After lunch, Mac, Stella and Detective Perry went back to the precinct to read more reports. Mac sat and looked at them, but his mind was half consumed with the thought of Peyton's dead body and his daughter. Had her grandmother told her that her mother was not coming back? Did she understand death? There were so many things he didn't know about her. He didn't want to take her away too fast. She might be afraid. Mac rubbed his forehead. He was starting to get a headache from all this stress.

Stella noticed his actions. She couldn't imagine what he was going through in his mind. Mac didn't always share all his thoughts about things. He usually came around and told her everything, but she had to wait until he was ready. She tried to pick things out of him sometimes, but he would just him-haw around and not really tell her until he was ready. Still, he was her husband. She moved closer to him. "Are you alright?" she asked.

Mac looked at her. "I'm just getting a headache," he said. "Too much stress, I suppose."

Stella massaged the back of his neck. "How's that?" she asked.

"You'll put me to sleep if you keep doing that." Mac smiled. "But it feels wonderful."

Stella leaned over to his ear. "I know how to help you get rid of that tension," she whispered.

Mac looked at her. Stella smiled. They noticed Detective Perry was looking at them. Mac cleared his throat and looked back at his reports. Stella looked at hers, but she couldn't help but smile. She loved it when Mac was shy.

Mac leaned on his elbow and kept reading the reports. He definitely had his mind on something else now. He smiled slightly. He thought Stella must have known he was stressed out over this, and did something about it.

Stella looked at a few more reports, and finally, she came to the right one. "I think I found it," she said.

Mac leaned over to look. "Tom Watson," he said.

"It says he had severe burns on his hands and most of his body. Somehow it wasn't as severe on his face."

"Then why would he go to all this trouble to kill her? If his face is not disfigured, why would he be so affected by it?"

"His wife died. Maybe he thought he didn't want to live either."

"But Peyton couldn't let him die. She was a doctor. She 'had' to save his life."

"Well, all that doesn't really matter," Detective Perry said. "If he killed her, then he will suffer the consequences."

Mac looked at him. "I like to know the reasons people do things," he said.

"He can tell it in court."

Mac looked at the paper. "There's an address here. Maybe he still lives there."

"Let's go," Perry said.

Mac and Stella went with Detective Perry to his car, and they went to the address from the paper. They met the supervisor of the apartment complex. He told them that Tom Watson didn't live there anymore. He had not lived there since after his accident. Mac couldn't believe it. How long would they have to keep chasing this case around?

"Did he leave a forwarding address?" Mac asked.

The supervisor led them to his office. He looked through his files. "No," he said. "I think he was in a hospital for a while. I wouldn't know where he was after that."

Mac, Stella and Detective Perry went back outside. "Now what?" Stella asked.

"We see if we can find out where he is," Perry said.

"Maybe he was in a mental hospital for a while," Mac said. "If we can find out which one, maybe we can find out where he lives now."

"We still don't know for sure that he did it," Perry said. "We haven't checked John Fortner's DNA yet."

"Yes, but we can eliminate one suspect at a time."

Stella could feel Mac's tension. She knew how he felt. He wanted to get this case solved. "We'll find him," she said, for nothing better to say. She didn't know anything about this city. She would be totally lost if she were here alone.

They went back to the precinct and checked mental hospitals in the city. They found that Tom Watson had been a patient at one of them for five months, and then he had disappeared. They didn't know where he had moved to, but he had not accepted his treatment. Mac dropped into a chair. Every time they thought they had a lead, it turned into a dead end.

"Can we at least get a report about his mental state?" Mac asked. "Do they have DNA samples there? Do they take patient's fingerprints?"

"We will sure find out," Detective Perry said.

Just then, Perry's phone rang. "Detective Perry," he said. He listened for a moment. "Yes, thank you." He put his phone away and looked at Mac. "John Fortner is en route here now. He should arrive in about three hours."

"Great," Mac said. "Meanwhile, we can find out more about Tom Watson."

They all went out to Detective Perry's car and headed for the same judge they had gotten the warrant for the hospital from. He gave them a warrant for information from the mental hospital, and they headed there. Mac thought they were going to get a tour of this whole city by the time this was over. They passed by the Palace on the way to the hospital, which was outside the city.

There were people outside when they arrived. They seemed to shy away from them when they walked by. Mac and Stella followed Detective Perry inside. "May I help you?" one of the therapists asked.

"I'm Detective David Perry. We're here to find information about a patient that was here last year, named Tom Watson. He was the victim of a car wreck and he suffered severe burns."
"Yes," the woman said. "I remember him."

"Do you take DNA and fingerprints here?" Mac asked.

"We have fingerprints. Of course, we take blood samples."

"You have fingerprints from Tom Watson?"

"I'm afraid he didn't have fingerprints. His burns were severe on his hands."

Mac looked at Stella. "What about those blood samples?" Stella asked. "You wouldn't have any of them still here, would you?"

"We destroy things like that a year after the patient leaves. We keep them just in case they have to come back. When was he here?"

"He was here from July to December last year," Detective Perry said.

"Why are you asking all this? Is he in some kind of trouble?"

"He may have murdered a woman."

The therapist was shocked. "Do you have a warrant?"

"Yes, Ma'am."

Perry showed her the warrant. "We need a sample of that blood."

"I'll look for it. It may take some time."

"We can wait."

Mac hated waiting. He felt impatient now. He wanted to get this over with. They sat down in the waiting room. It was separated from the patients that were out here. Mac thought this might be a long wait.