Grissom wasn't positive, but he was pretty sure that the others had drawn straws to see who got to interview their lead from the animal shelter with himself and Brass. He had found the straws in the rubbish bin in the break room when he went to get a refill on his coffee. One of them was shorter, but the lab was stocked with two types of straws, one for cans and one for bottles, so he couldn't be sure. The fact that there were neither cans nor bottles in the recycling, and that the rubbish bin was also full of discarded coffee cups however, lent credence to his initial hypothesis.

He couldn't say he blamed them. The last hour had been torture. The lead lived out of town, which was why it took him so long to get there, and the waiting from last night had burnt through all of the customary diversions. There had been a rather heated debate that even he had heard between Warrick and Nick over some obscure point of baseball trivia. Grissom had not felt compelled to point out that neither of them were correct, as their discussion kept everyone occupied for the better part of fifteen minutes, at which point they had embarked on an internet search and found their answer. Whoever got to do the interview would be spared that much more waiting.

So it was that Warrick joined him in the interview room, which they conducted in Brass' office for sake of appearances. Catherine had wanted to use the interrogation room so those with longer straws could eavesdrop, but Nick had pointed out that this guy had done nothing wrong and was volunteering to help them. She wasn't happy, but she conceded.

The man that waited for them in a chair across from Brass' desk was a young, polished looking man who was well dressed and had excellent posture, despite his height. Grissom wasn't positive, because the man was sitting down, but he thought that their informant was somewhere in the vicinity of six and a half feet tall. When he stood to shake their hands and introduce himself, Grissom realized he had been close in his guess.

"Thank you for coming in Mr. Anderson." Grissom began.

"Call me Alex" he replied smiling, "My job isn't exactly formal. I usually only get 'Mr. Anderson' from banks, telemarketers, and people who still think it's funny to pretent we live in The Matrix."

"All right then Alex," Grissom continued, smiling at the young man's attitude, "What can you tell us about the kittens and the person who adopted them?"

"Well we always keep records of who gets to adopt our animals." Alex began. "It is fairly unusual for someone to adopt more than two cats, but the young woman who adopted these ones lived outside of town, and had both a big house and a fair sized property. She even took me to the house and showed me the preparations she'd made. It was like she was adopting a human child. Those kittens were going to be spoiled rotten."

"Do you know what her name was?" Warrick asked.

"Yeah." Alex replied digging into his pocket. "Sophie Ellis. It's on this sheet along with her phone number and address."

"Thank you Alex." Brass commended him.

"Hey, I want to find out who did this." Alex said. "Even if whoever killed the kittens hadn't kidnapped those kids. I rescued those kittens myself, and I adopted one of them."

"You've been a great help Alex." Grissom said, rising to shake the young man's hand again.

"No problem Mr. Grissom."

* * * * * * *

Catherine, Sara and Nick drove out to Sophie Ellis' house. It had taken roughly five minutes for Nick to resume his questioning of Sara, and with Catherine along for the ride, Sara was seriously outnumbered. Luckily for Grissom, she was in the back seat, and could avoid eye contact with her interrogators.

"Come on Sara," wheedled Nick "We all know something's up, just tell us already."

"I can't Nick." Sara said for the umpteenth time.

"Did he ask you not to?" Catherine said, making no attempt to conceal the innuendo in her voice.

"No he didn't." Sara replied refusing to rise to the bait "It's common courtesy."

"You've picked a convenient time to worry about common courtesy Sara." Catherine replied. Sara made no answer, but her silence spoke volumes, and it was several minutes before Nick was able to think of a way to change the subject.

They finally arrived at the house, and all of them were struck by its opulence. It was more of a manor than a house, of the type that one expected to find on an old southern plantation, not in the middle of the Nevadan desert. It was of standard architecture, rectangular in shape with five windows across the second story and two windows on either side of the double doors on the first. The stonework around the eaves and on either side of the doors was well crafted, and the bricks themselves shone in the desert sun. Brass and one of his officers who had followed them, got out of their squad car, but did not follow them up the steps.

"It's like coming home." Said Nick, "Except we're three states over and this house was obviously built after air conditioning was invented."

Sara rang the bell. The door was answered by a small woman with dark hair, pale skin and bright green eyes. The overall effect was rather unexpected, but striking and memorable.

