Chapter 3



Sharona tapped her feet impatiently while she waited for Ellie to finish talking with the bartender. "Ellie, come on!" The brunette glanced at Sharona and held up her hand for another minute. Rubbing her arms, Sharona glanced at her watch. God, she was gonna be late! Kevin hated it when she was late, he always assumed she was seeing someone. "Ellie!"

"Cool down! I'm talkin' with Gus, I'll be right there!" While she waited, Sharona replayed the last phone conversation she'd had with her sister, Gail.

"Sharona, leave him, he's a bastard! Come to San Francisco, you could stay with me while you look for an apartment!" Sharona's own answer had been short and to the point. Besides, she doubted if Kevin would ever let her leave. Especially if he found out about her pregnancy. At that point, Ellie walked up. "You ready?" Sharona startled, then grabbed her bag. "Yeah, let's get out of here."

At the door of Sharona's house, Ellie grabbed her arm and squeezed it tightly. "Sharona, honey, please. Maybe you should listen to your sister." Sharona pulled her arm from Ellie's grasp. "And maybe you should back off!" Seeing the sudden hurt in Ellie's eyes, Sharona leaned back against the seat. "God, I'm sorry El. It's just, well I don't know what to do." Ellie's comforting hand fell short as Sharona suddenly exited the car. "I gotta go, I'll see you tomorrow!" Shrugging in defeat, Ellie drove away.

Sharona's hands were shaking as she opened the door. "Hey, I'm ho." A fist cut off her words with a crack. "Where the hell were you! I told you a hundred times, you get here immediately after work!" Strong hands grabbed her hair and pulled her to her feet. Before she could block her face, another fist hit her, splitting her lip. "Don't you fight me Sharona, why do you always fight me!" The strikes became more random as Kevin worked through his rage. Five minutes later, she finally heard his steps retreating upstairs. "I set out some hamburger. I'm hoping you'll make spaghetti tonight." Sharona waited until she heard the door to the bathroom shut before she finally dared move. She could already feel her eyes puffing, and her wrist felt as though it might be broken. Limping, she pulled herself to the kitchen. Sure enough, a half-frozen lump of oozing meat sat on the counter. The sight of it nearly made her retch. Turning on the stove, she dropped the hamburger, package and all, into the pan. Next, she set a kettle of water boiling and dropped in a box of pasta. Slowly, she began shaking, terrified tears rolling down her cheeks. The slam of a door upstairs galvanized her to action. Pausing only to grab the keys to the truck, Sharona ran for the door.





Sharona slowly opened her eyes. She was sitting in the passenger's side of her car. She looked up slowly, to see Kevin sitting beside her. They were parked in an alley between two buildings. Sharona started to sit up, only to have her hair grabbed savagely by Kevin. His gray eyes turned to regard her coldly. "You plannin' on goin' anywhere princess?" Sharona locked her fingers around Kevin's, trying uselessly to pry his hand from her hair. He laughed, then slapped her twice, causing her to cease struggling. "You didn't answer the question." She breathed out quickly, gasping out words as he pulled at her again. "No, no I'm not going anywhere!" Kevin's hand released its grip, sliding down the side of her face, down her body, to come to rest on her leg. "That's good, that's real good. I want you around for this." Sharona suddenly realized where they were. "Oh God, No!"



Adrian clasped his hands, pacing back and forth as the Captain spoke. "Look, Captain, you have to let me call her."

"Adrian, we already tried, Sharona isn't answering either her home phone or her cell. I already sent a unit out to her place, they'll call us as soon as they get there. For now, all we can do is wait." Stottlemeyer stopped talking at the sound of his radio. "Stottlemeyer, yeah, oh Christ. Ok, I'll be right there." Adrian's head came up as soon as the radio crackled. "What is it, have they found Sharona?" Stottlemeyer held up his hand. "No, we got a different problem. Look, I gotta head over to the crime scene, you just wait here. If you hear from Sharona, call me." Adrian shook his head. "I'm coming with you." Stottlemeyer held up his hand. "No, you're not. I need you to stay here. If Sharona calls anyone, it's likely to be you. I need you here." His tone allowed no argument. Briskly, he grabbed up his coat and strode to the door. "Oh, and Monk?" Adrian looked up. "Don't talk to any reporters ok?" With that, he shut the door behind him. Unsure what to do, hating the idea of simply waiting, Adrian grabbed the broom.



Sharona swallowed heavily as the tip of the screwdriver pressed into the flesh of her neck. Above the rim of the dash, she could see Captain Stottlemeyer cross the street to his car. Desperate to cry out, Sharona could only sit in panicked frustration as the Captain started his car and drove off down the street. Smiling, Kevin laughed softly. "Good, I always hated having a chaperone."





