FOUR WEEKS LATER...
"You sure we have time for this, Mr. Monk?" Molly asked him as she parked her car on the island across from the naval base, very close to the spot they'd found Julie a few weeks ago.
"I'll, I'll try to be quick. I have a few things...well, I'd just like to say," Adrian told her, checking his watch, "If he's there to listen, that is."
"I'm sure he is," she nodded knowingly, then looked at her own watch, "Probably twenty minutes at most, though."
"It, it shouldn't take that long," Adrian climbed out of the car. He walked down to the waterline where Julie had been sitting before and looked across the water to the base. "Uh, hello, Mitch, if you're here in spirit, I think you probably know who I am now, if you've been watching," he said softly, "I want you to know, hopefully, I can make right what went wrong at least in part today, so if you can give me the strength to be a rock on the stand, please do. I just want you to know, you had Natalie wrong at the end. She made the mistake and had the affair, but she was done with Harvey after that. She never would have left you; filing for divorce, much as I'm sure you felt you had no choice then, would only have made it worse. I just wish the family could have been salvaged, that you could have survived to now, to see Julie getting married. It's going to be a lovely wedding, and as long as whoever seems to be after her husband doesn't kill her and him-don't worry, I have an idea who it is, and nothing's going to happen to her if I can help it-she's going to have a good life. So if you'd like to come, please do; even though she can't have her father there in person, having him in spirit would do her a world of good."
He took a deep breath and stared into the water, as if waiting for an answer from Mitch. None came, although he had not been expecting any. He stood there for about five minutes, reflecting on everything, until a car door closing made him turn around. "Adrian Monk," a mustached man in a white naval officer's uniform was now approaching. "I thought it was you I saw over here. "I'm Admiral Mark Asbury; I'm the base commander..."
"OK, I'll go, sorry," Adrian turned to leave.
"No, no, it's nothing like that; you're free to stay as long as you want," the admiral assured him, "I'd seen you over here a few weeks ago with Mitch Teeger's daughter; you and she left before I could get over then, but since you're here now, there's something I've been meaning to ask for a long while now."
"What?"
"Your wife worked for the Chronicle before she died, right?"
"She did."
"Did she ever say anything to you about Mitch dropping by there in the months before his crash?"
"Uh, no, she didn't," Adrian told him. He started feeling nervous inside; was another terrible facet of the Teeger family that Natalie had never told him about going to be revealed now...?
"Maybe he didn't go to her, then," Asbury mused out loud, "But he swore he went..."
"What this about Mitch Teeger?" Molly now approached as well, concerned.
"I used to fly with him twenty years ago, before I was promoted to base commander here," Asbury explained, "And in the months before we shipped out to Kosovo, the planes kept crashing on test flights. A couple of the other pilots were pretty badly injured. Some of us suspected the planes were being rushed off the assembly line to make profits, and we were worried things wouldn't be safe for us if we were called overseas."
"So Mitch went to the Chronicle to tell them?" Molly asked.
"He did," the admiral nodded, "He'd made it clear he wasn't going to stand around and do nothing if our lives were going to be in danger, even when the brass had warned us all not to say anything. He went over there to the Chronicle during one leave, and when he came back, he told me and the rest of the guys in our squadron he'd talked to someone, and he'd been promised something would be done. But I never saw the story in the paper at all, and once we were in Kosovo...well, if you've been working with his wife all these years, Monk, I'm sure she's told you..."
"Of course she did. And now it makes a lot more sense," Adrian realized, "Whoever Mitch did talk to, he must have been promised the story would go out and the profiteering exposed. When he crashed, he realized he'd been lied to, and he went crazy in a rage. That explains everything, and it really wasn't his fault at all. Now we can definitely clear him-would you be willing to bring this up if we asked for a formal inquiry?" he asked Asbury.
"A couple of people higher than me probably won't like it, but yeah, I've kept this secret too long, Monk," the admiral nodded, "It's time something gets out; who knows the next time they'll do it otherwise?"
"Were you threatened to keep quiet on it before?" Molly inquired, worried.
"Truthfully, yes," Asbury told her gravely, "When we got back here after the conflict, I went straight to my commanding officer and basically screamed at him that Mitch had been a sacrificial lamb for profits. Later in the week, the whole squadron was called in to the conference room, and the lead admiral there admonished us, telling us his crash was strictly an accident, and we'd better not cause any trouble unless we wanted to get kicked out. So I kept quiet all these years, but I've felt horrible about it. So if you can help bring this to the light of day, Monk, please do."
