"Sara, the phone's for you," Catherine said without looking up from the worktable, where she was carefully piecing together the stained glass window.
Sara nodded and reached for the extension in the workroom. "Hello?"
"What the hell have you done with my daughter?"
"Well, hello, Evan, it's nice to hear from you, too." Sara mentally grimaced. Her older brother was angrier than she'd counted on.
"I'll say it again and I'll say it slow. Where the hell is Emily?"
"Gee, Evan, maybe you should keep a closer eye on your daughter. Did you know she can't walk, or were you away at a conference then, too?"
Evan growled on the other end of the phone. "You better not have taken her away from me, Sara."
"I'll have you know that Emily came here of her own free will."
"Bull."
"What, Evan? Are you upset that your daughter finally made a decision without you?"
Sara's brother growled again. "Don't give me that crap, Sara. Did you call the police or not?
Tried to report me as an abuser, did you?"
"Not yet," Sara retorted. "But I'm sure that when I show the proper authorities the bruises Emily has and they hear her stories of what it's like to live at home, they won't be too slow in calling you."
"I do not abuse my daughter!" Evan bellowed.
"You may not call it that, but it goes by that name. Do I have to remind you about Mom?"
Evan was silent for a moment. Sara took a deep breath.
"Fine. She can stay for awhile. She's ahead of everyone in school anyway. Damn it, Sara, why'd you do this?"
"I told you, Evan, she came by herself."
There was another long silence. "Did you call Social Services?" he asked, his voice calmer.
"Not yet."
And with that, Sara hung up on her brother.
Catherine looked up from her piecework. Her tweezers balanced carefully above a fragment of yellow glass, she said, "Was that Emily's father?"
Sara nodded. "My brother. Evan."
"He's not too happy?"
"That's a bit of an understatement. I think he's reevaluating his life right now."
"That bad, huh?"
Sara snapped on a pair of latex gloves and grabbed Catherine's spare set of tweezers, then leaned over the half-completed jigsaw puzzle of window pieces. Carefully she grasped a triangular piece of blue glass and slid it towards its rightful place. As she worked, she began to tell Catherine the story of Ethan's family, the three kids, Ethan's wife Regina, and the horrors of that very complex family.
When she was done, Catherine whistled softly under her breath. "Look at that," she said, nodding towards the window, spread out on the table in front of the CSIs.
Without realizing it, Sara had completed half of the unfinished window, leaving Catherine with only the final fourth of the glass jigsaw puzzle to finish. "Thank you," Catherine said gratefully.
Sara looked down at the puzzle, surprised. "You're welcome, I think."