Adrian dropped the broom at the sudden rap at his door. Darting to it quickly, he nearly sank to the floor in relief at the sight that greeted him. "Sharona!" His smile faded as Sharona made no move to enter. Instead, her eyes were open wide, fearfully darting to the side repeatedly, then coming to rest on his face once more. Adrian's own face crinkled in confusion. "Sharona, what." He was cut off as Sharona was suddenly shoved into the room, her progress halted when she crashed into Adrian. His hands came up automatically to catch her, and his eyes automatically tracked to the figure that quickly entered and locked the door. "Kevin Sarks." Kevin's eyes narrowed. "I see Sharona's been talking about me." Adrian took a step forward as Sharona backed against the wall, folding her hands tightly around her body. "She didn't say a word. I knew who you were the minute you walked in here." Kevin laughed, playing with the screwdriver in his hand. His eyes lit up gleefully as he examined the man before him.

"How bout it, Monk, you wanna fight me for her?" With a jerk, he tossed the tool to Adrian, who fumbled it, allowing it to clatter to the floor. As he bent to retrieve it, he found himself face to face with a handgun. "Never hurts to have back-up, now does it?" Adrian backed away from the screwdriver, coming to a rest next to Sharona. His eyes left Sarks for a moment as he turned to study her. "Are you alright?" She only had a second to gaze up at him before Kevin shoved Adrian to the floor. "Don't you talk to my wife you son of a bitch! I know all about you two! You been enjoying her, huh?" Adrian pushed himself partway up on his elbows. "Sharona isn't your wife, she hasn't been since the first day you hit her!" Kevin almost cackled. "You hear that Sharona? This little man thinks he can lecture me about how I treat my own woman!" Laughing again, Kevin sauntered up to Sharona and pressed her against the wall. "What do you think, baby? Figure he likes to watch?" Adrian pushed himself off the floor. "Leave her alone!" Kevin winked at Sharona, then suddenly spun, swinging out with the gun. "Kevin, no!" She was too late. The barrel of the gun caught Adrian on the side of his face, throwing him to the floor once more. This time, he didn't sit up. "You bastard!" Sharona dug her fingernails into Kevin's cheeks. Reaching behind him, Kevin grabbed a wrist with one hand, pulling her around in front of him. His other hand struck her across the cheek, dragging a ribbon of scarlet behind it. Sharona landed on the floor near Adrian's body. Kevin, breathing heavily, wiped a streak of blood from his face. Baring his teeth in rage, he kicked out his foot, catching Sharona in the ribs. She made no sound as his pointed toe made contact. Her lack of response only made him angrier, so he kicked out again. He was pulling back for another strike when a pair of hands grabbed hold of his foot. Kevin lost his balance as he pulled away from the scrabbling fingers. Monk! Somehow he'd managed to pull himself to consciousness. While Kevin was untangling his legs, Adrian dragged himself to Sharona's side. He draped his left arm over her body, while his right arm wrapped around her head. The little bit of strength he'd used to accomplish this quickly drained from him. Just as the darkness descended once more, he managed to whisper two words. "I'm sorry."





Adrian cautiously opened his eyes, groaning at the pain in his head. Wherever he was, it was dark. He was lying on a cold floor, his hands were tied behind his back, and duct tape covered his mouth. Worse, his nose itched. Working his face didn't help, just made it itch more. Rolling onto his back, Adrian looked around himself, trying to penetrate the darkness. He listened, and could hear a faint noise, a sputtering, crackling kind of sound, like something was frying. He sniffed, and could detect the scent of ground beef. As his eyes adjusted to the dark, he realized he was in the bathroom. Another noise sounded beyond the closed door. He listened intently, trying not to breathe too loudly. It sounded like voices. They were getting louder. Suddenly the door burst open and Sharona ran inside, spinning quickly to slam the door behind her. Just as it shut, something heavy smashed into it, almost knocking Sharona down. Desperately, she shoved herself against the door again, managing to lock it in the process. The pounding on the other side only intensified. "Open the door bitch, open it or I break every bone in your body!" Adrian wriggled himself to his knees. "Mmmph, umph, rhoomph, uhh!" Sharona turned, almost as though she hadn't realized Adrian was behind her. "Adrian, oh God!" Quickly she ripped the tape from his mouth. "Aaahhh! Could you pull a little harder? I think my lips are still attached!" Sharona didn't respond as she untied his hands. "Sharona, what happened, did he hurt you again?" She shook her head behind his back. "Not really, just shoved me around a little. You know, the usual stuff." She sounded really calm, considering. When Adrian was free, he stood, turning to face her. "Let me see your cheek." Sharona turned her eyes toward him, and winced. "Forget about me, what about you?" Quickly she rushed to the sink, allowing the cold water to run while she retrieved a small cloth from the cabinet. Soaking the cloth, she passed it to Adrian. "Here, hold this against your head." Adrian held up his hands. "I'm fine, you can use it more than me." Sharona blew out a breath, then placed the cloth against his head herself. "Sharona, I told you, I'm fin. Oww!"

"Just keep it there! It'll help, trust me, I'm a nurse, remember?" Adrian brought up his hand to hold the square of material in place. As he was standing there, something suddenly occurred to him. "Hey, what happened to Sarks?"