“What would be your dream house?” Emmett asked.

Brian was taking a nap in his room while Justin watched the boys. At three months, Brian was finally starting to feel the effects of the pregnancy. Emmett came over to spend time with them. It was funny, Tommy wanted to be just like his Uncle Emmett. Much to Brian’s displeasure.

“It’s stupid.”

“Nothing is ever stupid, baby. Tell me.”

“It’s silly. But I always dreamed of a country manor, one with stables and a pool.”

“I always wanted to live at Tara.”

“Tara?”

“Oh, honey, please tell me you’re joking.”

Justin looked at Emmett in confusion. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“It’s the name of the plantation from Gone with the Wind.” They looked up to see Brian at the top of the steps. “Everyone knows that, Sunshine.”

Justin blushed. He wondered how much of that Brian heard.

“How are you feeling?” Justin asked.

“Like a whale.” There was a very small, almost unnoticeable outward curve to his stomach.

Justin smiled. If this was making him crazy, wait until he was close to his due. Teddy had been on bedrest for months and was the size of a planet. His last appointment they got good news though. Baby C, who they named Celeste was growing well. They said she was doing well and catching up with her brother and sister.

“Well, I guess it’s time for me to go.” Emmett stopped at the door and turned around. “Justin, I need a huge favor.”

“What? Need someone to help you fit into your girdle.”

“Sorry Brian, not everyone can have a body of a god like you.”

Justin and Brian looked at each other. They really would need to tell people about his pregnancy soon. Only Erik and Ted knew because they wanted to know who the test belonged too.

“Ha ha,” Brian said bitterly before going to the bathroom.

“What do you need, Em?”

“Well, Lindsay is in California with Sam. She asked if I could just give the house a walk through to make sure it okay for the new realtor. She tried to sell a while back but took the house off the market because she couldn’t get Mel’s signature. I guess she finally got it now. I was going to do it tomorrow but I have a meeting at the station.”

“Sure, I’ll go. Marissa is going to be in daycare for a few hours anyway.”

The next day, Justin used the key Emmett gave him to let himself into the house. His nose twitched as he entered. It was a cute house. Too small for their needs so it wasn’t an option to buy for them.

It was a little dusty from being empty for months. Thankfully, there was no furniture or items left in the house. Brian put all of Gus’ things in storage until they got a bigger place. Looking around he made sure everything was good to go. The realtor was supposed to have a cleaning crew in before she showed the place, so he didn’t have to worry about that.

The only thing that he really noticed about the place was a stench. It made the whole house reek. No wonder Lindsay didn’t want to live there. It smelled like an animal died somewhere in it.

Deciding to find the source instead of letting the cleaning crew find it, he started looking. First, he started upstairs but it wasn’t as bad up there. He looked under cabinets and behind doors. It then occurred to him that the smell could be coming from under the house.

Going outside, he found the entrance to under the house. Lindsay was going to have to owe him big for this. Getting on his hands and knees he crawled into the crawlspace. It was definitely where the smell was coming from. He dry-heaved a few times. He finally came to a large rug; it was rolled up. Strange, he thought to himself. Digging out his keys, he turned on the small pen light. It didn’t shine very well. He could barely make out something dark sticking out the end of it. Crawling closer he grabbed at it, thinking an animal crawled up in there and died. His hand came in contact with hair. His mind supplied the word before he knew it. It was hair-short, brown hair. Human hair. His hand brushed something that was fleshy under the hair.

The smell that he had been trying to convince himself was a dead animal-wasn’t. It was a person. A person with dark hair.

He scrambled back, quickly crawling out. Just as he made it out of the crawlspace, he threw up. Still on his hands and knees he started to cry. Nothing was making any sense. But he knew what he had to do. Pulling out his phone he called the police.

After that, he stumbled to the front steps and sat down. His clothes were dirty from the crawlspace but all he could do was think about the hair and scalp that he touched. That was what it was, a scalp. His stomach turned once again and threw up, this time beside the steps.

Seconds past turning into minutes. Nothing mattered, all that did was who was in that rug. A little part of his brain that had given up fighting the truth whispered the name he didn’t want to believe. Melanie. No one had seen her in months. She hadn’t even called Gus. Her mother hadn’t heard from her. Was she under the house the whole time? Why hadn’t neighbors complained about the smell? What had happened to her? Did Lindsay know?

That was the question that kept coming back to him. Did Lindsay know?