Pentatonix: Murder House

Twenty-Eight

Mike is in his office throwing things off the shelf to find his tape recorder.

He knows Angelica hid it.

It's just a matter of finding it and maybe answer some questions that he has himself about his missing patient Candice Lambert.

He rips the chairs and the couch apart trying to find his tape recorder with no success.

"This shit is getting frustrating!" He says to himself.

He lays down on the floor to look under the couch and the next thing he knows, he's laying on the ground outside with a shovel.

"You won't find any gold buried out here." Connie says.

Mike runs his head and looks up to see Connie standing beside the sheet that are hanging up on the line.

"What are you doing down there in the dirt?" Connie asks.

"I don't know. I keep finding myself waking up here. Same spot." Mike says getting up off the ground.

He looks around at everything and it's the same spot he found himself in yesterday after his session with his last patient.

"Well, there's no mystery to it. It's stress. Teenage son." Connie laughs.

Mike nods.

"A pregnant wife, and your business hasn't found its footing yet. I can tell by the cars in the streets, or lack thereof. But you'll find your way." Connie continues.

Mike listens to what she has to say as he starts to dig a hole in the middle of the yard.

"I must warn you about this property. You see the previous owners soaked this ground in pesticides. Any fruit grown from this soil would be poison." Connie explains.

He then picks up a handful of dirt and smells it to see if she's right or not.

Angelica watches down on them from the second floor window as they talk among themselves.

"With soil this toxic, the best you can do is cover it up." She says.

Mike drops the dirt and continues to dig with his shovel.

"You know, I see a brick patio, with a gazebo, under the shade of this pepper tree. Tall glass of Long Island Iced Tea in your hand, while reclining on a chaise lounge. Oh, the sweet hum of cicadas in your ears! Heaven." Connie says.

He just smiles at the thought of just relaxing with his family in the backyard.

The whole thing just seems so relaxing.

Unfortunately he doesn't have the money to make that dream come true for himself and his family.

He gets back to digging his hole while Connie talks to him.

Connie then looks up at the window and sees Angelica watching her.

She backs away from the window and gets back to work.

"Sheer heaven."

                                               **
Nel is standing in the kitchen looking at the newspaper for rental places available for her and her family.

Someone then rings the doorbell and distracts Nel from what she was doing.

She walks over to answer the door and sees a woman standing there.

It was Stephanie, but Nel didn't know that as she never seen a picture of her before.

"Can I help you?" Nel asks.

"Are you the woman of the house?" Stephanie asks.

"Are you here to look at the house? Did you have an appointment?" Nel asks.

"Yes." She says.

"Well, you'll have to call the realtor." Nel says.

"I can just come back another time." Stephanie says.

She goes to walk off when Nel opens the door to let her in.

"Wait!"

"My husbands upstairs so." Nel says.

Stephanie looks around at the wood frame and finishes around the entry way in awe.

"I love this wood. You almost never see Chestnut anymore." She says.

"Yeah I know. I never knew what kind of wood this was."

"And the Wainscot. Mmm." Stephanie says.

Nel watches her as she traces her hand along the wall as she admires the house.

"Louis Comfort Tiffany Glass?"

"Yes."

"Inspired by the iridescence of a butterflies wings, he said."

Nel just looks at Stephanie stunned at how much she knows about the windows and wood finishes.

"And look at the blue. Matches my eyes, doesn't it?" The woman asks.

"It does." Nel says as she laughs uncomfortably.

"Your eyes are beautiful too."

"Thank you."

Nel backs up a little as she begins to get uncomfortable with Stephanie's presents.

She then looks up at the chandeliers hanging down from the ceiling.

"This must be one of the chandeliers imported from his studio in New York!" Stephanie says happily.

"Yes! I looked it up. It's the real deal. The house has four of them." Nel says.

Nel leads Stephanie to the kitchen so she can take a look at it and offer her some tea.

"It's been modernized quite a bit." Nel says.

Stephanie looks around the kitchen at all the new appliances and counter tops in terror.

"I don't like this. This isn't what I want. What's that device?" She asks.

"Oh, this? This is a pasta arm. It's...It's you know, for filling up big pots of water. I'll tell you what, if you decide you want the house, I will have this removed before you move in." Nel says.

She looks around with tears in her eyes.

"Do you think I can have a glass of water?" She asks.

"Yeah! Or would you like some tea?" Nel asks.

Stephanie nods and sits down on one of the stools at the counter.

Then she cringes when Nel puts her cup of tea in the microwave.

"Uh, we'll have to get rid of that machine too."

"I know. I'm conflicted about it too. We are just addicted to our convenience."

"We?"

She nods and tries to keep talking with Nel.

"Do you have children?" She asks.

"Yup. I have a son. And actually, I'm pregnant at the moment." Nel smiles.

"Pregnant?" She asks with a small smile trying to fight back tears.

"I had a child once." She continues almost in tears.

When Nel turns back around to give Stephanie some tea, she was gone without a sound.