"Hi, pumpkin. Can we go for a ride?"

Sam Bruan stood on Catherine's doorstep, a bodyguard posed at his elbow, and a limo standing ready to whisk them away. Catherine was just leaving her apartment to head back to Gil's and had locked the front door behind her, barring her escape.

"Why would I want to go anywhere with you, Sam?" she asked, still angry at him from their last encounter.

"Come on! You're not afraid of me, are you? You know I'd never hurt you." He flashed her one of his famous smiles, but the effect was lost on her.

"You gotta do better than that," Catherine said, crossing her arms defensively in front of her.

"Okay, what if I said I have some information that could help your boyfriend?"

"I'd say you should tell it to his lawyer," she responded, not trusting him to make good on his offer.

"Can't do that, honey," Braun said. "Can't get my name mixed up in this."

"Why not?" Catherine countered, her anger boiling to the surface. "My name is mixed up in it, and I'm your daughter!"

"Collateral damage, Catherine," Braun chuckled. He pointed his finger at her like a parent scolding a child. "You should choose your friends more carefully."

The fire in her gut erupted, and she raised her hand to strike him, but he caught her wrist in his hand and squeezed it until she cried out in pain.

"You did quite a job on Conrad," he said. "But you can't pull that crap with me."

"So much for not hurting me," she snapped, tears welling up in her eyes.

He immediately let her go.

"I'm trying to help you, Catherine," he said. "Please, come with me."

Braun turned and headed for the car, while his bodyguard grabbed Catherine by the arm and dragged her behind. She was shoved into the cool backseat and the door was slammed behind her. Bruan signaled the driver to take off.

"Kidnapping is against the law, Sam," Catherine said, rubbing her sore wrist. "But I guess that wouldn't bother you."

"I'm just a father looking out for my child's best interest," he said. He leaned towards her and rested his hand on her arm, but she pulled away from him. "I can't believe you!" he said. "You're throwing your life away, and for what? Gil Grissom? He's not worth it!"

"You don't know a damn thing about him," she argued.

"Pumpkin, I know everything about everybody in this town. I make it my business to know. Especially when they're involved with you."

"What are you saying, Sam?" Catherine felt a cold chill go up her back, and it wasn't because of the air conditioning.

"I know what that man has for lunch. I know what he keeps in his refrigerator. I know his sexual habits and I know where he keeps his tarantulas. I even know about his surgery for his hearing loss. I know about his singing bass, his pickled pig, and his taste for fried grasshoppers. There isn't anything about Grissom that I don't know. He's a goddam nut case, and he's not for you."

"Gee, when you put it that way," Catherine said, glaring at Braun, "he doesn't sound too bad, compared to a cold-blooded killer."

"That's not fair, Catherine. I was never convicted of that."

"That doesn't make you innocent, Sam," she said. "If you know something that can help Gil, just spit it out."

Sam shook his head. Catherine's tenacity never ceased to amaze him.

"Grissom has two teams of CSI's, half the sheriff's department, and one of the best lawyers in the business trying to get him off this murder rap. Hell, that's almost as many people as I had working on my case! He'll probably beat this, but not before he drags you and the crime lab down with him."

"He's not the one doing it," Catherine protested. "Eckley and Atwater...."

Braun laughed.

"Those two clowns haven't got a brain between them," he snickered.

"Do you have anything for me, or not?" Catherine demanded to know.

Sam rubbed his chin and thought a minute.

"Okay," he said. "I'll give you this. Eckley's ambitions exceed his discretions."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" she asked.

The car pulled up to her apartment.

"You're smart. You'll figure it out," he said, reaching across her to open the door.

She got out without another word. It wasn't until the limo had pulled out of sight that Catherine realized she was shaking.

*******

Gil Grissom was pacing his apartment like a caged lion, wanting to get into the field and find answers. Nick called to say he and Greg were on their way over with information. Heather called, too, just to see how he was holding up. Sara and Warrick arrived bearing spiders. Gil's face lit up when he saw the tarantulas. As soon as he set down the cage, he picked them up, one at a time, gently handling them and assuring himself that they were alright.

"Thank you," he told Sara. "I hope they weren't much trouble."

