And so it was soon thereafter that Adrian, with several policemen behind him, found himself ringing Karen's doorbell-with a wipe firmly over his finger. Marshall answered the door. "You again!" he snapped at the sight of Adrian and the police, "I'm warning you, leave Karen alone; she's been through enough!"

"This is only going to take a minute, Mr. Marshall," the detective informed him.

"A minute you're not getting," Marshall stared at Adrian's still wet tuxedo and stepped several feet backwards. "Where the hell have you been!?" he complained, looking repulsed, "You smell like the harbor!"

"Uh, yes, but let's, let's not go into that now," Adrian shifted uncomfortably, "Now I'd really like a word with Karen."

"The answer, pal, is...!"

"Please, let them in, James," came Karen's voice from behind him. The first thing Adrian immediately noticed was the dark circles under her eyes and the look of incredible guilt on her face. "Hello Karen," he greeted her slowly, "I want you to know we caught Nicholas Hallett. He's going to spend a long time in prison for killing Arthur Schmidt. In the meantime, this is Richard Lawton, the deputy city commissioner for internal affairs in the department," he gestured at the large heavyset man directly behind him, "He would be the person to look over the claims that the captain threatened you. Perhaps you would like to tell him while he's here with me what really happened last night-and why you decided not to tell anyone that you saw Hallett kill Schmidt."

Karen burst into tears. "She did?" Natalie exclaimed from the back of the crowd; Adrian had not fully explained the reason they had come to the house thus far.

"That's ridiculous!" Marshall snorted, "I talked to Karen that night; she was on the set for...!"

"You set the whole thing in motion, James," Adrian walked forward, prompting Marshall to step further backwards, "Ever since you and Karen met when you were assigned to the shoot, the two of you shared a dislike for Arthur Schmidt. Karen knew he was planning on pulling the plug on the picture; she wanted you to keep track of Schmidt for her so she could confront him when he was vulnerable and force him into backing off. You called Schmidt earlier in the day to set up the meeting on the set and drove to his house earlier in the evening to make sure he upheld his end of the bargain."

"Don't accuse me, Monk, I didn't do anything wrong!" Marshall protested.

"No, you haven't, thank God," Adrian said, "The world needs more people like you around who can fight evil dirt and dust. But as you got to Schmidt's, you saw him pull out and drive off. You called Karen on the set as you followed him. She was filling in for an extra at the exact time you phoned, in complete Union soldier uniform..."

"The boot prints at the crime scene..." Disher snapped his fingers from back in the crowd.

"...and she told you to keep an eye on him and would intercept his car," Adrian continued, "As it was he was driving right toward the section of town she was in, and so it was easy for her to catch up with Schmidt. You pulled off when her car appeared; you figured everything was going to go smoothly once she caught up with him. Neither of you suspected Hallett was waiting for Schmidt in that warehouse. You followed him in, didn't you Karen? And you called out to him just as he was entering the main chamber. Schmidt turned to face you at the exact second Hallett fired, so that his ice bullets missed the direct hit he'd hoped for. And you watched as Schmidt charged Hallett in a blind rage and grappled with him, and Hallett shot him. Did you say anything to Schmidt as he stumbled back out, like where to find me?"

"I said, 'Monk, 1443 Pine,'" Karen sobbed, "It was the least I could do, having seen..."

She was unable to finish. "Why didn't you tell me any of this, baby?" Marshall stared at her quizzically.

"She couldn't when Hallett had seen her watching," Adrian informed him and everyone else, "He wasn't going to let anyone stand in his way, not when he'd gone so far to get his dear Marilyn all for himself. So for the benefit of all of us, Karen, what did he say to you? What was the price of your silence?"

"He had..." Karen let out a loud burst of grief, "...he had photos of the Altamont Rally from 1978. I was there."

"Where the anti-gun protesters attacked all the cops," Disher knew of it, "Two of them later died."

"I didn't hurt anyone," Karen continued, "but Hallett got the negatives of me there; he threatened to doctor them to make it look like I had killed someone if I spoke up out what I'd seen him do. He would have distributed it to every film studio on the West Coast; I'd never have worked again! Plus he'd been looking through the computer files like Schmidt had; he knew where the boys went to school. He threatened to run them down in the street too if I didn't keep quiet. So when I got back to the set, I told the crew that it would be best for the film if they said I'd been there the whole time, or Schmidt was going to shut it down. Believe me, Monk, keeping silent has been the hardest thing I ever...!"

Unable to continue, she slumped to the floor and sobbed harder. "I understand that, Karen," Adrian stepped toward her, "But Hallett killed again because you decided not to turn him in. You realize that these gentlemen," he gestured at the uniformed officers behind him, "are going to have to consider that withholding evidence, and that carries a heavy price."