"I'll, I'll certainly do what I can," Adrian promised, "Thank you, Admiral; this will make his wife and daughter so happy to know."
"I'm sure. And I hear his daughter's getting married soon. Tell her I said congratulations," Asbury said, looking proud, "I just wish Mitch could be there to celebrate it with her."
"Yeah, we all do, Admiral..."
"Um, I think it's time to go, Mr. Monk," Molly held up her watch.
"Right, I've got to go, Admiral, I'm testifying in court real soon on another case. But thank you anyway; I'll see if I can do anything with this," Adrian thanked Asbury.
"Please do, Monk. I think it's time for justice in this whole matter," Asbury told him.
"We'll see what I can do. Have a great day," Adrian bade him farewell. "One case is about to close, another one deepens," he mused to Molly as they headed back to her car, "And now I have extra reason to find and talk to Paula Stearns..."
"So he was a victim of shoddy engineering?" Natalie said softly outside the courtroom. She exhaled, deep relief on her face, "Then I know for sure he wasn't a coward, that he just snapped after realizing he'd been lied to about the corner cutting being revealed. The military-industrial complex was too busy making a fortune to care about his or his fellow pilots' lives..."
"Now we have to find out who he spoke to at the Chronicle, and who gave the order to kill the story, whether it was Paula or someone higher up," Adrian told her, "I'm not sure who has Janice Ellinghouse's records now that her father's gone, but we can look and see if she was the one who..."
"We're just about to start, Mr. Monk," Courtright stuck her head out the courtroom door. Adrian took a deep breath. "Well, here we go," he told his assistant, "Me versus Harrison Powell, the rubber match."
"You can beat him again, Mr. Monk, I know it," Natalie told him encouragingly, "And if you beat him this time, we'll probably never have to worry about him again if your guess is right."
"And things are made right for you too in a way. Well, I guess it's showtime," Adrian entered the courtroom and took his seat next to Courtright at the prosecution's table. He glanced backwards, where Natalie was sitting down with Molly and the rest of his team in the back, and gave them a hopeful thumbs-up. He then looked sideways to the defense table. Senator Harvey sat stone still, staring ahead with a nervous expression. Powell, in contrast, looked stone cold determined next to his client. The attorney turned towards the former detective and coldly mouthed, "You're going down for good this time, Monk," at him. "No Harrison," Adrian mouthed defiantly back, "You're the one going down, you and the senator."
"All rise," the bailiff declared, "Criminal court is now in session for The State of California Versus Seymour William Harvey. The honorable Judge Mabel A. Crafton presiding."
The judge entered the courtroom. "Be seated," she informed everyone, "I'll expect a clean courtroom for the duration of this trial; no outbursts of any kind will be tolerated from any parties. So, to begin, will the defendant please rise?"
"Harvey rose to his feet. "Seymour William Harvey, you are standing charged with the first degree murders of Abigail Williams and Melanie Hazzard, and the attempted first degree murder of Gail Davenport. How do you plead?"
"Not guilty, your Honor," Harvey said firmly, and Powell now patted his client supportively on the back. Adrian noticed April scowling at them both from the other side of the defendant's table. He grinned softly. Although Powell had been given the full report of what the prosecution planned to do, and been given all the evidence as the law required, the attorney was still in for a major strike after he himself had testified.
"You are fully cognicent of the charges against you?"
"I am."
"Very well. The counsels may proceed with the opening arguments," the judge authorized the attorneys.
