Catherine stood in the kitchen chopping vegetables and chatting with Sara, who had volunteered to help. Grissom had wandered off a little while ago, she assumed in search of Lacey. From where she stood, Catherine could only see into a small section of the living room where Nick, Warrick, and Brass stood talking. 'Probably discussing last nights game,' she thought.

Noticing that Catherine's attention had wandered, Sara said, "Why don't you let me finish up in here?"

Smiling gratefully, Catherine set down the knife she was using and moved into the living room. She spotted Greg, Lacey, and Lindsey sitting on the couch, but didn't see Grissom anywhere. She smiled as Greg managed to coax a full-fledged laugh from Lacey, and moved towards the entryway. Feeling a breeze ruffle her skirt, she turned and saw that the front door was ajar.

Walking outside, Catherine found Grissom sitting on the porch steps, staring blankly at the house across the street. She sat down next to him, breaking his reverie. He didn't turn towards her or give any acknowledgement of her presence, but she knew that he knew she was there. The two friends sat in silence for a while, Catherine lending her support just by being there. Eventually she broke the silence, saying, "Lacey losing her parents is such a huge loss, that people tend to forget that you lost your sister as well."

Grissom didn't reply, but Catherine saw a lone tear slide down his cheek. Reaching over, she took one of his hands in hers. She felt him squeeze slightly, his way of showing her that he was glad to have her there.

"She was my baby sister," he said after a while, his voice thick with unshed tears. "I should have been able to protect her."

"I know," Catherine replied. "But there was nothing you could have done."

Grissom nodded, but let go of her hand and stood up. He began pacing the porch in agitation. "I couldn't save her and now I can't even find whoever did this to her."

Catherine stood up as well before replying, "We'll find them."

"How?" Grissom snapped, stopping his pacing and turning to glare at her. "It's been over a week and we're not even close to catching anyone!" Grissom pounded his hand on the porch railing. "We have all of this evidence, but no suspects. How could there not be a single person who saw *something*?"

Catherine's heart ached for the man in front of her. His blue eyes pleaded with her to give him answers that she didn't have. Catherine did the only thing she could and pulled him into her embrace, holding him tightly as he finally started to grieve.

******************

He had followed her here after the service. Luckily for him, there were bushes underneath the windows where he could hide. It was a nice day so the windows were open, allowing him to hear parts of the conversations going on inside. He wanted to see her so he started to rise, but before he had fully stood the front door opened. He quickly crouched back down, berating himself for trying something so risky. He saw her uncle come out and sit on the front stoop.

Sitting in the bushes, he barely dared to breath. He was wary of her uncle, since she talked about him all the time and how smart he was. He was distracted when he heard her laugh. It was a wonderful sound and he knew that he had done the right thing. She was glad that her parents were out of the way. She wanted to be with him as much as he wanted to be with her.

He was so caught up in his fantasizing, he hadn't realized that her uncle had gone back inside. Deciding he had risked enough for today, he silently left the bushes and made his way home.

*************************

Later that evening after everyone else had left and Lindsey had gone to bed, Lacey, Catherine, and Gil sat in the living room talking.

"So who was that guy at the funeral today?" Catherine asked, curiously.

Lacey made a face before replying, "That was Robert. His family lives next door to us."

"Why don't you like him?"

"He's a creep. He's always making rude comments and one time mom caught him trying to peep in my window."

"What?" Gil practically shouted.

"Don't worry," Lacey replied. "Mom told Mrs. Austin and Robert was grounded for a month and he never tried it again."

They moved onto other topics and soon Lacey started to yawn. Gil decided it was time for them to go home and they said good night to Catherine.

********************

The next night at work, Grissom walked into Brass' office. "Could you do some digging on a Robert Austin for me?" he asked.

"Sure," Brass replied. "What's this about?"

"Not sure yet," Grissom replied. "Just a hunch I have."

Brass nodded. "Give me a couple of hours and I should have something for you."

************************

"I've got something," Grissom said entering the break room, waving the papers he held in his hand.

"What?" Catherine asked, knowing immediately which case he was talking about.

"Robert Austin, has a record," he replied.

"Really?" Catherine asked, grabbing the papers from him and skimming through them. "Well, it appears young Mr. Austin has been busy. A number of peeping tom complaints and then last month he was brought up on rape charges, but then they were dropped. It certainly says he's a creep, but is he a murderer?"

"He got kicked out of school after the rape charges were brought up so he was home when the attack happened," Grissom began ticking off reasons. "He had reason to be mad at Judy for getting him in trouble. He wanted to get at Lacey and thought getting her parents out of the way would help."

Catherine took this all in before replying, "It's a theory."

"You don't think it's him?" Gil asked, his expression becoming downcast.

"It's definitely an avenue for us to check out, but I just think that there's something off with it."

Gil sighed. "You're probably right. I just…"

"I know," Catherine said. "And who knows, maybe it was him. I'll see if Brass can get him to come in voluntarily for questioning. Now, why don't you get back to your own case? I'll fill you in on what happens."