When Stella walked into the office Monday morning, she could not hide her smile. Anyone could tell by her walk that she had something exciting going on. She went into the lab, where Lindsey was already. Lindsey couldn't help but notice her smiled. "What's going on?" Lindsey asked.

Stella held out her hand. "Just take a look at that!" she said.

Lindsey's mouth dropped open. "Wow! He proposed?"

"Yes." Stella was practically jumping with excitement.

"Congratulations!" Lindsey hugged her. "When is the wedding?"

"I don't know! I don't want it to be too far away."

"I don't blame you." Lindsey smiled. "Were you surprised?"

"I was shocked. I couldn't do anything but cry!"

Lindsey smiled. "That is so romantic."

They heard the elevator beep, and Mac came out. Stella could see he had put on that hard outer shell again, but when he looked at her, he smiled, and she saw that Mac Taylor from the mountain in his eyes. He went on to his office. Stella looked at Lindsey. "What am I going to do?" Stella asked. "I don't think I can work."

"I don't think I could either," Lindsey said.

Mac hung his suit coat up on his coat rack. He knew Stella must be in there telling Lindsey all about that trip. He smiled. He hoped she wasn't telling too many details. He had enjoyed that trip more than he had enjoyed anything since…well, since Claire died. He wondered where he should take her for their honeymoon. Stella had not told him when she wanted the wedding date to be yet. He was kinda anxious to know.

Mac yawned. He thought he got too lazy while he was up there in the mountains. He had slept later than normal and went to bed earlier than normal because there was no electricity in that cabin. It was just a place to go and relax. He had even been comfortable on that cot. He didn't think he slept that well on his own bed…well, except for that first night when he had those nightmares.

Just then, Mac's phone rang. "Taylor," he said.

"Mac, we have a body down here at the Harbor," Don said. "It's been trashed."

"We'll be there."

Mac went to the lab. "Stella, we have a body," he said.

Stella smiled at him. "I'm ready," she said.

Mac got a forensics kit and they went to the elevator. Stella smiled as they waited for the elevator. She looked at Mac. "I love you," she said.

Mac smiled that smile that made Stella's knees feel weak. "I love you too," he said, and leaned over and kissed her.

Just then, the elevator doors opened. Danny was in the elevator. "Whoa! That's some greeting first thing in the morning!" he said.

Mac shook his head. "Are you going with us?" he asked. "We could use your help on this case."

"Sure."

Mac and Stella got into the elevator, and Danny was in the middle. He folded his arms. "I don't mean to be coming between you," he said, trying to keep the joke going. He loved joking at Mac.

"A raging river couldn't come between us," Stella informed him.

Danny looked at Mac. "You really got this woman going," he said.

"Will you knock it off?" Mac asked.

"That must have been some trip."

Stella held up her hand. Danny looked at the ring on her hand, then he looked at Mac. "Casanova," he said. "You make all the rest of us look bad."

Stella laughed. Mac watched the number change on the elevator. He thought it was taking longer than normal. "He's the strong, silent type," Stella said to Danny.

Mac looked at her. "Are you gonna tease me too?" he asked.

"Forever." Stella couldn't believe how different he was here than he was up in the mountains. He teased her all the way up the trail. "You have nothing to say."

Mac looked forward again. "Show off."

"You still didn't pay me my ten dollars."

"I forgot."

"You remember now."

Mac looked at her. He took his wallet out and took out a ten. "Is that okay? Or do you want fives?"

"No, this if fine," Stella said, as she snatched the ten.

Danny looked from one to the other. "You guys are going to have some marriage."

Stella looked at Mac. "You don't know how he is when he…"

"That's enough of that," Mac said.

Finally, the elevator opened in the lobby. They went out to the Avalanche. Mac got in the driver's seat, as usual. Stella got in front, and Danny got in back. "So, where is this crime scene?" Danny asked.

"Down at the harbor," Mac said, with a sly grin. He remembered Flack saying the body was 'trashed'. He knew that meant it was on one of the waste barges.

When they arrived at the harbor, there were several reporters there wanting to ask questions. "I haven't even seen the body yet," Mac said. "How can I tell you anything?"

Mac went under the crime scene tape and over to the barge. Danny and Stella came up beside him. "The trash barge?" Danny asked. He looked at Mac. "I suppose I'm the scavenger, right?"

Mac smiled. "You do a good job digging through garbage," he said.

"Ha, ha, ha."

Flack came over to them. "Forty year old woman," he said. "She was shot in the head. She has a New York diver's license, not much else. Her license was in her pocket, along with about thirty dollars cash. I assume she didn't have a purse. Isabella King."

Mac and Danny climbed onto the barge. Stella looked at Flack. "Who found the body?" she asked.

"The crew. They dumped some garbage out and there she was."

"So, she was in a garbage bin and was gathered in a garbage truck?"

"Must have."

"We're lucky they didn't compact the garbage."

"It was their last stop, I guess."

Mac and Danny got over to the body. Danny began taking pictures. Mac looked at Don. "So, she was dumped somewhere else," he said. "Do they have any idea where this garbage came from?"

"They're getting me a map of their route now," Flack said.

"Good."

Mac looked around the body. He noticed a lot of food containers from "Luigi's", an Italian restaurant over in Little Italy. "Looks like she might have been over in Little Italy," Mac said. He picked up one of the packages. "There's an awful lot of these, and an awful lot of food here too." He looked at Danny. "She was obviously over in the food district."

"Maybe she was a random victim," Danny said.

"Murdered like this?"

