It all started in February 2012 at a murder scene down on Vinton Street in San Francisco's east side. Stottlemeyer, Monk and Teeger were all there as was Stottlemeyer's new right-hand woman, Lieutenant Alicia Prince.
Prince was a highly decorated police veteran who had previously distinguished herself in the city's Tenderloin district and was viewed as a possible candidate for a future role as San Francisco Police Commissioner. Humorless, she had a love-hate relationship with Monk from the beginning. She had little patience for some of his proclivities -which, while more under control, still appeared from time to time and likely always would. But, she also recognized his unparalleled talent as a detective and his keen insight into the criminal mind. She looked at Natalie more as an annoyance, never quite understanding why a grown man like Monk would ever need an assistant and usually seeing her as in the way. This internal friction did not create an atmosphere of goodwill between Prince and Teeger; and, as Monk grew closer to his assistant also created a wedge with him. The situation was a constant challenge for Stottlemeyer, to say the least, for he had to figure out how to balance years of friendship and an excellent rapport with Monk and Natalie with the political realities of supporting a well-connected San Francisco rising-star.
The murder scene seemed straightforward. A bank executive, Andreas Steubens, lay dead in the middle of his living room, a .22 caliber slug embedded in his neck. A broken French-door window pane indicated a probable robbery attempt and a disheveled looking room, indicating signs of a struggle, helped to support this idea.
But Monk wasn't convinced. Taking clues from what he observed and didn't observe, he postulated that the real story was something else entirely. For example, the carpet in front of the French door had no dirt on it at all, only glass, something he would not have anticipated seeing if someone had traipsed into the house after passing over the thick layers of dark mulch spilling over onto the stone pavers placed just outside the door.
Then, there was the body. It appeared to have been tampered with and possibly moved, something that would have required someone of some strength given that Mr. Steubens was a rather large man; and yet, the trajectory of the bullet appeared to be up close and from below leading him to believe that shooter was much shorter than the banker.
His initial suspicion pointed towards the man's wife.
Stottlemeyer and Prince listened to Monk's theory, but Prince tried to discount it.
"Adrian, did you miss the footprints outside the door? Male footprints leading straight to the threshold?" she asked.
"Of course not, Alicia." He stated, with irritation in his voice. "But you're only proving my point. The footprints appear to be several hours old, maybe from this morning. Probably a gardener. The person walked in mud and mulch and stopped just outside the door. The inside carpeting is perfectly clean. I think we need to see where his wife was over the past couple of hours."
"Why the wife and not another woman?" Stottlemeyer asked.
"Because, if you look at the woman's desk over there next to the window, only one drawer is ajar. There's a gun case in there that's open which stored the .22. Someone unfamiliar with the house would not have known to go to that particular spot." He replied.
"I don't see how you can be so dismissive. Look at the crime scene. Someone clearly broke in." Prince insisted.
"There could be another explanation." Natalie said, siding with Monk.
Alicia rolled her eyes ignoring Natalie completely. "Of course you would say that. Captain, I would like permission to send units to go interview the neighbors to see if anyone saw anything."
"Captain, I'm telling you, the shooter was a woman and the broken glass was probably staged to look as if there had been a break-in after the death occurred." Monk said.
"No. I think it was a robbery." Prince noted.
Stottlemeyer shrugged his shoulders. "Monk, evidence shows footprints and broken glass coming from the outside and a ransacked house within. It's looking like a burglary."
"Except for this." Natalie stated, lifting up the skirt of the couch and revealing a blood-spattered white enamel button with a lotus flower design. "It's from a blouse. Christiane Bisette." Natalie mugged as she reached into Adrian's lapel pocket and grabbed his tweezers, picking up the button. "Famous french designer."
"Would you kindly keep your girlfriend away from the evidence." Prince snapped with a derisive tone as she took the evidence from her hand.
Natalie narrowed her eyes and stood up even as Monk took her by the hand, holding her back and rolling his neck to avoid saying something that he knew would get them both in trouble. The move was quite effective as just the feeling of his hand wrapped around hers shocked Natalie enough to temporarily forget whatever it was that she was mad about, particularly when he didn't release it after a few seconds and gave no indication that he wanted a wipe.
Stottlemeyer rolled his eyes at both sides but remained silent. Walking over to Prince, he got a visual on the button and then asked Prince to hand it to him. Taking it carefully with a handkerchief, he looked up at Monk, Natalie and then Prince.
"That's blood." He stated with one eyebrow raised.
