The next morning, Mac woke up hungry, and a nurse was in his room. "How do you feel?" she asked.

"Hungry," Mac said.

"That's a good sign. They should be bringing your breakfast soon."

"How long will I be here?"

"Oh, honey, you will be going to rehab after this."

Mac frowned. "I guess I can't take care of myself, can I?"

"Not for a while."

Mac had always thought he might end up in a Home but he did not think it would be this soon. He had no choice though. He had no one to help him. He could not expect any of his team to take care of him. It would not be permanent but he thought it would be depressing.

Mac thought he felt a little better after he ate. At least he did not have to worry about going to the bathroom now…or at least one way. He looked out the window and thought about what had happened but that made him feel nervous. He did not want to think about that. It seemed to make his legs ache too, and the beeping on that heart monitor was starting to get on his nerves. He felt like he was trapped in this room.

Mac realized what was happening: he was starting to feel claustrophobic. He pressed the Nurse button as he pulled at the neck of his hospital gown. "May I help you?" the nurse asked.

Mac was not sure what to say. "Uhm, I think I'm feeling claustrophobic," he said.

"I'll be right there."

Mac supposed he was not the only one who had ever felt claustrophobic in a hospital room. Someone knocked on the door. "Come in," he said.

Jo came in the room, and Mac felt embarrassed now. "Good morning," Jo said. She had a bouquet of yellow roses with her. She set it on the vanity, and then went over to Mac's bed. "How are you this morning?"

Mac took a deep breath. "I'm better," he said. He could see that Jo was not her usual chipper self. "I'm sorry about Russ."

Jo sat on the side of the bed. "I know we were divorced but I feel like part of me is gone. He was always there."

"Well, I know he loved you."

"You know, I found out that he left everything to me and the kids?"

Mac frowned. He knew what he felt like when Claire died. He did not know what to say to Jo. "I thought she was dead, Jo," he said. "I told him she was dead."

Jo looked at him. "Mac, how could you have known whether she was dead or not?"

"She attacked me and I…" Mac scowled. "I can't remember everything." He rubbed his forehead. "I hit her with something. She had blood all over her. I assumed she was dead."

"And you told Russ she was dead so he didn't do a hot search."

"She was the only person there besides me. Howard had already left."

"He should have searched anyway. Why did he think you knew anything?"

Mac looked at Jo and realized she was about to be in the anger stage of grieving. He certainly remembered going through that. He thought he better not say anything else. He had not thought she cared so much for Russ, but he supposed she did not want him dead. She was looking for someone to blame.

Jo looked at Mac. "Why did you tell him that she was dead if you didn't know for sure?" she asked.

"Jo, she was losing blood," Mac said.

"You can't say someone's dead unless you check for a pulse."

"I didn't take time to do that. I just wanted out of there away from her. I didn't know anyone would even find me like that."

Just then, the nurse came in and she had a bouquet of black tulips. "Someone sent this to you," she said. "It has a card." She brought the card to Mac. "About that other problem…"

"I'm okay for now," Mac said. He certainly did not want Jo to know he was claustrophobic.

"Well, I have to be going," Jo said as she stood up. "I'll see you, Mac."

"I am sorry about Russ, Jo."

Jo left. Mac looked at the card from the bouquet and he frowned as he read it:

Glad to see you recovering, Taylor. It'll give us a chance for a rematch.

I think you know who

Mac thought he would never be rid of Howard Bailey…until one or both of them were dead. He did not want to fight or have anymore broken bones. And he sure did not want to hurt anybody else either. He supposed he would be safe until he got over this and he did not know how long that would be. He did not heal as fast now as he did when he was younger.

Later that day, Don came to Mac's room. "Hey!" Don said. "How you doing?"

"I'm sleepy," Mac said. He had had his pain medicine and he was feeling very light.

"Not too sleepy to talk I hope."

"Maybe not."

Don could see that Mac was a little out of it. "Danny and I have been in Texas," he said.

"I heard. Flat, ain't it?"

"Yeah, you could say that." Don sat down in the chair beside Mac's bed. "We found out a lot of stuff about Julie by putting two and two together mostly."

"Her name is not Julie?"

"Right. Her name before was Jenna Roche. It was just like we thought. She killed her father when she was a teen because he raped her all the time. Her mother helped her get a new ID, new birth certificate, everything, and they had a lot of help, it seems. Somehow, the fingerprints on the case were changed. We don't know how exactly, but they're still trying to find out. We think she killed her mother later but of course, there's no proof of that. There were five murders during the time that she was in the Air Force, all at places she was stationed at and there was nothing to prove who did it. Then there are some questionable murders in Texas and Oklahoma and even New York. We just don't know. The thing is that the people were so decayed by the time they found them that it was impossible to get any evidence."

"How did she hide them?"

"Some in remote valleys that no one ever went to, just different places."

"I think she intended to kill me and leave me in that tunnel between the cellars."

"But what about Howard?"

"I don't think he intended to kill me. He wanted a competition."

"Competition?"

Mac took a deep breath. "Like last time but…I don't know why he gave in to her and broke my legs. I think he thought he was in love with her or something."

Don was beginning to think Mac was talking in his sleep. "How did they capture you?"

"She…came over to my apartment…the day of the snowstorm. She gave me a shot of something and the next thing I knew I was in a bed locked in a room."

"Then what happened?"

"He was going to put me out in the middle of nowhere and let me find my way back," Mac said sleepily. "They gave me some winter gear and when I got that on, I took the door off the hinges and…"

Don touched Mac's arm. "And then what?"

