Part 2 - The Investigation Begins

Two weeks passed, and the Naval file finally arrived on Leland's desk. So far, they hadn't had to use a ruse with Natalie; there had been no forward motion on Monk's secret mission. There was one case they were working on, the murder of a waitress in the alley behind the restaurant where she worked in the Presidio. They were closing in on a suspect but needed a few more pieces of actual evidence to close the case. Thus, Leland sent Natalie on a goose chase, a safe but useless search for information at City Hall. While he and Monk purportedly were going to reexamine what they already knew. She was so excited that they trusted her that she didn't think to question their motives.

With Natalie gone for a while, Adrian and Leland dove into the file the Navy had sent. Adrian was most interested in Mitch's postings and whom he was posted with each time. Earlier in the week, Leland had gotten the names of the men who had caught Adrian's attention in the photos he'd seen in the early stage of the investigation. Robert Ryland and David Thomason. Leland then requested the other Navymen's service records as well. From what the two detectives could see, Mitch and Robert entered Naval service simultaneously in the same place. They were both in the Navy ROTC at the Citadel.

Natalie had been 20 minutes away at Charleston Southern University. Years ago, she'd told Monk she applied there because it was as far from her parents as she could get. Monk chuckled when he thought about it; Natalie's relationship with her folks had improved in the last few years, primarily for the better. So, Natalie and Mitch married, and Natalie became pregnant with Julie within their first year of marriage. They lived in base housing next door to Robert Rylan and his new wife, Melody. Then, the two men's paths, although parallel in a general sense, diverged. Mitch kept getting promoted to positions of more responsibility and command. Robert was at least two steps behind him, sometimes three. They remained assigned to the same command structure and were deployed to Haiti, South Korea, South America, and, finally, Kosovo. They met David Thomason early on in South Korea and remained together. In Kosovo, Mitch was a Lieutenant Commander, and Robert was a Lieutenant Junior Grade, having been busted down from Lieutenant the month before their deployment due to some type of insubordination. Adrian would read the charges later. But, the net result was Mitch was Robert's commanding officer in the field and in flight.

The three flew several successful sorties, closing supply lines and cutting off roadways. Mitch was in command and piloting, Robert was the navigator, and David Thomason was a flight engineer and payload specialist. It was during a sortie that the three were shot down, and Mitch was killed. The other two were rescued, and their report said Mitch ran off with the supplies and radio. Somehow, it just didn't ring true for Monk. It didn't when Natalie told him the story in her upstairs bathroom on that long ago day, and it didn't now.

Leland got up and started playing with his yo-yo, "This smells rotten, Monk."

"What? Where?" Monk grabbed his packet of wipes from his pocket and jumped up.

"No, not a real smell. This whole thing is fishy. Mitch doesn't strike me as a coward or a traitor." He held up his copy of the file, "Medals. Commendations for bravery. Nothing in his file would suggest that."

Monk slid back into his seat in front of Leland's desk. "I know. I can't imagine Natalie ever marrying a man who would do something like that. She's so upstanding herself; she wouldn't stand for less in a mate. Yet she somehow took what the report said at face value. I don't understand that either." He shook his head with disbelief. Once, Natalie had almost quit because he'd withheld evidence of murder in a case. Granted, it had been for the GG–the Greater Good, but Natalie was adamant that he tell the truth about the evidence and investigate further. That was who she was to the core of her being. So honest. She expected nothing less than that from those around her.

"Maybe she did, but she was heartbroken and didn't really have the wherewithal to investigate anything, not then, at least. So she took what the Navy's Official Investigation told her and left it. In the years since she's been busy with Julie. Then with Julie and you. You can be very time-consuming, you know."

Adrian rolled his eyes at Leland but had to chuckle a little. "But even so, we know her so well now; she can fight like a hellion when pushed. Why do you think she never pursued it?"

"Fear?" Leland shrugged with the word.

Adrian nodded, amazed that anything would frighten Natalie. She was sincerely the bravest woman–no–person he'd ever met. He admired her for it.

"You're right. Afraid of what she might find out. Or confirm her fear. I want to fix that for her. Carrying that has to be such a burden for her."

Leland simply nodded. He was bursting inside. Adrian Monk empathized with another human, showing a depth of emotion and feeling Leland never thought he'd see from him again.

