A/N: Hey guys. New chapter for you. Will the team get any useful information? I hope you enjoy :)

A huge thank you to my current supporters – Nat, Mrs Crabby, Dbackfan, AliceC, ChristineS, DawnS, Jillian, IngridT, Tracer85, NiniZ, and NancyB.

Always, thank you to calim for the beta, suggestions and friendship :) Mwah!

On we go….

Chapter 26

Catherine's eyes narrowed at the man sitting opposite, his comments about Lucas rather unsettling and he was already giving her a creepy vibe.

"What do you mean by that?"

Gildroy shrugged. "Let's just say there are only so many spots in surgery."

A realization hit Catherine as the argument in the corridor came back to her.

"Did you get a spot in surgery because Lucas is dead?"

"I have nothing else to say about Lucas," came the flat reply.

"I think the other Doctor will be happy to tell us about the argument," Folsom whispered to Catherine. "Let's ask our friend here if he knew Meryl."

Nodding, Catherine looked at Gildroy. "Did you know Meryl Jones, Doctor?"

"No comment," he said after a short silence.

"We'll take that as a yes then," Serena said, "otherwise you would have just said no."

"Like I said, no comment."

"How about Doctor Gil Grissom," Folsom cut in. "Ever heard of him?"

Looking at Folsom, Gildroy shook his head. "Can't say I have. Are we done here?"

"One more thing," Catherine said, pushing a piece of paper and a pencil across the desk. "Can we have a sample of your handwriting please?"

To everyone's surprise, Gildroy picked up the pencil. But, after twirling it between his fingers for a second, he put it down.

"How about no," he returned, pushing the paper back towards her before standing. "I think we're done. If you want anything else from me, you're going to need a warrant."

"Oh, don't worry," Serena said. "We'll be in touch."

Smirking, Gildroy headed for the door, the cop opening it to let him out.

"Lovely fella," Folsom remarked, watching as Catherine took a handkerchief from her pocket and picked up the pencil.

"At least he was kind enough to leave us his print."

CSICSICSICSICSICSICSI

The final nurse on their list sat down and Sara flashed her a smile.

"Good morning," she greeted. "Jennifer Simms, correct?"

The woman leaned forwards. "Jenni," she said happily and then giggled. "Only my mom calls me Jennifer."

Sara's eyes flicked to Grissom and she did her best to keep a straight face. "Thank you for speaking with us, Jenni."

"Oh, you're welcome. Anything I can do to help."

Well, she certainly won the enthusiastic award.

"I'm Sara and this is Gil," Sara continued.

Jenni nodded, keeping her smile. "Pleased to meet you."

Sara smiled back. "You know why we're here?"

Again, Jenni nodded. "Sadly, yes."

"Did you know Meryl?" Grissom asked.

"Yes," she replied. "We worked together a lot. She was always very nice to me."

"What about Lucas Henry?" Sara added. "Did you know him?"

"Yeah. He was nice, too. He used to come in to see Meryl. The supervisors didn't like that if they saw them though because she was very easily distracted by him. I guess you can't really blame them for that."

"No," Grissom agreed. "You can't blame them. For most of us private affairs should be kept out of the work place."

Sara's eyes flicked to her husband and she fought not to smile thinking just how long they had managed to keep their relationship a secret.

"Meryl had a lot of boyfriends," Jenni told them. "She wasn't always shy about it."

Sara entwined fingers upon the table. "Do you know who Meryl was dating before Lucas? Someone else here at the hospital? Someone who perhaps wasn't very happy that she broke up with them?"

Jenni puffed out her cheeks. "Not anyone I can think of. Apart from Lucas her boyfriends didn't really come into our department. I saw her with men in the cafeteria but no one I knew. And she didn't always date people from the hospital as far as I know but she didn't really discuss it that much with me. So, sorry, I couldn't really say."

"So you didn't see anyone bothering her or anything?" Grissom asked.

Jenni frowned as she thought. "Wait a minute…"

Both Grissom and Sara sat up at that comment.

"I do remember something a while ago. I'd had lunch in the cafeteria and I was just leaving. As I walked out into the corridor I saw her having an argument with someone. It was really heated, too, and he was grabbing her arm, raising his voice."

The couple exchanged another look.

Taking notes, Sara cleared her throat. "Can you remember when that was?"

Puffing out her cheeks, Jenni looked up as she again searched for an answer. "Erm, I don't remember exactly, several months ago. Maybe three or four months."

"Can you remember if she was with Lucas then?"

"Yes, she was," Jenni's quick answer came this time. "I know because I found it odd she was arguing with another man especially when it looked more personal than to do with work."

"Do you think," Grissom said, leaning forwards, "you would recognize this man if you saw him again?"

She shook her head. "I doubt it. I only saw the back of him. He had a white coat on so hard to distinguish him from most people here."

"Okay," Grissom replied softly as he sat back. "Is there anyone you can think of who might want to hurt Meryl or Lucas?"

Jenni let out a sigh. "No. But whoever it is, I hope you find them before they can hurt anyone else."

"Me, too," Sara agreed. "Me, too."

CSICSICSICSICSICSICSICSI

Once the interviews were complete, the group decided to discuss their findings back at the lab so as not to have to repeat themselves. After a quick break, they gathered in the briefing room.

"We have a lot to get through, so I'll kick us off," Max began. "I might be repeating what some of you already know but I just want to make sure we are all on the same page." Picking up an evidence bag, she held it aloft so everyone could see. "The letter that Gil and Sara found at Meryl's mothers. We have a positive match against the writing we found on the mirror."

"We don't have a suspect who matches the writing yet though, right?" Chris asked.