"Thank you, your Honor. Ladies and gentlemen of the jury," Courtright rose to her feet, "It is a firm belief among those of us who live in the United States that no one is above the law, no matter how powerful they may be. The defendant apparently believed that he was. The state will prove that he willfully carried out terrible acts of violence for dark reasons known only to his soul. That he took advantage of women who came to his rallies and killed them to satiate some sinister inner desire. His supporters may say, the state's rushing to judgment, that we're doing this for publicity, or our careers. The state, ladies and gentlemen, would not have brought this case against Seymour Harvey if it was not fully sure he was guilty of the crimes he was accused of. Crimes that he may in fact have committed thirty years ago as well. Those crimes are not on trial today, as he was acquitted then and has the protection of double jeopardy, but that does not shield him from his newer crimes. The defendant has a history of violence, and it is now believed that in addition to the crimes he is accused of today, he is also guilty of murdering his wife when she found out he had cheated on her, and it is believed his is also guilty of a brutal statutory rape stemming from that affair," she gave Natalie a sympathetic glance in the gallery, "Justice has been long delayed for Seymour Harvey, and the state believes that justice delayed is justice denied. An innocent man has sat in prison for close to thirty years now. It is time the record is set straight, and the real monster, Seymour Harvey, is sent to jail. We have firm evidence, and we will prove it beyond any doubt."
She sat back down. Adrian braced himself for Powell's rebuttal. "Ladies and gentlemen of the jury," the defense attorney began his opening summation to him, "Justice is indeed being denied here. But not by who the prosecution claims. They are the witting tools of a colossal, egregious conspiracy against my client literally unmatched in all of American history (Adrian rolled his eyes; Powell was wasting no time going off into conspiracy land, as he'd suspected the man would). A conspiracy hatched by a so-called great detective," he pointed coldly at Adrian, "Who, I will prove, fabricated the whole case out of thin air the senator and lied wholesale about this case, and many other cases, to stay in the spotlight that is no longer his. And he was aided and abetted in this not only by his assistant, who seduced my client into an affair then lied her head off herself afterwards to save her precious perfect image, and not only by a state attorney desperate to burnish her career by going after a big target, but by a corrupt media that willfully flaunted Adrian Monk's view of the world for ratings and profits. They all got together to conspire to destroy Seymour Harvey-on top of which Natalie Teeger then murdered the senator's daughter in cold blood out of pure vengeance; the state will claim she is exonerated now, but I will prove conclusively it was her too. They wish to ruin a good and decent man, and release a brutal, murderous woman-hating illegal who was fairly convicted of the crimes the state is still insisting my client is guilty of thirty years after the fact. If you let them get away with it, he may come for you and your families next. If you let them get away with it, the state will come for you next, because this is a clear slippery slope to the removal of the rest of your God-given rights. If you believe in America, ladies and gentlemen, you have only one choice: acquit my client, and punish those who conspired to destroy him."
He plopped back down in his seat. "Very well," the judge said softly, "The state may call its first witness."
"The state calls Adrian Monk to the stand," Courtright declared. Adrian took another deep breath and walked up to the witness stand. He held up his hand when the court clerk approached with a Bible, drew a wipe, and wiped the cover down before placing his hand on it. The clerk raised both eyebrows at him, then shook his head and asked, "Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?"
"I do," Adrian nodded.
"Be seated," the clerk told him. Courtright now rose up and approached the witness stand. "Detective Monk, explain how you were first brought onto this case?" she opened the questioning.
"I was asked to come aboard by Lieutenant Charles Francis, with whom I'd been working in the last few years before my official retirement," Adrian said, nodding at the lieutenant, seated with the rest of his team.
"And you were able to identify Seymour Harvey as the killer?"
"From the available evidence, it became quite clear he was the guy. There was only one thing that bothered me; how he was able to get out of a solid room surrounded by guards to murder Abigail Williams. But I was able to figure it out."
"How did he do it then, Mr. Monk?"
"Here's what happened: during Senator Harvey's speech on the night Abigail died, he got the urge to kill. It must have been some terrible innate feeling that came to the surface every now and then that he simply can't control..."
"Objection: completely irrelevant and utterly defaming towards my client," Powell smugly rose to his feet.
"Sustained," the judge sided with him. "The witness is advised to remain on point," she reminded Adrian.
