Stella had reached the point where she knew she had to bite the bullet and talk to Mac about what she had discovered so far. She finally tracked him down in a meeting with Sheldon Hawkes and she hesitated outside the door, unwilling to interrupt.
Eventually she lightly tapped on the sparkling glass.
"Mac, I really need to speak with you…" She glanced at Hawkes apologetically, though he didn't appear too bothered at the interruption.
Mac gestured for her to come in. "We've just been talking about that..."
Stella was thrown enough for her surprise to show on her face. She had known Danny's absence would be of concern to his friends and colleagues but she hadn't thought Mac would actually break with the habit of a lifetime and talk about it with someone.
The two men exchanged a look. "We weren't gossiping Stella. I've just handed in my report from his last case." Hawkes offered.
Stella quirked an eyebrow, unsure as to why Hawkes would have written a report on a case he had had no involvement in and just how it related to their current situation.
Mac reached out to place a reassuring hand on her shoulder as she sat down next to him and Hawkes nervously cleared his throat. "Stella. Your latest case – the crime scene? Danny took out the perp., he arrested him and called for the EMTs for you, and, well, he was stabbed…"
Stella would have been instantly on her feet but for Mac's hand on her shoulder keeping her in her chair. "He was hurt? Was it serious? Why didn't he say something?!" She swung around to face Mac, "why didn't you say something?"
Mac's face remained impassive. "He didn't say anything to me either. I found out about it when I read Hawkes's report." His face may have been impassive but to Stella's trained eye he didn't look too happy.
"He was fine." Hawkes continued. "I stitched him up. Followed procedure and wrote the whole thing up, took his clothes and the report and entered it into evidence and then, eventually, reported it to Mac."
"I don't know what happened Stella, I can only tell you what Danny put in his report and what Hawkes put in his." Mac was characteristically reticent, unwilling to make assumptions or jump to conclusions. "And what you put in your own report about that day. We need to know fully what's happened - especially with regard to your uh 'investigation' and see if it explains what's happened."
Stella nodded. "Well that is why I came to talk to you. I have been through Danny's cell," she looked at Hawkes when his look of surprise caught her eye, "yes, he left it here, and I've been through his locker, his desk and his computer as well. I asked Flack to help me flesh out a timeline for this past year; Danny has been through a pretty terrible period and maybe this case was the last straw."