Will they have to take more precautions to guard against Morgan? Who will he target next?

Here's another chapter. Let me know what you think.

Chapter 145.

I watched Ricky's guards leave the cafeteria after he did and got up to leave myself, but was stopped by my boss. Her hands were on her hips, and she didn't look happy. What had I done now?

"Marcello Locarno is insisting that the security in the hospital isn't sufficient. He wants to post a guard on your patient. What do you know about this?"

Wow, that was fast! I couldn't tell her everything, just enough to get her to accept Marcello's demands. "Someone came after Ricky a week or so ago, and they've been on their guard ever since. That extends to everyone in their family. Now Ricky's been spending time visiting Marisa..." I left her to draw her own conclusions.

"So you think there's really some kind of danger?" Her voice had that shrill quality it sometimes got when she was worried but not sure whether she should be.

"It can't hurt to take extra precautions. I'm surprised he didn't suggest a guard for you, too."

"Why would he?" Her eyes narrowed.

I smirked. "Guess it hasn't gotten to that point, huh?"

"House I don't know what you're insinuating." Her nostrils flared.

"Then again, I'm sure you wouldn't mind if the two of you got a little closer." I held two fingers together.

She turned on her four-inch heels and walked away, the tap of her shoes echoing into the hall.

Ricky moved fast. It was probably for the best.

As I made my way to my office, I wondered again who else needed protection, but I couldn't think of anyone offhand. Was there a way to find out whether Morgan had been apprehended yet? Rudy might know, so when I reached my desk, I called him back.

"Any word on Morgan?" I asked.

"No. The window guy was just here and fixed me up. It wasn't as bad as I thought. I paid more to replace my car windshield." He sounded a bit calmer than earlier.

"If you think you need to take precautions in the near future, I could arrange something or ask someone to do it for you."

"Could you? My cousin Dominic came down to the bar. Big bruiser of a guy." An image of some wrestler type standing in front of the fruit truck, heavily-muscled arms crossed in front of him came to mind. "But who knows what Morgan will do next."

I didn't want to bring up the possibility that next time it might be Giancarlo instead of Morgan. Who knew what the thug from Sicily was capable of. ButRudy had enough to worry about. "I'll do what I can. Meanwhile, we're working on getting your songbird back on her feet and in good voice again."

"You don't know how glad I am to hear that." The relief in his voice was clear.

"Oh, I heard your replacement, so I can understand."

Rudy chuckled. "The one bright spot to all this Morgan business is that she heard about what happened and quit. I think for a while we'll just go with the piano player. Would it be okay for me to visit Marisa tomorrow? I still have stuff to do here today, or I'd come right over."

"Tomorrow would be fine. She'll be happy to see you." I didn't know that for a fact, but she did seem to like her boss. I was about to end the call when another question popped into my head. "Did you ever meet her sister?"

"I didn't even know she had a sister." His reply seemed genuine, so I didn't pursue it.

"Guess I'll see you tomorrow, then. Let me know if the cops ever contact you about Morgan."

"Will do."

So far, the only one who'd mentioned that Beverly was Molino's new main squeeze was Julio's mother. Marisa was unaware that her half-sister was in Palermo, or anything else about her. I'd never asked Cuddy if her Italian connection had come up with anything, but seeing the mood she'd been in earlier, I wasn't about to ask just yet. I'd have to hope that if Cuddy heard anything, she'd pass it on to me. Meanwhile, I'd work on how to get out of my part of the deal I'd made to get her to contact her friend.

That left Marisa's mother. It was odd that she hadn't visited her daughter while she was in the hospital. Most people weren't like me. They kept in touch with their parents and leaned on them in times of trouble. As Marisa's doctor, I supposed I could contact Mrs. Windermaker for her. It wouldn't require any breach of patient-doctor confidentiality. I didn't really care whether or not Marisa wanted her mother to know about her vocal problems. Much as I hated to deal with patient's relatives, it suited my purpose to call her.

I looked through the file. Marisa listed her boss as her emergency contact, but her mother as her closest relative. That gave me carte blanche. I found the number in California and punched it in. At first I thought there was no one home, but then a male voice answered, "Windermaker residence."

I kept it simple. "This is Dr. Gregory House at Princeton-Plainsboro Hospital in New Jersey. Mrs. Windermaker's daughter..." At the last minute I used her real name. "...Marlene is under my care. She's doing well, but I wanted to inform the patient's mother that she's here."

"One moment, please." The man was probably a servant. Certainly there was no personal reaction to the fact that Marisa was in the hospital.

