Here's this week's chapter. We left off with Jess calling her father to ask for his help, and him asking whether she and House know Bev Windermaker.

Thanks for reading my story. Leave a comment if you enjoyed it.

Chapter 151.

My mouth dropped open. So did Jess'.

Once Jess could speak again, she said, "Yes, I know Bev. Slightly. Why do you ask?"

Giordano sounded more curious than anything else. "She called me this morning to ask about a job in my new restaurant."

"What kind of job?" Jess reached over and drew a line through our plan for her father.

"She said she recently returned from Italy and had some menu ideas, but would be happy to start out as a hostess."

"She's quite pretty." Jess bit her lip, then mouthed 'How much should I tell him?'.

"How do you know her?" he asked.

I found a blank page on the pad and wrote, 'Tell him she's my patient's sister'.

Jess nodded. "We met her through Greg's patient, who's her sister. Bev came back to the States to visit Marisa."

As they talked, I wondered what to do now that our plan was impossible. We couldn't ask him to buy fruit from Bernini if Bev was working for him. I also didn't think it was wise to tell Jess' dad that Bev was Bertoli's daughter, or involved in any way with Molino or Marcello. I also wondered what motivated Bev to call Giordano. Maybe Jess was right to be skeptical about her.

Meanwhile, Giordano sounded convinced. "Well, thanks for your endorsement of Beverly. I'll arrange a meeting, but I'm pretty sure I'll hire her."

"That's great. I guess, now that she's back in New Jersey, she's going to stay, and she certainly needs a job."

"So why did you call?" Giordano finally asked.

"Oh, just to see how your plans were going and tell you we have our first party this coming Saturday." Jess looked my way and smiled.

"Good luck with your party," her father said.

"Thanks. I'll let you know how it goes." She ended the call and smirked.

I took her hand. "You did want his approval and support. That might be as close as you'll ever get."

"True. So, what are we going to do about Bernini Fruit?" She pulled her hand out of mine and stood, then began pacing the small room.

"The minute he started talking about Bev working for him, I started thinking about alternatives. Maybe the answer is someone who already gets fruit from them, Rudy at the Black Keys."

Jess stopped and sat again. "Whether anyone would tell him anything would depend on what Morgan said about your encounter with him there."

"On the other hand, Rudy might hold a grudge against the company as well as against Morgan. Rudy could approach them to complain about him. That way we can find out whether the fruit company fired him or even knows where he is."

"Wouldn't the cops have done that already? Rudy did file a complaint after all."

I nodded as I ran that through my mind. "It's still worth a shot."

"Okay. You can talk to Rudy and see what he says." She glanced at her watch. "It's getting late."

"I'll head to the hospital and see if Rudy visits his songbird today."

"I have a few last minute calls to make for Saturday, but I can do them from here."

I stood and kissed the top of her head. "See you later." As I strode out of the room, I thought of one other possibility that I wasn't ready to share with Jess just yet.

Later, as I drove to the hospital, I worked out the details of my latest idea in my mind. Again it would involve Jess' family, but a different member than any we'd mentioned before. For several reasons, it would only work, though, if Morgan was gone.

The elevator was waiting on the ground floor when I arrived, but instead of taking it to my office, I went directly to Marisa's room. I smiled when I saw Rudy was there for a visit.

"Dr. House, I was just telling Rudy that my sister's in town." Marisa looked better than she had since she arrived. "She came by last night and we had a long talk."

"Seeing Bev seems to have been good for you." My eyes shifted to her monitors. Very good, indeed. "Rudy, I'm glad you're here." I didn't want to talk to him in front of the patient, though. "Come by my office when you're finished with your visit."

"Sure. There was something I wanted to ask you." Rudy wasn't smiling. Was his request going to ruin my plan for him, just as Giordano's question ruined an earlier idea?

I nodded and left them to chat. While I waited for Rudy, I had other things to do.

My office and the conference room were both empty. That was good. I sat down at my computer, but didn't turn it on. Instead, I searched my phone for a number and called it.

"Dr. House? What's up?"

It had been a long time since I spoke to Petey. I knew from Jess that he'd be helping his sisters with their business, but I didn't know what else he'd been doing.

"I wondered whether you were interested in a second job, besides working for Jess and Nina."

"Is there an opening at the hospital?" He sounded eager.

