A/N: I don't own any of the "Monk" characters and I am not making any money from writing this.
Please forgive any minor spelling or grammar mistakes, English is not my native language.
Tamara Feldman's eye color is actually dark-brown, close to black. Yes, I googled it. (She is the actress who portrayed Kendra Frank on the show. Beautiful woman.) Brad Hunt's eye color (the actor who portrayed Kris Kedder) is blue.
Adrian was croutching next to the Christmas tree, cleaning the area of the floor underneath it with a small broom. A soft Christmas music was playing on the radio. Natalie, who was sitting on the couch near by, reading a book, looked up at him one more time. The floor looked perfectly clean to her, but again, it had half an hour before too.
"How long are you going to do that?", she asked, almost annoyed.
"Until my floor is spotless", he explained calmly.
"Why not just put some protective plastic around?"
"That would kill the mood." He groaned. "You and Julie gave it to me five Christmases ago. The complete cleaning kit, actually. You should be proud."
Natalie giggled, her gazed stopping on the dining room table-now covered with bunch of papers, all meticulously organized. "What are all those materials?", she asked. "You only said they were about the case."
"Julie printed those out for me", Adrian explained. "News reports about Greg Stork, the trial, photographs... maybe that can lead us to his pen pal. Or another person with the motive. I've been going over those materials for the last three hours, still nothing conclusive."
"One doesn't necessarily exclude the other, right?", Natalie suggested.
"True", Adrian agreed.
Short silence ensued. Adrian was, surprisingly, getting to the end of the cleaning.
"So... Molly will be over for Christmas?", Natalie asked softly.
A smile appeared on Adrian's face. "Yes, I heard from her yesterday. She'll be over."
"I'm glad. I like her."
Adrian chuckled. "Who could not?"
Finally, a few minutes later, he got up, dumped the waste into a near by plastic bag, closed the bag, stood up, walked over to the near by trash can, and threw the bag in it. He carefully put the broom in the box that contained his cleaning kit, before taking his gloves off and throwing them in the trash can too. Feeling tired, he walked into the kitchen and took a bottle of Sierra Springs water from the refrigerator. He took a sip, walking into the dining room as he did. His eyes were instantly glued to the case materials again. He skimmed over all the information once again, thinking hard...
And then he froze.
"Veronica Miller", he whispered.
Natale looked up at Adrian. "What about her?", she asked.
"She writes columns", Adrian explained, not looking up. "About the rock music. She has referenced to Greg four times in the last seven months, even though he had been incarcerated for four years and her columns are mostly about the latest hits and the current condition of the rock industry."
Natalie tilted her head to the side. "Well, that doesn't have to mean anything."
"Maybe", Adrian admitted. "As far as we know, Greg didn't receive any newspapers or magazines on a regular basis."
He sat down at the table, deep in thought. He was reading all the works written by Veronica carefully, obviously not convinced that it was all a coincidence. Sensing his doubts, Natalie observed him for some time, then put the book away, stood up, walked over to the table, pulled her smartphone out of her pocket, and began typing.
"What are you doing?", Adrian asked, noticing her presence.
"Checking Veronica Miller's Facebook page", Natalie explained calmly.
Adrian frowned. "What?"
"That's a social media site", Natalie elaborated, not looking up.
She was awarded with a long silence and a confused glare from Adrian.
"She writes about herself on the Internet", Natalie said, finally aware of Adrian's confusion.
"Why would anyone do that?"
Natalie stopped in her tracks, staring at her phone screen with wide eyes. She gulped before speaking up. "A month ago, she posted a link on her Facebook profile... a link to a news article about the prison." She looked up at Adrian. "There is some danger over the prison library getting closed down so they need volounteers, possibly donations, to keep it going."
Adrian looked her in the eyes, a smile appearing on his face. "And the possibility of this being a coincidence ends here", he concluded proudly.
"Wait till you see her last Facebook activity. The notification at the top of the page."
"What does it say?", Adrian wondered, standing up.
"It was posted by her family", Natalie said. "Veronica died recently. Two days before Greg was murdered. No specific details about her death on here though, it is just described as a "tragic accident"."
#
Adrian was walking around Veronica's house, observing every corner carefully. The staircase in the hallway near the living room was leading up to the bedroom. Leland and Natalie were standing by the side. All three had latex gloves over their hands and booties over their show bottoms.
"She didn't show up for work", Leland explained. "Wouldn't answer any calls. Her friend came over to check on her. The front door was unlocked, she walked in, started looking around. She found Veronica on the bottom of the stairs, dead,. Several broken ribs, right leg broken, cracked skull. It looked like she slipped and fell. Some scuff marks on the top of the stairs, one of her slippers was found there. No other injuries, no signs of a struggle, nothing under her fingernails... case closed."
"Her friend had an alibi?", Adrian asked, still looking around. He was slowly climbing up the stairs.
Leland nodded his head. "Yup."
Natalie looked at one of the windows in the back of the house. "It looks like she usually kept this window unlocked... somebody could have easily sneaked in and out. Maybe walk up the stairs, lie in wait near the bedroom door..."
"It is weird that there was no signs of a struggle, nothing under her fingernails...", Adrian noted, still walkinh up the stairs. "If she were to lose balance, she would likely grip at the or the wall, trying to save herself... both appear to be within the arm's reach."
