And House's investigation goes on.

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Chapter 123.

As I expected, Jess was busy, but when I told her I'd be meeting Tina for lunch, she said, "Let me see if I can get away at least for a short time."

Now I had to decide how I would pump Tina about her brother's accident without alerting Jess that I was trying to connect it to her mother's death and Francesca Molino's. I don't know why I was so reluctant to share my thoughts. She knew what kind of man her father was, but she also still had a vestige of feeling for him. If he was responsible for the accident, it would destroy that. Not that I cared. Much.

I collected all the info I could on the race where Ricky injured his legs. There'd been no indication that anyone tampered with his car or that any other drivers forced him into the side wall of the track. He wasn't distracted by anyone or anything. In fact, there was no explanation for why it happened.

My team was returning to the conference room when I escaped. "Going to lunch. See you later."

I was sure they were staring at my back as I headed for the elevator.

Tina was already at the pizza and pasta place I'd picked, and so was Jess.

"I love this place." Tina smiled as we were seated. "They have the best fettucine Alfredo."

"I like their calzones myself." But Jess looked at the menu anyway.

Our waitress brought us ice water and asked what we wanted to drink.

Tina surprised me by asking for an Italian soda. Cherry. I would have thought she was an iced tea person.

Now Jess loved her iced tea. And I ordered a beer. St. Pauli Girl. Why they served a German beer like that in an Italian restaurant I'll never know.

"So, what did you want to know?" Tina asked as soon as the waitress was gone. "You didn't ask me to lunch just to thank me for giving you my brother's name."

Since she was being so straightforward, I decided to do the same. "What do you know about his accident?"

She shrugged. "He lost control of his car on the track and crashed into a wall." Her head went back and forth. "That's all there is to it."

"Why did he lose control?"

"Huh?" She glanced at Jess as if she knew why I was asking, but Jess only frowned and drew her eyebrows together.

"There was nothing suspicious about it?" I knew I was pushing, but this was important.

"Dr. House, I've told you all I know. The only one who might know more is Ricky himself. Why aren't you asking him?"

"Ever heard of someone named Mike Morgan?"

Tina pulled back and shook her head. Jess had a completely different reaction. All the color drained from her face and she looked at me with a mixture of surprise and pain.

"House, why are you asking about the man who caused the accident that killed my mother?" Her voice was deathly calm but there was a tremor underneath she couldn't quite hide.

I knew this was coming, but I didn't have an answer for her.

"Your mother?" Tina asked. "Your mother was killed, too?"

Jess nodded. "In a car accident. Nearly ten years ago now. My brother, sister and I were in the car, too. Petey was driving. He'd just gotten his license. We were hit by a drunk truck driver named Mike Morgan."

Tina went white listening to her. "My mother's car was hit, too. They never found the man, and she was alone so there were no witnesses."

All I could think about was that I'd been looking into the wrong accident.

"When did this happen?"

"About a month after Ricky's mishap on the track. She was on her way to see him that night."

Okay, so two women killed in car accidents involving the same 'other driver' might be a coincidence, but when you throw in another, and granted, there was no evidence Morgan was involved in the third occurrence, still, this was sounding too much like a conspiracy of some sort.

"Greg you think there's a connection." Jess voice was still strained but she was over her initial shock.

I nodded. "Francesca Molino was killed by the same person as your mother. How much you wanna bet he was involved in Tina's mother's death?"

"Oh, my God!" Tina slapped a hand to her mouth.

"But if there were no witnesses, how are you going to prove it after all these years, and …" Jess trailed off as the implications began to sink in. "You think my father ordered my mother's death just as Molino ordered his wife's?" Jess seemed to shrink into herself. Looking down at the table, her mouth half-open, she pressed her eyes closed until tears began to escape. She looked up at me with glistening lids and cheeks. "You can't be right. Whatever else my father has done, I can't believe he'd do anything to hurt my mother or any of us."

"Jess, I know it's hard to believe."

"Hard? How about impossible."

Tina watched us argue. She put a hand on Jess' arm. "Maybe there's another explanation. I certainly can't think of anyone who'd pay someone to – to kill my mother."

Jess nodded. "We don't even know whether Mike Morgan was involved in that."

