Part 7
Calleigh and Horatio drove silently in the hummer to the other side of town, Bailey was following them in his own car. When they reached their destination the all got out of their cars and joined John Hagen who was already standing in front of the house.
"The suspect's name is Louise Rodriguez. He was in jail for a year for that armed rubbery, spent a year in jail before that on assault charges."
"A real prince" Horatio mumbled under his breath.
They walked up to the door and knocked, a few seconds later it was opened by a large man in his late thirties.
"Mr. Louise Rodriguez?" Hagen verified "We're from Miami police would you mind if we came inside?"
The man hesitated for a second and then allowed them into the living room. Horatio took a long look around the house, looking for signs of anything suspicious - it was a small house the kind that usually didn't have a seller or a basement - nowhere to hide two children, the living room was dusty and dim but otherwise fairly clean, a few small couches, two bottles of bear - one empty, one half full. Nothing out of the ordinary.
"What do you want?" Rodriguez finally spoke, looking between the four of them
"A little over a year ago you committed an armed robbery" Hagen started explaining "The gun you used was never found"
"So?" the man shrugged
"So we would like to see it" Horatio informed him, looking sternly
"I don't have it" the man turned his back to them and took a seat on the couch.
Horatio exchanged looks with John Hagen and Bailey Evans then stepped closer to the man, leaning closer and whispering menacingly in his ear "Mr. Rodriguez the gun...your gun, was used in a crime that involved the kidnapping of two small children. You hold anything from me and I promise you I'm going to make sure you're going to spend a lot of time in prison...Under the terms of your parole if you supplied a weapon that was used in a crime I can put you away for a very long time..."
Behind Horatio Calleigh inched closer to Bailey whispering so that Rodriguez wouldn't hear them "Is that true?"
Bailey shrugged and hid a small smirk at Horatio's tactics.
Mr. Rodriguez however wasn't that amused by Horatio's threats, a frightened look crossed his face as he looked at Horatio who was still towering over him. Horatio, who saw the look and new that he would talk now, nodded his head and signaled for Hagen to take it from there.
*
Erik sat with David at the lab, scanning print after print from the scene into the computer and running them through the database. David proved to be pretty easy to work with and soon they were making small talk and exchanging jokes as they worked.
When they finished scanning the prints into the computer they left the program running and turned their attention to the evidence bag that held the burnt paper.
Erik used a pair of tweezers to carefully take the paper out of the bag. When he placed it on the table they could clearly see that it was actually two pieces of paper stuck together.
"We need to separate these two pieces" Erik said, going over different methods in his mind and ruling them out instantly, the paper was just too fragile.
"Well, I might have and idea" David said suddenly "We can stabilize the paper with parylene polymer and then use water and temperature to separate them"
"Won't that destroy the paper?" Erik frowned
"Well, It's going to be a slow process, we have to spay it with water and then freeze it, letting the polymer shrink so it will sort of peal the upper paper. Then do it again and again until they separate" David explained "When they're separated we'll have to slowly heat the upper layer again so it will straighten back..."
"Ok then, let's get to work..." Erik still sounded a little skeptical but he shrugged and allowed David to place the piece of paper in the vacuum chamber and start the process.
*
Jamie and Speed were sitting side by side, each at his own computer, at the computer lab. Jamie was working on reconstructing the pictures that were left on the hard drive while Speed was trying to trace the IP addresses of the e-mails.
"Well, this is a dead end" Speed announced after an hour of work "The IP address is encrypted and mobile - I can't trace it, I managed to recover the e-mails but I can't figure out who they were sent to. How about you?"
"There are two pictures in here that show anyone other then the kids" she replied, pressing some keys and pulling up a picture on the large display screen. "You see over there in the far background?"
"It looks like a guy sitting down" Speed got up from his seat and moved closer to the screen for a better look
Jamie pressed a few more keys and started zooming in again and again, adjusting the pixels every time until they could clearly see a the guy. He was sitting with his back to the camera in front of a computer, a turned around baseball cap on his head.
"Let's see if I can get a reflection of his face from the computer screen" Jamie zoomed in again, this time on the computer screen.
Unfortunately, it seemed like the man's hand was in the way and all they could make out was part of his chin and lower lip. She repeated the whole process again with the second picture - zooming in on the screen, trying to get a reflection. But again the man's hand seemed to block most of the view.
"It isn't enough for an ID" speed sighed in disappointment and returned to his seat "The e-mails are all addressed to an R.C. - I checked the list Evans gave us and there are four names with those initials - Rodney Carter, Roberto Cruz, Ron Crawford and Richard Castiliano - maybe we should check them all one by one"
"Hold on a second! What was that name again? The second one? "
"Roberto Cruz?"
Jamie closed her eyes, allowing the images to run through her mind, trying to figure out why that name rang a familiar bell with her.
When it finally hit her she nearly jumped out of her seat.
She turned back to her computer screen and pulled up one of the pictures again, zooming in on the guy in the background again. But this time instead on zooming in on the computer screen she zoomed in on the man's head.
