Catherine, Grissom, Nick and Sara awaited the return of Warrick from Chloe Haydn's hotel room impatiently. They all had their separate moods and they were clashing.

Catherine was mad at Grissom: he wasn't saying anything to defend his mood, nor would he give her any answers to why he was being unusually stubborn.

Grissom was mad at himself: he didn't know what to do about the whole Chloe/Adrian/Nicolette situation or how to talk to anyone about it.

Nick was mad at Catherine and Grissom: the first for leaving him high and dry with processing Ziegler's evidence; the latter for making him do his part at Las Vegas Medical.

Sara was mad at Warrick: he had treated her coldly when she asked to tagalong on the Chloe Haydn investigation, claiming he had strict orders from Grissom.

On top of all of this anger, nobody could figure out what the hell was wrong with Grissom, who wasn't talking to anyone now and holed up inside his shell like a hermit crab, and this turned most of the animosity from the other three towards their boss, in a "shoot the author" fashion.

The four just sort of stared at each other with murderous undertone. They were all tense and the tension was building on top of Grissom himself who felt the weight of it every time one of his team members gave him a sideways glance. He already knew how Catherine felt about his mood.

Warrick entered the board room in which the rest of the team was sitting. He could practically see the hostility shooting across the room. It was like static electricity.

"Whoa," he said. "Is this CSI or an oil painting?"

"Oh, Warrick," Grissom said, standing. "Good. You're here. Now we can proceed with all the catching up we have to do."

"Catching up on what? How about sleep?" Nick yawned. "You really had to drag me all the way up to Las Vegas Medical? I got like no sleep last night. I had to question Adrian Lowe and then come back here and finish the processing…"

"Yeah, Grissom," Catherine sat up. "Why did you leave Las Vegas Medical in such a hurry last night?"

All eyes were now on Grissom, even Sara and Warrick. He began to feel uncomfortable—but if he revealed everything now, he knew he had to toss himself off the case and if he didn't, the department would.

"Can we get this done, please?" Grissom folded his arms over his chest. "Warrick, have a seat. We need to discuss all our new information. Who would like to do the honors? Catherine?"

"Well, when I talked to Marquita Dali," Catherine began, "she gave me the description of the shooter."

"Adrian Lowe gave me one, too," Nick said.

"She said he was a young male, dressed all in black and wearing large reflective sunglasses."

"That's the jist of what Adrian told me. Actually, his words were: 'a Matrix cast member wannabe'."

Grissom gave a small chuckle. Adrian had basically told that to him, too.

"There was no mention of Chloe Haydn or anyone else fitting her description," Catherine continued. "I don't think she had any involvement in the robbery."

"Well, I found an envelope in Chloe's hotel room," Warrick said. "It has about five hundred dollars in it. How much was missing from Stop-n-Go?"

"Two hundred," Grissom said softly. He had a sinking feeling in his chest. Had Chloe lied to him about where she'd gotten all that money?

Suddenly, Greg burst into the room. "Grissom!" he exclaimed, a worried look on his face, a Burger King bag in hand.

Grissom sat up, "Yes, Greg?"

"Your niece is here…with her boyfriend. It looks like trouble, sir, you might want to see this…"

"Chloe, I know you have the money, damn it!" growled Walker.

"No, I don't," Chloe said calmly.

"Give me the money."

"Walker, I don't have any money."

"I saw you put that precious envelope of yours in your suitcase, so don't bullshit me, Chloe."

"Fuck you!"

A sharp slap. Grissom actually jumped when he saw it. Greg had departed, leaving Grissom in a secluded corner where he could observe the goings-on. According to Greg, he had been on his way back from getting a bite to eat when he saw Chloe walk in, followed moments later by Walker. Now, as Grissom watched, the slap that he had witnessed infuriated him. He saw a man raise his hand to a woman who he swore never to hurt again.

"Hey!" Grissom called out angrily. He stalked over and saw Walker's grip tighten around Chloe's bicep.

"Get outta here, this doesn't concern you," Walker snapped.

"Gil, it's okay," Chloe whispered, but something in her voice, her eyes and the way her cheek was reddening told Grissom to stay put.

"Chloe, Walker, why don't you guys come to my office," he said in a calm, easy voice, "and we can talk this out."

"No," Walker said harshly, jerking Chloe towards him. "Chloe's coming back to the Rhapsody with me. We have money matters to discuss."

"Money matters?" Grissom crinkled his brow. "What do you mean?"

"This little chick here's been holdin' out on me," Walker growled. He now had Chloe by the collar of her t-shirt like a disobedient child in one hand and her wrist in another. He looked as if he could snap it at any moment. "I saw you put that precious little envelope of yours in your suitcase, Chloe, don't fucking lie to me."

Walker tightened his grip and jerked her a little. Chloe squeaked in pain.

"Let go of her!" Grissom angrily shoved Walker away from his niece. Walker began to charge at him but Chloe stepped in-between them.

"Walker, STOP!" she exclaimed forcefully.

"Chloe, I swear to fucking God, if you don't move out of my way—"

"That's it," Grissom snapped. He himself moved Chloe out of the way and glared at Walker. "I'm calling in the police captain and the four of us are going into my office and discussing this like adults."

"Whatever," mumbled Walker.

"Where's Shane?" Grissom asked Chloe in a soft voice as he led the way to his office.

"At the hotel, with a babysitter," she replied.

"How did this escalate?" Grissom gestured back towards Walker, who was gloomily following them.

"He came back to the hotel room, looking for money," Chloe said, "you know, the rainy-day fund? I told him I didn't have it and I left. I came here to get you, so you could help me, and he followed.

"Gil, I'm so scared."

"I know. It's okay," Grissom said, patting her shoulder. "It's going to be okay."