Adrian swayed uncomfortably from side to side back at the precinct as Stottlemeyer slowly and silently looked over the evidence they had collected for the case but had not shown him--including the report placing Karen's fingerprints on the rifles and the note found on Marilyn Schmidt's body. The ride back from the restaurant had been a very slow and silent one, and he hadn't liked the look in the captain's eyes during the trip at all.

Finally Stottlemeyer looked up from his desk. "And you all decided to just keep this information from me?" he asked the three of them.

"Look, Captain, we all thought it would be in your best interest," Natalie tried to explain, "The way things have been lately..."

"It would be in my best interest to withhold evidence that could have busted this case wide open before the press jumped up on my back?" the captain rebuffed her.

"Well, the crew insists she was on the set at the time of the murder," Disher told him, "We don't really have much more that can tie her to..."

"Were their statements about that on the record?" Stottlemeyer had another dark look in his eye now, one that gleamed of triumph.

"Uh, well, not, not exactly, but..."

"Then I suggest you go track them down and put her exact location that night in concrete," his superior informed him. When Disher initally did nothing, he added, "That is an order, Lieutenant. Go find them."

"If you say so sir," looking upset at the way events had turned, Disher scurried out the door. Stottlemeyer approached Adrian. "Monk, come with me," he told him, "We're going to take a little ride downtown."

"Do we have to, Captain?" Adrian whimpered. He was truthfully scared by the way his boss looked now.

"I need you, Monk," Stottlemeyer told him, "We are going to put everything in it's place before this night's over, so let's get it over with now."

"Captain if you please..." Natalie tried to intercede again.

"We have to do this," the captain told her, adding when she reluctantly reached for her cars keys, "No. Just Monk and me are going. I don't want you tangled up in this."

"What are you thinking about doing?" she inquired, "Captain, please, don't, it's a mistake!"

But Stottlemeyer wasn't listening. He was half-dragging Adrian toward the elevator. Adrian glanced over his shoulder and sadly mouthed toward Natalie, "It was nice knowing you."


"Please, Captain, I'm begging you one last time," the detective was still pleading as the two of them walked up the driveway to Karen's house, "You're not thinking this through rationally."

Stottlemeyer spun to face him. "Monk," he said softly, "Everything you've got points to her. I am not going to let her get away scott-free if she killed Arthur Schmidt."

"I know what you're thinking," Adrian tried to tackle the problem from another angle, "You're thinking this will get even with her if you can get her for this. I'm not convinced she did it; there's still too many questions about the case. You'll only makes things worse if you go ahead and enter that house right now; you don't know what you're doing!"

"I'm perfectly aware of what I'm doing, Monk," Stottlemeyer growled, his expression uglier than ever. He held up the search warrant he'd managed to procure. "All I need from you is to do your thing and find the one piece of evidence that's going to seal the deal here."

He strode hard up to the door before Adrian could say anything else and rang the doorbell repeatedly. Karen opened the door a crack. "I have nothing to say to you," she told him darkly and tried to close the door. Stottlemeyer stuck his foot in the door. "Well I have a few things to say to you," he retorted, "Open the door, Karen."

"The judge told you very clearly you were not to come into this...!" she started to say.

"I've got a search warrant," he held it up, "I know what's been going on. If you don't let me in, you'll be breaking the law."

"Just, please just let him in, for a few minutes," Adrian begged over Stottlemeyer's shoulder, "There'll be less of a hassle if you'll just go along with this."

"I did not kill Arthur Schmidt, Leland," she told her ex firmly as she backed off the door and let him in, "And you," she pointed an accusing finger at Adrian, "I thought we had a promise you wouldn't say anything."

"It was the lieutenant, honest," Adrian told her weakly, turning away from the harsh glance his boss was giving him, "All right Monk, do your thing," Stottlemeyer told him.

"Uh,.." Adrian quickly turned around in a circle, "Nothing here. Oh well, we might as well go before..."

