Monk

Chapter One

Lisa Turner walked down her flight of stairs and made her way to the front door. "Frank," she called to her husband as she hastily put on her coat. "I'm going to the store to pick up some things, do you need anything?"

Frank Turner, who was sitting at the kitchen table, looked up from the newspaper he held in his hands. "No, just remember the milk," he said.

Lisa opened the front door and grabbed her pocketbook. She walked out of the house and down her driveway to where her dark van was parked. She reached into her bag and muttered under her breath, "Keys…keys…" Rummaging through her pocketbook, she pulled out a short nail filer, a hairbrush, lipstick, fingernail clippers, and, finally, her keys. Shoving the remaining contents back into the bag, she unlocked her car and opened the front door. She stepped inside and sat down in the driver's seat. After starting up the car, she placed both hands on the wheel and turned around in her seat, where a young man was stretched out in the back seat, eyes closed. His face was pale and his eyes dark, and his arm was dangling limply over the seat. He was dead. "Good morning Robert," Lisa said quietly to the body. "Are you ready to go for a drive?" She turned back around. She pulled out of the driveway and slowly drove down the street. On the ground, next to where her car had been parked, her nail filer was lying on the driveway.

Lisa pulled her car into a dark alleyway and got out. She opened the back door and two limp feet dangled out. Lisa reached into her pocket and pulled out a pair of rubber gloves. After slipping them onto her hand, she reached into the car and carefully took hold of the body's ankles. Making sure that no one was watching, she pulled the body onto the ground and dragged it to the side of the building in front of her. She lifted the body carefully and placed it sitting upright against the wall. Its head fell onto its shoulder, and its mouth was slightly ajar. Lisa stared at the body for a moment then walked back to her car. She took off her gloves and put them into her pocketbook. Without looking back, she got back into the car and drove off.

It was the early afternoon, and Adrian Monk and Natalie Teeger were in the police station along with Captain Leland Stottlemeyer, who was leaning against the wall in boredom. Mr. Monk was carefully adjusting his shirt collar, and Natalie was watching with apathy. As Monk began to neatly stack the papers on one of the desks, Lieutenant Randall Disher came into the room. With him was a young, thin teenager no older than sixteen. His face was panic-stricken and pale.

"Um, Captain," Lieutenant Disher said, turning to Stottlemeyer. "This is…" he paused for a brief moment. "This is Mr. Randy Fisher," he said, turning to the boy standing next to him. "He's reporting a body in an alleyway on Main Street."

"Randy Fisher?" Captain Stottlemeyer repeated. He looked at the boy and then back at Lieutenant Disher.

Monk, who had been preoccupied with the papers, turned around to face Randy Fisher. "Um, excuse me," he said, lifting his hand. "You've got something," he reached his hand toward the boy's shirt, "on your shirt…" He pulled a small shard of glass off of it and held it up to the light. "Glass…?" he said, looking back at Randy Fisher.

"I," Randy Fisher said quickly, "broke a glass at my house. It must have-"

"Come off on your clothes…" Monk interrupted. He looked at the many pieces of glass on the boy's shirt. "Did you," he began and looked down at the ground, "lie down where you dropped it, on your stomach?"

"Uh…" Randy Fisher said, looking at Captain Stottlemeyer then back at Monk. "I don't…"

"Mr. Monk," Natalie interrupted, stepping forward. "I think we should probably be concerned about the body...The dead body."

Monk lifted his eyes off the ground and looked at his partner. "Oh, right," he said, looking back at Randy Fisher, "the body. Where did you find it?"

"Down the alley on Main Street, right next to my apartment," Randy Fisher said, his voice quivering. "At first I didn't think he was dead, just asleep, or something…"

"He checked his pulse," Lieutenant Disher cut in, "nothing."

"Do we have the body?" Captain Stottlemeyer asked.

"No," Lieutenant Disher replied. "Randy, uh, Fisher just came in. When he found out the guy was dead, he ran right here."

"So, it's still sitting out there?" Captain Stottlemeyer asked.

Lieutenant Disher looked at Monk, who was looking Randy Fisher up and down. "Yep," he said.

Captain Stottlemeyer sighed. "Alright, let's go," he said.

"This is it."

The police car stopped in front of the alleyway and the doors opened. Captain Stottlemeyer, who had been driving, got out first. He looked down the dark alleyway. Natalie got out next and stood beside him. The back door opened, and Monk got slowly out of the vehicle. He brushed himself off and went to stand with his partner. Randy Fisher and Lieutenant Disher both got out and walked over to where the rest were standing.

"He's right down there," Randy Fisher said, pointing, "sitting against the wall."

Captain Stottlemeyer coughed and Monk handed him a tissue. "Alright," Captain Stottlemeyer muttered, "let's get this over with." He walked into the alleyway with Lieutenant Disher, Monk and Natalie following close behind. Randy Fisher stayed by the car and watched.

"Well, I can smell it," Captain Stottlemeyer said, coughing into his arm.

The four of them continued walking until they reached the end of the alley.

"Nothin'," Captain Stottlemeyer said in annoyance, lightly kicking the wall in front of him.

"This is where he said it was…" Lieutenant Disher said. He turned around toward Randy Fisher, who was waiting outside the alleyway. "Where's the body?" he called, raising his arms.

Randy Fisher looked at him in confusion. He ran up to them and said, "It should be right here." He pointed at the wall. "It was right here. I saw it."

Monk looked at the wall carefully and squatted in front of it. "There's a button," he said after a few moments, "right here." He looked up at Captain Stottlemeyer. "There's a button."

Natalie crouched beside Monk and picked up the button. It was small and brown. The two stood up and looked at Randy Fisher.

"Is it yours?" Monk asked as Natalie held the button up.

Randy Fisher shook his head nervously. "It might be his," he said quickly. "He was wearing a button-up shirt."

Monk walked past Randy Fisher to the opposite side of the alley. He looked at the ground. "There's a trail of water coming from this puddle," he said, pointing to the small puddle on the ground. "It goes," he followed the trail, "right to the spot where you claim the body was." He looked at Natalie. "He must have been dragged," he said after a pause.

"So…" Lieutenant Disher began, "he wasn't killed here. He was taken here."

"Right…" Captain Stottlemeyer said. "And that helps us how?"

"Someone was disposing of the body…" Monk said, taking a few steps away from the wall, "or maybe they were just keeping it here…to come back for later."

"Why would they want to come back for a dead body?" Natalie asked.

"I'm not sure…" Monk said, walking back to the opposite wall. "But they used a car." He pointed to a small mark on the brick wall where something had hit it.

"What's that?" Captain Stottlemeyer asked, walking up to it and looking at it closely.

"It's a mark left by a car door," Monk replied. He put his hand next to it. "It's the perfect height. When they opened the door, it slammed into the wall, leaving this…"

"This mark isn't that low," Natalie said, walking up to the wall. "It was a bigger car, a truck, maybe."

"Or a van," Lieutenant Disher suggested.

"Right," Captain Stottlemeyer said, "So, so far we know that the body was probably dragged, he was wearing a button-up shirt, and whoever brought it and/or took it was driving some sort of large vehicle, like a van."

"Or a truck," Natalie said.

"Or a truck," Captain Stottlemeyer said.

(i'll add more, this isnt the end of chapter one)