It was a full two minutes before a woman came to the phone. "Hello? This is Anita Windermaker. Frederick said you were calling about Marlene?"

I repeated what I'd told Frederick. "She's doing well but will require further treatment. I'm informing you in case you wanted to visit her."

"I suppose her money has run out and you want me to foot her hospital bill." Mrs. W. sounded exasperated, as if her daughter was always running to her to cover her expenses. Maybe this hadn't been such a good idea.

"Oh, no. Her insurance covers much of her stay." I couldn't waste the call. "Do your daughters habitually call to ask for your financial help? Or is it only Marlene?"

"Actually, it's usually my other daughter. The artiste." She made it sound like she was calling her worse. "Beverly."

"Has she requested money lately? I understand she's in Italy."

Anita sounded calmer when she corrected me. "Sicily. I think she's found herself a man, because she hasn't called to ask for anything for a month or two."

So, she knew where her daughter was and suspected more, but didn't know specifically about Molino. Time to get back to Marisa. "I'm sure Marlene would appreciate a visit more than your financial support." If Anita came to PPTH, I might persuade her to contact Beverly for me.

There was silence for a minute. "I'll think about it. What was the name of the hospital again? I can always send a bouquet."

I gave her the hospital name and even the address, knowing Marisa wasn't allergic to flowers. But Anita didnt know that. "Actually, we've found that she has an allergy. Flowers wouldn't be such a good idea."

"Candy? Surely some chocolate would cheer her up. It always did."

I rolled my eyes. She was almost as bad as my parents. "Let us know if you can visit. Your daughter will be here for about a week longer."

"Yes. Well, thank you for calling and letting me know. I never hear from my daughters unless they want something." She was back to her annoyed self.

The call left me feeling depressed, so I was pleasantly surprised to look up and see Jess in my doorway. Okay, I would have welcomed the visit even without the aftereffects of talking to Anita Windermaker.

"What's wrong?" Jess' brows drew together.

"Oh, nothing. It never fails to amaze me."

"What does?" She moved closer and sat on the edge of my desk.

"Relationships. How parents treat their children."

She nodded. "We've both had personal experience with that, but what brought this on?"

"I just got off the phone with Marisa's mother. Her first reaction to learning that her daughter was in the hospital was to ask whether I was calling because she couldn't pay her bills." I frowned.

"Why did you call her? Did Marisa ask you to call?"

"Well, no."

Her eyes narrowed at me. "Are you allowed to do that? Call a patient's family without them asking?"

"She was listed as next of kin." I knew that wouldn't be enough for Jess. "I thought she might be able to tell me something more about Beverly."

"The sister."

"Half-sister. But Mama Windermaker is more annoyed with her than with Marisa, and claims she hasn't been in touch with her since the last time she requested money."

"When was that?"

Leave it to Jess. It was a question I should have asked Anita, because it would give us information about when Beverly hooked up with Molino. "If she shows up, I'll ask her."

"And what's the chance of that?" Jess picked up my ball and tossed it from hand to hand.

"Rather poor." I leaned back in my chair. "I need a way to lure her here."

"What do you know about her?"

"She has money. She has two daughters, and if she looks anything like Marisa, she's pretty. To tell you the truth, there's very little information available about her."

"There has to be something. Where'd her money come from? Is her family rich?" She put down the ball and narrowed her eyes.

"Don't know, but I can ask Marisa about that. My impression is that her husbands left her with plenty, but I don't even know that for sure." I rubbed my chin.

"Maybe I should be the one to ask Marisa questions."

I nodded. "I've been to see her enough times for one day." I took one of Jess' hands. "Marcello has arranged a guard for her."

"A guard? Why?"

"Because we think Morgan is either fixated on her or watching her for Molino, and he's, shall we say, agitated?"

She stood up and pulled her hand away. "Greg, what did you do?"

Why did I suddenly feel guilty? "I confronted him at The Black Keys."

"Gregory House! I thought you weren't going to approach him alone, that you had more sense."

"He had no idea who I was." I bit my lip.

Jess nodded. "A-huh!" She pursed her own lips.

"He drove his truck into the front window of the bar." I knew I shouldn't have told her that, but as long as I was confessing.

"Oh, no! Was anyone hurt? Were you still there?"

"No. It was later, but Rudy and the pianoplayer saw him and reported it to the cops. Their looking for him now."

"And the window?"

"Rudy already had it repaired." I tried to brush it off. "It was no big deal, but maybe it'll get Morgan off the streets."

"I certainly hope so."