"Right, right," Adrian nodded, "Harvey's main bodyguard Ted was the key; he's been with him for years, and he's as loyal as they come. He must have signaled Ted he wanted to go after he finished meeting the potential voters after the speech. He randomly picked Abigail out in his mind when he met her. Ted in the meantime called in a bomb threat to the building privately on his own phone. When Senator Harvey was ushered back to the safe room, he sat down in the chair and pretended to be him, blasting loud music as a further cover. Since he and the senator are the same height and build, as long as he kept facing away from the door, the guards would believe it was him. Senator Harvey, meanwhile, left the room through the air vents to the roof, waited until the parking lot was cleared out, climbed down to Ted's regular car-he must have asked Ted for the keys in the safe room-put on sunglasses and a cap, and drove away. Looking at the event log, everyone who met with the senator had written down their name and address when they registered to meet with him, so Harvey knew exactly where Abigail lived. Harvey knocked on her door, perhaps said something along the lines of how he wanted to hear more about the issues from her. Then he killed her by beating her throat in, and strung her up with the rope he'd brought to look like a suicide; if he wasn't going to fight his murderous urges anymore, he didn't want his killings to look like murders after his previous acquittal. Then he drove back to the Sobrato Center, climbed back onto the roof and down the vent to the safe room, and thus was there to come out when the all clear was given."
"And you believe the same operation was undertaken with the other murders the senator was accused of?"
"Indeed, he had Ted call in fake bomb threats, adding additional ones if his boss needed more time to get back, whatever it took to get him alone. Ted then filled in for him while the senator went out and killed whoever on his meet and greet list he felt like killing."
"No further questions, your Honor," Courtright told the judge, although she mouthed silently at Adrian, "Go get him," as she walked away. Adrian took a deep breath as Powell strutted towards the witness stand. "All right, Adrian Monk, I am going to give you one and only one chance," the attorney told him sharply, "Either you admit right now that everything you just said was a bold-faced lie intended to destroy my client, or I am going to tear you apart of this stand more brutally than you can imagine."
"Objection: threatening the witness," Courtright stood right back after after she'd sat down.
"Sustained. The counsel is advised to not make things personal," the judge warned Powell.
"Actually, Harrison, I'll give you one chance," Adrian leaned towards him with his own scowl, "One chance to admit to this court that you cheated to get Seymour Harvey off the first time, and that you resorted to even worse measures this time to clear him and discredit us."
"OK, I'd say that's a clear case of threatening the lawyer, your Honor. Please find Mr. Monk in contempt of court and remove him," Powell requested to the judge.
"Overruled. He hasn't begun his testimony yet and is thus not in contempt," the judge shot him down.
"Ladies and gentlemen," Adrian addressed the court, "Here's what also happened. Thirty years ago, Harrison Powell took the case to defend Seymour Harvey when he was accused of murder. Harvey was a rising figure in local politics; Powell knew successfully defending him would greatly advance his career. But when the evidence was released to him, he panicked. Harvey was clearly guilty; the evidence overwhelmingly would convict him in court. Powell would not, could not lose. So he made the decision to adjust the odds in his favor..."
"Mr. Monk, I have told you to stop lying. You are..." Powell snarled at him.
"The counsel is advised to not interrupt the witness in the middle of his testimony," the judge admonished him. "Continue," she told Adrian.
"You went into the evidence room shortly after Harvey's arrest," Adrian frowned deeply at Powell, "You told them it was a routine check of the evidence. But you had other plans. You had checked everything over, and realized Harvey had a different blood type from yours: A+ to your B-. That was your window to get him off. You'd gotten a spare fingerprint and blood sheet before you came in and typed up Harvey's name and the other vital statistics of the case on it. Once you were alone, you cut yourself and spread your own blood on the form. Then you grabbed the first evidence sheet you could find with a blood type that matched your own and switched it with Harvey's real form, and that was Ricardo Sanchez's. His theft case had already run its course by then; luckily for you, they wouldn't look at it again. Then you pressed Sanchez's fingerprints onto your spare sheet and filed that in Harvey's case file. So with the evidence seeming to say Sanchez was the killer, of course Harvey was acquitted at trial."
"Nice try, Mr. Monk, but you have no proof of that at all...!" Powell snapped.
"The court would like to enter into evidence Exhibit A," Courtright rose again and extended a bagged paper towards the bench, "A search of Ricardo Sanchez's file showed Seymour Harvey's original blood and fingerprint paper inside. They match Seymour Harvey's blood type and fingerprints exactly, and a dusting showed the defense counselor's fingerprints on the paper."
"Your Honor this is obviously faked, the next step in the prosecution's hideous conspiracy to destroy my client and me myself...!"
