Soon, Monk wiped a stool across from Max, and sat on it. Sharon and Jordan placed themselves nearby, as Adrian then wiped the counter.

"Those fountains need to be cleaned" He told the bar owner as he pointed.

"I'll put it on my to do list" Max groaned

"Nice place you've got" Adrian added, as he doubted that a police retirement pension would be enough to allow the former detective to buy such a bar. "Is it always empty?"

"I've got good and bad days"

Just then, Jordan's cell phone rang, and she went to another part of the bar. Adrian found this to be a blessing; perhaps her father would be more open.

"Did she tell you, about my theory?"

"No...what is it?" Max leaned closer in curiosity as Monk leaned back.

"The fingerprint found at the scene is fake."

"Excuse me?" The last thing Max needed was some nut putting his wife in the middle of some crazy conspiracy theory.

"Let me explain.." He signaled for Sharona to give the transparency to him."Look at the ridge ending, notice how it ends at an awkward angle" He was referring to one of the eight things used to identify and match fingerprints.

Max growled, and put on his reading glasses. "It is a bit high"

"Most of the time, ridge endings tend to be around this area." Monk drew a very small imaginary circle, which the ridge ending on the transparency missed by less than a millimeter.

"So it's a unique fingerprint?" Max sharply sniped.

"Look at the flexure crease. It's too low and has too much curvature."

"I don't see it."

"Then look at the ridge dot. It's too small" Monk's voice started to rise with impatience.

"I...." Max began to say.

"Fingerprints, like individuals, are unique, but there are still some parameters." Monk interrupted.

"Like ...having two eyes" Sharona lamely added.

"Then why not fake my fingerprints?" Max asked, still doubtful.

Just then, Jordan interrupted them; she had some news.

"That was Nigel, he's done some research" she told them. "and wants us to come to the morgue."

"The morgue?" Adrian repeated. He could barely handle being near one dead person, let alone a facility full of them, their germs, and other things he didn't want to think about.

"Don't worry, I'll keep you away from the corpses." she told him.

"This is about YOUR theory" Max spat, giving him an intimidating look.

"Fine."

Time passed and they were soon all in Jordan's office. Adrian kept trying to straighten out his visitor's badge. Soon Nigel came in. He usually didn't go to Jordan's office to discuss cases, but it was one of the few places in the morgue where one could be corpse-free.

"Mr. Monk, I presume?" Nigel said with a smile. "I've read about some of your cases and you are?" He turned to Sharona.

"Sharona."

"My assistant."

"Nice to meet you" he shook her hand.

"Whatcha got?" Jordan wanted to get to the point.

"Well, there are theories, but mostly they're about fooling biometric scanners."

"And we all know how plentiful those were in the seventies" Max seethed.

"...and forging someone else's prints.." Nigel continued, as Monk kept on trying to clean and organize Jordan's desk. "By making a mold of them."

"How?" Jordan asked.

"One way is to make a 'gummy finger' made from gelatin...."

"Isn't gelatin used for bacteria cultures?" Monk cut in.

"Yes. Among other things" Nigel assented "There is also some kind of photo chemical process."

For a bit, Monk paced and murmured to himself; everyone stared at him in anticipation.

"The Cribner case!" he paused and exclaimed.

"The one where there was no ballistics match on the bullet?" Max had heard about it.

"Yes My. theory has always been that the suspect made his own gun" Monk had picked his brain on this cold case from the mid seventies often when he used to be a detective.

"I always figured it was some rare exotic weapon" he told Adrian. "But if you're theory is correct......"

"The same man who killed your wife killed Cribner!" Monk finished and paced a bit more "....ballistics and fingerprints......He's obsessed with beating the system....like a game."

"Nigel, see if you can find any similar cases." Jordan ordered with renewed hope and anger, which Max had as well.

"Sharona, call Leland and tell him I need the Cribner files." Monk requested.

TBC