By the time Mac got done reading the story to Amanda, she was almost asleep. It was her morning nap time. Mrs. Driscoll had to go and make arrangements for Peyton's funeral. "I'll take care of Amanda," Stella said. "I suppose she should get to know me." She looked at Mac. "I suppose you will want to go back on the case."

Stella had told Mac what she thought. "I have to find out that man's name," Mac said. "I suppose it will be good for you to get more acquainted with her, since she will be living with us."

Stella could see the sadness mixed with happiness on Mac's face. She knew he was distraught over Peyton's death, and it made it hard for him to be happy about his daughter coming to live with him. Mrs. Driscoll seemed to pick up on his conflict. "Peyton would be glad that Amanda is going with you, Mac," she said. "She knew you were a good father. She told me on the phone yesterday."

"It's hard to know what to say," Mac said.

"I'll see you later. I must go and get these arrangements in order." Mrs. Driscoll looked at Stella. "You just make yourself at home."

"Thank you," Stella said.

Mac hugged Stella. At least he didn't have to go through all this alone. "I love you," he said.

"I love you too. You be careful."

"I will."

Mac went outside to his rental car and went back to the precinct. Detective Perry wasn't there at the time. "Where is he?" Mac asked.

"He's out on his case," the officer at the front desk answered. "I don't know when he'll be back."

"Do you have any idea of his location? I have an idea on this case. How about his cell phone number?"

The officer gave Mac the number. Mac called him. "Detective Perry," he answered.

"Detective, this is Detective Taylor. I have an idea on this murder case."

"I found out where John Fortner is. He is in Germany."

"When is he due back here?"

"Tomorrow, but we'll try and speed up his arrival."

"I think we have another suspect," Mac said. "Stella and I have been talking to Peyton's mother. She told us about a patient Peyton had when she was working in the emergency room who was angry that she didn't let him die. He had severe burns over a large portion of his body. If his hands were burned bad enough, he wouldn't have fingerprints."

"Are you sure? I thought the fingerprints would restore."

"Not if there are too many scars. The skin would be too disfigured to have fingerprints."

"That's a good point."

"We need to get a warrant for those records. I don't know the man's name."

"I'll work on that when I get back."

"Okay."

Mac put his phone away and paced around the office. He yawned. He was still not used to this time zone. He went to the lounge to get some coffee. While he was pouring a cup, another detective came in. "Morning," he said.

"Morning," Mac said.

"You're that detective from New York."

"Yes."

The man offered his hand to Mac. Mac shook his hand. "I'm Detective Charles Ross."

"Mac Taylor."

Mac put sugar in his coffee. "What's it like to work in New York City?" Ross asked, as he poured a cup of coffee.

"I guess it's pretty similar to here," Mac said. "A lot of people bring a lot of crime."

"Yes. I've seen way too many corpses in my time."

"So have I."

"When will you be returning to New York?"

"Soon. When this case is solved. I don't want to just leave until it's over."

"I can't blame you. I can't imagine what I'd do if something like this happened to me."

"It certainly wasn't what I expected when I came over here." Mac frowned as he stirred his coffee. "I had hoped this would be a happy occasion."

"Sorry."

Mac looked at Detective Ross. "Thanks."

Mac went back out to Detective Perry's desk. He thought about that guy who had been burned. What would that do to a person? He had known people with burns before. They didn't blame the world for it. It was just an accident that couldn't be helped. Those people went on with their lives. He thought maybe this one was different. If his fingers were that way, it would explain why there were no fingerprints, besides gloves being worn. Mac wished they could get the DNA from John Fortner.

Soon, Detective Perry came back. He requested a warrant for the hospital records of the time when Peyton was working in the emergency room. That was a lot of red tape. It was hard to get hospital records even with a warrant because of privacy policies. Mac sat in a chair and drank his coffee while he stared at the phone and waited for it to ring. He hated waiting. Mac thought he must be one of the most impatient people in the world. When there was a case like this, he wanted to know 'who dun it'. He remembered he read mysteries when he was young. He always loved that 'who dun it' kind of novel. He couldn't put a book down when he was young until he found out who did it. Now, he couldn't leave a case alone until he knew 'who dun it'.

Finally, the phone rang, and they could pick up their warrant. Mac hoped the hospital would cooperate without too much trouble. He went with Detective Perry. They picked up the warrant and went to the hospital. The hospital administrator didn't like the idea, but he gave them copies of the records on a flashdrive. They would have to go back to the precinct and wade through all that to find the one they were looking for. Mac knew this was going to be a long day.

Mac and Detective Perry got themselves a cup of coffee and sat down to go through the records. "Do you remember that wreck?" Mac asked. "If we could get a time line, we might save ourselves some time."

Detective Perry thought a moment. "I remember something about that. I heard rumors about it, but I never knew 'all' the details. The man had been drinking and he ran a red light. There was an SUV coming and rammed them from the side, which ruptured their gas tank. The tank was obviously full of gasoline, and it just exploded."