"And now that we've established you lied to us about that," Lawton stepped forward into the house, "let's see what else you made up. Did your ex-husband Leland Stottlemeyer threaten to kill you when he was here last night?"

Looking guiltier than ever, Karen shook her head hard. "Did he threaten to harm you in any way at all?" the internal affairs chief pressed.

"Things...things got out of hand," she whispered with another shake of her head, "I look at myself and I didn't know I was capable of..."

"You what...?" Marshall stared at her with an expression that was a cross between shock and betrayal, "You MADE IT UP!? You made up the whole abuse thing from...you mean...he's never once threatened to hurt you like you told me the first time I met you!?"

"Leland never abused me, not once, not ever," she confessed with another burst of grief, "I'm sorry James, I shouldn't have said..." Glancing at Adrian, she whimpered, "I'm sorry I dragged you into it, Monk, I just...just lost control last night. When they let Leland out, tell him I'm...I'm...I'm sorry."

There was the sound of a car door opening from the driveway. "He won't have to," Stottlemeyer came striding up to the doorway, "I was already bailed out an hour ago."

"I got the call and came back," Linda appeared behind him. The realtor pointed an accusing finger in Karen's face. "You're very lucky you have kids," she snarled at her, "Because otherwise I'd give you a piece of my mind for stooping that low to get back at Leland, you son of a...!"

There came the blare of a truck horn from the street that covered up the end of her sentence. "Now, you were saying something a minute ago?" Stottlemeyer inquired to his ex with raised eyebrows.

"I'm sorry, Leland," she was unable to meet his gaze. It was the first time Adrian had ever heard her apologize to the captain for anything.

"You MADE IT UP!?" Marshall was still in shock.

"In the meantime, I'm afraid you're going to have to come with us, Mrs. Stottlemeyer," Lawton drew his handcuffs, "You're hereby charged with one count of withholding evidence, three felony counts of making false statements, and two felony counts of malicious intent. You have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be..."

"It's OK, Rick," Stottlmeyer unexpectedly stepped between the internal affairs officer and Karen, "I'm not pressing charges, and I think this time it would be best if you didn't either."

"What!?" Lawton's jaw dropped.

"I was out of line last night too," the captain admitted, "The two of us are even."

"Leland, she deliberately lied to send you up the river!" Lawton said incredulously, "Your word is the only thing that can convict her; if you don't push anything...!"

"I said," Stottlemeyer leaned toward him, "I'm not pressing charges against her. Don't you understand plain English?"

"Sure, sure, I understand," Lawton mumbled. He turned back to Karen and added, "But despite this, I'll still expect you in court to tell everything you know, or else there'll still be charges from the state filed."

"I'll tell the court everything," she nodded, "Anything to keep that monster Hallett behind bars."

"Well then, our work here is done, I guess," Lawton looked disappointed that he wasn't going to be taking anyone down. The officers slowly filed away from the house. "Leland, I...I..." Karen was at a loss for words at the sudden turn of events.

"Don't say anything," he told her, "Like I said, we're even now. So what made you change your mind about everything?"

"The boys haven't spoken to me since last night," she admitted, "Max threw his skateboard at me in contempt this morning; that was the big turning point. Being hated by your own children, that's a punishment worse than jail, believe me!"

"I can believe that," Stottlemeyer's face contorted with pain at the thought of past instances of this happening to him.

"You MADE IT UP!?" Marshall was still staring at Karen in shock.

"I want you to do something for me, Jimmy," Stottlemeyer put an arm around the shoulder of the man he'd so recently chewed out, "I want you to forgive her too. Because Monk tells me you love her very much, and it would be a mistake to let a damn good woman like her slip away, trust me on that."

Marshall stared back and forth between both Stottlemeyers. Then with a reassuring smile, he extended a silent hand to Karen, who sniffed in delight at the reprieve and embraced her new love. "You won't regret it, Jimmy," the captain told him, "Monk, let's leave these two make up with each other."

"Before you go, Leland," Karen turned toward him, "First thing on Monday, I'm...I've decided to call Judge Lawrence and tell him some...sections of his decisions need...reevaluating."

"Really?" the captain didn't say anything else, but Adrian knew what had happened: his boss had just earned himself more custody rights.

"Really," his ex told him, breaking into a smile that clearly telegraphed that even though her relationship with him was still finished, she intended not to burn any more bridges with him, "Have a good day, Leland."

It was Stottlemeyer's turn to sniff in happiness. "Did you all hear that?" he asked everyone around him as the front door closed.

"I did," Adrian smiled at his boss, "You did the right thing, Captain."

"Yes, you did, sir," Disher gave his superior a look of deep respect.

"And I hope in the meantime," Linda fixed Stottlemeyer with raised eyebrows, "That you've learned a good lesson on revenge, Leland, because next time I might not be able to bail you out to make apologies."