"No problem," she said, shrugging.

"I talked to Fromansky," Warrick said. "He wants to meet with us."

"I don't like it," Sara added. "It could be a set up, to find out what we know."

Grissom remembered how upset Fromansky had been when one of his officers was being investigated by the team for murder. Fromansky had threatened Grissom, saying: Someday you'll need backup, and we'll all be stuck in traffic. But over the years, each man had earned a grudging respect from the other.

"When?" Grissom asked Warrick.

"I can call him now," Warrick said, "but won't your lawyer be pissed?"

"He told me not to talk to anyone," Grissom reasoned. "He didn't say I couldn't listen."

Warrick pulled out his cell phone to make the call.

"How are you doing?" Sara asked.

She stood with her arms crossed in front of her, keeping her distance. He felt that distance and regretted it, but he didn't move toward her.

"I'm okay. Catherine's been in and out, making sure I behave."

"I just bet she has," Sara said, a sarcastic smile on her face.

"You're not being fair," Grissom told her.

"Tell me anything about this situation that's fair."

He couldn't.

"He's on his way," Warrick said, hanging up.

"Do we need to talk about this?" Grissom asked Sara, referring to Catherine.

"Would it do any good?" she asked.

An uneasy silence settled between them.

"Anyone for a beer?" Warrick asked, trying to ease the tension.

Greg and Sanders showed up seconds before Officer Vince Fromansky.

"Summit?" the officer asked, on seeing nearly the entire team gathered there.

Grissom offered him a seat and a beer.

"Tell him what we've got so far," Grissom said.

Greg began by explaining the second DNA donor fiasco, and the fact that it was never mentioned in the police report. He then talked about his trip to the sperm bank.

"By the way, Dr. Benjamin says hi," he said. Grissom smiled. Greg continued. "The specimen belongs to a guy in Henderson, no relationship to anyone in this mess. The problem was in the computerized database. It had been altered. As far as anyone can tell, the only person, other than medical staff, to access the it was a computer tech working on a glitch, about four weeks ago."

Warrick's eyebrows went up.

"In house?" he asked.

"No," said Greg, checking his notes. "Some guy from Strati-Tech."

"That fits with what I've got," Warrick said. "Those guys were working on our computers, too. About a month ago. We got a virus and the in-house guy -- What's his name? Steve something?"

"Richards," said Greg. "Steve Richards. I know him. Dayshift. Wimp."

"Yeah, Richards. Anyway, he said he couldn't fix it, so they brought this guy in from Strategy Tech."

"Strati-Tech," Greg corrected him.

"Whatever," Warrick responded.

"It's not 'whatever'," Grissom stated. "It's important. These guys are tampering with law enforcement files. They're accomplices in this -- accomplices to murder."

Everyone was quiet for a moment.

"What else have we got?" Grissom asked.

"I talked to the school bus driver," Nick said. "According to him, there were at least three other vehicles on the street at the time of the murder, but the police only asked him about one. He can't remember what the others were, now."

It was Fromansky's turn to speak up.

"The driver specifically identified your rig," he told Grissom.

"That's because I was there," Grissom responded, impatiently. "The question is, who else was there?"

"Which raises another interesting question," said Sara, addressing the officer. "How did you know to ask the driver, specifically, if Grissom's SUV was at Carol's place? Why not ask about all the vehicles he saw?"

Fromansky frowned and thought a minute.

"I got a call saying Carol was dead," he looked at Grissom, "and you were the suspect. So I asked if he'd seen your vehicle."

"Who called you?" Sara grilled.

"The dispatcher at the sheriff's department."

"And who called her?" she continued.

Fromansky looked very uncomfortable.

"Look, if this was a set-up, I wasn't involved in it," he protested.

Grissom leaned towards Fromansky, studying the man.

"We didn't say you were," he said. "But I didn't kill her. Someone set me up, and I need to find out who."

Glancing around the room and weighing his options, Fromansky pulled out his phone and made a call.

