In the lab, Emily sat enthralled by Greg. She stared up at him in hero worship. "I've always wanted to be in forensics," she said earnestly.

He nodded. "If you're as good a hacker as you just proved by hacking into our database, I'd say you've got a future."

Grissom came in. He looked from Greg to the girl in the wheelchair, and said, "Greg, I didn't think school tours were until Thursday."

"Yo, Grissom, this is Emily Sidle, Sara's niece. She just hacked our database."

"Pleased to make your acquaintance," Grissom said, shaking Emily's hand and seemingly not hearing Greg's comment about the database. "Greg, any news on the Heaven's Gate folks?"

"Not yet. I should have it within the next twenty minutes. Did you take care of the girl from the cult?"

"Yes, Social Services came to get her an hour ago. Did you finish trace on those fibers Sara found?"

"They should be done as soon as the blood is."

"Great. Miss Sidle, would you like some juice?"

"Yes, I'm so hungry," Emily said, grinning at Grissom.

Surprisingly, he smiled back, and led her to the kitchen.

Sara came in then. "Oh, Em, you've met Grissom. Grissom, this is my niece, Emily."

"We've met," Grissom said with a smile. "Apparently she's hungry."

"I know, we're heading home as soon as I've talked to Greg."

"He won't be done for twenty minutes, Sara, that's plenty of time to eat something here. What've we got in the fridge?"

"Leftover pasta, that's Catherine's," Sara said, opening the fridge. "Warrick has some weird vegetables. Nick has two donuts in a Ziploc baggie, and I only have a yogurt and some juice."

Grissom leaned over her shoulder and pulled a bottle of fruit juice out of the rack. "Then I guess we'll have to open something." Sara shut the refrigerator, and Grissom handed the bottle to Emily. Reaching into the cabinet, he pulled out a box of crackers and handed those to Emily as well. The girl was smiling up at Sara, who was watching the older man's antics with a smile on her own face.

Quickly, Grissom turned to the next set of cabinets and brought out an apple. With a paring knife he somehow managed to scrounge up, he sliced the apple neatly and set it on a plate on the table. Emily rolled up to the table and opened the box of crackers. "Thanks," she said.

He smiled. Sara said, "When was the last time you ate, Em?"

Emily tried to think. "It might have been yesterday. Or the day before."

"Eat," Grissom urged. "I'll go check on our lab rat."

He left, and Sara was left alone with Emily. "How did you get the money for a plane ticket?" Sara asked, sitting down at the table across from Em.

"Stole it. My dad's got a stash of money in an old cigar box in the bottom of his dresser. Plus I stole some from Claire."

"Claire has money?"

"She works as a cashier's at Safeway at night. She leaves Eli and Ephraim with me or David when he's home. She had just cashed her last paycheck right before she left."

"And she forgot to take all the money for drugs?"

"There was thirty dollars in her dresser," Emily replied, taking an eager swig of juice. "And I took the rest from Dad."

"How's David?"

"In jail again."

"What'd he do this time?"

"Stole Mrs. Rutherford's car," the girl answered.

"You mean the woman who lives at the end of the lane next to your house?"

"Right."

"She's eighty-four!"

"I know. And David has a car. He and Claire share it. But apparently he just couldn't wait until Claire got home from work to drive out to some party, and so he just took the car. Mrs. Rutherford's son Dan called the police and David was arrested in the center of town."

"What did your dad say?"

"Nothing. He's been living at the college for a conference lately."

Sara watched Emily eat for a few minutes. The teenager was looking a great deal paler and skinnier than she had on the occasion of her last visit. "Has there been any..." She stopped, not quite sure how to phrase the question. "Abuse?"

Emily looked up from the crackers and apples. She didn't say anything for a moment, but what she didn't say spoke volumes. Then she found her voice and said, "Yes. Claire's been smacking the boys around, David's been beating Claire, both of them on me, Dad emotionally abusing all of us. The house is dirty, and it smells, and we don't have any food. Grandma Eliza drops stuff off when she goes shopping, but either David or Claire takes it all. The boys are really malnourished. Mom's still in the hospital, otherwise she'd be hungry, too."

Sara closed her eyes. "Em," she said after a moment, "I love you, you know that. I'm going to help you however I can."

The seemingly resilient girl smiled at her aunt. "I know."

Grissom stuck his head back into the break room. "Sara, Greg's got our results. Emily, there's a TV over there, if you'd like to watch something."

"I don't watch TV," Emily said, putting the cap back on the juice. "I've got a book." As Sara stood to leave, she pulled a forensics textbook out of her backpack and smiled at her aunt. "I'll be fine until you get back."

The two of them left, and Grissom turned to Sara as they headed for Greg's lab. "Let's have a team meeting, tell everybody your niece is here with you."

"Emily's not a hassle; I'll still be able to work," Sara said, saying what she thought he needed to hear.

"That's not what I'm worried about. She'll probably want to spend a lot of time here, right? And so everyone should get a chance to meet her." He glanced through the file he was holding.

"Do you think I've got any chance in court?"

"Are you asking me for an opinion?"

Before Sara could reply, Greg swung out of the lab and all but grabbed Grissom by the shirt collar. "I've got your results!"

Grissom flashed a hint of a smile at Sara, and she followed him into the lab. "What is it, Greg?"
"The Heaven's Gate folks? They were all drugged."

"With what?"

"Cyanatherporin."

"The new odorless, colorless, tasteless poison?" Sara asked, studying the sheets Greg handed her.

"Right. And it's not even detectable in regular blood tests. Warrick reminded me of the test for cyanatherporin when he came in to get his results."

"So how'd you find it?"

"It's detectable in the membranes of the white blood cells. There was so much blood, we had more than enough to run the test. Cyanatherporin, bam!" Greg waved his hands expressively in the air to illustrate his point, grinning at Sara.

"And there's no news of any of it being sold by drug dealers?"

"Nope. Cyanatherporin is so deadly that not even dealers want to touch it."

"Well, that's good for us," Sara said.

"But not so good for our criminal," Grissom finished. "Thanks, Greg. Sara, I want you to go and check out those three shops. Take Emily with you, if you want, or Nick."

"Nick's not going to be back from Louisiana until tomorrow."

"Right. Well, then take Emily, and be back here at, say... nine-thirty for a briefing meeting."

"Okay."