"I have," he told her, running a hand through her hair, "I'm not going to lose another one. Not when you're great yourself."

"And I'm sorry too while, while we're at it, Linda," Adrian told the realtor, "I wasn't able to keep..."

"You didn't break that promise, Monk," she reassured him, "On the contrary, I think you did just fine. I think your wife would be proud. Very proud."

Adrian glanced skyward. "Yeah, Trudy's very proud," Natalie agreed, putting a hand on his shoulder, "If it weren't for you, none of this would have happened. The good stuff, I mean. Well, I guess now everything's over and done with now, right?"

"The case is," Adrian told her, "But there's still something I'd like to do tonight, if you'd would like to help out."

That evening, Adrian gave Ambrose's door a good knocking. Ambrose's face registered with surprise when he opened it. "Well, Adrian, what...what a surprise," he exclaimed, "Hello there," he greeted Julie behind them, "So nice of you to drop in too."

"It's a pleasure," she informed him, hefting several bags into his hand, "Mr. Monk's got something for you."

Ambrose opened the bags. Inside them were ten carefully wrapped mugs exactly like the ones he already had with number threes labeled on them. "Just thought that you'd be cut up by losing Number Three," Adrian admitted to his brother, "I, I got backups just in case it breaks again; should probably have gotten backups for the rest, but Natalie said she'd kill me if I bought that many."

"Well, thanks," Ambrose seemed quite pleased to be getting these gifts, "I'll, I'll go put one of them away."

"We also brought the newspaper back," Natalie handed it to the instruction manual writer, who set about smoothing the edges out even though it didn't look the least bit wrinkled, "Thank you for all your help, it came in handy in solving the case."

"Glad it did," Ambrose said in relief, "How'd it go?"

"Wonderful," Adrian tapped the papers lying on the top of the nearest filing cabinet until they were perfectly lined up, "We got the guy, and the captain's not at odds with Karen anymore. I wish you could have been there to see it all."

"So do I, so do I," Ambrose lamented glumly, "So, what brings the two of you here?"

"Well, they happen to be profiling Trudy's case on tonight's Crimestoppers show," his brother told him, "And I figured that since the two of us have an equal interest in this case, we'd watch it together. And because of that, I...I think it would be best that if any...any crucial clue comes up, you should get to phone it in, Ambrose. After all, it's not like you deserve to be shut out of the process."

"You mean it?" Ambrose's expression leaped, "You'll...you'll really let me...?"

"Just for tonight," Adrian added firmly, "I, I still need to fulfill my commitment to this as well."

"Well then," Ambrose glanced at the clock, "Since it's five minutes to air, I might as well go put this paper away and get us set up for the show. In the meantime, go make yourself at home...well, not completely, but you get my idea."

While everyone wandered into the living room, the instruction manual writer wandered into the den and reinserted the newspaper into its appropriate stack. As he turned to go in with the others, he noticed Julie plugging her laptop into the wall. "Not too long on it," he advised her, "I have a very specific budget for electrical use each month that I can't afford to go over on. So you're sending him the info on this latest case, am I right?"

"We have an agreement," Julie clicked on the Hotmail icon on the front screen, clicked Send once the Hotmail screen had popped up, and clicked on the top e-mail address on the quick list, which happened to be BenFlem11, "I let him know everything once it's all over with-or at least everything Mom's willing to tell me about what goes on. Since we agree this series is going to be hot, he needs to be able to have enough script treatments to last a while."

"I see," Ambrose watched her type in MR. MONK AND THE UNPOPULAR BANKER in the Re line, "Well, that's good, knowing my brother's the big star of a major...what I'm saying is..."

"Hey, don't worry about it," she gave him a sympathetic look, "They're going to get to you on this show in time. And people are going to like you a lot, trust me. You're the type of person that people can sympathize with."

"Well, I wouldn't go that far..." Ambrose started to say.

"Let me put it this way," Julie rose up and took his hand, "When it comes to the heroes in my life, my dad and Mr. Monk run one-two. You're number three."

Ambrose cracked a smile at this. "She's right, Ambrose," Adrian had been listening in, "I'd, I'd rank you pretty high, too. I know Trudy does, too, somewhere up there. What do you say we go find some peace for her?"

Ambrose nodded firmly, looking better than he had in a long while. He followed his brother into the den, flashing another smile at Natalie as he passed her. Adrian gestured for him to sit in the armchair closest to the phone and took his seat in the one exactly opposite it as his father-in-law appeared on the screen again and announced, "Good evening, I'm Dwight Ellison. Since Crimestoppers U.S.A. has come on the air, we've helped bring closure to many victims of crime. Tonight, I'm asking you to help bring closure for me on a very personal case..."

THE END