Max looked at him. "No. Not yet. Jack Flynn's story also checked out so he is not a suspect anymore and off the list." Next she held up the latex hand. "We now know this came from the Paul Milander murders and after analysis, the trace on it also matches the mirror."

Grissom and Sara looked briefly at each other at that new piece of information.

"That's crazy," Folsom said. "This killer is carrying around stolen pieces of evidence to use it again. Guy is a serious loon."

"I think we can all agree our killer is a few cards short of a full deck," Catherine added.

"You got that right," Beau said.

"So," Max continued. "Most of us have been out speaking with people. Allie and Chris why don't you start us off with anything you got from Summerlin."

The two CSI's looked at each other before Allie took the lead.

"Not a lot if we're honest. Meryl hadn't been there very long and according to the staff and her boss, she hadn't mentioned having any issues with an ex-boyfriend to anyone. Well, from what people are admitting."

"So nothing useful?" Max asked.

Allie shook her head. "No red flags either."

"Well, at least for now we can cross that place off of our list." Max looked at Grissom and Sara. "How about you guys?"

"I think Desert Palms was a little more eventful," Sara replied. "One of the nurses working with Meryl said she witnessed her having a physical argument with a man outside the cafeteria and given the time frame it's likely it happened after she'd split up with our mystery letter writer."

Max looked surprised. "Did we get an ID?"

Grissom shook his head. "No. She didn't see his face. White male in a white coat, short brown hair, about 6ft."

"Basically about 50% of the hospital staff description," Sara added. "But it is supporting our suspicion that someone at the hospital was not happy with our victim."

"Are we thinking Lucas was killed because of Meryl?" Beau asked. "Because that seems to be the way we're heading."

Clearing his throat, Grissom looked at the younger CSI.

"That's how the original case worked. Boyfriend was mutilated because the killer did not like the fact Debbie Marlin had moved on and was dating someone else."

"Poor guy," Beau sighed. "Hell hath no fury like a man scorned."

"Something like that," Grissom returned. "At least in our victim's case."

"Anything else useful?" Max then asked.

"That was about it," Sara told her. "People seemed to like Meryl. Most knew of Lucas one way or the other but didn't have much comment on him."

"There are only two men who work on that ward," Grissom cut in. "One started after Meryl left and the other was not on shift today."

"So we still need to speak with him," Max realized.

"We do," Grissom agreed. "But if you ask me, I don't think our mystery man works in the ward Meryl did. I'm sure the nurse who witnessed the argument would have recognized his voice if he did."

"That's a very good point," Max agreed. "We can send someone back down to the hospital in the next few days to catch the people we didn't manage to speak with today. Just to tie up any lose ends."

"Well, we certainly have some distain in surgery," Catherine piped up. Everyone looked her way as she continued, opening her notes. "Surgical intern, Doctor Braddock Gildroy was very un-cooperative and seemed to have very little love for Lucas. Denied knowledge of Meryl although we got the feeling when speaking to him that was likely not true. He refused to answer most of our questions and would not provide a sample of handwriting." Max's eyebrows soared as Catherine continued. "We then spoke with Doctor Owen Baxter, whom Gildroy was having a pretty nasty argument with while we were in the office. Gildroy didn't want to tell us about it but Baxter was more than happy to oblige with details."

"Baxter told us that Gildroy and Meryl did date about six months ago," Folsom took over. "Gildroy and Lucas also didn't like each other very much as they were both fighting for a permanent position in the main surgical team and Lucas seemed to be winning the race. Baxter was not shy on his feelings for Gildroy. Says the guy is way too gung-ho and doesn't like listening to his superior's decisions. Said he was going to report him to the surgical manager for his attitude and lack of respect for authority."

Max picked up a cup of coffee from the table and took a sip. "Is he Baxter Gildroy's supervisor?"

"Yep," Folsom confirmed. "But you wouldn't know that considering the way he was talking to him. Certainly no respect there."

Putting the coffee down, Max tapped her fingers upon the table. "Do we know how good Gildroy's skills are?"

"We do," Catherine said. "We asked Baxter and he says he's a brilliant technical surgeon, he just doesn't have the right attitude and that he's more likely to cause someone's death by not listening to orders than saving someone. He doesn't want that on his conscience."

"And he had a personal relationship with Meryl which he didn't admit to?"

Catherine nodded. "According to Baxter, yes. And, even though he wouldn't give us a sample of his handwriting…" She leaned over to Folsom and picked up an evidence bag from the table. "I did get his fingerprint being a little sneaky."

"Go you," Sara chirped causing Catherine to smirk.

"Seems like we have a pretty good suspect right there," Chris cut in. "Refusing to talk to us, dated the female victim, hates the male victim who just happens to be dating his ex, and is a great surgeon? Damn, he got the quadfecta."

Rolling her eyes, Max cleared her throat. "Sadly this isn't gambling but I have to admit he's not beaming at us in a very good light is he?" She thought for a moment. "Catherine run the print. See if we can get any hits from it. I'll ask Serena to do a background check to see if anything pops up. However, I do feel that we may be inviting the Doctor down for a more formal visit no matter the outcome. "

"I think that's a good idea," Catherine agreed. "He just gave me the wrong kind of vibes."

Penny raised her hand. "Er… Boss. I just had a thought." Everyone looked Penny's way. "We're talking about this handwriting but there is something we haven't done."

"What's that, Penny?" Grissom asked curiously.

"Well, we are assuming that whoever wrote the note you found works at the hospital. What if they don't? Shouldn't we check other possibilities?" Grissom's eyebrows soared. "We have the letter but we haven't checked the handwriting against one other major piece of evidence that we do have. The sign in book for the vault."

A/N: I do like Penny :) And do we have any viable suspects? Hmm….