Hello again and sorry that this chapter is a little on the short side but I wanted to separate monk's adventures from psych's so yeah. So please read and review! Enjoy!
Chapter Three: Mr. Monk and the Other Case
Mr. Monk sat in the passenger's seat of Natalie's car as the two drove back towards San Francisco to await their new case. Mr. Monk kept straightening the mirror to make sure it was just right. Natalie kept her eyes on the road and occasionally glanced through her mirrors to confirm Watari was following them.
"Natalie, you're going fifty five miles per hour," Mr. Monk observed looking at her speedometer.
"I have to slow down a little so Watari can catch up," Natalie said.
"Could you go fifty four miles per hour then?" Mr. Monk asked. Natalie roller her eyes as she began to slow down just slightly so that her speedometer now read fifty four.
Just a few moments later, Natalie was parking off to the side of a street in San Francisco close to where Captain Stottlemeyer had said the address was for the victim. Mr. Monk and Natalie stepped out of the vehicle as Watari parked behind them. Both L and Watari stepped out of their vehicle and began to walk towards the victim's home with Natalie and Mr. Monk leading the way. One of the police officers led the four towards the backyard.
Mr. Monk's eyes immediately widened at the sight of garbage lying everywhere. Cups, plates, beer bottles, beer cans, forks, knives, etc. were scattered across the lawn.
"Well looks like someone had a party," Natalie said.
"Monk," Captain Stottlemeyer called as he and Randy Disher stood at the edge of an in-ground pool. Mr. Monk motioned that he would be there shortly as he bent down to pick up a cup. "Don't touch that Monk, it's evidence," Stottlemeyer said. Mr. Monk reluctantly rose from his position and began to walk toward the pool like everyone else. L happened to notice a piece of cake lying on one of the many tables in the yard and was tempted to pick it up.
"Captain! I almost got this one to work," Randy said as he held his latest mp3 player. The captain simply rolled his eyes.
"You got another mp3 player?" Natalie asked.
"Yeah, this one's from a different company but it's still not working," Randy said in dismay.
"Randy, do I have to smash this one too?" the captain asked.
"No," Randy answered as he put the mp3 player in his pocket. Stottlemeyer then nodded his head towards L and Watari.
"What are they doing here?" Captain Stottlemeyer asked Mr. Monk, now standing just across from the captain. Mr. Monk turned back towards them.
"Oh it's nothing. They just want to see how I solve my cases," Mr. Monk explained.
"Yes, we are just here to observe. Nothing more," L said as he walked around the garbage.
"Hey Edward, how's it going?" Randy said. Oh no, more questions about L were sure to follow. Poor Randy had still not come to realize that L was standing in front of him despite the fact that he was L's "biggest fan". He only knew the detective as Edward Stretton just as Stottlemeyer did.
"Fine Mr. Disher," L said.
"So now, how many times have you met L?" Randy asked.
"Not many, if you wish to know about L, ask Watari," L said pointing to his assistant, "He always works with L on his cases." Normally, L would have refused to tell someone Watari's identity. However, L did not want to be bothered with questions at this time so he decided to let Watari answer everything for him. He wanted to pay attention to the case. Watari clearly knew this and was rather annoyed that he was stuck with answering Randy's questions but he made no notion of his feelings.
"So Watari, what's he like?" Randy asked.
"Well L can be rather troublesome at times with his constant need for vegetables. He is also rather old and is a bit on the short side," Watari said. L began to frown at Watari's description. He wasn't sure if Watari was doing this to keep L's identity a secret or because he was annoyed at L for dumping Randy on him.
"Right...now let's say I wanted to send him a gift or something through Mr. Monk. What would I get him?" Randy asked as he wrote down everything that Watari had said.
"Socks," Watari said without hesitation.
"Socks?" Randy asked.
"Socks," Watari repeated.
"Randy!" Stottlemeyer yelled. Randy immediately turned around to Mr. Monk, Natalie, and his captain.
"Yes Captain?" Randy asked.
"Would you like to join us in this homicide or would you rather continue gathering information for your L fan club?" Stottlemeyer asked.
"Right, sorry Captain," Randy said and then he turned back to Watari and L, "I got to go." L continued to frown slightly at Watari's comments while Watari simply chuckled to himself. Watari placed his hand quickly on L's shoulder as to reassure him that it was all in good fun.
"Now I'll explain it again so L Jr. can catch up," Stottlemeyer said, "The victim had a party for her promotion. At about seven o' clock yesterday the victim falls in the pool and drowns at her party. We have plenty of witnesses that saw this."
"So why do you need me?" Mr. Monk asked eyeing the pool.
"We just want you to check it out just in case," Stottlemeyer explained, "This is the victim. Her name was Monica Renalds." Captain Stottlemeyer motioned towards a corpse that was lying not too far away from the pool. Mr. Monk stared at it for a moment then began to look around the yard. L walked to where the body was located and examined it. It was slightly shocking to him. L had never really been this close to a corpse before. Normally, he solved cases through pictures that were sent to his computer by Watari. Seeing two corpses in one day was rather interesting to him.
"Natalie, wipe," Mr. Monk said as he looked down at a plastic cup. Natalie walked towards her boss and handed him a wipe. Mr. Monk used this wipe to pick up the plastic cup. Everyone else walked towards the detective and looked at the cup he was holding. "This was her cup," Mr. Monk explained.
"How do you know?" Randy asked.
"The lipstick on the cup matches the one she's wearing," Mr. Monk explained. He looked inside the cup to see if he could find anything. "There's some sort of residue at the bottom of this cup." Captain Stottlemeyer took the cup from the detective and looked at the contents.
"You're right...looks like somebody drugged her," Captain Stottlemeyer said. Mr. Monk continued to pace around the yard.
"But maybe she took whatever it was herself. She worked at a pharmacy," Randy said, flipping through his notes.
"If she worked at a pharmacy then she would have known not to go swimming after taking whatever it is she took," Mr. Monk said.
"Maybe she was drunk," Randy said flatly. Mr. Monk shook his head.
"No, I don't think so," Mr. Monk replied as he paced around the yard. Within minutes, he found a small container. Natalie promptly handed him a wipe and he picked up the object. It was a small container filled with pills.
"Well I bet my money that that's the murder weapon," Stottlemeyer said as he took the pill bottle with the wipe, "with this and the residue in the cup we should have an answer by tomorrow from forensics when they get here."
"Okay well we have to go now and prepare for our guests," Natalie said.
"Guests? What guests are you talking about Natalie?" Stottlemeyer asked.
"Shawn and Gus are staying at my house until they solve a murder at Six Flags and Edward and Watari are staying with Mr. Monk," Natalie explained.
"Wait, wait, wait. Monk is having people...stay over?" Stottlemeyer asked as Natalie nodded in the affirmative.
"Well if Monk has issues they could always stay at my house. I have a futon," Randy said. Stottlemeyer rolled his eyes.
"I do not sleep that often so there should not be a problem," L explained.
"Shall we depart Mr. Stretton?" Watari asked. The two wanted to get out of there as soon as possible before Randy could protest. They wouldn't be surprised if Mr. Monk was in favor of Randy's idea. Poor Randy.
"Yeah you all better go," Stottlemeyer said, "We'll call you in the morning and let you know what we found out." And with that, the four departed making their way towards their vehicles.
