By midday, the CSI team knew all they could possibly want to know about Isabelle Millander, mother to the serial killer they weren't sure if they were hunting or being hunted by. Irrelevant facts filled their heads until they were brimming with nonsensical information. Then they struck gold.

Mr. and Mrs. Millander had never had a son. They'd had a daughter, Pauline, who had been so devastated by her father's death she'd decided to do whatever necessary to preserve his memory - even if it meant becoming him.

"She was a daddy's girl," Catherine summarised, stifling a yawn with her hand. "Think we can assume Millander's relationship with Mom wasn't as close as the one with his father?"

"It's possible. Or Mom could've disapproved of Pauline's change to Paul." Grissom looked at her carefully, noting the bags under her eyes. "Or maybe we're both way off base. You look tired, Catherine."

Shrugging off his concern, she squinted at the monitor in an attempt at seeing the screen clearer. "I'm fine, Grissom. I'll go when you go."

"That'll be now then." Grissom stood and hid a grin at the look of annoyance that passed over her face. "I don't need a bodyguard, Cath, but we both need to get some sleep. We can pick up where we left off when our shift starts tonight. Go home, get a few hours sleep, spend some time with Lindsey before you have to take her to your sisters."

"Are you feeling okay, Gil?" Letting him pull her to her feet, ignoring the tingling sensation where his hand briefly grasped hers, Catherine couldn't resist questioning his decision. "I've known you to work fifty three hours non stop before. You're not coming down with anything, are you? I was only teasing Sara before but this isn't like you.."

"I'm *fine*," he emphasised the word with an amused grin. "I could do with some sleep.. Must be my age getting to me.."

Rolling her eyes, Catherine fought the urge to snort derisively. "You have more staying power than any guy I know. Warrick and Nick bailed hours ago and they never last as long as you do without sleep.."

The arched eyebrow and the look that accompanied it was enough to send a warm flush climbing up her cheeks. "Would you say you're in a position to compare my staying power with that of Nick and Warrick? Is this something we should talk about..?"

"Okay, I'm going now. You've convinced me you need to get some sleep." Shaking her head, trying not to smile, Catherine walked with him to the locker room. "But you will go home, right? And sleep? You won't stay up doing crosswords all night or sneak back here when you think I'm not looking..?"

After promising he wouldn't, the two walked from the locker room to the parking lot in companionable silence, going their separate ways after exchanging their goodbyes. Grissom shook his head with wry amusement hen he noticed Catherine waiting for him to pull out first, waving to her as he drove passed.

How was he to know there was a chance he would never see her again? Had he any inclination that it was a possibility, he never would have let her go home alone.

Grave shift started as usual - Grissom arrived ten minutes before he should have and was unsurprised to find Nick Stokes, Sara and Warrick were already there, teasing each other mercilessly in the breakroom as they waited for their assignments to be given. It came as no surprise to Grissom that Sara was the one to receive most of the attention that evening, and that the subject was her mysterious date the morning before, but it did make him wonder when Nick didn't join in.

Shaking his head, knowing he'd find out eventually, Grissom continued on to his office, a thick wad of messages from the front desk in hand. When he got there and sat at his desk, he noticed the red light on his direct line was flashing, letting him know he had more messages to contend with.

Pressing play, Grissom listened with one ear as he shuffled through the pieces of paper the helpful clerk had pushed into his hand almost as soon as he'd walked through the door.

He frowned when he saw three of the written messages were from Catherine's sister and the cold knot in the pit of his stomach tightened when he heard the familiar voice of Lindsey Willows come out of the speaker on the answering machine.

"Uncle Gill? Is Mommy there with you? She didn't pick me up from school like she said she would and when we got home, her car was there but she wasn't. Can you ring me at Aunt Louise's house if you know where Mommy is? Or get her to call. Aunt Louise says I can wait up. Thanks, Uncle Gil. Love ya."

The next message began to play as Grissom stood and reached for the phone to call Catherine's pager. The voice he heard made his blood run cold, even before his mind processed the words his caller was saying.

"Hello, Mr. Grissom. I have something that belongs to you. Say hello, Catherine." The tape picked up the sound of a struggle and Grissom winced when he heard the sound of hand meeting flesh. "She's not very well behaved, Grissom. You should have trained her better. Ah, well, that can't be helped now. I thought I'd call and let you know I'll be ending this soon enough. I'm tired of playing games and waiting for the perfect moment. I decided to create my own in the hopes I'd find peace. Don't bother trying to find us, Grissom. If I so much as suspect you're coming uninvited, I'll waste no time in punishing Ms. Willows. Wait for my call and I'll let you know what happens next."

