don't think I'll limit myself to Italian food, like you have." Peter puffed out his chest. "Perhaps classic European food of all sorts."

Johnny ignored the thinly disguised dig and raised one eyebrow. "That's quite ambitious. So, French? Spanish?"

Peter nodded. "German, too. And possibly some eastern European specialties. It will depend on the chefs I find."

"Seems to me you'll be too busy with that to take much interest in what's happening at the hospital."

"I've always had several businesses going at one time." Peter shrugged. "It shouldn't be hard."

"And what about those businesses? The ones in Dorsey?" An amused look filled Jess' eyes. "Surely you won't neglect those."

"No, of course not. I have people I can depend on taking care of things there." He sat back in his chair with a smug smile. "Well, this has been an excellent meal. Giovanni, I commend you on your restaurant and I hope I will eat here again some time."

"You're welcome here any time." His brother met his eyes. "And I hope to eat at your establishment some day."

Peter pushed back his chair and rose. "Jessica, Dr. House. Thank you both for inviting me. It has been an interesting evening, to say the least." He walked off and out of the restaurant.

Jess sighed. "I think that went as well as could be expected."

"At least now he has a better appreciation of what you and Nina are doing, and how great this place is." I saw Johnny's frown. "What's wrong?"

"My brother hasn't changed, has he?"

"I doubt he ever will." Jess sighed. "It's very difficult for him to see anyone or anything except from his own viewpoint. He doesn't listen to anyone else because he thinks he knows best about everything."

Johnny smoothed his napkin and started to fold it carefully. "Even as a boy, he was like that. That is why we weren't surprised when he didn't contact the family for years, never sent us anything, no matter how successful he was."

"Do you think he can succeed in the restaurant business?" I asked.

"His plan is very ambitious. I don't think he realizes how hard it will be to achieve it."

I nodded. "Even though you told him how hard it would be to find really good chefs here."

"Greg, as I just said, he wasn't really listening. Uncle Johnny, thank you again for putting up with all of us tonight."

"I told you, Bella Jess, anytime you want to eat here, you're welcome."

"Me too?"

He chuckled. "Of course, Dottori. My brother, I'm not so sure. But we'll see, we'll see." He shook my hand as I rose, then hugged Jess.

As we drove home, she said, "I'm glad we didn't bring up the idea of working with my dad on a car detailing shop. It was definitely one of my worst ideas."

"No harm, no foul." But I couldn't help thinking what a disaster it might have been. "Tomorrow, we'll talk to Ricky about that instead, and warn him about Molino's man."

"We should get his commitment on the shop before we bring up Giancarlo, don't you think?"

That made sense. Still, I wondered. "What if he won't back the shop?"

"We'll still have to warn him. That's why you had those sketches done, isn't it?"

I nodded.

"My only hope is that he won't hold any of this against Julio. He and Tina are so cute together, I don't want to do anything that will jeopardize that."

"You are such a romantic."

"So? What's wrong with that?" She touched my arm, gently so it wouldn't interfere with my driving. "You can be pretty romantic yourself."

I smirked. "That's different." I didn't have to look at her to know she was smirking, too, or at least rolling her eyes. But I would never admit to any interest in anyone else's sappy relationships. Unless they played into any plans I had. "Do you know anyone we can hook up with Ricky?"

She laughed, loud and long.

"Because I was thinking it might help our cause to soften him up."

"Don't we have enough ammunition?" She squeezed my arm. "I can't think of anyone."

"Too bad." We were home.

I'd hoped to cap off the evening with some lovemaking. As it turned out, that would have to wait. The minute we walked through the door, my phone began to sing.

"Ricky, what's up?" I figured the realtor wouldn't be calling unless it was to cancel for the next day.

"Dr. House, I'm glad I reached you." He sounded almost breathless. "I called my sister and she said you'd be the one to help."

"Take a slow breath and let it out, then tell me what's wrong." I had an inkling of what he was going to say, and I wasn't far off the mark.

I heard him follow my instructions. When he could speak again, he said, "I had drinks tonight with a couple of buddies and as I started for my car, I thought I heard footsteps behind me. You know that feeling you get sometimes? You're sure someone's watching you, but you look and no one's there? Well, it was like that, but when I looked, this big guy was coming straight for me." His voice became shakier as he talked. "I tried to run, but, you know, since the accident..." He trailed off.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah. Someone came out of the restaurant I was passing and the guy following me took off. Guess he didn't want witnesses." Ricky tried to laugh, but it came out choked.

"Where are you now?" I'd put the phone on speaker, and motioned to Jess to get me a paper and pen.

"I was so shaky, I had to sit down. I'm in the restaurant, drinking some tea. Dr. House, I didn't imagine this. It really happened."

"I believe you. Stay put." I could hear voices in the background. "Are there other people in the restaurant?"

"Yes, it's pretty crowded."

"What's the name? The street it's on."

"Ah, it's called Lulu's Lounge. It's on Maple, I think."

"I know it. We'll be there in twenty minutes, half an hour tops. Sit tight. The marines are on the way."

"Huh?"

I closed the connection and turned to Jess. "Guess he never watched any old war movies."

Her quizzical look indicated that she didn't either. "How do you know Lulu's Lounge?"

I shrugged. Back in the days when I didn't have Jess in my life, I spent a fair amount of time at the bar there and other places. No need to bring that up now.

We headed out once more. I hoped this would be even better than what we'd planned to convince Ricky to go along with our plan to bring Molino, himself, to New Jersey, and then prove his involvement in his wife's death.