A/N: I honestly doubt anyone's still with me, but not having a computer for over a year (still Don't!) tends to put a damper on updates. No beta, mistakes are mine. Please, if you're able read and review.

Disclaimer: Any person place or thing that resembles anyone in real life is purely....coincidental. I mean nothing by it.

Chapter 13

"Naw man, you gotta go for the ones in the middle first."

"Come on. It's always worked like this for me before. You don't know what you're talking about."

"Boys! It's just a game! Who cares?"

Crickets were the only sound heard for what were probably the longest three seconds in history.

"WHAT!?!"

"Catherine, not only is this not 'just a game' this is THE game! This is Mrs. PacMan!"

Catherine and the boys had met up after barely catching Grissom on his way to see Doc Robbins. They had been instructed to quote: "Take a break. Clear your heads. And take another look at the vic's clothing and personal items." End quote. They were currently still in phase one of those directions and Catherine had brought them all coffee--hoping to spark some ideas based on the new information provided by Greg.

"I'm telling you if you go for the outside stuff first you'll us up all of your Power-pellets and end up getting stuck in the middle..."

"And then you'll die." Greg walked in with a file folder looking defeated.

"Yea--wait. What? You're not talking about the game are you?"

Greg rolled his eyes. "Does my face tell you I'm talking about the game?"

"Sorry man, what's up?"

"There was no DNA present. It was a random cup, but the good news is the DNA from the vic was present on the second cup. The lipstick cup is a bust."

Catherine stood and took charge. "Ok guys--game time's over. Let's look at what we have and what we may need to look at again. What do we know? Everything."

Nick started, "Vic's a 24 year old female. Worked at a kennel."

"Yeah," Warrick interjected, "and she played drums at her church and was involved in a program called Year Team."

"And she was poisoned with a lethal combination of ground apple seeds and cherry pits," Greg finished.

"What about the girl herself? Likes? Dislikes? Enemies? Do we have anything else to go on that could possibly point us in the right direction?"

Warrick shook his head, "I'd be happy with any direction . I feel so useless not having any leads."

Nick kicked the table leg in frustration. "Did anybody check her car, house, bedroom--for any kind of clues"

"No, I mean I went to the house and talked with the sister, but we didn't have a warrant so I didn't press."

Warrick chuckled half heartedly, "Maybe we should just try asking nicely." He turned to Nick and Greg. "You guys wanna take the car, and Cath and I will go back to the house? Anything we can find is better than nothing."

"This is Your Brain on Music, The Paradox of God and the Since of Omniscience, Passing for Normal, Unfortunate English, The Sociopath Next Door, The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog...this is quite the collection," Catherine held up several books of varying sizes.

Warrick stopped looking through the long filing cabinet that stood next to the door of the victim's bedroom. "Yeah, and that's just what she had next to the bed..." He moved to one of the bookshelves and glanced at various titles. "The Kingdom of the Cults, Marilyn Manson's The Long Road out of Hell, Satanism: The Seduction of America's Youth, Freakonomics, Bloodletting, Secret Recipes...she wasn't into any of this stuff was she?"

Catherine stood to give her knees a rest. "No, her sister said that she just liked to learn about everything that she could--especially things that did not fall into what she believed," she held up a small Bible that had been on the night stand. "We're not looking for any ritualistic stuff, she just wanted to be read up."

He chuckled, "You know this vic kind of reminds me of Sara in a way...you know? Reading anything and everything. Except the Bible part."

Catherine's lip twitched into a half smile. "Yeah. You find anything?"

He stood at the girls desk, which took up half of the room, and picked up one of various journals that littered the top. "Most f these are empty," he said as he set it aside and picked up the next one. "What the--Cath you've gotta see this."

"What--wow!" She flipped through a couple of pages. "That's talent."

"Yeah we've gotta show Grissom...even if it doesn't lead us anywhere...which we won't know until someone reads it, it's worth showing it."

"Yeah, we're gonna need a mirror. Hoo--that takes some talent."

"Well she's got a library in her car." Greg pulled several books out of the back seat.

Nick laughed, "Yeah and a music studio in the trunk..." Greg poked his head back out, interested, "Yeah?"

Nick shrugged. "Ok maybe not a studio, but several busted or worn drumsticks, a couple of cymbal stands, a cymbal, and a kick pedal."

"Grissom said that she was a drummer."

"Right. What else have we got?"

"Ehm, a handful of pens, couple of notebooks, CDs, various pieces of paper with writing on them, nothing of significance."

Nick sighed. "Print the doors and let's head back and see if anyone found something that is helpful."

"I know that this is an inconvenience for you, but I really need to take a look around. If you'd rather I can get a warrant and shut you down for a few hours, or you can let me do what I need to do and I'll get our of your hair."

The young veterinarian looked at her eyes wide, "No, no. You go ahead. Anything you need just let one of us know." He was more jittery than a squirrel hopped up on espresso.

"I'll begin in the back if that's ok."

"Ah, yes. Tim's back there doing a dental and can answer any questions you might have." He stood and shook her hand looking much better for wear with the prospect of dealing with warrants, etc. off the table. "Also my wife, the other veterinarian here, will be in the office a little later if you'd like to talk to her," he offered.

"I just might. Thank you." Sara dipped her head and began to move toward the large room in the back of the building.

