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Brian paced the hotel room, frantic for word on the latest lead. The case had been plastered over the newspapers, tabloids and television. Nick had been missing for over a month now and no one had any idea of his whereabouts, no one had seen or heard from him in all this time. Kevin placed a gentle hand on his cousins shoulder and guided him to the sofa.

"Something's coming on the news. I thought you might want to see it."

They both watched anxiously as the news anchor reported about a woman her neighbors knew to have been avowedly single. A neighbor had seen her lately in town buying more food than usual and in another neighbor's shop she had purchased a man's suit in an extra large size.

"I just thought it odd." the neighbor was saying. "She has no family, no one ever sees her and all of a sudden she is in town buying enough food for an army and a man's suit. I don't honestly think she did anything, she's so quiet and timid, but my daughter is following this Backstreet case and tells me that cute young one is missing. She insisted I call. We just thought the police would like to know and check it out. It's probably nothing."

Brian and Kevin looked at each other. She had threatened in some of the letters Nick had received that she was going to marry him. When you got married you needed a suit, right?

The police captain appeared on the screen and assured viewers that the lead was being looked into. "We will follow up every lead until we find Mr. Carter and, hopefully, return him home safely."

"Jesus, this might be it." Brian breathed. "Do you think she is the one?"

"We need her picture, before they go diving in there and maybe get Nick in the middle of something." Kevin had flipped open his phone and was dialing rapidly. "Carlos saw her, he can tell them if she is the one or not."

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The police had obtained the woman's photograph and agreed to convene at the hospital before they went to question her. Carlos took the photo and studied it carefully before picking up his notepad.

"It could be her." he wrote. "She looks very similar. Is this an old picture?"

The officer nodded yes.

"Okay...yes it very well could be her then. Be careful."

Once the officers confirmed with the group that they would go to question the woman and do a check of the house, they left with assurances to keep everyone informed.

Making sure the door was firmly shut, Brian ran over to the bed and grasped Carlos' hand. "I could kiss you, you might have just saved Nick's life!"

Carlos pulled his hand free and jotted quickly. "Please don't kiss me!"

Brian laughed and planted a kiss in the middle of the older mans forehead. "I love you! I'll love you even more if Nick comes home because of you!"

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Marianne returned home from the grocery store and called out cheerily. "I'm home honey! I'll be right there with you, there is just one thing I have to do first!" She placed the bags on the counter, humming as she removed the items that needed refrigeration and placed them in the fridge. She shoved the bread, Nick's cereal and favorite cookies in the cupboard. Marianne took the last item out of the bag with a wide smile on her face. Sitting at the table, she rubbed her stomach as she read the instructions. "I know it's a bit early, but I have such a feeling." she mused. She stood up and jumped as someone knocked loudly on the door.

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Nick took a deep breath and tried to stay calm. What was taking her so long? Whenever Marianne had to go out she led him to a tiny, windowless room in the basement and chained him to a pipe on the wall. The room was so small he could barely stand upright and about now he was ready to fall to his knees to relieve some of the pain in his back. She usually wasn't gone long. She hadn't been away that long this time, but something was holding her up. Nick lifted his head as he heard footsteps on the stairs and voices drifting towards him. Voices! There was someone in the house! Nick heard them say his name and he tried frantically to push the cloth gag aside, to make some sort of noise so they knew he was there.

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"So you can see officer, there's no one here, but me." Marianne smiled and held her hands out apologetically. "It's so nice of my neighbors to be concerned though."

The officer took a final glance around. There were no outward signs of anyone else living in the house. In particular, no signs of a man living there. Marianne led him up the basement stairs back to the main floor.

"May I look in the front closet?" The officer inquired.

"Certainly." Marianne flung the door open for his inspection. After a few moments of rummaging, he came up empty handed.

"Sorry to have bothered you, miss. I'll just go out the back door and check the yard before I leave you alone, if that would be alright?"

"Of course." Marianne ushered him through the kitchen and out the back door. "Thank you for checking up on me!"

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She watched out the window until the squad car pulled away from the spot in front of her house.

"Damn it!"

She ran around the house pulling all the shades down. They would have to leave. They were on to her. Somehow or other they had found out. She slammed her fist down on the kitchen table. The pregnancy kit skittered off the edge and landed in her lap. Marianne grinned as she picked it up. "Oh yeah!" Captive Nick forgotten for the moment, Marianne skipped off down the hall to the bathroom like a little girl, singing. "I'm gonna be a momma, a momma and we're gonna hafta kill the bad daddy, the bad daddy."