"No, I'm afraid not. This would be something to help us with our investigation of Mike Morgan."

"That creep." He practically spit the words.

"He worked for a fruit company, driving a truck, but recently he split. How'd you like to apply for his job?"

"It wasn't my uncle's fruit company, was it?"

"Nope. Bernini."

"Why does that name sound familiar?"

"Jess and Nina might have mentioned that Molino sent a thug to the great state of NJ to continue his vengeance against the Locarnos. His name is Giancarlo Bernini."

"So he owns the company?" Petey was asking a lot of questions.

"No, Molino does."

"And you want me to go in as a spy. Find out what I can about the company, and what they'll tell me about Morgan."

I couldn't tell whether he was smiling or frowning at the other end of the line, whether he was excited about this or wouldn't touch it. "So, are you in?"

He hesitated. "They pay delivery guys pretty well, don't they?"

"Some places do."

"House, I don't have a truckers' license."

I hadn't thought of that. What would it take to get one in the state? "Maybe they're hiring for other positions."

"Yeah, maybe. I'll check."

"And I'll see you at the party on Saturday?"

"I'm looking forward to our first gig. I'm amazed my sisters were able to pull this off."

"Well, they're both smart cookies."

"Yeah, I'm the only dumb one in the family." Petey sighed.

I let the comment ride. It wasn't my job to boost his ego.

Soon after that call, Rudy appeared in my doorway. "You wanted to see me?"

"Yeah. Have a seat." Once he did I asked, "Have you seen Morgan since he drove into the front of the Black Keys?"

"Naw. Each delivery, it's a different guy."

"Any of them ever talk about Morgan?"

He shook his head. "None of 'em talks much, and mostly it's about what they brought me."

"Well, if you can get one of them to reveal what happened to the previous driver, I'd appreciate it."

He nodded. "I tried that with the first one, but all he did was shrug and say, 'Don't know'. But I'll ask the others."

"I wonder who their boss is."

"I can ask that, too. Frankly, the stuff their delivering lately isn't the best. I was hoping to change suppliers."

"Hold off doing that for a little while. I think I can hook you up with Johnny Giordano's company."

"I heard good things about them." He scratched his ear. "Okay. I'll give Bernini another couple of weeks."

"You might want to visit their business office to complain about the produce their sending you. Maybe someone there can help."

"Yeah. Sounds like a good idea."

"Thanks, Rudy."

"No, thank you." He grinned. "You're doing a great job on Marisa."

I would have been happy to take all the credit for her physical and emotional improvement, but too many people knew there were three other people who contributed to that. "The oncologist who's treating her now deserves a lot of your thanks. And so do Ricky Locarno and Marisa's sister."

He chuckled. "She couldn't stop talking about either of them. So this sister is here in town for a while?"

"Yes. It seems she's decided it would be a good idea to stay." I tapped a pen on my desk, thinking about Bev and her motivation.

"Marisa's happy about she'll be around. For a long time she was afraid to even hope that her sister really cared about her, that anyone did."

"Oh, Bev cares alright." That was clear. What wasn't was what Bev's game was now. Why had she applied for a job with Peter Giordano? How did she really feel about Marcello? I didn't think any of those things were related to our investigation of Molino and Morgan, but I'd found recently that you could never tell.

"There was something else I wanted to talk to you about." Rudy steepled his fingers.

"What's that?"

"When Marisa gets out of here, I'd like to have a party at the bar to welcome her back. Do you think it would be a good idea?"

He'd have to be careful with the guest list, but the idea had merit. Marisa would be thrilled. "I know a catering company that could work with you on that."

He smiled. "Your girlfriend's company?"

"Yes."

"Fine with me. She's seen the place and would know what would work there. Should we let Marisa decide on the invitation list?"

"Might be best." Then I had a better idea. "Unless you want it to be a surprise for her."

He snapped his fingers and pointed one at me. "Ooh, I never thought of that. I suppose I could come up with a list without her." His smile broadened. "Yeah, a surprise. Thanks, Doc." He started to walk away.

"Rudy, don't forget what I asked you to do about Bernini."

"I won't forget." He strode out the door.

Now I had two possible sources of info on the fruit company. At least some of my plans might work out. One way or another, I was determined to find out what happened to Morgan, and why Molino was after the Locarnos.