"The funny thing about conspiracies, Harrison: the people who scream the loudest about them are the ones most likely to carry them out," Adrian told him wearily, "Just as you yourself did. And that settled it for the moment; you'd gotten your acquittal of Harvey, and your career took off. But after all these years, Harvey couldn't control his demons and started killing again. When he realized we suspected him, he ran to you and begged you to get him off. You agreed, and in return, you would do what you could to get him into the governor's office, maybe faked audio recordings to discredit Warren St. Clair or something to that extent. Then, Senator Harvey would immediately pardon Evan Gilray once he assumed the governorship, giving you back your perfect record, and have me and my associates tried for false arrest. Because lately, this has been about revenge for you regarding the Gilray case..."
"Your Honor, I am begging you to find this man guilty of contempt of court!" Powell all but screamed at the judge, "The longer you let this travesty go on, you make a tremendous mockery of...!"
"The counsel is also advised not to threaten this court, under penalty of receiving a contempt citation himself," the judge warned him icily.
"Your Honor, this is ridiculous and...!"
"You told Harvey to go public with the fact he'd had the affair with Natalie," Adrian calmly accused the attorney, "That way, you could gain control of the narrative and let the senator make himself look like the good guy. But that wasn't enough for you. I, and everyone else connected with me, had to be destroyed in your mind for ruining your perfect record in the Gilray case. So you set out to destroy us. And thus, Charlotte Harvey became expendable to get you your revenge..."
"Bailiff, arrest this man at once!" an increasingly sweating Powell shouted at the bailiff, "If the court will not do what's right, I'm asking...!"
"The counsel is given one last warning to stop threatening the members of this court," the judge snapped, looking frustrated with him now, "Given the seriousness of these charges against you, the witness will be given full leeway to tell his story."
"They have no proof, your Honor! They fabricated everything...!"
"The state would like to introduce Exhibit B: blood results from a break-in at Natalie Teeger's house from a few weeks ago," Courtright held up another blood form, "The blood matches Mr. Powell's perfectly."
"You broke into Natalie's house when she was gone to get her coat," Adrian furiously but calmly snarled at Powell, "Then you used your power of attorney to get into the evidence room again, this time to get a firearm. You hid it under your coat when you left. Then you waited for an opening. Seymour Harvey must have told you at some point after the break-in at Natalie's that his daughter had told him she wanted to reach out to her mother. That was your cue. You drove to the top of the parking garage and waited. When Charlotte Harvey came out to wait for Natalie, you shot her dead in cold blood, Powell. And you made sure someone would be standing in front of the alley dressed like Natalie so she'd take the fall for it. You waited until the police showed up, then quietly left, changing your clothes before you met us in prison so you would not be identified..."
"Your Honor, you are disgracing the bench! I order you to remove this man for slandering me and remand him to prison right now!" Powell all but screamed at the judge, "You are a disgrace to the judicial system by allowing him to go on like this...!"
"The state would like to Introduce Exhibit C: a search of Mr. Powell's house, which was executed with the proper warrants, found the firearm used to kill Charlotte Harvey in his closet," a much calmer Courtright gestured to an aide, who brought forth the rifle, "And as Exhibit D, the tape from the evidence room in question, showing Mr. Powell taking the weapon. I request the court to allow it to be played for the jury."
"Denied, denied; it's a false, doctored tape, and I...!" Powell shrieked hysterically.
"Permission is granted. Hand the tape to the bailiff please," the judge instructed her. Courtright did so, and the bailiff inserted the tape into the TV set in the corner. Sure enough, the image showed Powell entering the evidence room, glance around to make sure he was alone, then casually grab the gun and slide it under his coat. "I believe we have seen enough," the judge nodded grimly, "Bailiff, please place Mr. Powell under arrest on the charges of legal misconduct and first degree murder," she instructed him.
"You can't do that! I am wholly innocent and being set up here, you stupid, ignorant amateur!" Powell screamed furiously like an overgrown five year old at her.
"Mr. Powell, you have used up your last..."
"Shut up, you brain-dead hag!" Powell raged at her. He immediately seized up, turned pale, and clapped both hands to his mouth. "N-N-No wait, let me rephrase that...!"
"No need. I also find you guilty of massive contempt of court, Mr. Powell," the judge slammed her gavel down with a furious expression, "Bailiff, remove him to the prison where he will wait without bail until he can stand trial for the crimes he is now accused of..."
