Two days later, Adrian was standing next to Trudy's closed casket at her wake. He was wearing a black tux with black shoes. Her father Dwight was on his left also wearing a black tux, only his looked slightly older than Adrians. He ran a hand through his hair and looked around. He couldn't look at the coffin. He knew deep inside his heart that yes, his wife, his soulmate was laying in there, eyes closed forever. But something also inside, closer to the surface refused to beleive it. He couldn't cry here. Not now. Not in front of all these people. He lookd over and his eyes met with Dwights, they both shared the same thought. They didn't want to be there. They both wanted to go home and grieve in peace.
The entire police force came for the wake. The small army in blue inside the funeral home would have been almost comical, but in this situation, it wasn't. One of the first things Stottlemyer did after putting Adrian to bed after he passed out at the hospital, was alerting the police force on the tradgedy, even as the wake was going on, the police were on the case, investigating what happend to Trudy that day.
Stottlemyer knelt down in front of her casket and prayed for just a moment. He got up and wiped his eyes quickly. He knew that the last thing Adrian needed was to see him crying. He walked to the line beside her coffin and shook Adrian's hand and said: "I'm so sorry buddy. Trudy didn't deserve this." Adrian nodded, unable to speak. The captian moved on to shake hands with Dwight.
Later on; Adrian, Stottlemyer, Trudys parents, and relatives all went back to Adrians house for coffee and dessert. Person after person kept giving Adrian cassaroles and other food items. He thanked them all politely for their kindness. He tried his best to console people who wept to him, but he really didn't care so much. All he cared about was getting through this long, long day. After the end of three long hours, people started to go home. Trudy's parents were amoung the first to leave. He could understand, he knew that they wanted to grieve for their daughter in privacy. Finally, the last consoler left the house, and the only two people there were Adrian and Stottlemyer. Together, the two of them cleaned up. According to Adrians standards, which weren't so high tonight, the cleaning took about 45 minutes.
"Are you sure you don't need me to stay longer?" Stottlemyer asked gently.
"Yes...I'm sure..I think I'm just going to eat something, then go to bed."
"Okay...if you need me, just call me, I will be over here in a heartbeat." He promised.
"By the way, Captain. What happend? How did this happen? To my Trudy?" Monk asked, eyes glistining with tears.
"To tell the truth," the captian started, "I don't know...yet." he added quickly seeing the look of hopelessness on his friends face. He clapped a hand on his shoulder; "I'm sorry."
"It's okay...thank you though. Goodnight." Stottlemyer took the hint and started for the door. "Goodnight Adrian. I will see you on sunday for the funeral." He turned and left.
Adrian went inside and closed the door and locked it. He went to all his cassaroles and threw them all away. He couldn't eat something that another hand he didn't know prepared it. It was too...disgusting. So went to the cabinets to find something to eat. He of course, didn't know how to cook, but he could try. He saw a box of Kraft macaroni and cheese. One of Trudys favorites. He took it out and started boiling water, and following the instructions on the box. After the water got boiling enough, he added the noodles one splashed a little water on him, by reflex he shot his hand down and hit the handle of the pot, he ducked as the pot went flying behind him. It hit the table with a really loud KERSMASH! and all his noodles and water spilled out, all over the table and the floor. He turned the stove off and sank to his knees, covering his head with his arms shaking. Trudy would never have made that mistake. She was an excellent cook and would never have burned herself, or flung the pot against the wall. After about five minutes that way, he got up..and cleaned up the now cold noodles and water. All that took about an hour. Then he made himself a small sandwich and ate that. He couldn't really taste anything. It all tasted bland and plain. He then washed up his plate and knife he had used to make his sandwich.
He ate it and went into his room, and changed for bed. For the last two days, it had been unocupied by anyone by himself, but he still made it and unmade it as if Trudy still slept there. He layed down on his side of the bed on his side. He smelled something familer near him however. It was strawberrys and lilacs coming from her pillow. He flipped over onto his other side, trying to escape that smell. He couldn't. It was everywhere. He felt that familer pressure behind his eyes again. He sat up and took her pillow into his arms. He inhaled deeply. Sensing her all around him. He began to cry then. Unrestrained into that pillow. Loud sobs escaped his mouth as he wept. It was as if every pore he had in his body was pouring out water. After about thirty five minutes, the tears slowed down and stopped. As he fell into sleep, he knew that this would not be the first time he wept like this for Trudy.