"Monk, do it for real!" the captain ordered him.

"Please Captain, don't make me!" he pleaded, "This is wrong, I tell you, it's dead wrong! We shouldn't be here!"

"Monk, I've got her prints on the murder weapon, I've got probable cause, what the hell more do you need!?" Stottlemeyer thundered. He spun toward Karen, "Would you like to explain why I might have this evidence while we're here?"

It was Karen's turn to look absolutely murderous. "How dare you even accuse me of that!?" she shouted at him, "If you think for one minute I would be capable of killing someone, then you've got a serious mental problem to go with your pitiful anger management skills."

"Where were you on the night of the murder, and tell me the truth," he asked as calmly as he could.

"I told Monk, I told the lieutenant, I was on the set filming my movie!" she bellowed, "And if you can't trust me,...!"

"If I can't trust you...?" Stottlemeyer let an angry laugh, "I can't trust you? When you've gone behind my back on so many things, I can't trust you? I'm telling you right now, I find you're withholding anything, I will have to prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law!"

"Can I just say something?" Adrian tried to cut in.

"Stay out of this, Monk!" both Stottlemeyers snapped at him simultaneously.

"Just thought I'd ask," he threw up his hands in defeat and prepared for the inevitable. "Karen, I know you hated Arthur Schmidt," her ex continued his offensive, "He was interfering in your big film, you wanted him off your back, so you and James Marshall decided to..."

"Don't you drag James into this, Leland!" she snarled, "He is a good and decent man, unlike SOMEBODY I happen to...!"

"We had him dead to rights in that interrogation room, and you let him walk!" he countered, "I know you sent Tepperman to bail him out! Here's what happened; the two of you got together on the set--I've got ample proof he had a big grudge against Schmidt as well--you both decided your lives would be happier without him, and you lured him to the warehouse, where the two of you...what are you doing?"

For Karen was now dialing the nearest phone. "Hello, state police?" she said to the other end, "Could you please send several units to 4224 Columbus Avenue right away? My ex-husband's here; he's threatening to kill me."

"What are you doing?" the captain was aghast.

"I warned you not to press your luck, Leland," she told him curtly, "Now if you want me to call them off, you'll take your worthless warrant and get off my property now!"

For a moment there was dead silence in the room. Then, much to Adrian's despair, his boss completely exploded. "No!" he roared, carnal rage contorting on his face. He stormed up to his ex and bellowed at the top of his lungs into her face, "I am not going to let you get away with this, not when I have a legal search warrant!"

He made the mistake of holding up the document, which Karen immediately snatched out of his hands and tossed into the fireplace, where it quickly burned up. "Now you don't," she told him off, "And you should have never gotten it in the first place. Now get out."

"I'm not going anywhere, woman!" Stottlemeyer yelled at her, "Not until you admit the truth that you killed Schmidt!"

Karen grabbed a camera tripod lying nearby. "I'll hit myself till I'm bloody and tell them you did it," she threatened him, "Unless you're out of my house in ten seconds!"

"That does it! I'm not a cop anymore!" Stottlemeyer removed his badge and tossed it to the floor. He leaned his chin close to Karen and made sweeping gestures, "Don't hold it back, go ahead and hit me! Come on, you want my blood!? You want my blood!? Go right ahead and spill it, because I'm tired of you taking potshots at me and hiding like a coward!"

"The only reason I tear you down, Leland, is because you misused our marriage from day one!" she barked, "You never trusted me for one minute, and you're suspicious of everything I do! Not to mention you're a menace to society!"

"Don't stop there!" he dared her, "I've taken every abuse imaginable from you over the years; give me all you got! It won't change the fact you're a lying, backstabbing weasel! And you know what else? YOU--ARE--A--TERRIBLE--DIRECTOR! That's right, you make the worst films imaginable!"

