Monica West

**Monica West** (Bellamy Young) is the main villainess of Season 4 of *CSI: Miami*.

## Introduction

Her first appearance occurred in episode 4.09, "Urban Hellraisers," when she visited a Miami hospital where her fiancé Special Agent Peter Elliott was laid up after he was shot. Calleigh Duquesne (who he asked out to dinner to celebrate his engagement) identified herself as the woman who rushed him over, with Monica thanking her for saving his life, after which the former showed the latter where his room was.

Episode 4.10, "Shattered," had her being assigned Eric Delko's case after he was arrested by Rick Stetler for buying marijuana from Johnny Nixon. However, upon learning about Johnny himself being Rick's source, Monica decided that he was untrustworthy due to his criminal activities—including his involvement in the murder of rival dealer Jay Fisher. Horatio Caine also noted that Eric's urine sample was passively exposed to marijuana, which was why it tested positive for the drug, culminating in her dropping the case.

During the opening scene of episode 4.11, "Payback," Monica spoke at a press conference, expressing her well wishes for Brian Lexington following the discovery that he was not guilty of raping Valerie Naff. She also declared that the strength of Florida's criminal justice system only increased with technology's advancement before introducing the DNA analyst who cleared Brian's name: Natalia Boa Vista.

## Heel Turn

The first indications of her true colors came out in episode 4.12, "The Score," when she argued that the amount of marijuana that Marisol Delko (Eric's older sister and Horatio's wife) exceeded what was needed for self-treatment of pain caused by leukemia. Horatio inquired about how she obtained that information so quickly, with Monica's response being to declare that the Delko siblings and the Miami-Dade Police Department Crime Lab had serious issues. When she was pressured for an answer, the ASA walked away and stated she would not give her source's name.

In addition, once she found out that three of the five bags in Marisol's possession contained herbs, she accused Eric of tampering with them and vowed that he wouldn't get away with it. However, upon interviewing Marisol's drug dealer Keith Gifford, she was disappointed to hear him recount selling her two bags of weed and the three herb bags. This forced her to drop the charges against her down to only a misdemeanor.

More of Monica's arrogance was shown in episode 4.18, "Double Jeopardy," which saw her storming into the lab following her discovery that Horatio talked to a federal prosecutor about having Melissa Rowe's murder tried as a hate crime given that her husband Stephen was a neo-Nazi. She chastised him by claiming that what he was doing was a waste of time, along with stating he should be bringing cases to prosecutors that they would win. Horatio did so by delivering three airtight murder cases to Monica, including Melissa's.

## Reveal/Arrest

The depths of Monica's villainous personality fully showed themselves in the Season 4 finale, "One of Our Own," in the aftermath of the FBI's takeover of the lab—which took place after $12,000 confiscated following a raid on infamous drug cartel Male Noche went missing from an evidence envelope. She informed Horatio of her knowledge about how he wanted to speak to Memmo Fierro (Marisol's murderer), with the latter stating that it was part of the investigation into MDPD Officer Aaron Jessop's death. Making her skepticism known, Monica warned him that escalating the situation would ensure that she never took Memmo to trial.

In the episode's climax, she was exposed as the mastermind behind the FBI's probing of the lab, with her motive for her ruthless actions being to advance her own career. As it turned out, Monica had planted Natalia as an informant and mole, hoping that the information she supplied to her would help build a case against Horatio and his colleagues. However, as Natalia herself stated to Calleigh (after Eric deduced her role), she only reported positive results in order to defend their integrity; the source who provided Monica with damaging information about the lab was divulged to be Peter, who did so unwittingly.

Upset at Natalia's inability to discredit the lab, the deceptive woman resorted to more dastardly measures. Additionally, it was shown that she was with Peter while he was counting the money confiscated during the aforementioned raid, which he had signed out of the lab. Once her fiancé's back was turned, however, the evil opportunist stole the $12,000 and put it in her purse. After that, Monica anonymously called the FBI regarding the "missing money," which led to their investigation into the matter.

Calleigh figured out that Monica was responsible; she had Peter record his fiancée in order to verify her suspicions. As she expected, the villainess boastfully admitted to everything, claiming she was providing a service and that the lab should be investigated. At that moment, Calleigh resurfaced and confronted her, disclosing that the confession was caught on tape before showing her proof of it. Shocked over Peter setting her up, Monica was subsequently arrested for tampering with evidence, after which she was permanently disbarred and fired—with Peter breaking off his engagement to her as well.