CSI Supervisor Conrad Eckley called Nick, Warrick, Catherine, Sara, Jacqui and Greg into the conference room. As everyone gathered and silently took their seats, he paced back and forth, looking particularly sour. In front of him, strewn across the conference table, were various tabloid photos of members of the group, including a particularly seductive pose of Lady Heather.

"What the hell is all of this!" Eckley yelled, pointing at the tabloids. "Are you trying to destroy this department? Are you? Consorting with a rapist and murderer! Bailing him out of jail! Meeting with him at his house? For what, to offer him your condolences or your services? You work for the City of Las Vegas. Gil Grissom doesn't, anymore. You are crime scene investigators. You've made this the second best crime lab in the country, and now you're throwing all of that away!"

Everyone glared at Eckley. No one spoke.

"You are an embarrassment to this department! What do you have to say for yourselves?"

Sara stood up and cleared her throat.

"What?" Eckley yelled.

"I quit," she said. Then she turned and walked out the door, leaving everyone staring after her.

"Anyone here want to follow her?" Eckley asked.

The rest of the team looked at each other. On the one hand, they wanted very much to walk out the door with her. On the other, if they didn't stay at the crime lab, they wouldn't be able to prove Gil's innocence. When no one else moved. Eckley continued.

"You are all on notice, as of now. If I had replacements waiting for you in the wings, you'd be gone already. As it is, if you go anywhere near Grissom, again, you can kiss your jobs good-by."

He marched out the door, slamming it behind him.

"Ohhhh," Nick groaned, shaking his head. "just give me five minutes alone in a dark alley with that guy!"

"Hear. Hear," Warrick agreed. "In fact, I know a few guys who hang out in dark alleys. I could make a call...."

"Now, what do we do?" asked Greg. "We can't just drop this. Grissom needs our help."

Catherine picked up the article where Lady Heather implied Eckley was framing Grissom for the rape and murder of Carol MacEnroe.

"You don't think he really did it, do you?" she asked, her eyes narrowing in thought.

"Grissom?" Nick responded, startled.

"No. Eckley. He's not that smart, is he?"

Warrick leaned forward, thinking it through.

"Well, he did get her that apartment," he began.

"I checked on that," said Greg. "Eckley is the landlord. He owns the building. That's how he was able to get her into it so fast."

Jacqui looked up, surprised.

"Of course," she said. "The only other fingerprints in the apartment, other than Carol's, were Grissom's and the landlord's."

"No. No, it couldn't be that easy. Something else is going on here," said Catherine.

"You know what we're doing, don't you," said Warrick. "We're doing exactly what Grissom always tells us not to do. We're trying to fit the evidence to our theory, rather than letting it speak for itself."

"The evidence never lies," Catherine murmured, quoting Gil.

"Well, it sure as hell is lying in this case," Nick exclaimed, slamming his fist on the table.

"No. Grissom's right," Warrick argued. "We're so pissed off at Eckley, we want him to be the bad guy, but we really have no evidence that he is. In fact, we don't have much for evidence at all, 'cause Eckley's got it."

"That's what we need. Evidence," Catherine said.

"What about the DNA test?" Greg asked. They all looked at him. "There were two donors, remember? One before she died and one after she died. If we can match that DNA to Eckley...."

Catherine sat up and took notice.

"How do we do that without him catching on?" she asked. "I can't exactly say, hey, Eckley, open your mouth and give me some DNA."

"Ah, come on, we're around him all the time! There's gotta be a way," Nick said.

Catherine thought about it.

"Well," she said. "There's always the break room."

"I'll do it," said Greg. "I'm the one who's gonna run it, anyway. I'll just keep my eyes open until he goes for his coffee, and then snatch the cup from the garbage. He won't be the wiser."

"And I can lift a print off the coffee pot. I just have to go in there and clean that damn pot, for a change, first," Jacqui said. "He'll probably be tickled pink to get coffee from a clean pot."

"And what if the DNA doesn't match?" Warrick asked. "Then what?"

"One hurdle at a time," Catherine said.

The door swung open and Eckley stuck his head in.

"Am I paying you guys to sit around here and mope, or what?" he asked. They all got up to leave. "Willows," Eckley added, "in my office, now."

Catherine felt a headache coming on, as she gathered up her things and followed him.

Once the door to Eckley's office was shut, he took his seat and starting yelling at her.

"Where the hell did you get a half million dollars to bail out Grissom?" he demanded to know. "That's Sam Braun's money, isn't it? Sam gave you the money to bail out Grissom, didn't he?"

"No," Catherine said, honestly, refusing to sit down. "Sam didn't give me a dime to bail out Gil, and I wouldn't have taken it from him if he had. Most of that money was mine, and the rest I raised from friends of Gil's." She thought a second about Sara quitting the team. "And none of that came from anyone else who works here."

"Where did you get that kind of money from?" Eckley grilled her.

"From my father," she said, again answering truthfully.

"You have a serious conflict of interest here, Willows," Eckley continued. "You get that money back. Now."

Catherine, fuming, leaned over Eckley's desk and glared at him. "Or what?" she asked.

"Or you'll find yourself in almost as much hot water as Grissom," Eckley responded.

"And what about your little conflict of interest?" Catherine asked.

Eckley raised an eyebrow. "Maybe the press would like to know how you talked Carol into moving back to Las Vegas and put her up in one of your own apartments, huh? What, you didn't think we could find out a little thing like that?"

Eckley, turning deep red, rose menacingly out of his seat, charged around his desk and slammed Catherine full force into the wall. He pinned her there for a second, then suddenly seemed to realize what he was doing, backed off and let her go.

Furious, she slapped him hard across the face, her long nails scratching his cheek.

"Bitch! You are on suspension," he yelled, grabbing his face. "And if you think you're going to implicate me in this thing, you'd damn well better be looking over your shoulder every minute, 'cause I'll be right behind you!"

Shaking, Catherine fled the room. Nick and Warrick, just entering the corridor from the lab, saw Catherine charge past them, run into her office, and slam the door. Looking back, they saw Eckley duck back into his office and slam his door. Both men followed Catherine. When Nick opened her door, Catherine screamed and jumped, before she realized who it was.

"Whoa!" Warrick said. "What happened?" Nick grabbed a hold of Catherine and held onto her. She was trembling and nearly hysterical.

"Get Greg in here! Get Greg in here!" she cried.

"Why?" Nick asked. "What happened?"

Catherine showed him her fingernails.

"I've got DNA," she said.

It was only after Greg showed up to take the scrapings from under her nails that Catherine told them all what had happened. Nick and Warrick were ready for all out war, but Catherine put a halt to that.

"We need you here," she said. "I'm gone. Sara's gone. Gil's gone. It's up to you guys, now."

"Let me take you home," said Nick.

Catherine shook her head.

"Take me to Gil."

-- TBC --