"Okay, let's find these two other guys. I want a chance to talk to them. Robert Rylan and David Thomason. There has to be something we're missing. Something not in these files."

𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ

As it turned out, David Thomason was about two and a half hours away, living in Sacramento. It wasn't as clear where Robert Ryland was at the moment. He seemed to slip off the radar, the grid, or whatever, not too long after Mitch's funeral in 1998. Monk puzzled over that as Leland searched the law enforcement databases for more information. Monk closed the folder he had added printouts to just as he heard Natalie's voice in the bullpen.

"Leland!" he said urgently.

"Yep," his friend replied and grabbed the folders that Monk handed him.

Natalie walked in with a cheerful greeting just as Leland closed his laptop and placed the files in his top desk drawer.

"Hi, gentlemen," Natalie said. "I got the information you were after."

"That didn't take long," Monk said almost genially. He thought they'd have more time with the files this morning.

"Yes, the clerk was a flirt. Lucky for you two–so am I." Monk bristled at the idea of Natalie flirting with a clerk at City Hall, but he also knew that it would likely lead nowhere. Natalie hadn't dated since Steven Albright. The thought of someone new touching or kissing her made Adrian see red, and he knew he was a goner.

Monk composed himself and said, "Let's see!" He was using a level of enthusiasm unusual for him to cover up his fragmented heart. He felt way too many wildly careening emotions lately and had to buckle them down to get himself under control.

"Well, I got the deed to the restaurant; I also got the deed to the building where the waitress lived. Guess what? The same corporation owns both buildings!"

Leland didn't let on that they already knew this information. Instead, he intoned, "Great work, Natalie! Great connection. She must have known something that got her killed."

"What should we do now?" Natalie asked with the excitement of a person who had just done well at her job. She was making more moves on her own, with a secret hope that one day she could become a licensed PI.

Monk looked at her twinkling eyes and her pink-stained cheeks. Her happiness and elation were rather contagious, and he felt himself smile at her involuntarily.

Natalie blinked at Adrian when she saw the smile that bloomed on his face. It was a rare sight–that genuinely happy smile. It warmed her from the inside when it occurred, usually when he solved a case, but this one was directed at her, and it startled her and made her shiver a little.

"Well," Leland said, "we need to interview the owner and the managers of the properties." Randy was actually handling that with Sgt. McIntyre at the moment, but she didn't need to know that. "I'll send someone to do that. The three of us should look for any illegal dealings that might have to do with those addresses. Maybe citations or some illegal activities. That poor young woman did not get dead because she was taking a bag of trash to the dumpster. Why don't you guys use the computer in the records room and see what you can dig up? You'll be closer to the old paper files if anything comes up. I'll work here."

Natalie turned and walked out towards the stairs. Leland winked at Monk, hoping Adrian understood that he would still be there working on the other case. Monk gave him a quick nod and hurried after Natalie.

𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ

Several hours later, the case of the murdered waitress was solved; the poor young woman had accidentally learned something she shouldn't have, leading to her murder. Adrian was puttering around Natalie's living room while she made dinner. He dusted and straightened, refolded a throw to his perfectionistic liking, and plumped the couch pillows. He stopped every now and then to regard pictures of Mitch as if they might tell him the answers he was seeking. Sometimes Trudy's pictures did that for him.

David Thomason was coming to San Francisco the following Wednesday for business, and he had agreed to meet with Leland and Monk at the SFPD regarding an open case; the details were left unsaid. Leland had told Monk this when Natalie had excused herself to go to the ladies' room.

Natalie called him to the table for dinner, and he detoured to the bathroom to wash his hands. Adrian looked at himself in the mirror and wondered if all the lies and subterfuge were somehow visible on his face. He chided himself for the idiotic thought and dried his hands quickly on one of the fresh towels left expressly for him. He thought about how much Natalie had accommodated him over the years to make him comfortable in her home. A fresh pile of hand towels, a hamper in the powder room. A dozen identical aprons for when he helped her cook. The contents of her cabinets and refrigerator mostly aligned with his. With allowances for Julie and Natalie's needs, of course. What had he done to accommodate her? He sighed. Adrian hoped he could find the truth soon. He wanted to accommodate her in all the ways he could. He wanted to change his life and hers. His feelings were not going to stay buried for long.