Three days had passed since the triple homicide that marked Gerri's initiation into the Las Vegas Criminalistics Bureau. It nagged at the back of her mind as she stood over the table in the layout room, looking at all the evidence they had amassed. Which, she had groused to Catherine earlier, was not much. She held the serrated knife up to the light, looking at it. Blood analysis had proved that it had been used to murder both Jeffrey McKnight and Christine Blake. He had brought it with him to both murder scenes. A glass in the dishwasher at Jeffrey's house turned up with traces of peanut oil. Placing the glass in the dishwasher, straightening the sheets under Christine's body. The man liked to be neat, at least with people he knew intimately. The nun's death was gruesome. A total opposite in the sense of cleanliness he had practiced at the other two murders. She lay the knife back on the table and reached to pick up the glass shard. She was holding it up to the light when she heard the footsteps approach. Gerri slowly turned around to face the visitor, delicately holding the glass shard. Sara paused in the doorway.

"Am I interrupting something?" she asked, wavering between walking away and coming inside.

"Nah, going over evidence from the triple homicide." she set the shard down. "Want to help?"

Sara nodded slightly and came inside the layout room, closing the door behind her. "Sure, and I wanted to talk to you about something."

Gerri smiled and nodded, showing no outward trace of the dread that had settled in her stomach. "What do you want to talk about?" she tried to sound casual, watching Sara pull on a pair of gloves.

"Grissom. You said you dated him."

Gerri looked down at the evidence, fingering the glass from Jeffrey's dishwasher. "Yeah. It was a long time ago."

"Oh. What is he like? I mean outside the office?"

Gerri reflected on that. Gil, outside the office? There was no "outside the office" for Grissom. He was intent on his work, always had a case on his mind. The only time he let go of his job was when he rode rollercoasters, and had sex. "Not much different." Gerri looked at the younger woman. "Why?"

"Promise you won't laugh? Or get angry for that matter?"

Uh-oh, territory battle, Gerri thought. "I promise. Cross my heart and all that jazz."

"Okay." Sara took a deep breath, "I kinda like Grissom, but I don't think he sees me as anything more than a kid. He doesn't show me any respect, doesn't notice me. I'm just someone he works with, nothing more."

"Ouch." Gerri muttered, "Sara, don't take him so personally." she saw Sara's mouth open to protest but she waved her hand and continued. "I know, I know. It's the opposite of what you would think to do to get involved in a relationship. Gil's just… A little odd in relationships. He's not a people person, and it takes a while to get through the walls he's built around him."

"So you're saying to back off?" Sara asked.

"A little. If worse comes to worse, treat him the same way he treats you. Knock some sense into him, but I can promise you that it won't happen overnight." Gerri opened her mouth to say something more when something hit her. "What did you say you felt that Gil treated you like?"

"He doesn't respect me, doesn't notice me. I'm just someone he works with." Sara paused, "Oh, and he treats me like a kid."

"The killer. I think I know why he murdered them." she turned and looked at the photos she had tacked up on the corkboard. "He wants to be noticed because no one ever paid attention to him."

"Makes sense." Sara nodded, "A triple homicide is a great way to get attention."

"Did we find anything in Jeffrey's truck? Prints, trace?"

"Nothing that I know of. It was wiped clean and run through a carwash and vacuumed for good measure by whoever did this. There was blood on the rear seat, but that was from the victim."

"He had to have worn gloves. He didn't leave any prints. But maybe…" she tapped her finger against the glass shard and lifted it, unwrapping the scapular. "I was sloppy. I didn't think to look there." A smear of rusty dried blood was visible on the end of the glass that had been wrapped.

Sara nodded. "As Warrick said before, Mr. Clean needs a maid."

*****

Work had continued elsewhere in the CSI. Grissom and Catherine were covering the murder of a prostitute. Catherine looked down at the body that now lay unmoving on the examination table. Dr. Robbins stood across from her.

"Shelby Northern. Time of death was about six hours ago. She was shot point blank through the heart." he intoned as Catherine nodded. "Nothing unusual this time, Catherine."

"We found the bullet in the alley where we found her." she shook her head, "I only hate it when they're so young."

Robbins nodded, "Turning tricks at fifteen. What is the world coming to?"

"I don't know, I think I'd lock Lindsey in a closet if she ever did something like this." Catherine shook her head ruefully. "I'll go tell Grissom. Thanks."

Robbins nodded and pulled the sheet back over the girl's body, then watched as Catherine breezed out the doors. Some nights were better than others.

*****