Disclaimer:Monk belongs to the USA Network
Author's Note: Thank you so much for the wonderful reviews! I really appreciate the feedback!
"It's—it's a long story," Monk said.
"That's okay, I'm in the mood for a long story," Sharona replied, removing her hand from Monk's and slipping off her shoes, bringing her legs up to the couch so that she was sitting on the bottoms of her feet.
Monk felt the coolness rush over his hand as he realized that Sharona had let go. He put it in his lap and started rubbing his leg, trying to get back some of the warmth that his hand had felt while Sharona was holding it. He collected his thoughts, took a deep breath, and faced Sharona.
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It all started last year when I got a notice from the storage company that they were closing down business. The storage building was going to be torn down, so I had to remove my things from their storage space. It was everything from Trudy's old office. All of her files, her computer, her chair, her pictures… and everything from her bulletin board.
Natalie told me that it was time to go through everything and throw some of it away. I protested, of course, but she kept telling me that it was something that I had to do. I finally broke down and said that I would do it, but I only said that to humor her. I never had any intention of throwing anything away. As I was going through the things that were on her bulletin board, I came across this.
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Monk pulled out a newspaper clipping from the book that was on the coffee table. He handed it to Sharona.
Sharona read the article and stared at a picture of two middle-aged men in suits leaning on a desk. They were standing shoulder to shoulder with their legs crossed and their hands folded. "I don't understand, how did this help you?" she asked with a confused expression.
"Look at the picture," Monk said.
"I did look at the picture, there's nothing special about it."
"Look closer," Monk replied with a small smile.
Sharona moved the picture closer to her face and examined every inch of it. "What? I still don't see anything!"
Monk's smile faded and he said, "Look—look at his hands! The VP's hands!"
Sharona's eyes widened and she exclaimed, "Oh my god!"
"That's right," Monk said, his smile returning, "he's got an extra pinkie."
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When I read the article, I found out that the CEO in the picture was John Anderson, one of Trudy's long time friends. I remember going to his funeral with Trudy. She mentioned that he never seemed like the type to commit suicide, but I told her not to worry about it. When someone gets caught embezzling over 500 million dollars from one of largest companies in the United States, there's no telling what they might do. The police said that he panicked and killed himself before they could arrest him.
Trudy never believed that story. I should have listened to her. I was working on a high profile case at the time, so she didn't ask me to look into it. She knew I was too preoccupied to investigate a closed case. She ended up taking matters into her own hands.
Natalie and I went to see Trudy's old editor and he said that she told him that she was working on a big story, one that would blow everybody away, but she refused to tell him what it was about. He said that he had pressed Trudy as hard as he could, but she just wouldn't give her secret away.
Our next stop was the company building. We asked around, but just about everyone had only been working there for a year or two. We finally found a secretary who was there during the scandal, and she said that the six-fingered man, Henry Dugan, was long gone. He had quit just a month after the death of Anderson. That's when I knew he was the guy.
I asked Disher to look up Dugan's record. Apparently the name Henry Dugan was just an alias. He had hired a hacker to create a legitimate social security number and driver's license for him. Once he quit the company, he disappeared. He no longer used any credit cards with that name, all of the bank accounts in that name were closed, he sold his car, and he completely disappeared off of the face of the earth. I thought that it was no use looking anymore, but Stottlemeyer convinced me that I could find him. He said, "He's a criminal, Monk, he'll make a mistake. And if there's anybody in this world who can find that mistake, it's you."
He was right. Dugan had done it before. I found out that there was a software company in New York who had sued a man matching the description of Dugan for embezzling 20 million dollars, and he mysteriously disappeared on the day of his arraignment. The same thing happened to a car company in Michigan, only he embezzled 50 million that time, and he didn't stick around long enough to get caught. In Texas he embezzled 100 million, and then he hit the jackpot here in San Francisco, only someone figured him out.
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"John Anderson?" Sharona asked.
"You got it," Monk said.
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Anderson confronted Dugan and probably warned him that he would go to the authorities. Dugan couldn't risk being caught again, so he offered Anderson some money. When he figured out that Anderson couldn't be bought, he told the owner of the company that John Anderson was the one had embezzled the 500 million dollars. The owner pressed charges, and before the police could get to Anderson for questioning, Dugan killed him and made it look like a suicide.
The week after Anderson's funeral, Trudy started investigating. She posed as an employee and found the financial records. She figured out that the embezzlement was still happening, so she knew that it hadn't been Anderson. Trudy had all she needed to write her story. Dugan found her snooping around, and started following her. He figured out that she knew, so he hired Warrick Tennyson to put a bomb on Trudy's car while it was in the parking garage. They watched her get in, then they activated the bomb with a cell phone. And you know what happened after that.
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"So, how did you find out where Dugan was hiding?" Sharona asked.
"He wasn't hiding, he just had a new alias," Monk replied.
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Natalie, Stottlemeyer, Disher and I had all heard about another big embezzlement case up in Montana, so we went to check it out. The guy fit the same description, and he had just disappeared the day before. We figured it was a long shot, but we went to the airport. I figured it had to take him at least a day to get everything together and get a new identity. We asked around at every gate and kept an eye out for the six-fingered man. Then…I spotted him.
He was walking in my direction, and I just glared at him. I was clenching my fists and I could feel my face getting red. I jumped in front of him when he got near me and prevented him from going any further.
"Excuse me, sir, get your hands off me," he said.
I glared at him even harder and said, "Do you know who I am?"
"No," he said.
"Do you remember a woman named Trudy Monk?" I asked him in a cold voice.
"No, I don't. Should I?" he said back to me, equally cold.
I could feel the tears burning in my eyes as I said to him, "She was the woman you killed eleven years ago, you bastard!" I grabbed him by his coat lapels and shoved him against the wall. "You killed her! You killed my wife! And you don't even remember!"
Airport security started inching up to me when they heard the commotion, but Stottlemeyer held them back for me. I slammed Dugan against the wall again in pure anger. I've never felt so much rage in my entire life! I wanted to kill this man. I wanted him to suffer, the same way that I suffered. But… I kept hearing Trudy's voice in my head saying, "Don't do it…don't do it."
I stared into the cold hard eyes of the man who had Trudy killed. There wasn't an ounce of humanity in him. I kept thinking, if I kill him, then I'm no better than he is. Trudy wouldn't want me to have eyes like that, so I turned him around, put his hands behind his back, and let Disher slap some cuffs on him.
He got a double life sentence without probation for the murder of Trudy and Anderson, and five years for each embezzlement case.
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"I caught him, Sharona, I finally solved the case," Monk said with a smile and tears in his eyes.
"Yeah, you did. I'm really proud of you, Adrian," Sharona said, beaming.
Monk smiled and nodded, trying to hold back the tears from falling down his face.
After a few minutes of silence Monk says, "Sharona… why'd you come back? Why now?"