The phone clicked as Millander hung up and the tape automatically rewound itself.

Gil sat frozen in his chair in a state of shock, the messages from Catherine's sister clenched in his fist. Millander had Catherine. She'd been worried about him when she'd been the one in danger. Millander had Catherine. Because she was the tool he could use to hurt Grissom the most.

"Hey, boss." Warrick entered the office with a grin on his face. "You planning to give us any work sometime tonight or.." Noticing something, perhaps the bloodless pallor of his skin, Warrick stopped mid-sentence. "What's wrong?" He looked around when Grissom didn't answer, shifting uneasily when he realised they were one CSI short of a full shift. He and the others had assumed Catherine and Grissom where already holed up together, back to work on the Millander case, but the expression on their supervisor's face seemed to suggest something else. "Is something wrong with Cath? Has something happened?"

Grissom snapped out of the haze he was under at the mention of her name. "Millander has her," the words tumbled out of his mouth, his alarmed blue eyes locking onto Warrick. "He left a message to let me know."

"How considerate." Warrick grimaced and sat down in the other chair, his legs unexpectedly weakened by the news. Not only was Catherine a good friend of his but her being in danger reminded him of Holly Gribbs, a young CSI who'd died while he'd supposed to have been watching her. Every time one of his colleagues was in trouble, Warrick remembered Holly, felt the guilt her death had left on his conscience like a never fading stain and swore he would do whatever possible to prevent it from happening again. "What do we do? Do we know where they are? What did he say?"

Wordlessly, Grissom replayed the two messages on the machine, the one from Lindsey followed immediately by the man who had her mother. For several seconds after the tape had ended, neither man spoke.

"Son of a bitch!" Warrick leapt up from his seat, anger replacing fear, his brown eyes flashing fire. "We can't sit around and do nothing but wait for him. That's what the crazy bastard wants us to do."

"Exactly." Grissom stood and carefully slid the small cassette tape from the machine. "You take this to the sound guys. Try to isolate any sound I the background that might give us a clue as to where they are. Tell Nick and Sara to go to Catherine's house and look for anything Millander might have left behind - either on purpose or by accident. We're going to go over ever piece of evidence he's left us and see if we've missed something. Someone should try and contact Mrs. Millander, too. She might be able to tell us something we don't know."

"I can do that while I'm waiting for the guys to get back to us about the tape." Warrick gave his boss and small nod, amazed at how professional and efficient he could be even when worried about someone who meant a great deal to him- possibly more, Warrick was willing to bet, than Grissom had realised. "Ah.. One thing, boss." His hesitant tone stopped Grissom from leaving the office. "Lindsey and her Aunt. Someone needs to call them and let them know what's going on"

Swallowing hard, Grissom banished the thought that Lindsey could lose her mother so soon after losing her father. That wouldn't happen. He wouldn't let it. "I'll call them. It'll be.. easier.. coming from me." Retaking his seat, Grissom reached reluctantly for the phone. "Can you give Nick and Sara their assignments?"

"No problem." Warrick nodded again and left the office, the small tape held securely in his palm. He didn't envy Grissom's job of breaking the news to Catherine's daughter but he still wished he didn't have to be the one to tell the others that she was gone.

Dialling the number Catherine had left in his address book in case of emergencies, Gil held his breath as the phone on the other end started to ring.

"Mommy? Is that you?" A breathless Lindsey picked up the phone on the fourth ring, her young voice so full of hope it made his eyes well with tears he refused to shed.

"No, Linds. It's Uncle Gil." He cleared his throat, hating that it hurt to talk. "Can you put your Aunt Louise on for a minute?"

"Aunt Louise! It's Uncle Gil on the phone!" Lindsey shouted for her aunt and he was grateful that she remembered to muffle her end of the phone with her hand as she did so. "Uncle Gil? Where's Mommy? Is she okay?"

Lost for words, Grissom could only clear his throat again and feel incredibly relieved when Catherine's sister took the receiver from her niece. "Hello? Mr. Grissom?"

"Hi Louise.. I.. I'm afraid I don't have any good news and I don't quite know how to say this so.. Catherine's disappeared, we have reason to believe it's connected to one of our cases.. We're doing everything we can to find her, Louise. I can promise you that."

His piece said, Grissom sat back in his chair, closed his eyes and waited with dread for the woman's response.