Thursday, April 2, 2008; 12:01 PM PST, A Cafe in Downtown San Diego

After an excited call from Ryan followed by a quick fax from MDPD, Jess had decided that her escort "team" and Agent Dewey deserved a cubano break. Well, the Team might not appreciate it as much as Charles and I will, she laughed to herself, as she waited for her second steaming cup of the day to be delivered to their table. She had not informed Charles of the purpose for this meeting in advance, deciding instead to let him wonder a little.

'We got one,' she stated simply.

The two police escorts and the federal agents quickly looked to her, then allowed their eyes to scan the room.

'Not here, sillies. There.'

Blank stares greeted her this time around.

'Jess, you are not making a bit of sense. Where is there and how did we get one of whatever it is?' Charles asked incredulously.

This time she laughed aloud. 'There is Miami; the one is an accomplice of Jacob Evans. My understanding is that one of their detectives, a Det. Frank Tripp, figured out who he was. Ryan and Lt. Caine faxed me Mr. Dominguez's confession just under one hour ago, along with copies of the trigger design for the Miami High incident.'

Federal agents are never supposed to be dumb-struck; this one was. The escort officers were just impressed with one of them stating quietly, 'Who gets a confession that quickly? Must have different techniques over in Miami.' The second officer laughed.

'For your information,' Jess virtually growled at the chuckling offender, 'the suspect opened the door to the officers serving a search warrant on his house with his confession prewritten in his hand. The only thing my friends in Miami had to do was ask a few questions to verify and clarify his statement in interrogation. Ryan was pretty pleased with himself, claims that Horat- I mean, Lt. Caine - even called him by his first name afterward.' She blushed lightly and looked down at her mug.

'Well... did you bring it, Detective "My Friends in Miami"?'

Jess fully ignored the sing-song tone in his voice as she slid a manilla folder across the table. Inside, Agent Dewey found one full type written page, signed, dated and sealed.

**

Certified statement by Mr. Rodrigo Dominguez

Verified by Lieutenant Horatio Caine, CSI Ryan Wolfe and Detective Frank Tripp

RE: Fire/Property Damage Incident at Miami High School, Death of Minor Adrian Dominguez & Involvement of Mr. Jacob Evans

I, Rodrigo Dominguez, hereby swear that this statement is full and complete truth concerning the plans and events of April 1, 2008 at Miami High School.

I have been acquainted with Jay - Jacob Evans - since his childhood and was involved in several criminal activities with him in the late nineties and early 2000s. This criminal activity culminated in my arrest and conviction on charges related to a 2002 armored vehicle robbery. Jacob Evans was the planner, coordinator and lead man on this heist. As previously determined by all of those involved in the robbery, Jay was never implicated by any of us for his involvement in this event.

Two weeks ago I was approached by Jay to assist in the execution of a prank type event at my former place of employment, Miami High School. He sent drawings of a timed device that my teenage son, Adrian, and I built together. I involved my son under the guise of a father-son activity and had no intention of his further connection to the incident once the device was built. Jay instructed me to attach the timer to the fire sprinkler and alarm systems at MHS. He also informed me that another colleague of his would take care of the rest of the details. I followed his instructions exactly as given.

On April 1, 2008, the event at MHS took place. I realized immediately that my timed device had been instrumental in its execution, but was entirely unaware of the connected death. Upon the realization that my son, Adrian, was missing and that a young Latino boy fitting his description had died in the incident, I called Jay - I mean, Mr. Jacob Evans - to confront him about my son's death and involvement. He told me that my son had "screwed up his end of the deal". I do not know what my son was supposed to do to assist Jay.

It was never my intention to injure anyone by participating in this activity, most certainly not my son Adrian. I am truly sorry for the damage that I have caused to the students of MHS and the city of Miami. Mostly I am sad that my son is gone. I wish that I had had the courage to tell the truth about Jay's illegal activities long before it ever came to this.

I have attached all the written communication that I have received from Jacob Evans to this statement.

SIGNED: Rodrigo Dominguez

Date: April 2, 2008

Received and Verified by: Horatio Caine, Lieutenant MDPD

**

'Wow.'

Jess sat back in her cafe chair, sipping her cubano as Charles read the Dominguez statement. 'I know, right? It is amazing.' Her smile grew. 'I cannot wait to get to Miami. Catching Evans is going to be the highlight of my year - gracious, it will probably be the highlight of my career.'

'You know you have more to offer law enforcement than just this one case, right, Jess?' This is big, but not THAT big, is it not? The agent was a little shocked by her excited, yet resigned tone.

'Yeah, yeah. I know. But, honestly, can it really get any better than this? I hate to think that the rest of my time as a detective will be a downhill slide from this point. That is not a lot to look forward to, is it?' She released a breathy sigh. 'But enough of that. Are you ready for Miami? I cannot believe that we will be there in three days to catch this ass!'

He looked down at his paper mug. Glancing sideways at Jess' bodyguards, he dismissed them to the other side of the room with a nod.

'Charles?' she questioned, her voice growing smaller.

'Ummm... yeah... Jess, about Miami...'

'Oh, no. Do not give me an oh, about Miami. You promised me that we would catch this guy... you promised, Charles.' Her voice was barely a whisper as she said the last words.

I am actually dying inside; better yet, I think she is going to kill me. How do I explain this one? You can not just say to a woman "I was planning on helping you catch a murderer who just happens to be stalking you, but here's the thing, along the way I just happened to fall in love with your receptionist who is in the hospital because of..." Well, if I am going to say it, I certainly cannot finish that sentence with YOU. She would really kill me if I did that - and she knows how to hide the body!!!

'Jess, here's the thing - Carissa...'

She held up her hand, her eyes glued to the deep chocolate colored liquid in her mug. Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, she stated simply, 'Oh. I see. No worries. I will just see you later this afternoon to go over the case details that I will need to take with me to Miami. I am briefing Ryan and Lt. Caine at six o'clock Eastern time, so if you could see me by two-thirty today I would really appreciate it.'

The CSI rose, leaving Charles to stare wide-eyed at her retreating form, her bodyguards falling into place at her sides. She never even glanced backward.

Thursday, April 2, 2008; 2:16 PM PST; SDPD Headquarters Layout Room

He watched as she rearranged piles of evidence and chuckled lightly. She'll never remember where she's put everything for her conference. Realizing how conspicuous he looked, staring so fixedly into one of the labs, he knocked lightly on the door with his apology on his lips.

'Jess, look, I - ', he started.

She swept a brief glance toward the sound of his voice before returning to her stacks. 'Agent Dewey, thank you for being prompt in arriving. I just need you to review the case reports on the two attacks on me and Carissa's incident... make sure that I have all of the details in order. That's - that's it, then you can go back to DHS or... well, whatever.'

'Jess, look at me please. I'll take a look at the evidence, just talk to me first. I'm sorry I'm not going to Miami with you.'

'It's not your job, Ag - Charles. None of this was.'

'I'm still sorry I'm not going and you can't get rid of me that easily. We work together, okay?'

The CSI looked at him sideways, then sighed. 'Sorry about my reaction, Charles... it's just...'

'I know, Jess. I know.' He bumped his shoulder into hers and smiled. 'Now let's look at these reports, okay?'

And she finally laughed.