"Sophie Ellis?" Catherine queried, and then continued when the woman nodded, "We're from the Las Vegas crime lab, may we come in and ask you a few questions?"

"Of course." Sophie replied in a light voice. She held the door for them and then guided them into the sitting room.

"My name is Catherine Willows, this is Sara Sidle and Nick Stokes." Sophie nodded again as Catherine made the standard introductions. "We were wondering if we could talk to you about your cats."

Sophie's eyes did not become less bright, but something changed in them. All three CSIs noticed, but none new what it was.

"Come with me." Sophie's voice had altered too. She led them to another room as she continued to speak. "I don't let them into the sitting room, some of that furniture belonged to my grandmother. We had a talk and agreed that they could go anywhere else in the house, but they have to stay out of the sitting room."

Sara raised an eyebrow, but Catherine smiled tolerantly. Sophie opened another door, and held it open for them to see.

"There, aren't they beautiful?"

Nick's jaw dropped, Sara's second eyebrow followed the first, and Catherine was at a loss for words. Inside the room were seven bowls for food, and seven filled with water, seven toys, seven pillows, and in the middle of the floor, one tiny cat.

* * * * * * *

"Sophie, this is my supervisor Gil Grissom. He and I would like to ask you some questions all right?" Catherine asked the unruffled woman who sat across from her in the interrogation room.

"Anything Ms. Willows." Was the calm reply.

"How long have you had your kittens Sophie?" Grissom asked gently.

"For about a month." Was the placid reply. "My brother said I should have some company, and he suggested that I adopt some kittens. I didn't know if I wanted seven, but he thought I could handle it. He's much smarter than I am."

"When did you last see your brother Sophie?" Catherine asked

"Yesterday." She answered without missing a beat. "He said he had work to do, and that he had been busy lately, but he always comes to see me. Isn't that nice?"

"Yes." Said Catherine weakly. "Sophie, we're looking for your brother. Do you know where he is?"

"No."

"Do you know what DNA is Sophie?" Grissom asked.

"Sort of." Said Sophie, "It's kind of like super finger prints right?"

"Close enough." Grissom said tolerantly. "Would you mind if we took a sample of you DNA?"

"Will it hurt?" asked Sophie in a timid voice.

"Not a bit." Replied Catherine standing up and walking around the table. "If you would just open your mouth for me."

While Catherine was taking the sample, Grissom left the room and went to talk with the psychiatrist who had been observing with Warrick.

"Based on what I have seen and what Stokes and Sidle told me over the phone, I would say she is under some sort of hypnotic influence." The doctor reported.

"Is that even possible?" Grissom asked incredulously

"I'd like to talk with her myself before I bet the farm on it, but that's my primary."

Catherine and Sophie came out into the hallway.

"Sophie, would you come with me please?" asked the psychiatrist in a gentle tone. Sophie shot a look at Catherine who nodded encouragingly, and then followed the doctor away down the hall.

"I'll run this to Greg, and have him put a rush on it." Said Catherine.

"Are Sara and Nick still at the house?" asked Grissom

"Yes."

"I think I might ask them to bring back a family picture if they see one lying about."

"Is that in the warrant?"

"Yes."

"All right then." Said Catherine. "I'll go talk to Greg."

* * * * * * *

The smell was stronger on this side of the room. Sara pulled the lid off of the laundry hamper and had to restrain herself from crowing out loud. She settled for calling out to Nick, who was in the next room, to come and have a look.

"What've you got?" he asked upon entering.

"I noticed the smell of smoke in this room, so I followed it to the laundry hamper." She replied. "These clothes smell like smoke, and the cuff of the sleeve is just the tiniest bit singed."

Nick had joined her beside the hamper, and when she pulled out the garments to bag them, he whistled through his teeth.

"What?" she asked turning back quickly.

"You hit pay dirt Sara." He replied cryptically, but she understood when he pulled out a pair of jeans that had dirty knees."

"If this matches the soil sample," Sara began but was cut off by her pager. "It's Gris. He wants us to bring him a family picture."

The two of them quickly finished bagging the evidence and Sara took one of the photographs off the shelf as she left. Anxious to get results on what they had found and find out what the others had learned, they left the scene and headed back to the lab.