Back in the B-plot, Hagen is stopping by to check on Calleigh and make sure she's not distracted by any more special requests from Horatio. Or maybe he's just stopping by, since their originally antagonistic relationship seems to have melted under the warm sun of their smiles toward one another. As it turns out, Calleigh did pull a print off the dud round, and she finds a match in a database for Miami employees. The proud owner of the fingerprint is one 22-year-old Brad Kenner, proud employee at Sunrise Harbor Security.

And boy, does Brad look young. He denies knowing Dennis. Hagen asks menacingly, "Then how'd your bullet get in him?" Calleigh tags in with a picture of the evidence, saying, "You put this bullet in the magazine. That's your fingerprint." Brad claims to have never met the guy, and we head into round two of, "Oh, yeah? Explain the bullet." Calleigh tags in with, "Brad, I don't think you understand the evidence that we have. Ridge analysis says you, and only you, loaded the gun, and I can tell you exactly where you keep it. You keep it in your basement, or you keep it in your place of employment at the loading docks, and the reason that I know this is because humidity caused the primer to malfunction. There aren't a lot of basements in Florida, so my bet is, it's at the loading dock." Hagen generously offers to drive over and recover the gun. Alexx is watching all of this behind the one-way glass, outside the room. Brad buckles a little: "It's not my gun -- it's a friend's." Hagen asks, "What's his name?" Her name turns out to be Julie Harmon. The thud as Alexx's jaw hits the floor is barely audible. Brad supports his story by producing a candid snap of his older mistress. Calleigh's keeping one eye on Alexx, trying to make a connection of some sort, and as Brad natters on about the affair and Julie giving him the gun with orders to shoot her husband, Alexx heads out. Calleigh catches her in the hall. Alexx explodes, "Why would she lie to me? To my face! Why would she have me sit there and tell her kids their daddy passed, like she had no idea why? My friend! To my face!" The range of emotions Alexx expresses in that rant -- grief, anger, betrayal, regret -- is phenomenal. Khandi Alexander is one of the best actresses working in television, and it is criminal how little she is used on this show. To her credit, Emily Procter doesn't get blown off the screen in this scene -- something that happened frequently on The West Wing, in my opinion -- and Calleigh says, "I don't know. But all I know is she is not your friend right now. She's a suspect, and anything you do or say can jeopardize the case, and I think it would probably be better if you just threw everything over to Jones -- tox, final report. I think you should just turn the case over." With that one statement, Calleigh's just generated more goodwill from me than the previous 22 episodes did, total. Nice job balancing concern for her friend with her appeal for professionalism. And bravo to somebody for finally stating the obvious and getting Alexx the hell off this case. Alexx asks angrily when Calleigh and Hagen are going to interview Julie; Calleigh says firmly, "I think it would be better if you didn't know the particulars of this case anymore." Alexx visibly crumples; she's on the verge of tears as she agrees. Calleigh watches her go, then slumps, totally drained. Ladies and gentlemen, I do believe we've just seen my favorite scene of the season. Well done!