The hurried young man who had been called to cover the front the last time she had been there was now clad in gloves and face mask, huddled over a table with a small dog lying stock still upon it. He glanced up and waved. "Hello again. I'm right in the middle of this dental, but I'd be happy to answer any questions you might have."

She smiled and nodded toward the table, "Not the most fun job you do here I'm guessing?"

He shrugged, "well, this little guy is a miniature schnauzer--not the hardest thing to handle, but with the anesthesia, any dog is about the same. If you want to see a mess of a pup go through tat room and look in the last run. That little guy doesn't know what to do with himself." He returned to his work and let Sara consider his thoughts.

Curious, she went straight through two sound proof doors to the last room that contained cages and a few runs (longer gated enclosures for larger dogs). What she saw nearly made her forget why she was there to begin with. There at the back of the six foot run lay a boxer puppy halfway upside down with a blanked curled around his torso and his water dish on his head...fast asleep. She couldn't stop the giggle that worked its way out of her mouth and woke him up. Instantly he was at the front of the run trying desperately to lick her face and hands between the bars. After being thoroughly kissed, Sara stood and walked back out to the main room of "the back".

Tim looked up and smiled as he removed his face mask. "I just finished up, so I can help in any way you need. Just let me get this little guy set up so he can start waking up." He moved swiftly and returned moments later eager to help.

Sara nodded toward the room with the runs, "What's his story?"

"Ah, well, that little guy is currently up for adoption and will be going to the Humane Society in a few days if we don't find someone to take him before then. He was Emily's, or was going to be...she just got him. Her mom can't take care of him and really isn't prepared to take on a puppy right now so he came here, we gave him all of his shots, micro chipped him and everything...he just needs a home."

" Has anyone shown any interest?"

"Not yet. Most of us already have pets, Emily was the only one who didn't for a while. Her previous dog died a few years back and she just wasn't in a place to take on a pet until now. She was SO happy to have gotten him too..."

"I wonder, would you adopt him to out-of-towners?"

"If they were good people who would take care of him and love him, yes. You know someone?" He looked at her quizzically.

She smiled. "I might. I'll get back to you on that. Ok, sorry. On to the not so fun part. I need to see anything you or anyone else may have used to administer, or crush, or grind medicine."

"Sure. Just wait here a second." Scurrying about the room he opened various cabinets and drawers and returned shortly with an assortment of devices. He lay them out so that Sara could see them individually and then began picking them up one at a time. "This is what we use to assist in pilling cats." It was a long plastic instrument with a rubber tip that you could place a pill into and, once inside the cat's mouth, press the end to push the pill forward and into the cat's throat. He shrugged. "Some cats bite hard." He held up a few of the same thing. "Pill cutters, but it would take a while to grind or crush anything like you asked for...what exactly are you trying to crush? That might help me narrow down your choices."

"I can't really release that information, but something hard, small and not easily broken up."

He leaned against the small examination table before perking up. "I know, how about this?" He produced a small mortar and pestle from a cabinet.

Sara took one look at the thing and knew that she was on the right track. Unfortunately she also knew that these were not the exact instruments that she was looking for. "Um, I'm assuming you don't use those while they're still wrapped in plastic?"

Tim grinned sheepishly, "No, but we don't really use those on a day to day basis either. If pilling an animal doesn't work, we just give them the meds in food. I can't even remember the last time we had to crush or grind anything. I don't know if we actually have any of these in use right now." He thought for a moment. "Oh, but I think the doctors have one in their office, but that's just decoration, sorry."

Sara smiled warmly. "That's actually very helpful. Thanks so much for your help. I'm going to need to take these items back with me, but...the doctors' office did you say?" He moved to the door and held it ajar. "This way ma'am."

"I'm hardly a ma'am."

"Sorry, it's a southern thing. This way."

Sara followed him a short way to the doctors' office and tapped on the open door so as to not startle anyone. The young doctor looked up from the paperwork in front of him. "Yes? Ah, Miss Sidle, what can I do for you?"

"I'm going to need to take a look around your office. I need you to step out of the room please." As soon as he was gone she scanned the room for the items she was looking for. It wasn't on either of their desks so she turned her attention to the massive book case on the far wall. An impressive number of textbooks, journals, and veterinary guides were punctuated with family pictures and...there it was. White marble and looking all the world like something used in years past, Sara hoped that it hadn't been disinfected, or if it had, that there might still be some usable trace on it. After bagging and tagging the items from the doctors' office Sara went in search of Tim again. She found him in the same place he'd been before only this time he was dipping instruments he'd been using in a blue liquid. Sara cleared her throat so as to not take him by surprise.

"Ahem."

Tim looked up and smiled. "Finished in there already?"

She nodded. "Yes, I'm all set save one question. What do you use around here by way of cleaning and disinfecting? How often do you to that? And what is it used on?"

"That's three questions isn't it? Ok--as cleaning products we usually use OdoBan. It works as a disinfectant too, but we mostly use Chlorohexidine and a centrifuge for that."

"You don't use bleach?"

"We don't use it over here, but they use it from time to time to give the kennels a good scrub down. There are a few cases of bleach being stored in the old hospital right now...does that help?"

She smiled. "It does. Thanks." Then she turned to leave the building. "Oh." She turned back. "I'll get back to you on that puppy." She waved and was on her way back to the makeshift lab wondering how to convince Grissom that they needed a puppy.

A/N2: Again, Reviews are most welcome.