"You remember what month that was?" Mac looked at the records. "She worked there from February to September last year."

"I believe that wreck occurred in June. I remember it was blistering hot that day. I think everyone was out enjoying the evening because it was cool that evening."

"Well, lets get into the records for June and see if we can find the right thing."

Detective Perry typed in the computer and found all the files for June. "Why don't I just print them out and then we can search them much easier? We can shred the ones of no significance."

"Good idea. While you're printing that out, I'll call Stella and let her know what's going on and see how Amanda is."

Mac got his phone and went into the lounge. "Hello," Stella answered.

"How is everything going?" Mac asked.

"Great. She just woke up a few minutes ago. She's still a little groggy, but I think she will be wide awake soon. How is the case going?"

"I think we're about to locate our second suspect. They found the first one in Germany. He is supposedly on his way back now. We have the hospital records from when Peyton was working there, so we should be able to locate that guy too."

"Great. Keep me informed."

"You don't mind being there with Amanda, do you?"

Stella was surprised at that question. "Of course not. What gave you that idea?" she asked.

"I don't know. Everybody is out doing everything and you're there alone."

"Mac, that's ridiculous. I don't mind keeping her while you work on this case, and Peyton's mother has to get the funeral arrangements in order. Who else is going to keep her?"

"I'm sorry. I just don't want you to feel left out."

"I don't feel left out. I'm on vacation. I can't imagine anything more enjoyable than spending time with your baby."

"She's 'our' baby now."

"I suppose she is."

"We won't let her forget her mother though."

"Absolutely not."

"I'll talk to you later."

"Okay."

Mac put his phone away. He felt like his heart was conflicted. He felt like he couldn't be too happy about Amanda coming to live with him; he was afraid people would think he was glad Peyton was dead, and that was not at all true. He couldn't get that horrible image of her lying there like that out of his mind.

Mac went on back to Detective Perry's desk. He looked at Mac. "There were a lot of files in June," he said.

Mac looked at the printer still printing. "How many more pages?" he asked.

Perry looked at Mac. "Do you really want to know?"

Mac frowned. "That many?"

"Yes, that many."

Mac sat down. "I guess we can sit here and talk while we wait," he said.

"What about?"

"How did you get into law enforcement?"

"I was a curious child. I always had to know how everything worked."

Mac smiled. "Sounds like me. I always liked mystery shows and books too."

"The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew, Sherlock Holmes."

Mac smiled. "Yes. That was my cup of tea too."

"Now, we're the detectives solving the mysteries."

"I wish I could have saved Peyton."

Perry was quiet a moment. "How did you meet her?" he asked.

"She worked in New York for a while, then she came back here and taught at the University, and then she came back to New York. We had a mutual attraction, I think. I was still reluctant to pursue relationships, since my wife died on nine-eleven, but Peyton was persistent. We fell in love, and I came to England with her that summer, and then she…well, it ended after that. I didn't know I had a daughter until a month ago when she came to New York and told me."

"And you came here to see your daughter, only to run into a murder."

Mac nodded. "It's like having happiness and sadness pushing against each other inside me and I can't be on either side. I'm caught in the middle."

"I understand. I can't imagine what this would be like."

"It's hard to deal with."

"I'm sure."

Soon, the printer stopped, and they each took half the stack of files and began their search. Mac looked at reports until he felt like his eyes would pop out. He yawned and looked at his watch. It was almost Noon. He looked at Detective Perry, who seemed to be quite comfortable reading. Mac thought he needed reading glasses. All the words on the page were starting to run together now. "Why don't we take a break and get some lunch?" Mac asked.

Detective Perry looked at his watch. "Good idea, old chap," he said.

Mac raised his eyebrows. "Old chap?"

Perry smiled. "It's just an expression."

Mac nodded. "Okay."

"Why don't we take some of these with us and study over them while we eat?"

"I don't think I can read anymore right now. It's all starting to look like a big black and white blur. I'm afraid I'm going to miss something."

"Okay. We'll take a break then."

They shredded all the files that they had already looked at and put the others away and went out to eat. Mac called Stella and told her to meet them there. Mrs. Driscoll was back at the house now, so Stella got a cab and came to the restaurant. Mac kissed her when she arrived. He was glad to see her. "Everything okay?" he asked.

"Yes," Stella answered.

"I hope they have salami here."

Stella smiled. "I'm sure they do."

"I never ate at a sandwich shop when I was here."

"First time for everything."

They went inside and got a table. "Did you find that suspect?" Stella asked.

"Not yet," Mac said. "We're still looking. I was starting to see double. I had to have a break."

"I can help when you go back."

"Great."

Mac found that the sandwiches here were quite good. He just hoped they could get this case solved soon, so he could get his mind on his daughter. He wanted everything to turn out right in that case too.