Damon Brown had been a staple in the California penal system for nearly 40 years. He graduated Magna Cum Laude from Stanford University in 1972 and first served as an aid to the Attorney General of California before switching gears and founding his own law firm in 1975. He seldom lost a case, and soon his skill at legal argument merited him various distinctions within the California Bar Association, making him the youngest lawyer to ever attain the honor of Attorney of the Year by that Institution.

In addition to his already busy career as a practicing attorney, he taught law classes at Berkeley from 1979-1988 and then ran for Attorney General himself in 1990. He narrowly lost that race to a former prosecutor from Los Angeles. Undeterred, he used his immense personal wealth and influence to buy himself a role as Inspector General for the State of California where he served under several administrations and from there went on the national stage where he served as Stoddard's Predecessor's Intelligence Chief for eight years.

Now, at 68 years old, he had returned to California to his practice which now had associate branches throughout the state; and, he had returned to teaching law at Berkeley, the one area that he felt he could make an enduring difference.

He had lived a hard and fast life and these days, he didn't bother with anyone that he didn't have to. In fact, he did whatever it was he wanted to do. One of the richest men in the nation, he didn't have to work if he didn't want to. But, Brown loved to stay busy and therefore he did. He routinely had people from the legal world, from the media, and from the political world knocking on his door asking for an audience and he routinely turned them away. They bored him, and the last thing he wanted was to be bored.

However, when he received Adrian Monk's phone call, it was different. It wasn't his position as second in command at the FBI that did it for him, but it was Monk himself. He had watched Monk his entire life and career. As a defense attorney he even tried to model his skills after what it would take to be able to beat Adrian in court. He had never actually worked a case with Adrian and those skills were never put to a direct test. Still, he imagined what it would be like. Now, he was going to meet the man and see how that remarkable mind worked. Mind you, he considered himself Monk's intellectual equal, but that fact in and of itself was a delightful prospect for him as well – because there were precious few that actually fit in that category. When he received the call, he accepted the appointment without hesitation.


Adrian walked down the familiar halls at Berkeley with Leland at his side. He hadn't been on campus since his college reunion in 2006. The hallways hadn't changed a bit, though surrounded by all of the young college students made him feel ancient.

"Scuse me, gramps." Said one young man who bumped into him in the hallway on the way to go meet his girlfriend who was standing with a few others in their late teens. Oh, how he remembered those days – to be young and idealistic again… or at least to be young.


Brown's office was on the second floor, down the hallway, where the head of the criminology department used to be. Adrian knew this because before he met Trudy, he spent much of his private time organizing and reading through the extensive number of case files that the Professor had gathered together in order to instruct his students. It's where he learned, at least on paper, how to be a cop.

When they reached the door, Adrian took out a wipe and used it to open the door leading into the office, then he let Leland go in before him.

Brown looked up.

"Can I help you?" he asked before spotting Adrian. "Oh! Adrian! Adrian Monk! We finally meet!" he said, standing and walking right past Leland to shake Adrian's hand. Surprisingly, the handshake itself was not the firm confident one that Adrian was expecting, but a slightly clammy weak one, not unlike a fish as it flaps around on the shore. "Please! Come in!"

"Thank you, Mr. Brown." Said Adrian uncomfortably, while wiping his hand with the wipe he used to open the door.

"This is..this is Police Commissioner, Leland Stottlemeyer from the San Francisco PD."

Brown finally looked towards Leland. "Stottlemeyer…Stottlemeyer…oh, yes…didn't I beat you in court once?"

Leland pursed his lips and looked slightly embarrassed, "Yes. I'm afraid you did."

"Ah yes. I thought so. Case where my client assaulted the prosecutions' witness. Thomas Farmer, I believe." Brown said.

"You have a good memory. And, it's also good to see that you now admit that he assaulted the guy." Said Leland.

"Yes. I do have an excellent memory, Commissioner. I never forget a thing." Said Brown. "Much like our dear, Mr. Monk here – or should I call you Deputy Director?"

"Adrian…Monk. You can call me by my name. Mr. Brown…" Adrian said.

"Damon." Said Brown.

"Okay. Damon. I'm going to get right to it. We're here because we're investigating the death of Sharon Grier." Said Adrian.