"Maybe it's a crime of passion."

"Either way, she became part of the takeout."

Mac looked at the wound. "Looks like a thirty-eight caliber," he said.

"Looks like she might have fought," Danny said, as he was holding up the victim's hand. "She has some bruising on her hands and arms here."

"She has some on her face too," Mac said. "This was no random victim. She must have known her attacker, and they fought."

"He might have killed her right there in that alley, and just dumped the body in there."

"She's fully clothed. Must not have been rape."

Stella could see the bottom of the victim's shoes from where she stood. "She was definitely around that restaurant," Stella said. "She has food on the bottom of her shoes."

Danny gave Stella the camera. She took pictures of the victim's shoes. "There's food containers here from three restaurants," Danny said. "She could have been at either one."

"I guess we're going hunting," Mac said. He looked under the victim's fingernails. "I'm surprised she didn't scratch her attacker." He looked closer at the woman's hands. "Looks like her forefinger of her right hand is broken, and it looks like it had a ring on it. See the tan line?"

Danny looked. "Yep, I see it. You think her attacker stole her ring?"

"Could have." Mac looked at the woman's left hand. "Looks like her ring finger on this hand is broken." Mac looked at Flack. "Was she married?"

"She didn't have anything other than her license," Flack said. "I'll have to run it and see what I come up with."

"Good."

Mac turned the body over to the ME. He collected some of the food containers. They searched through some of the trash, but there was nothing that seemed to be connected to the victim. They went back to the lab, after Mac got the truck route. He gave that printout to Adam to analyze and see which area would have Luigi's, Romani's and The Fetuccini close enough to have the same garbage dump.

Don came up to the lab. "Mac, I got a printout on our victim," he said. "She wasn't married. Maybe she was engaged, and it went sour."

Mac looked at the printout. "I guess we go and search her apartment," he said.

Mac and Don went into the lab. "Danny, you're with me," Mac said.

They went down to the Avalanche and headed over to Queens where the woman lived. They found that her apartment wasn't far from Brooklyn, but still was considered Queens. They went inside and had the landlord open the door. The apartment had been ransacked. Mac and Danny stared at it a moment. "This was definitely not a random shooting," Danny said, and looked at Mac.

"No, they knew what they were doing," Mac said. "Question is: what were they after?"

Danny looked at the mess. "They were definitely looking for something."

"Lets see what we can find in this mess."

They began their search. "You think they found what they were looking for?" Danny asked.

Mac considered that. "Her rings were taken from her hands," he said. "But the money wasn't taken from her pocket. Maybe she was wearing some sort of special jewelry. Maybe they came here looking for more."

"Maybe they were here first."

Mac and Danny searched through the entire mess, but they didn't find anything that pertained to jewelry. Mac found a 'treasure hunters' brochure. "You can make millions!" it said on the front. Mac looked at Danny. "Maybe it has something to do with this," he said.

Danny looked at the brochure. "You think this woman was some kind of treasure hunter and got lucky?" he asked.

"It would explain why her rings were stolen and her apartment is torn to shreds."

Mac's phone rang. "Taylor," he said.

"Mac," Stella said. "The bullet Sid pulled from the victim was definitely a thirty-eight, and it matches a murder from two months ago. You were right about her fingers. They were broken, and the murder victim from two months ago, also had broken fingers."

"So, maybe somebody is targeting treasure hunters," Mac said.

"Treasure hunters?"

"Yeah. I found a brochure here about treasure hunting. Maybe these people got lucky and somebody got jealous."

"Sounds like motive."

"Who was the other victim?"

"Also a woman, thirty-five years old, single. Her name was Allison Corbin."

"Address?"

"Not far from the victim we have here."

"You think these two could have known each other?"

"I don't know."

"We've got a lot of work to do on these cases."

"Too many unanswered questions."

Mac thought a moment. "Maybe they went on a treasure hunting excursion together and found something valuable and had it made into jewelry," he said. "Somebody found out about it and stole it."

"And killed to get it," Stella said.

"Must have been some jewelry."

After Mac and Danny finished searching the apartment, they went back to the lab. Danny tested the fingerprints he had found, but most of them belonged to the victim. Adam came into the lab. "Mac, I have that information you wanted," he said. "I also found that the victim worked for Romani's restaurant."

Mac looked at the printouts. "So she might have been getting off from work when this happened," he said.

"It's a possibility." Adam looked at Mac. "Congratulations. I heard about you and Stella."

"Thanks."

"So, when's the wedding?"

"Stella hasn't decided yet."

"That sounds like her. She can be pretty indecisive. She's quite a woman."

Mac looked at Adam. "Sometimes it takes a woman a while to decide something like that. I want it to be like she wants it. I'm…well, I guess I'm sorta in a rush, but not too much."

Adam nodded. "Well, talk to you later."

Mac watched Adam leave. How did he know how indecisive Stella is? And what did he mean by 'she's quite a woman'? Mac was beginning to wonder about the relationship between Adam and Stella. They had been kinda close since she had that AIDS scare. Mac wondered if they had been a little more than friends. She was older than Adam. Mac thought surely Stella wouldn't just…he didn't want to think about that.

He had to get his mind on this case for now. Still, that thought would stay in the back of his mind. Mac went to the lab. Sheldon was in there this time. "Come on, Sheldon," Mac said. "We're going to have lunch."

"Is this part of the case?" Sheldon asked.

"Yeah, but we might as well pick up some of that good Italian food while we're at it."

Sheldon smiled. "I'm with you."