"You think that somebody incapicated her before throwing her down the stairs or quickly straddled her and overpowers her, then pushed her to her death?", Natalie suggested.
"It is possible."
"Or maybe she just had a really bad luck. That is possible too."
Adrian finally stopped in front of Veronica's bedroom door, having noticed something on the floor. He observed the clue for some time, before croutching next to it and taking a closer look. He didn't say anything.
"Something wrong?", Natalie asked, walking up the stairs, towards Adrian. Stottlemeyer followed her.
"Scratches", Adrian explained, running his fingers over the damage on the floor. "On the hardwood floor, near the bedroom door. Close to the place from where she fell to her death." He took one more look at the scratches, then examined his latex glove closely. "Fresh. No rottingness. There are still traces of wood dust on the floor."
Without another word, he pulled the hankerchief out of his pocket, carefully slid the vlade in the crack between the two floor boards, and used it to pull the item wedged in there out, carefully. He held it with his thumb and index finger gently, then looked it over.
"Something metal", he noticed. "It got stuck in there recently. No rust, barely any dust or dirt..."
"That's a guitar pick", Natalie said.
Adrian observed the item closely. His face fell. "I saw similar ones in Kendra's house", he said.
He stood up slowly. Leland bagged the pick as evidence. Adrian moved inside the bedroom with a sulk. He examined the bed sheets and pillows, looked under the bed, inside the bedroom closet, inside the bathroom near by, inside the bathroom cabinet above the sink.
"All the women's clothing, of the S size... one toothbrush, one kind of toothpaste..."
He stopped in front of the writing desk, observing the chair in front of it carefully.
"You noticed something?", Stottlemeyer asked.
"The computer chair. It is positioned for the somebody between 5'8 and 5'10 tall." He looked up at Stottlemeyer and Natalie. "I read the autopsy report. Veronica was 5'5."
Natalie sighed. "Now we know why there was nothing incriminating found on her laptop."
He started going through the drawers, examining papers and files placed in there. Eventually, he closed all the drawers, straightened himself up and sighed.
"I'd have to examine it all later", he informed them, "but there doesn't appear to be anything suspicious in there... column drafts, news clippings... But the bottom drawer... all the papers had been pushed to one side, even though the whole drawer could be used to store them... there would probably be some space left too. Like something else was in there... something of the significance to her... something that has either been re located or disposed of."
"Such as her letters to Stork", Natalie suggested.
Leland looked at Adrian, then Natalie. "You do understand that none of that exonerates Kendra, right?"
#
Adrian walked into the interrogation room slowly, closing the door behind silently.
Kendra, already sitting at the table, looked up at him. She was quiet, and looked even paler. Thinner almost. The camera near by was running. "I have nothing to say to you", she said, barely controlling her anger. "Nothing more than I have already said to your cop bodies."
Adrian glared at her, sitting down. Kendra continued, her tone of voice almost a mocking one.
"No, I didn't murder Greg Stork. No, I didn't murder Veronica Miller. No, I don't have an alibi for the time of her death. No, I don't know how my hair ended up on that envelope or how that guitar ended up at Veronica's house. And no, I don't know who would want to frame me or how."
Adrian flinched. He kept quiet for some time.
"They thought that somebody... who is not a cop... would be... good for you", he admitted, trying to sound non-threatening.
"You are all the same", Kendra accused.
Tense silence. Adrian felt himself sweat. He didn't like that. Kendra's jaw was clenched.
"Look. I am sorry. Because of your... situations. The... prospects that you face." He grimaced. "I was in prison once. Undercover. And there was one time when I was framed... actually, that is my point. I am seriously considering."
"I wanted to kill him", Kendra admitted under her breath, her face pale.
Adrian gazed at her, titlting his head to the side. "Just so we are clear, we are talking about Greg... Greg Stork", he assumed. "Am I right?"
Kendra looked up, wiping her eyes. "Yes." She sighed. "I wanted to kill him, but I never did. And I definitely didn't kill that... Veronica Miller either." She chuckled bitterly. "I was actually relived... when I learned of his... murder." "And now, that will ruin my life."
"Well, Greg did murder your friend", Adrian said, unsure of how to respond to Kendra's behavior.
"Kris was more than my friend", Kendra whispered, looking away.
Adrian stared at her for a few seconds, a realization settling in. "Blue eyes", he whispered.
Kendra shuddered and looked up at him, her eyes watery. She didn't say anything. Adrian continued.
"Your daughter has blue eyes. Yours are black. But Kris'..."
"That doesn't prove anything", Kendra hissed.
"No, but it is enough to confirm my suspiciouns", Monk stated calmly. "The police can always make the DNA test. For prosecution, that would make the... "revenge motive" seem even more believable."
Kendra shivered, snickering at him. "You remember what was Kris' eye color?"
Adrian shrugged. "I have a very good memory. And this investigation forced me to re-examine that murder case."
Kendra looked Adrian in the eyes, her lips quivering, her eyes filled with pleading. She fondled her hands together. "Please, get me out of here", she begged. "I just want to spend Christmas with my daughter. She's... the only light in my life. The only family I have. Please."
Adrian managed a small nod.
