Goggled

Disclaimer: Mine no! CBS, Anthony Zuiker et al Yes! Pity :o(
Spoilers: Strip Strangler and LHB
Dedication: To Jac for picking up the slack once again when Aby was too ill to do so And to Vividlyblue1 for giving me back my inspiration
Author's Note: This is a follow up to Strip Strangler but it's set about two years later.The premise being what if Syd Goggle had a friend who had taught Him everything he knew? This is my Challenge Alphabet fic for the Letter R for Revenge.


Chapter 4

Greg Sanders wasn't used to having visits from Dr Albert Robbins. If anything from the coroner's office needed analysing he was more than likely to encounter David Phillips or one of the other assistant coroners each of whom he had a relaxed camaraderie with. Having Robbins standing at his shoulder waiting impatiently for his findings was distracting.

Finally having finished his comparative analysis he turned to the bearded man and said, "Similar polymer definitely from a similar source, but I still can't tell you what they're from?" he saw a disgruntled look mar the older man's face. "I couldn't tell you what Goggle used and I can't tell you what this perp used either."

"That," came a female voice from the doorway, "is the sixty-four million dollar question," and Sara Sidle stepped up to the microscope, "Evening, Doc," she said to the coroner, "Cath says he's doing better than expected but still a bit on the nervous side." They both knew that that was an understatement and would be for a while yet.

Confused by the cryptic message, Greg looked from Sara to Robbins and back again, "Is anyone ever going to trust me enough to clue me in on what's going on?" he asked plaintively, not really expecting an answer.

Sara sighed heavily, "That would be my job, I guess," she replied ruefully adding, "Captain Brass would like to see you in his office, Doc" she told Robbins, "he wants to go over your findings."

As the grey haired coroner limped out of the room leaning heavily on his crutch he heard Sara begin to fill Greg in on the details of who the victim was and what had been done to him. He hoped the young man could cope with it and also that Brass would give him a report on what Grissom had suffered. The injuries he had seen at the hospital had been bad enough and were consistent with an assault like Goggle's. He just didn't understand why the assailant had chosen a male instead of a female like his predecessor and why he had picked Gil Grissom?
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Brass sat scowling as Doc Robbins left the office, the older man shaking his head in disgust. The homicide detective had filled in all the holes for him, but unfortunately the evidence gathered from Grissom himself wasn't doing the same for the case, it was all too generic.

He thought of how embarrassed and afraid Warrick had said Grissom'd been. The lanky Las Vegan had called the detective to tell him they'd had to take more pictures of Grissom's chest because in the earlier ones what had been written had be obscured by blood. Catherine had apparently had to step in when it came to removing their friend's shirt to give Warrick access with the camera. Grissom had found the movement too painful and had been reluctant to display his injuries from the beatings his assailant had given him, it was quite a tableau and had initially shocked the green-eyed man.

Why the perp had felt the need to carve 'GOTCHA' into his victim's chest no one could understand but the doctors were hopeful that it would heal without leaving a mark. Everyone were keeping their fingers crossed they were right for carrying such a reminder through life was the last thing Grissom needed
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Warrick and Nick arrived back at Criminalistics four hours later; they'd virtually taken a magnifying glass to every inch of the crime scene but to no avail. Grissom's assailant had left no physical evidence behind for them to find, all the DNA evidence they had found lead back to Grissom himself and everyone was becoming understandably angry.

"This guy is unreal," Nick said gritting his teeth and biting back the urge to cry out in anger and frustration, "he's every bit as meticulous as Goggle was."

Sara understood how the guys felt, she and Greg had gone over everything Catherine had collected and the evidence Dr Robbins had gathered at the hospital, but it had given them nothing.

"We didn't get Goggle until he wanted some of the lime light," she admitted, "if he hadn't wanted to be seen with the boss we might never have even suspected him."

Warrick sighed, Sara had a point, and if Goggle hadn't brought himself to their attention by making a false statement they might never have even considered him. He didn't see this guy making the same mistake as his friend.

When he'd gone back to see Grissom at the hospital his boss had told Warrick that he had got the impression that his attacker had been incarcerated or hospitalised at the time of the Goggle investigation and death. When asked to explain this, the older man had stated, "He kept referring to not having enough time. On more than one occasion he told me he had to do something differently from Goggle because he didn't have the time or opportunity that his friend had." Grissom had shuddered at the memories and Warrick hadn't wanted to press his friend, but the man had continued, "it was in his tone of voice when he spoke of Catherine only acting like a true friend to me when she shot Goggle," he'd tilted his head sharply to one side and back again, the way he did when he'd just realised something significant, "it was as if he regretted not being there for his friend."

Warrick supposed it was something to consider, but how did it help? How could he apply it to the case? There had to be thousands of people who were released from hospital or finished jail terms every day. How were they supposed to figure out, who out of all those people could be Goggle's friend and want to attack Gil Grissom?

"This is getting us no where," he said, using his tone to attract everyone's attention, they were all gathered in the break room staring at the various pieces of evidence and getting nothing but headaches. " I say we call it a night and start this fresh tomorrow when our heads are clear and we're more rested than we are now?" He paused to see if there were any objections, it was clear that none of them liked this any better than he did, but there was nothing else they could do for now.