"Before that happens, your Honor, the state would like to call April Loughran to the stand," Courtright rose to her feet again, "It is the state's feeling that Mr. Powell should have the chance to respond to what she would have to say."
"Well, that is irregular, but granted," the judge conceded. "You may step down, Mr. Monk," she told Adrian. Adrian nodded and stepped down, feeling quiet glad inside. He sat back down at the prosecution table as April was sworn in. "Mrs. Loughran, could you enlighten the court on your working relationship with Mr. Powell?" Courtright asked her.
"I signed up to be his aide six months ago, because he had the best record of any defense attorney out there, and he promised to get me my own law degree," April began, scowling at Powell coldly, "But all that time, he was obsessed with having lost the Evan Gilray case, and wanting to find any way to get it reversed."
"Obsessed, you say?"
"He frequently kept ranting, 'Monk's gotta pay!' over and over in private."
"So did he act on that feeling?"
"He had me dress up in Natalie Teeger's coat and a blonde wig and stand in front of the alley in front of Charlotte Harvey's law firm," April said, glaring harder at Powell, who tried to object, but was too shocked to get the words out, "He'd told me we were going to set Natalie Teeger up for attempting to kill Harvey, but I was horrified when she got shot for real."
"And did your boss do it?"
"Yeah. When I ran away, I saw him standing on the top level of the parking garage across the street with a gun in hand. When I complained to him that he'd set me up as well as the Teeger woman, he warned me that if I didn't keep my mouth shut, he'd have me arrested for the murder. All to get his stinking perfect record back. By the way, I quit," she barked at Powell, now deathly white with the knowledge that not only was his perfect record now gone forever, but so was likely his entire career, "I don't want a law career if it means doing what you want."
"We understand. No further questions, your Honor," Courtright told the judge, radiating triumphant joy.
"Any rebuttals from the defense?" the judge asked Powell. Still numb, Powell could not get any sounds out. "The witness may step down then," the judge continued, "Bailiff, as noted before, place Mr. Powell formally under arrest and remand him to prison."
She rapped the gavel down again. The bailiff started carrying Powell away. "What the hell's the matter with you!?" he found his voice again as he passed Harvey, rage at his client now forming on his face, "I got you off; they weren't going to touch you! Why the hell couldn't you just leave well enough alone!?"
"Don't you dare lecture me, you filth!" Harvey lunged to his feet, even angrier, "Charlotte was everything to me! You swore Natalie had killed her, and you just shot her in cold blood, you dirty piece of...!"
He abruptly seized Powell by the throat, hurled him to the floor, and started punching him violently. "No, please, stop! Bailiff help, do something! Bailiff, help me!" Powell screamed desperately for aid. The bailiff, however, stood still and glared Powell down in disgust, and only moved in when Harvey, now seemingly consumed with rage, seized a coffee mug off the defense table and started bashing Powell hard in the throat with it. He pushed the senator back into his seat, where the rest of his defense team, shell-shocked at how quickly their case had unraveled, restrained him. Gasping for air, and with his nose gushing blood, Powell was dragged out of the courtroom, looking utterly defeated and weak, where the bailiff handed him off to court officers outside to be taken to prison. "Your Honor, before the court is adjourned, I'd like to enter the defendant's actions just now into the record as evidence, given it was similar to how his alleged victims were killed," Courtright proposed, looking even more triumphant now.
"Duly noted, and under the circumstances, it seems only right to enter the evidence as requested," the judge agreed, "With that said, court is now adjourned until such time until a replacement counsel for the defendant can be hired. Bailiff, remand the defendant to prison without bail until that time. Court is adjourned."
She rapped the gavel down with finality. Adrian found himself beaming to see Harvey looking just as defeated as Powell, clearly knowing it was over now. The senator's gaze shot right back to Natalie, who gave him a cold glare and mouthed, "Got you at last!" at him as he was led out. "Mr. Monk, thank you," she bustled forward to commend him as the courtroom started emptying, "You couldn't have done any better up there."
"Yes, thank you," Courtright also commended him gratefully, "Ray would be glad to know he was right all along, and now we finally got the right man."
"You, you will have Ricardo Sanchez released then?" Adrian pressed her.
"I can do that right now," Courtright dug out her phone and started dialing the prison. Adrian beamed wider as he followed Natalie and everyone else out of the courtroom. One case was essentially solved. Now he had two others to take care of...