Prince looked slightly embarrassed as she had been too busy fighting over Natalie's find than to recognize the clear evidence of blood herself. But, rather than show an ounce of humility, she threw her chin in the air and immediately motioned for a junior officer to bring an evidence bag to preserve the find. Monk glanced over at Natalie with look of satisfaction and released her hand, then nervously straightened his collar and lapel before rolling his shoulder and continuing.
"So, I was right?" he asked with a steady tone.
Stottlemeyer, smirked, removing a toothpick from in between his lips. "You usually are. Prince, send out your team to interview neighbors as to what they know about the relationship between Mr. and Mrs. Steubens and, while you're at it, lets try to figure out just where the missus is so that we can bring her in for questioning."
"Yes, Captain." Alicia stated,not making eye contact with Monk or Teeger as she immediately walked to a group of officers in the opposite corner of the room and gave them instructions.
Walking back out to the car with Natalie, Monk was uncharacteristically enthusiastic with the accolades that he poured out upon his assistant.
"Did you see her face?" he laughed. "You were magnificent!"
"Awe, Mr. Monk. You're so sweet." Natalie replied, blushing. "I didn't do anything that I haven't seen you do a thousand times."
"Au contraire, Ms. Teeger." He said with a smile, moving to the passenger side of the car. "You wiped the smug look off that woman's …"
"Detective Monk!" Prince yelled from the doorway, just having left her huddle. "I can hear everything you're saying."
Monk stiffened up and plastered a fake smile on his face. "Oh…Alicia…we were just talking about a case…"
"Different case." Natalie said quickly, her eyes shifting to the ground.
"Down in...um…Marin County." He said.
Prince pursed her lips. "Marin County is North of here and therefore would be up. I know very well whom you were talking about and am professional enough to forget it. The Captain would like for you and Ms. Teeger to join us down at the precinct. Seems they have already located Mrs. Steubens at a friend's house and are bringing her in for questioning. He'd like for you to hear what she has to say."
Monk looked over at Natalie. "Do you have time? I mean, you don't have other plans tonight, do you?"
Natalie smiled. "That's nice of you to ask. And, as a matter of fact, I have no plans. I'm free." She replied enthusiastically, her eyes dropping a little when she saw Monk sweetly smile at her when she answered.
"Great!" Adrian answered, slipping into the car and buckling his safety belt. "Maybe we could even go to dinner afterward. My treat." he added, looking around at nothing in particular.
Natalie found herself once again blushing and internally questioned herself as to why. It was true that they were spending more and more time together and their friendship had never been closer. Reminding herself that she had a boyfriend already, she chided herself for the way she felt. It's not like he was asking her out on a date or anything? Was he?
Monk unrolled the window and yelled to Prince to tell the Captain they'd meet her at the station. As she watched him, she couldn't help but wonder about the changes she had seen in him as of late. He was generally happier and confident and more deferential to her than she could ever recall him being in the eleven years she had known him. It was very attractive, she had to admit.
As Natalie began to drive, neither she nor Monk said anything else about what had gone on inside the house, choosing instead to ride along with silent contentment on the way to the station. Occasionally, Adrian would glance over at her and smile, as if he carried with him some special secret that only he knew. In reality, even Monk was disconnected from the change occurring within himself. He knew he was happier, but chalked it up to a Mission Accomplished scenario at finally hitting his stride after solving Trudy's murder. He wasn't even aware of the fact that he had subconsciously begun to dress differently and carry himself differently whenever Natalie was around. In fact, if you'd ask him about it at the time, he'd deny that anything had changed. But, it would be soon enough he'd have to confront these latent feelings that were blossoming within, and when he did, it would take everything within him to hold it together. But, that was for a future time.
Looking down at his cell phone, something he had begun carrying again in order to keep up with his late wife's daughter, he noted that he had a text.
"It's from Molly." He said with a smile.
Natalie replied in a cheerful tone, "And what is it that Miss Molly has to say?"
Monk opened the text which included a picture. Smiling at first, he read the message and then his smile turned to a frown. He set the phone back down in his lap.
Natalie, noting his quietness and change of demeanor looked over at him, reaching out her hand and touching him on the arm.
"What is it Mr. Monk? Something wrong?" she asked.
"No. It can't be." he replied, his eyes searching the inside of the car as he absorbed what he had read.
"What? What's wrong?" she asked.
"There has to be some mistake." he responded.
Natalie became genuinely concerned but waited for him to continue. Finally, she asked again. "What is it?"