Mac opened his eyes. "I got out of the house and when I got in the barn, I thought I could run away through the woods but it was so cold…when they went out after me, I went back to the barn and I found the trapdoor to the cellar. I thought I could stay in there until I could get to a phone but they found the trapdoor and I was trapped between the barn and the house. When they found it they knew I was in there."

"And that's when they broke your legs?"

Mac closed his eyes. "Yes. I don't think I can tell anymore right now."

"That's alright. Just rest."

Don watched Mac fall asleep again. He could not imagine anyone cruel enough to break someone legs. He had seen horrible things while he was a cop though. He hated that this happened to Mac and they did not even know he was missing for all that time.

Someone else knocked on the door. "Come on in," Don said.

Danny walked in. "Hey, how's he doing?" he asked.

"He's drowsy but he's talking. Pain medicine."

"Yeah. That stuff has no mercy."

"He went through a lot."

"I don't think I could make it. What all did he tell you?"

"He got to the part where they broke his legs."

Danny folded his arms. He was not sure he wanted to hear about that. "I see he's got some plants over here," he said.

"Yeah," Don replied. "I didn't bring anything. When I was in the hospital, I took so much stuff home, it looked like I had been on vacation."

Danny snickered at that. "Me too. I told Lindsay, it looked like I had moved out."

"You know where I think I'm going on my next vacation?"

"Where?"

"Texas. It was nice down there."

Danny nodded. "If we hadn't been looking for a murderer…yeah, I can see how you would like it."

"It was warm though. I've been freezing ever since I got back."

"But it hasn't been warm down there all winter. They had more snow than we did."

"I think it was more ice than snow."

"I don't know but when places get all that stuff when they're not used to it, it's worse than here."

"Yeah, but I want to go during the summer or something."

"We would burn up down there. We're used to this cool climate."

Danny sat in the chair on the other side of the bed and turned the TV on. "I guess we can watch the game while we sit here and wait," he said.

"What game?"

"I don't know. There's always a game on somewhere."

They sat there for about an hour and then Mac started moving but he grunted as he almost forgot about his legs. He opened his eyes and looked at the TV. "Hey, Mac, you waking up finally," Danny said and stood up.

Mac looked at him a moment. "How long did I sleep?" he asked.

"About an hour."

"Is Don still here?"

"Yeah, I'm still here," Don said from the other side of the bed.

"My back hurts. I'm tired of laying here."

"Well, you don't have much choice right now."

"It's funny I can feel numb all over but I can feel my back hurting."

"You wanta sit up a little higher?" Danny asked.

"I don't know."

"We can try it."

Danny pressed the button to raise Mac up a little higher. "Whoa," Mac said when he was sitting up a little higher. "That's enough." He was not sure that was better or not.

"You comfortable?" Don asked.

"I don't know yet." Mac looked at them. "I guess you two are wanting me to talk about what happened, right?"

"Yeah, we've been waiting."

"Where did I get to?"

"They found you in the cellar."

"Oh."

Danny and Don sat down and waited for Mac to go on with his story. He was silent for a moment. "They…" Mac took a deep breath. "Do I have to talk about all this?"

"Well, Mac, you know I need your account of what happened," Don said. "But if you're not comfortable talking right now, I can come back tomorrow or something."

Mac was not sure he would want to talk about it then either but he knew he would eventually have to tell it all. "There were two men there besides Howard Bailey," he said. "I heard him call one of them John. I don't know who they were and I didn't see their faces very well in that cellar. They…held me while Bailey broke my legs."

Danny and Don could see that it was not easy for Mac to talk about that. "Then what did they do?" Don asked.

Mac swallowed hard. "Then they took me upstairs to the house and put me back on the bed. I couldn't do anything but lay there. One night I got off the bed and…"

"Wait a minute," Don said. "You got off the bed with two broken legs? How?"

Mac frowned. "It wasn't easy," he said. "I just rolled off the bed."

Danny almost grimaced. "What did you do then?" he asked.

"Well, after I got over the shock of it I crawled out of the room and made it to the kitchen. They didn't think they had to worry about me, you know. That was the first time I called Jo."

"Then what happened?"

"Howard found me and he carried me back to my room. He didn't even tell Julie what I had done. The next morning, she started beating me with a fireplace poker and that's when she broke my arm, and he shot her."

"He shot her because she was beating you?" Don asked.

"Yes. He told her he wasn't going to let her kill me."

"Then it wasn't murder."

"I guess not, but he sure has a lot of other charges for what he did to me."

Don and Danny could see the anger on Mac's face. "He left me there in front of that fireplace and I fell asleep for a while and then Julie got in there and she attacked me. I hit her with the fireplace tool and then I crawled to the kitchen. When Russ and Sheldon got there, I thought Julie was dead. I…I told him she was dead."

"She killed Russ?" Don asked.

Mac nodded. "He fell close to me and I got his gun or she would have killed Sheldon too," he said. "I shot her twice."

Don was taking notes the whole time Mac was talking. "I'm sorry all this happened to you, Mac," he said. "I wish I had known sooner."

"You couldn't have known," Mac replied. "I was surprised that she was at my apartment. I never suspected anything."

"Well, who would think something like that would happen?"

"I'm a seasoned detective. I should have known something."

"It could happen to anybody."

"Right," Danny agreed. "You take it easy. I have to get back to the lab."

"I have to get back too," Don said. "I got to get this report done and see if there's anything else we need. We'll be back to see you again."

Mac nodded. Don and Danny left and Mac was alone again, but he was still drowsy so he just closed his eyes. He did not want to think about that situation anymore. He just wanted to get well now.