"So none of the gum balls we collected were tainted with cyanide?" Sara double-checked. Grissom waited while she finished her conversation with Greg. "And you're sure that Jessica's gum came from this machine? Thanks Greg, I'll catch you later."

She hung up her phone.

"Well?" Grissom inquired, peering into the spherical plastic gum dispenser, recently restocked with fresh Hubba Bubba.

"Greg was able to compare the gum we collected to the wad recovered by Doc Robbins; he says they match, but none of the other balls had been laced. Wherever Jessica got the bubble gum, it was laced after it left this machine."

"So the killer was specifically targeting her, not simply just targeting children en mass."

"Chances are high it was someone she knew."

"We don't hedge our bets on chances, Sara, we go with absolutes."

Sara rolled her eyes, but held back a response. Grissom was inspecting the gum ball dispenser with a frown on his face; he was thinking. Sara thought quicker, though, and reached for a screwdriver from her field kit.

"Here," she said as she handed it to him. "It's likely that her killer's fingerprints are on whatever quarter was used to buy the gum. All we need is a match between one of these quarters and someone she knows, and we can figure out where to go next- I mean, that's an assumption, I know, its risky, but I'm willing to take that chance." She deadpanned. Grissom only raised an eyebrow in annoyance but continued without retort.

"I remember last year, Nicky and I found a partial off of the coins in a magic fingers machine in that high profile serial case. Nick was able to make a match. That sets a precedent."

"I wouldn't know, I got called off that case. I do, however, remember the soup man."

"I remember when bubble gum was a nickel-forget twenty five cents."

"Yeah, inflation's a bitch." She quipped.

Once Grissom was done collecting the quarters, he handed the plastic container to Sara and she hoisted it onto her hip and walked back towards the SUV. She had her back to Grissom but heard the clink-clink of metal against metal and the lazy roll of a um ball down the spiral ring of the dispenser. She smiled to herself and shook her head, keeping her back to Grissom

"Unbelievable." She whispered under her breath. Turning, a wide smile broke out across her face as Grissom extended his right hand with a black gumball in it.

"What? Do you seriously think I'm going to eat that? After this case?"

"No reason not to; It was an isolated incident. Besides, I don't like the black ones." He smiled. Then he reached out quickly with his free hand and took hers. Sara jumped slightly and caught her breath. Grissom looked up in surprise; not quite expecting such a response. More slowly, her turned her palm upwards and gently laid the gumball in her latexed palm. He then closed her fingers over it and let her hand drop down to her side again. He smiled once more and the moved around to the front seat.

"C'mon, we've got some fingerprinting to do."

Sara was silent for a moment before she recovered her cool.

"Uh, we could easily get a cadet to print the coins." She reasoned, not entirely looking forward to an evening bent over a few hundred coins.

"I wouldn't trust cadets with the Red Creeper." Grissom replied.

"Really? The Red Creeper?" Sara made no attempt to hide her excitement. "You are in a good mood."

"You have the recipe; I don't understand why you never make it, yourself." He glanced over quickly before returning his gaze to the busy road ahead.

"Well…" Sara said carefully. "It's okay alone, but…" She drifted.

"But?"

"Its something I prefer to use when I'm working as team. I can show off" She replied quickly. "And I can't get it quite the same consistency as you do."

"Practice makes perfect." Grissom offered.

"Well then… we'll just have to work together more often." Her voice was small, but her tone was warm and confident and she smiled. She kept her gaze forward, and relaxed in the seat comfortable with the conversation. She held the little black gum ball in her hand, she had no intentions of putting it in her mouth, but she wasn't about to throw it out either.

It found its way into her pocket and then onto the desk at home; where it remained; Sara unable to throw it away.