The next day, Monk and Sharona walked down the sidewalk in the park while people moved all around them. Sharona was holding their copy of the case file under left arm. She pointed to her right through some trees to a building across the street. It was over 100 yards from where Duke had been shot.

"That's the window where they say the shot came from," she said, pointing to a window on the third floor.

"Good shot," Monk commented. He turned and looked toward the vendor that Todd had been buying his bottled water from at the time of the shooting. "Duke was over there. So we should talk to that vendor."

"How about you talk to that vendor and I talk to that one?" Sharona said, pointing to another vendor about 50 yards away from the other one.

"Or how about we talk to that vendor first and then go talk to the other one?" Monk asked, not liking the idea of being separated. They had to go in order.

"Or how about we each talk to a different vendor at the same time because I have to pick Benjy up from Todd's house in a half hour?" she asked sharply. Monk reluctantly moved away from her and walked over to the first vendor. Sharona waited for Monk to turn his back on her before she started walking over to the other vendor.

"Hello," Monk said as he approached the vendor. "I'm Adrian Monk. I'm investigating the shooting that happened here yesterday."

"Oh yeah, poor pooch," the vendor said. "I don't know who would want to shoot a defenseless dog."

Sharona was on her way over to her vendor when she heard barking. She looked to her left and saw Poochie running over to her. Poochie stopped in front of Sharona and barked at her.

"Poochie, what are you doing here?" she asked, immediately kneeling down with her back to the street. She set the copy of the file on the ground.

Monk continued to question the vendor. "So you didn't see any-"

He was cut off when a loud crack sounded. The vendor dove immediately to the ground in fear, covering his head. Monk ducked a little, instinctively. Then he looked around, wondering where the gunshot had come from. That's when he saw someone lying on the ground, motionless. He recognized Sharona's jacket right away and immediately felt ill as he rushed over to her. He knelt next to her, cringing at the sight of the blood on the left side of her chest. She was gasping for breath and her face was twisted in pain. To Sharona this pain was only rivaled by the pain of giving birth to her son. Nothing else she had ever felt in her life compared.

"Adrian," she said in a strained whisper as she made eye contact with him. He took her right hand and she gripped his hand tightly. He didn't even think about the germs he'd get from holding her hand like that. They kept eye contact for a moment, but soon the pain was too much for Sharona and her eyes slowly closed, her hand going limp in Monk's.

"Oh my god," Monk said. He lightly shook her hand. "Sharona? Sharona?" He was starting to panic. His first instinct was to ask Sharona what to do. But he couldn't. He looked around frantically. "Somebody call an ambulance! Please!"

When no more gunshots had sounded, people had started to gather. Monk saw a teenage girl with a cell phone approaching. She quickly made eye contact with him. "The paramedics are on the way."

Monk nodded his head and looked back to Sharona. "Do you hear that? They're on their way. Help is on the way."

* * *

He sat in the hospital waiting room, his head in his hands. He still hadn't calmed down. If only he had insisted on her coming with him to question the vendor. Or maybe if he had gone with her. He just kept thinking of ways he could have prevented this. He kept staring at the linoleum until he heard his name being spoken.

"Monk," Stottlemeyer said as he and Lt. Disher approached. "We just heard. How is she?"

"I don't know," Monk replied. He stood and glared over toward the nurse's station. "They won't tell me anything, except that she's in surgery. I don't know. There was so much blood."

"I'm sure she'll be fine," Disher said, trying to keep Monk from panicking.

"She's too stubborn to let you outlive her," Stottlemeyer added. Monk managed a small smile at that. "So what exactly happened?"

"I didn't see anything. I was talking to a vendor in the park. Sharona was going to talk to a different vendor," Monk explained. "Then I heard the gunshot and she was on the ground."

"Has anyone told her son?" Stottlemeyer asked.

"Oh my god, Benjy!" Monk exclaimed running his hands through his hair. Then he looked at his watch. "Sharona was supposed to pick him up from Todd's house an hour ago."

Just then a surgeon approached them. He looked like he had just come from the operating room.

"You're Mr. Monk, right?" he asked. Monk nodded his head. "I'm Dr. Robbins. I operated on Sharona."

"Is she going to be okay?" Monk asked anxiously. He knew the answer had to be yes. It had to be.

"It's a little early to tell," Dr. Robbins explained. "The bullet entered through her back and went straight through to exit through her chest. But it grazed her left lung and allowed some fluid into her lung. We drained the fluid and repaired the damage from the bullet, but there's still a risk of infection." He noticed the extreme worry on Monk's face. "Don't worry, Mr. Monk. We'll be taking very good care of her."

Monk nodded his head, still nervous and unsure of what the doctor had said. He tried not to let that show. "Can I see her?"

"We'll be moving her out of recovery in a half hour. I'll have a nurse come get you then."

Stottlemeyer noticed that Monk looked overwhelmed. He was worried about Sharona, and he was probably worried about how to tell Ben. "Monk, Randy and I will go get Ben. Why don't you just wait here?"

"Uh, yeah, I'll do that," he replied. He was starting to breathe rapidly, as if he was hyperventilating. He pointed toward the exit. "I'm going to . . . I need some air. I'm just going to go outside." He walked away without allowing anyone to say anything else.

"Is she family?" Dr. Robbins asked.

"No," Disher replied. Stottlemeyer shook his head.

"But she's close enough," the captain said as he watched Monk walk out of the hospital. He knew that if Monk lost Sharona it would set him right back to where he was after Trudy died. He sighed and grabbed Disher's arm. "Let's go, Randy. Thanks doctor."

Dr. Robbins nodded his head and walked away as Disher and Stottlemeyer went to go find Sharona's son.