"But we do know he was charged in your mother's death, and arrested, but let go, in the accident that took Francesca's life." I laid it out as simply as I could. "It's hard to deny those facts. I'll admit there might be another explanation, that your father met Molino because they shared their hatred of the man who took their wives from them."

"See?" Tina smiled. "That's your explanation!"

Jess bobbed her head, but she still wasn't smiling. "Greg, when were you going to tell me your suspicions?"

"I – I just found the connections, and that's why I wanted to talk to Tina, to see if she knew anything about Ricky's accident that might be related. I didn't even know about her mother."

"So you planned to tell me."

"Of course."

She smirked, then exhaled. "So where do we go from here?"

"Tina, is there anyone who might know more about your mother's death?" The answer would tell us how to proceed.

She frowned, more in concentration than objection to the question. "Uncle Marcello might. After our dad died ten years ago, he kinda took care of Mom, Ricky and me. He never had his own family."

"Your father died ten years ago?" Jess beat me to it. It was like a red flag.

She nodded. Her frown was now sad. "Cancer."

Jess and I exhaled together. At least that was one death that wasn't related.

"What about your grandfather?" I prodded.

"He might know something, but getting anything out of him is like...what's the expression?...oh, yeah, wringing water from a stone. Not just money, but information, too."

"So, Marcello it is. He seemed like a pretty good guy." I watched her expression.

She nodded, the frown finally gone from her pretty little face. "Uncle Marcello is a sweetheart. He's been very good to Ricky, and me too, sometimes."

"Tina, you've been very helpful." Jess put a hand on the girl's arm, then looked at me. "I know Dr. House appreciates it, although it's not in his nature to say so."

"Who sez?" I smiled at Tina. "You've been great. I'm sorry I brought up some painful memories, but it's important for us to get to the bottom of the all."

She nodded, but asked. "Why is it so important to you to find out what happened to Julio's cousin?"

"The story Francesco's husband told him, about your family being involved in her death, didn't seem right." I couldn't really explain that to her, since I wasn't sure why it nagged at me so much.

A smile flickered across Jess' face. "Dr. House likes puzzles, things that don't make sense, and mostly he likes to be the one to make sense of them."

"Julio was convinced that your family had nothing to do with it, so I've been digging to find out who did. It was beginning to look like Molino himself was involved somehow." I watched her face. Her eyes said she understood.

"But what made you look at the name of the person who ran into Francesca?" She had a good grasp of my thought process.

The next part of my explanation might be hard for Jess. I looked at her before I spoke, wondering how much to tell.

"You've been looking for people who reacted to the name Carlo Molino, haven't you?" She beat me to it. She swallowed loudly. "My father, he knows Molino somehow."

I nodded. "Or at least knows of him. I wondered what they had in common. It wasn't that hard to find once I knew where to look."

"Greg, I know you suspect Molino of arranging his wife's death, but did you think my father was capable of that even before you learned he knew Molino?"

I rubbed my jaw, then shook my head. "Not really, which is why I think they only know each other through Mike Morgan. Morgan was convicted in the case of your mother's death. And your father blamed Petey in part for the accident. On the other hand, in the case of Francesca's death, he wasn't even brought to trial. I think Molino didn't press charges."

"Because he arranged it and promised Morgan he wouldn't." Jess nodded. "Yeah, that makes sense."

"But if this Morgan wasn't charged in Francesca's death, how did Jess' father know about it?"

Jess pursed her lips. "I think my father followed Morgan's life after the accident, at least as well as he could. I remember him saying something when he was released from prison."

"So now how do we tie either Ricky's accident, or my mother's accident into all of this?"

I smiled at Tina. "I'm going to have to make an appointment with your Uncle Marcello."

"He's a good guy and very approachable." She glanced at her watch. "Well, thanks for lunch. I have a class this afternoon and have to go. Good luck in figuring this out. If I think of anything I'll let you know." She wiped her mouth, dropped her napkin on her place and was gone.

"She's a nice kid. I'm glad she and Julio are dating."

"Is that what the kids call it these days?" I rolled my eyes.

Jess laughed. "So, now that you've got this new angle to work, does it mean we can cancel our appointment with the fertility specialist?"

I smirked at her. "I wouldn't miss it for the world."