There's soft music coming from his office as Jim Brass approaches. The lights are off except for his one desk lamp and the door is closed. Jim watches momentarily as Grissom turns first one page, writes on another then turns it over. Jim doesn't envy Grissom's position. He once had to do the same load of paperwork and though it was under truly rotten circumstances that he left it, he's never looked back – at least not regretfully.
While he observes, Grissom notices him standing there. He nods for Jim to enter his office.
"Another case?" Grissom asks.
Jim draws in a breath then exhales heavily as he takes a seat across from his friend. Shaking his head he says, "No, just doing some off-duty research."
Grissom's eyebrows dip and he tilts his head to the right, questioningly.
Jim sits back in the chair and runs a hand over his face. "I spoke with Catherine."
Grissom lays his pen on the desk and sits back. "She left without a word. We... disagreed on...she couldn't stay and I... she didn't want to say."
"I know. I drove her to the airport. She... I didn't know you were unaware she was leaving or that she hadn't told you where she was going. I just thought she was sad she had to go back. Do you even want to know?"
Grissom peers over his glasses at Brass then looks back at the papers on his desk. "I don't... know."
"Well, she went back to San Francisco –"
"I figured –"
"But she left again."
Grissom looks back up to his friend, waiting.
"I traced her credit card," Brass says as he pulls out a small piece of paper. He rises out of his chair to lay the paper on Grissom's desk before he takes the few steps to the door. "She's booked a cruise; the second week in January – alone."
Brass stops at the door and puts his hand on the doorknob. "Geo Reisen is a tour company for the Galapagos Islands. For two geeks in love, that would be one hell of a honeymoon. Going alone? Just sad, don't you think?"
Their eyes meet for just a second then Brass shuts the door, leaving Grissom once again in his hermetically sealed cocoon.