Right there on the front of the baseball cap was a red logo - "Cruz International Travel"
Calleigh and Horatio drove silently in the hummer to the other side of town, Bailey was following them in his own car. When they reached their destination the all got out of their cars and joined John Hagen who was already standing in front of the house.
"The suspect's name is Louise Rodriguez. He was in jail for a year for that armed rubbery, spent a year in jail before that on assault charges."
"A real prince" Horatio mumbled under his breath.
They walked up to the door and knocked, a few seconds later it was opened by a large man in his late thirties.
"Mr. Louise Rodriguez?" Hagen verified "We're from Miami police would you mind if we came inside?"
The man hesitated for a second and then allowed them into the living room. Horatio took a long look around the house, looking for signs of anything suspicious - it was a small house the kind that usually didn't have a seller or a basement - nowhere to hide two children, the living room was dusty and dim but otherwise fairly clean, a few small couches, two bottles of bear - one empty, one half full. Nothing out of the ordinary.
"What do you want?" Rodriguez finally spoke, looking between the four of them
"A little over a year ago you committed an armed robbery" Hagen started explaining "The gun you used was never found"
"So?" the man shrugged
"So we would like to see it" Horatio informed him, looking sternly
"I don't have it" the man turned his back to them and took a seat on the couch.
Horatio exchanged looks with John Hagen and Bailey Evans then stepped closer to the man, leaning closer and whispering menacingly in his ear "Mr. Rodriguez the gun...your gun, was used in a crime that involved the kidnapping of two small children. You hold anything from me and I promise you I'm going to make sure you're going to spend a lot of time in prison...Under the terms of your parole if you supplied a weapon that was used in a crime I can put you away for a very long time..."
Behind Horatio Calleigh inched closer to Bailey whispering so that Rodriguez wouldn't hear them "Is that true?"
Bailey shrugged and hid a small smirk at Horatio's tactics.
Mr. Rodriguez however wasn't that amused by Horatio's threats, a frightened look crossed his face as he looked at Horatio who was still towering over him. Horatio, who saw the look and new that he would talk now, nodded his head and signaled for Hagen to take it from there.
*
Erik sat with David at the lab, scanning print after print from the scene into the computer and running them through the database. David proved to be pretty easy to work with and soon they were making small talk and exchanging jokes as they worked.
When they finished scanning the prints into the computer they left the program running and turned their attention to the evidence bag that held the burnt paper.
Erik used a pair of tweezers to carefully take the paper out of the bag. When he placed it on the table they could clearly see that it was actually two pieces of paper stuck together.
"We need to separate these two pieces" Erik said, going over different methods in his mind and ruling them out instantly, the paper was just too fragile.
"Well, I might have and idea" David said suddenly "We can stabilize the paper with parylene polymer and then use water and temperature to separate them"
"Won't that destroy the paper?" Erik frowned
"Well, It's going to be a slow process, we have to spay it with water and then freeze it, letting the polymer shrink so it will sort of peal the upper paper. Then do it again and again until they separate" David explained "When they're separated we'll have to slowly heat the upper layer again so it will straighten back..."
"Ok then, let's get to work..." Erik still sounded a little skeptical but he shrugged and allowed David to place the piece of paper in the vacuum chamber and start the process.
*
Jamie and Speed were sitting side by side, each at his own computer, at the computer lab. Jamie was working on reconstructing the pictures that were left on the hard drive while Speed was trying to trace the IP addresses of the e-mails.
"Well, this is a dead end" Speed announced after an hour of work "The IP address is encrypted and mobile - I can't trace it, I managed to recover the e-mails but I can't figure out who they were sent to. How about you?"
"There are two pictures in here that show anyone other then the kids" she replied, pressing some keys and pulling up a picture on the large display screen. "You see over there in the far background?"
"It looks like a guy sitting down" Speed got up from his seat and moved closer to the screen for a better look
Jamie pressed a few more keys and started zooming in again and again, adjusting the pixels every time until they could clearly see a the guy. He was sitting with his back to the camera in front of a computer, a turned around baseball cap on his head.
"Let's see if I can get a reflection of his face from the computer screen" Jamie zoomed in again, this time on the computer screen.
Unfortunately, it seemed like the man's hand was in the way and all they could make out was part of his chin and lower lip. She repeated the whole process again with the second picture - zooming in on the screen, trying to get a reflection. But again the man's hand seemed to block most of the view.
"It isn't enough for an ID" speed sighed in disappointment and returned to his seat "The e-mails are all addressed to an R.C. - I checked the list Evans gave us and there are four names with those initials - Rodney Carter, Roberto Cruz, Ron Crawford and Richard Castiliano - maybe we should check them all one by one"
"Hold on a second! What was that name again? The second one? "
"Roberto Cruz?"
Jamie closed her eyes, allowing the images to run through her mind, trying to figure out why that name rang a familiar bell with her.
When it finally hit her she nearly jumped out of her seat.
She turned back to her computer screen and pulled up one of the pictures again, zooming in on the guy in the background again. But this time instead on zooming in on the computer screen she zoomed in on the man's head.
Right there on the front of the baseball cap was a red logo - "Cruz International Travel"