"Cheryl? Vince. How ya doin'?.... Yeah, fine.... Yeah, I need a favor.... No, no. No big deal. I just need a little info for my investigation on Grissom.... Yeah, that one. Can you tell me who called it in?.... Yeah, right, you contacted me and I was first on the scene, but who called it in?.... Yeah.... How did he know?.... Uhuh.... Yeah....I see.... No, no. That's fine. Thanks." He hung up.

The others were looking at him expectantly.

"Officially, it was an anonymous tip," he said.

"Unofficially?" Nick asked.

"Some guy named Steve Richards, from the crime lab. Said he heard a rumor and was calling around to check on it."

"All roads lead to Eckley," Sara said smugly.

"Not quite," Fromansky said. "According to dispatch, Richards heard the rumor while playing the slots at the Rampart."

As soon as Fromansky uttered the name of Sam Braun's casino, Catherine crashed through the door, clearly upset. Ignoring his pain, Grissom jumped to his feet and reached for her.

"Damn him! Damn him! Damn him!" She was yelling, furious.

"Who? What happened? Catherine?" Gil grabbed her by her shoulders and tried to calm her down.

"Sam! That bastard took me for a ride!"

"He takes everybody for a ride, sooner or later," Sara joked. Even Warrick gave her a dirty look.

"No! He forced me into his limo and took me for a ride!"

Gil tightened his hold on her as his own rage tried to surface.

"Did he hurt you? Are you alright?" he asked.

"Yes, yes. I'm fine. I just...."

For the first time, she noticed Fromansky.

"What's he doing here?" she asked. She was still shaking.

"Catherine, look at me," Gil directed. "What happened?"

"He said things," she started.

Gil lead her over to his chair and made her sit down. Then he pulled a stool up to her and took her hand in both of his.

"What did he say?" he asked.

Catherine gave him a quick rundown of the conversation.

"Do you know Steve Richards?" Gil asked.

Catherine thought a minute.

"Yeah. I think so. He's the tech guy on dayshift. Why?"

"We think he's responsible for deleting Millander from the DNA database, Warrick explained. "And he apparently has a connection to the Rampart."

Gil glanced at the others.

"All we have here is conjecture," he said. "We need proof before we can connect Richards to Braun."

"Gil?" Catherine interrupted.

"What?" He gave her his full attention.

"Something else. I lost my temper with Sam. I was going to slap him, but he grabbed me." Gil noticed the red marks on her wrist and swore under his breath. Catherine continued. "Then he said something weird. He said he wasn't going to let me hit him the way I hit Conrad. Conrad, Gil. He used Eckley's first name. And how did he know I hit Eckley?"

"Anything else?" Gil asked.

"Yes. He said Eckley has more ambition than discretion, whatever that means." She slumped back in the chair. "Damn, I should have known Sam would be mixed up in this, somehow."

"We still don't know that for sure," Gil said.

"Of course we do," Catherine responded. "This thing is too complicated for Eckley. He may be involved...."

"I'm sure he is," said Sara.

"But someone a hell of a lot smarter had to be pulling the strings."

"What does Sam Braun have to do with this?" Fromansky asked. "What's his beef with you?"

"Besides the fact that I've tried twice to put him away for murder?" Gil asked.

Catherine interrupted him.

"He's my father," she said. "And he would do anything to destroy Gil."

"He's smart," Gil said.

"And slippery," Nick added.

"And dangerous," said Sara.

"And just look what he's done to the crime lab!" Greg exclaimed. "Everything is crazy over there. Eckley doesn't know what the hell is going on half the time; cases are on hold; Gil and Sara and Catherine are all out of the way; the place is a mess."

"It's a three-for," Catherine said.

"What?" Fromansky asked.

"A three-for. You know, three for one. He takes out Gil, puts heat on me to play ball with him, and manages to destroy the credibility of the Las Vegas crime lab, all in one shot."

"All that I got," Sara said. "But Eckley is still involved in this. I just know he is."

"Then that's what we need," Gil said. "Proof that Eckley has a relationship with Bruan."

"If it's there, we'll find it," Nick said.

"Are you with us?" Sara asked Fromansky.

The police officer glanced around the room before addressing his answer to Grissom.

"I'm on the side of the truth, wherever that leads," he said.

Fair enough," Gil answered.

-- TBC --