Grissom arrived at Sara's house feeling ridiculous. He knocked lightly on her door. She didn't answer within about half a minute he turned to leave. He almost crashed into Sara's gargoyle. The girl jumped back a foot and looked up at Grissom.

"Hello," she said.

"Ah, hi," Grissom said.

"Do you want to visit Sara?" she asked.

"Aren't I not allowed to?" he asked carefully.

"Can you tell me what is going on?" she asked.

Grissom leant back against the wall next to Sara's door. He looked at the gargoyle carefully.

"What's your name?" he asked.

"Michelle," she said after a moment.

"That's a nice name," Grissom said.

"No, it's not," Michelle said. "'Shell,' isn't bad though."

"Have you seen Sara today?" Grissom asked.

"She came in a little while ago. She seemed, well, dazed. I didn't press her; she wanted to sleep. She said that she'd lost something she didn't want to keep. I was worried."

"How well do you know her?" Grissom asked, suspiciously.

"Well, enough," Michelle said defensively. "She doesn't mind me. I understand her. We're both up at night. I go and visit her sometimes and she tells me things. I had to ask her about the processes for finding lost people. Jenny ran away when she was twenty four. No one noticed that she was missing for two days."

"Who's Jenny?" Grissom asked, the name sounded familiar.

"She's a character, I'm writing about her," Michelle said.

Grissom decided to get as much out of 'Shell' while he could. "Why didn't you want to know my name?" he asked.

Michelle blushed. "I'm not very good at recognising faces. If someone who fitted your description had come up and given your name I wouldn't have know it wasn't you. I could recognise you anywhere now," she said.

"How?"

"The way you walk, the way you stand, the sound of your voice, the way you talk to me."

"How is Sara?" he asked. The original cause of his mission here had reasserted itself in his mind.

"I don't know," Michelle said, shrugging. "She seemed dazed. Something changed today. I think you should talk to her."

"Aren't I not allowed in?" Grissom asked.

Michelle bit her lip apprehensively. She looked liked he'd backed her into a corner.

"She said that, not me. She doesn't want to talk to me. You know more than I do, you should do it."

"I'm not very good at talking to people," Grissom said.

"But you care about Sara?" Michelle asked.

"Of course," Grissom said, surprised at how much sense the answer made.

"You'd be very good for her," Michelle said. Looking down from all of her seventeen years of experience.

"So you can let me in?" Grissom asked.

Michelle looked almost scared. She shook herself and nodded. She opened the door to her own apartment and took Sara's key from the hook by the door. She handed it to Grissom with a secretive smile.

"Make good use of it," she said.

Grissom assured her that he would. Under the gargoyle's watchful gaze, he opened Sara's door. He didn't see Michelle's grin as he closed the door behind him.