Let's see whether House figures out where he heard that name before. He also has to solve the rest of his puzzles. Is there a connection to one or more?
Hope you enjoy this chapter. Leave a comment if you wish.
Chapter 141.
While Jess chatted with Julio and his mother, I puzzled over the name she mentioned: Windermaker. I know I heard or at least saw it recently. Finally, I shrugged thinking it was probably common enough and I'd seen it in a medical report or the newspaper.
I looked at my watch, nearly eleven, and the biscotti were all gone. "We should leave. It's getting late." I stood.
"Yes," Jess agreed. "But it was a pleasure to meet you and talk to you, Maria." She bent over and hugged the woman.
I wondered when they started using first names.
"If you ever in Italia, you come see, yes?"
"Of course." Jess slipped her hand through mine. "We'd love to." She smiled at the smaller woman and Julio.
We returned to the car and drove home. This time when I pulled up to the curb and turned off the engine, I got out. Entering our place, Jess said, "All in all I think this was a fruitful night."
I guffawed. "I know what you did there."
She joined me. "Believe me, it wasn't on purpose. What I meant..."
I cut her off. "I know what you meant. We certainly know more than we did before we went to the piano bar."
"What were you worrying over while I was talking to Maria?"
"You noticed. Does the name Windermaker mean anything to you?"
"That's Carlo's new girlfriend, right?" She waited for me to nod before going on. "I don't know anyone by that name, but I'm sure there are plenty. It's probably not as common as Wanamaker or Waterford or Wells."
"That's it!" The moment she said it I remembered. "Marisa's real name is Marlene Windermaker. I could kiss you." And, in fact, I did. And then I sobered. "Only this makes things even more complicated."
"Solve one or two puzzles and three more pop up."
"It does seem that way." But I wondered whether connecting Marisa to the other puzzles in my life was such a bad thing. Perhaps I could use the fact that she was my patient to get more information. First I'd have to find out how Carlo's Beverly was related to Marisa and whether they'd been in touch recently. It wouldn't help me diagnose the singer, however. And it was too late to do anything more that night. I had even more important things to do.
"Ready for bed?" Jess asked.
"I noticed you said bed and not sleep." I had enough strength left to wiggle my eyebrows, but anything else I might do would have to be done lying down.
She laughed and held out her hand to me. "What are you waiting for?"
As we walked to the bedroom, buttons were undone and zippers unzipped. We both kicked off our shoes before we reached the bed. Jess turned her lamp on to the lowest setting, just enough light for me to watch as she removed her silky white blouse and I unhooked her bra. Enough to see the swell of her breasts and the flat stomach.
She pushed my button-down off, too, and ran her palms over my bare chest and then around my neck, pulling my head towards her for a kiss.
A few more buttons and zippers and her skirt and my trousers were relegated to the floor with the other discarded clothes. Her panties were as silky as her shirt had been, but red like the skirt. It wasn't long before they joined the pile along with my briefs.
My hands caressed the velvety skin of her shoulders, then shifted to cup her breasts, smooth and firm and just the right size for my long fingers to encircle.
Jess sighed as her own hands slid down my sides and around. The strokes by her fingers stirred my passion.
I kissed her, long and hard, as I explored lower and incited her own desire. It wasn't long before we joined. As we continued kissing, we ascended to the peak of passion, lingering as long as we could before slipping back down again. We lay with out bodies still pressed together, our heartbeats and breaths slowing.
When she could speak again, Jess said, "You're the best."
"Why thank you. You're not so bad yourself." I kissed the tip of her nose.
We cuddled for a while longer before heading to the bathroom to shower and get ready for bed, this time to sleep.
I expected that the jumble of thoughts I had about what we'd learned that night would keep me up. Usually, my mind won't let go of all it's working on at night and I have a hard time falling asleep. But since I'd been with Jess, I seemed to sleep better. Perhaps it was the physical activity before bed, or maybe it was only her presence beside me in the bed. In any case, I fell asleep immediately and woke with a clear head. I don't mean there were no puzzles to solve or strange connections filling my prefontal cortex, only that my mind was ready to deal with it all. After a couple of cups of java, that is.