Monk looked disturbed. "It's Kyle." He said, looking up at her.
"Molly's boyfriend, Kyle? Oh, no. Did something happen to him?"
"Yeah." Adrian replied. "He got engaged."
Natalie had met Kyle a number of times and liked him. He and Molly seemed to be very much in love. But, the way Adrian was talking, it sounded like maybe he had broken things off with Monk's step-daughter and was going to marry another girl. Still, she didn't want to presume anything.
"Kyle is engaged? To whom?" she asked.
Monk frowned all the more. "To whom do you think? Kyle is engaged to Molly! Molly and Kyle are getting married."
Natalie smiled in relief. "Oh, wow! That's wonderful! You scared me. For a minute, I thought...well...she thought they might be heading that way, but the way you were talking, I...um...Mr. Monk? Aren't you…aren't you happy for her?"
Monk looked away and shook his head. "NO! I'm not happy for her, Natalie! She's too…too young to be getting married. She hardly knows this guy."
Natalie laughed. "Mr. Monk. She's twenty-nine years old and they've been dating three years."
"That's still too young." He replied. "She needs to wait until she's at least thirty-five."
"Haw! Come on now, Mr. Monk…." Natalie replied. "You weren't even thirty-five. Trudy was, what? Twenty-six, twenty-seven, and you were thirty-one when you got married."
"Exactly! Trudy got married too young and see what she ended up with!" he replied.
Natalie rolled her eyes. "Ah, don't be so silly. They're both adults and seem happy. Beside, once you're an adult, age really doesn't matter as long as you respect and love one another. I think it's great. Does she say when?"
Monk looked down at his phone. "She's thinking early June. But, that's too soon. She says she wants me to be a part of the wedding party to represent Trudy."
"Oh…that is so precious! You should be excited, Mr. Monk. Trudy would have been excited." Natalie replied.
"But, how can I be excited Natalie? I just found her and now I'm giving her away." He replied.
She shook her head. "Don't think of it that way, Mr. Monk. You're not losing a step-daughter, but gaining a step-son-in-law."
Monk frowned seeing that he never took the Kyle relationship very seriously and truly figured that things would always stay the same. He wrung his hands. "I still say she's too young."
"It'll be okay. I promise. This is a happy time in Molly's life and you get to be a part of it. Be happy, Mr. Monk. Be happy for Molly."
The two went into the station and watched from the observation room as Mrs. Nadia Steubens was interrogated. The story she told was quite different than any of them had imagined. She admitted up front that she had shot her husband, albeit, she said, in self-defense. She said that he had been drunk, accusing her of all manner of things, including an extramarital affair. When she denied it, she said he grabbed her violently by the arm and raised his fist to hit her. She showed them the bruise to prove it. She indicated that she was afraid that he was going to kill her and so she pulled out her gun. He laughed at her and told her that she didn't have the guts to kill him but when he began to walk towards her, that's when she shot him. In her panic, she said, she tried to make it look like a break-in. She said she knew it was stupid and she was sorry, but she didn't know what else to do.
As Prince continued to question her, Stottlemeyer came back behind the glass to ask Monk what he thought.
"I don't know." Adrian replied. "Seems too calm. Something about her story doesn't add up."
"What are you thinking?" Leland replied.
"Well, first thing. I bent right over Steubens' corpse and I didn't smell alcohol on him at all. Second, doesn't she look a little… 'put together' for someone who just killed her husband?" He said.
"Maybe." Stottlemeyer said. "Yeah, I guess you're right. Not a hair out of place."
"And she changed clothes." He said. "If you were in a panic after killing your husband, would you then go change into your Sunday's best, put on fresh makeup and style your hair then head to a friend's house to chill?"
"Chill?" Leland asked.
"Yeah. You know, hang out." Monk replied.
Leland raised an eyebrow. "I don't suppose I would. But, if I had blood on my clothes and a button had been ripped off of them in a violent struggle I'd want to change them."
"Then, where are they? And why is there not a hair out of place?" Adrian asked.
"Yes. This woman hasn't even broken a sweat." Natalie added. "And, she said she pulled out a gun, like it was right there on her person, readily available - not that she went over to the desk drawer and retrieved her gun."
"That's true. Good point." Stottlemeyer threw out his arms. "So, are you two saying we're at square one?"
"Yes, and no." Monk replied. "I don't think she's the guy. But, she's involved. I say we should continue to investigate and interview their associates. See who she's trying to protect."