"And you are a disgrace to the badge!" she shouted back, "You harrass and intimate people left and right, just like you're doing now! I wouldn't be surprised if that dumb blond ends up in a pool of blood with...!"

"And in case we've forgotten, YOU manipulated me into helping to make your stupid cop documentary--with money I earned, YOU kept tossing me out for no reason, and in the end YOU decided to just walk out on the marriage without bothering to hear me side of the matter!" Stottlemeyer now seemed almost demonic in his rage, "In fact, you never cared what I thought about anything, you ugly, narrow-minded...!"

"...vengeful, violent, arrogant...!" she was almost demonic as well.

"...dishonest, manipulative, ungrateful...!"

"...backstabbing, distrustful snake!"

"...scheming, hateful sack of horse...!:

"WOULD THE BOTH OF YOU JUST SHUT THE HELL UP!!!!?????" the words exploded from Adrian's mouth like a volcano erupting, causing both Stottlemeyers to turn in shock at their source. Glowering darkly, Adrian stormed over to the door and flung it wide open. "Come on in, boys," he proclaimed. For both the Stottlemeyers' sons stood on the porch, clearly having listened in on the entire argument (Adrian had heard the planks creaking for the last three minutes). Not surprisingly, it had clearly had a strong effect on them; Jared was giving both his parents a look of complete betrayal, while Max was in uncontrollable tears. Adrian dared to put his arm around them. "Now I want the both of you," he told their parents darkly, "To take a VERY good look at what you've done!"

Horror swept the captain's face at the sight of what he'd put his sons through. "Oh God, what is wrong with me!?" he lamented, slapping both hands over his face, "Why do I ALWAYS end up...!?"

The sound of wailing sirens filled the neighborhood, drowning him out. The next thing anyone knew, a dozen or so state troopers poured into the house with rifles raised. "Nobody move!" yelled the commander, brandishing his weapon high, "What's going on in here?"

"Oh thank God you're here, officer," Karen recovered first, "He was just about to start choking me." She pointed at Adrian. "Arrest him too."

"WHAT!!??" Adrian's jaw dropped like a rock.

"He's been stalking me under Leland's orders for the last six months," she told the troopers, "He's followed me home every single night."

"That was almost a year and a half ago!" the detective stammered incredulously, "I told you right away I was sorry I ever agreed to...not, not so tight with the cuffs!" he pleaded the trooper who was now handcuffing him, "These don't feel clean at all; when was the last time you washed these? I can't go to jail wearing these!"

There was a shoving sound from the doorway. Marshall appeared from among the troopers. "Karen, are you all right?" he immediately rushed towards her. He scowled toward Stottlemeyer. "So the maniac has returned. Did he harm you?"

"Oh James thank God you're here," Karen threw herself around him, "He was threatening to break every bone in my body."

Stottlemeyer's mouth hung wide open, but no sound came out. "Well don't worry, you're safe now, baby," Marshall swiped at some dust on the coffee table before embracing her completely. "He's never going to hurt you again, not when we get through with him."

"I never touched her or threatened to hit her," Stottlemeyer mumbled weakly.

"She told me lots of time since we met you've harrassed her ever since she left you," Marshall shoved a hand into the captain's chest, "Nobody makes up something like that. Especially given your reputation."

Stottlemeyer hung his head, realizing how deep a hole he'd dug himself into with his rage. "Monk's innocent," he told the officer handcuffing him, "Don't drag him through this."

"These are serious charges against him," the commander rebutted him, "The two of you are both in big trouble. Let's go."

The two men were hauled toward the door. Stottlemeyer looked back at his ex and her boyfriend. "How could you do this?" he asked loudly, but with hurt in his voice rather than anger.

"Because you're a menace, Leland," she told him without any hint of remorse for having made up the assault charges against him, "Now you'll never bother me again. What?" she snapped at her sons, noticing the harsh glares they were now giving her, "You heard some of the things he said! I have to do what's best for all of us, and right now this is what's best for him!"