I turned and stretched. Jess took that as a cue to snuggle. "G'Morning," she muttered into my chest.
"I certainly hope so."
She giggled. "How does ham and eggs sound?"
"Yummy."
She giggled again and extricated herself from my arms, padding to the bathroom for a quick stop before returning for her robe and heading for the kitchen to follow through on her promise.
Slowly, I repeated the sequence, bathroom, robe, kitchen. By the time I arrived, coffee was brewing and the slices of breakfast ham were cooking in a skillet. The aromas made me hungrier than I already was.
"Any new ideas?" she asked when we finally sat down to eat.
My mouth was full, giving me time to frame my answer. "Marisa's sister, or aunt, or cousin is Molino's new girlfriend. It probably doesn't matter that much what the relationship is, but Marisa is going to tell me whether she's in touch with Beverly, and what she knows about Molino's plans."
"Do you really think Marisa will tell you?"
"It depends on whether she wants to sing again or not."
Jess' eyes narrowed. "You're not going to use Marisa's condition to...to...to blackmail her, are you?"
"Only if she doesn't tell me willingly where she and Beverly fit into everything."
Jess frowned, but didn't say anything for a while. She pushed her eggs around her plate with her fork, her frown deepening. "Greg, do you know what's wrong with her?"
"Yup." It had come to me as I walked from the bathroom to the kitchen. Perhaps my mind had been working on that puzzle while I slept.
"And you won't do anything about it until she tells you what you want to know?" Her eyes got narrower and narrower.
I knew as a doctor that wasn't the ethical thing to do. Still I needed to know anything she could tell me. I sighed, but I'd faced dilemmas like this before. Usual, what I needed dictated how I acted, not any lofty ideas of medical ethics. But maybe there was another way to ensure she talked. "Okay, I won't withhold my diagnosis as a means to force her to squeal on her relative."
"You don't even know whether they're related."
"The way things have been going lately, I wouldn't be surprised if everyone wasn't related to you. Or me." I laughed, but it was something to ponder, especially any new connections to Jess and her family. "I'm going to get dressed and head to the hospital to see what I can pry out of my patient. Need a lift to your sister's place?"
"No. I have some things to do at home, and later Nina's coming here to talk about staffing."
I speared the last of my ham and stuffed it in my mouth, then headed to the bathroom for my morning ablutions. I dressed and stopped in the kitchen for a last sip of coffee and a kiss before leaving for the hospital.
An hour or so later, I entered Marisa's room. She was watching the tube, some cooking show but not one I'd ever seen.
"Do you know what's wrong with me?" She clicked off the set and sat up straighter.
"I have an idea. We'll have to do one more test to confirm, but I think it's more of an allergy than an infection."
"Oh!" She frowned.
"Have you had any visitors besides your boss? Nice guy, by the way. He's worried about you and not only because his replacement can't sing at all."
She shook her head. "Rudy's the only one, besides all of you doctors. Oh, and your friend Ricky." She grinned when she said his name.
"Your relatives haven't visited?"
She shook her head. "My dad died a couple of years ago and Mom lives in California. I don't see her much."
"You didn't tell her you were in the hospital?"
"I didn't want to worry her."
"What about siblings?"
She hesitated. "I have a half-sister, from Dad's first marriage."
"I gather you're not close."
"You could say that. Anyway, she went to Italy for art school and stayed. I haven't seen her for over a year." She frowned. "Why are you asking about my relatives? Does it have something to do with what's wrong with me?"
Rather than admit the truth, I used a generality. "Allergies run in families."
"Mom's allergic to shellfish, but I've never had a problem with that."
"Well, we're going to do what's called a patch test."
She nodded. "I had those as a child. But the only thing it showed was a reaction to dust mites. I'm very careful with my bedding because of that."
"That's a very common allergy." I checked her nose and throat. Both showed slight rhinitis, a reaction to airborne irritants and allergens. The flowers that Rudy brought her would be a place to start. If she was allergic to one or more of them, it would be a simple explanation for some of her recent symptoms, but I didn't think we'd resolve this that easily. "I'll have one of my staff give you the test and we'll go from there." An elevated white cell count might indicate an allergic reaction, but rarely one as severe as hers was.