THE RIFTS BETWEEN
Hours later, Catherine, Warrick, and Sara arrived at the lab. Warrick resolved to work on an ongoing case while Sara and Catherine stopped to see Archie. They walked purposely down the hallway and passed Brass who was on his way to Grissom's office. They arrived in Archie's lab and handed him the bagged bracelet. They explained what they knew of the situation to him, reiterating where they found it and describing its environmentalist context.
"I'll let you know when I have something," Archie replied and immediately began to crack the code.
Sara and Catherine went out into the hallway.
"Something's missing here," Sara said. "Grissom says that the evidence doesn't lie, but we don't have any evidence to work with." Catherine leaned her head up against the wall. Frustration creased her face, a torrent of confusion riddling her mind. Sara's face expressed her concern.
"You all right, Cath?" she asked. Catherine nodded slowly but her eyes revealed her true feelings. She turned to walk away as they welled with tears. "You know, it's OK if we can't get this right now. We're doing our best." When Catherine didn't turn around, she added, "You may want to take a day off."
Catherine turned on her heel and came striding towards Sara. "I'm not about to take time off when a dead girl lies on a slab in the morgue with no clear explanation as to how she got there. We've got to keep working the case."
"This isn't about the case though, is it?" Sara said. "There's something else going on here. Do you want to talk about it?"
Catherine opened her mouth to speak but was at a loss for words. She ran her fingers through her hair and closed her eyes for much longer than a blink. "I'm going for dinner," she said with finality and walked past Sara who stood helplessly looking after her.
Grissom stood hovering over a microscope in a well-lit part of the lab. His long, white coat hung loosely about him and his glasses slid down his nose from time to time. He stirred slightly when he felt Sara's presence in the door behind him.
"Hey," she said, trying to add a light sound to her voice. She walked towards Grissom with her hands in his pocket. "What's under the 'scope?"
"Take a look," he said, backing away and letting her through.
She peered through the lenses. "Two hairs," she notes. "The one of the left looks like human hair. This one on the right isn't, though. Is it a dog's?"
"It is. Looks like Nick and Warrick are going to have try and find another way through their maze of cases." Grissom stood back, silently observing Sara's face as she stared through the microscope. "I heard about the bracelet. I thought you might want to know that Brass got some pretty interesting results from his interrogation." Sara looked at him, waiting for him to finish. He walked out of the room and towards his office. "Looks like most of the group noticed heated arguments between Eve and her sister, Ava. Both part of the same organization, but one would never know they were from the same family."
Sara considered the information. "The husband should have known about this. Why didn't he mention it during his questioning?"
Grissom sat down behind his desk and peered over the rim of his glasses at her. "Maybe he did know."
"He's hiding something," Sara concluded. "Two sisters, Eve and Ava, arguing… possibly over a love interest. The husband?" She searched Grissom's eyes for feedback.
"Her early leaf's a flower, but only so an hour."
"Is that Frost again?" Sara asked.
Grissom nodded. "Frost wrote about the seasons and their changes. Something that once was may not stay that way forever; even things that are truly wonderful."
"Something came between those girls," Sara spoke more quickly now. "I'm going to find out what." She raced out of Grissom's office on a sure-footed path to Brass's office.
"You're beautiful when you figure it out on your own," Grissom said quietly as he watched her leave. He shook his head and busied himself with the piles of papers on his desk.