Brass entered the break room in search of Catherine and silently cursed when he found Grissom there as well. "Catherine," he said, giving her a nod, hoping she would understand what he meant.

Catherine looked quizzically at the homicide detective before realizing what he wasn't saying. "I'll see you later," she said to Grissom as she stood to leave.

Looking between the two, neither of them meeting his gaze, Grissom quickly figured out what was happening. He stood up saying, "He's here isn't he?"

"Gil," Jim said, a warning in his tone.

"Jim, I'll take care of it," Catherine said. "I'll meet you down there." Brass nodded and headed out.

Grissom started to speak, but Catherine put her hand over his mouth, effectively silencing him. "You know you can't be in there so don't bother arguing with me about it. If you promise to behave, I'll let you watch through the mirror."

Seeing that she was done speaking, Grissom removed her hand from his mouth and said, "You'll *let* me? Last time I checked, *I* was night-shift supervisor. Not you."

Catherine gave him her best "mother glare" and eventually he surrendered. "Fine. I'll behave. I promise." Catherine nodded, not entirely happy about the situation, but knowing there was nothing she could do.

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

Catherine met Brass outside of the interrogation room. She could tell that he wasn't happy about Grissom watching either, but thankfully he didn't say anything about it. "He agreed to come in willingly?" she questioned in surprise.

"Well, not initially," Brass replied with a smirk, "but after his father got through talking with him, he was much more cooperative about it."

Catherine laughed at that and they entered the room. They found Robert slouched in his chair, looking bored. Catherine could tell he was nervous, though, from the way his eyes kept darting around the room. "Hello, Robert. How are you tonight?" she asked pleasantly.

"Why am I here?" he asked.

Lacey was walking out of school when she felt a hand grab her shoulder. She spun around, the scream dying on her lips as she saw who was behind her. "Tommy!" she scolded. "You scared the crap out of me."

"Sorry," the tall, wiry boy said. He shuffled his feet a bit before saying. "I was sorry to hear about your parents."

"Thanks," Lacey replied. "Was there something you wanted?"

Tommy paused, as though he wasn't sure about what he was going to say. "I was just wondering… you know… because it's Wednesday and all, if you'd be able to tutor me. I mean, I totally understand if you don't want to, but I just thought I'd ask. Especially since I've got this big science test coming up."

Lacey sighed. She didn't really feel like tutoring the younger boy today. Seeing the puppy dog eyes that he was shooting her, though, she found that she couldn't bring herself to say no. "Sure, Tommy. Do you mind coming over to my uncle's house? He's expecting me home."

Tommy nodded giving her a huge grin and the two of them made their way to where the buses were parked.

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

Lacey and Tommy were immersed in ionic bonds when a loud, incessant pounding began at the door. Lacey hurried to open the door before it woke up her uncle. "Robert? What are you doing here?" she demanded quietly.

"Do you know what that fucking uncle of yours did?" Robert asked, just shy of shouting.

"No, I don't and keep your voice down. He's sleeping," Lacey replied angrily.

"I don't fucking care," Robert said, but Lacey noticed that he did lower his voice a bit. "That son of a bitch had his cop friends drag me in for questioning last night."

"You were brought in for questioning?" Lacey said in surprise, her mind racing. "What for?"

"That's what I'd like to know," Robert answered, his voice rising again. "That bitch kept asking me about old shit."

"Look, Robert, I don't know why you were brought in so please just leave."

"No. Not until I get some answers," Robert said, pushing past her into the house. Seeing someone sitting on the couch he asked, "Who's this fuckhead?"

Tommy stood up and walked over to Robert. "I believe she asked you to leave."

"Yeah?" Robert said, getting right in Tommy's face. "What are you going to do about it?" Without even giving the younger boy a chance to reply, Robert sucker punched him in the gut.

Before Lacey knew what was happening, the two boys were in the middle of a full-fledged fistfight. She tried to get them to stop, but was wary of getting too close for fear of getting hit.

Grissom was stunned to walk into his living room and find two boys beating each other up. "What the hell is going on here?" he demanded.

At the sound of his voice, the boys pulled away from each, both breathing hard and shooting glares at the other. "I'm so sorry, Uncle Gil," Lacey said. "I was trying to get Robert to leave and…"

As soon as Lacey said the name Robert, Grissom whipped his head around to look at the two boys who had been fighting. He took a menacing step towards Robert and practically growled, "Get the hell out of my house!"

Robert took a quick step back. "Whatever. I'll talk to you later, Lacey," he said and hotfooted it out of the house.

Grissom turned to the other boy still in his living room. "Who are you?"

Lacey put her hand on her uncle's arm. "Uncle Gil, this is Tommy. I tutor him in science. He was just trying to help me get Robert to leave when Robert punched him."

Grissom gave the boy another look over and sighed. "Tommy, maybe it would be better if you just left for today."

The boy nodded vigorously. "Sure, that's fine. I'll see you at school Lacey." He gathered his things and left.

Lacey turned to her uncle. "I'm sorry. I tried to keep them quiet so they wouldn't disturb you."

"It's not your fault. Why don't you get dinner started while I take a shower?" Lacey nodded and headed into the kitchen.

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

Over dinner, Lacey asked, "How come Robert was brought in for questioning?"

Grissom looked up. "He told you that?"

Lacey gave her uncle a shrewd look. "You think he had something to do with their deaths, don't you?"

Grissom sighed. "I can't talk about it."

"You said you'd keep me informed," she said angrily.

"To a certain extent," he snapped, his patience already thin from his interrupted sleep.

"Which means, if and when you solve the case, you'll give me the same details that are in the paper. I'm not hungry anymore." Lacey put her dishes in the sink and stormed into the living room. She gave a frustrated half-scream and yelled, "I don't even have a room to go to. I'm going for a walk."

Grissom heard the door slam and sighed.

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

Grissom looked at his watch again and debated calling Brass. Lacey had been gone for almost two hours. He jumped when the phone rang. "Lacey?" he asked breathlessly.

"Gil? It's Catherine," his best friend's voice came over the line.

"Catherine, I'm so glad you called. Lacey walked out almost two hours ago and I don't know what to do. Should I call Jim and report her missing?" he said hurriedly.

"Grissom, calm down. Lacey is at my house."

"She walked all the way to your house?" he said in surprise.

"She said she had a lot of anger to walk off."

Grissom sighed. "Is she still mad at me?"

Catherine glanced over to where Lacey was helping Lindsey with her homework. "I don't think she's so much mad at you as she is at the situation. Remember how Lindsey got in to fights at school after Eddie's death? It's the same thing. She's just frustrated is all."

"I just wish I knew what to do," Grissom said.

"You're doing fine, Gil. She's a good kid and she'll get through this, just like Lindsey did. Listen, I have to drop Lindsey off at my sister's. I'll swing by after and drop Lacey off at your place."

"Thanks," Grissom replied. "You're the best."

"And don't you forget it," Catherine replied, before hanging up.