"Yes. Poor Sharon. Awful what happened to her. Electrocuted in her own tub." said Brown.

"It was. It was. We have been trying to figure out who her associates were and who might have wanted to kill her" Monk said.

"Ever hear of a guy named Sammy Miller?" asked Leland.

"Miller? No. No Sammy Miller." Said Brown.

"Okay, we believe he was involved somehow." Said Stottlemeyer.

"Nope. Never made his acquaintance." Brown replied.

"Harry Kingston, the Senate Majority Leader for whom she worked at one time said that he used to see you and Sharon together a lot. And he felt that you had a lot to do with getting her the job she had at the FBI." Adrian said.

"Good old Harry. Has been several years since I have seen him. Has he stopped swindling people out of their millions?" Brown asked.

"I really don't know anything about his personal life. All I know is we have tried to run a background check on Sharon Grier and we hit a brick wall at around 2003. Her educational credentials don't pan out. Nothing. It's like she just suddenly appears. We were wondering if perhaps since you two appeared close, if you knew anything about her prior to then? Was Grier a married name? Anything, you know, that we can go on…" Adrian said.

"Know something about her prior? Why would I? I worked with her when she worked in Harry's office and then pulled a few strings to get her into the FBI, that's true. But knowing Sharon Grier before that…no…I didn't." he said.

"Why did you expend energy getting a low-level employee of Kingston's into the intelligence agency?" Leland asked.

"Because she was bright. She was ambitious. I felt she would be a good fit." He answered.

"And you had no other, um, more personal relationship with her?" asked Adrian.

"Do you mean was I sleeping with her?" Brown asked. "If that's what you're wondering, the answer is no. Sharon's wiles may have vexed many a man, but they never worked on me. To me, she was simply a comrade in the cause, at least the cause as it stood at the time."

"What cause was that?" asked Stottlemeyer.

"The transformation of this nation into a more just place, of course. Why would anyone want to be in the justice system for any other reason? What reason is there to do anything else?

You know, someone once said The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways. The point, however, is to change it. That was our credo. Sharon and I. That was our, as you say, modus operandi. Whether it was in the courtroom or the boardroom or the halls of Washington DC itself, we had the vision to take this crazy world and turn it upside down to bring about social justice and economic freedom for all." Brown said.

As Adrian scrunched his shoulders and neck, Stottlemeyer asked a pertinent question. "And do you think you succeeded?"

Brown looked at Leland with a scornful smile. "Not yet, Commissioner. But, I'm working on it."


The moment Monk and Leland closed the door to Brown's office the two men turned to one another and said simultaneously to each other– "He's the guy!"


Back in Washington D.C., President John Stoddard and his wife Gloria were leaving a matinee theatre revival of My Fair Lady at the Kennedy Center with their niece Ruth and her children Liam and Emma. It was rare for them to get out together as a family, but with Ruth's husband Jason out of the country on business, they were getting to reconnect with her and share some memories that would last a lifetime for her beautiful children. Secret Service surrounded the theatre and the President's armored car was at the ready making it a relatively safe venture for them and a welcome escape. However, a few people from the press managed to get word that the President was there and approached him immediately upon exit.

"Mr. President, have you made any progress in finding the criminals who attacked Port Arthur?" one asked.

"I'm not able to comment at this time as to where we stand in this case since the situation is still quite volatile…Gloria dear, would you please get Ruthie and the children into the car." He said.

"Where are they going to strike next?" asked another press person.

"It is our goal to make sure that they strike nowhere. And, I can assure you that we have our best people on the job." Said Stoddard, beginning to get into the car.

"Mr. President." Said another man who walked up from the sidelines. "What makes you feel like you can stop what has been ordained to happen?" he said, sending a shiver down Stoddard's spine.

He sat in the car and shut the door, then rolled down the window.

"To stop that which is ordained, I cannot do. I have no delusions as such. But, the very fact that I know about it may indeed be an indicator that I am ordained to stop that which is planned. I choose to believe the latter." He said before rolling up his window and being taken back to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

As the crowd dispersed, the 'reporter' stepped to the side and began walking down the street. As the man, Sammy Miller, lit a cigarette he sneered. "We'll see, Stoddard. We'll see."