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Natalie groaned and emerged from the covers, groping on the nightstand for her ringing cell phone. She was grateful that she'd remembered to retrieve it from her robe pocket and toss it onto the nightstand at some point last night.
"H'lo?" she said sleepily, not bothering to check the display.
"Natalie, it's Randy."
"Wha time izzit?" she mumbled.
"Six a.m."
"Oh, God," she groaned, burrowing her head into the pillow.
She and Adrian had made love for hours the night before. He'd been determined to make their second time together slow and tender, since their first time had been so fast and frantic. They'd finally exhausted themselves and fallen into a satiated slumber sometime after midnight — and even so, he'd woken her up and made love to her again shortly before four a.m. She hadn't had such an incredible night since Mitch had been alive, but as a consequence she'd gotten very little sleep.
"I'm sorry for the early wake up call," Randy apologized, "but we have a body down by the pier and we need Monk to take a look."
"What's going on?" Adrian mumbled blearily from the pillow beside hers.
"We have a case," she told him, then returned to the phone. "Where should we meet you?"
There was a long silence on the phone. "Hello?" Natalie said, thinking they might have gotten disconnected.
"I'm here," Disher said. "Uh… was that Monk just now?"
"Yes."
More silence. "I take it the dinner went well?" His tone was one of amusement.
She huffed out an exasperated breath. "Where should we meet you, Randy?"
He gave her directions. She disconnected the call and tossed the phone back on the table.
"Sometimes I really hate this job," she muttered, feeling as though she could sleep for another day or two.
"You and me both," Adrian said, stretching and yawning mightily.
"Did you tell the captain or Randy that you were planning to propose?" she asked curiously.
Adrian looked over at her, puzzled. "I told them about the dinner, but not the proposal. Given what happened with Leland's proposal to T.K., I didn't want to risk either of them accidentally saying something to you. Why?"
"Just wondering." She rolled her eyes. "Randy asked if the dinner went well when he heard your voice."
"Ah." He turned over and took her into his arms, kissing her neck. "It's a shame he called. I'd much rather stay in bed today."
"Three times last night wasn't enough for you?" she asked, feeling his erection brushing her thigh.
"No," he said, moving his hand to cup her breast. "I have twelve years of abstinence to make up for."
"You don't have to do it all in one night, you know," she teased.
He grinned at her. "I'd sure like to try," he said, running his hand lightly down her stomach. "Besides, it's partly your fault. You're entirely too appealing."
Natalie moaned with regret. "We really need to go. Duty calls."
He sighed, kissing her lips briefly. "All right. Who gets the first shower?"
"I'll go. I'm faster." She sat up and swung her legs over the side of the bed. When she stood up, the jolt of pain made her yelp in surprise and hunch forward.
"Are you all right?" Adrian asked in alarm, scrambling over the bed to her.
She sat back down, wincing. "I'm fine. Just sore. Ow." She rubbed her thigh.
"Was I too rough?" Adrian was horrified that he'd inadvertently hurt her. Their last two bouts of lovemaking had been slow and gentle, but he'd practiced no restraint at all their first time together. "I'm so sorry, Natalie, I didn't mean to — "
"It's okay," she reassured him. "I'm… out of practice. Three times in one night was probably overdoing it a little."
"Is there anything I can do?" he asked anxiously.
She shook her head. "I'm going to take a really hot shower and some Motrin. That should take the edge off, at least."
She pushed off the bed, more carefully this time, and hobbled to the shower.
The wind was whipping fiercely over the bay as Natalie and Adrian made their way to the cordon of crime-scene tape and police officers. Natalie was glad she'd brought her warmest coat, as well as her gloves and scarf; it was a gray, drizzly day and the wind was brisk. She was doubly glad she'd had spare clothes at Adrian's; the little red dress was not something she'd want to wear to a chilly outdoor crime scene.
Stottlemeyer hailed them over. "Sorry to get you out here so early," he apologized, "but we're hoping you'll give us more to go on, because right now we don't have much."
Adrian ducked under the crime scene tape to examine the body.
The male corpse had a massive head wound and waterlogged clothes. Adrian examined him carefully. "Has the medical examiner determined cause of death?" he asked.
"He won't know until he can get him into autopsy," Stottlemeyer answered. "He doesn't think the head wound was bad enough to cause death instantly, so we're not sure if he got dead before or after he hit the water."
Adrian nodded absently, circling the body with his hands extended. He knelt down and sniffed at the man's shirt. "Hmmm," he muttered.
"The body washed up on shore sometime early this morning," Randy said. "It was discovered by a marina security guard who was on his way to work. M.E. estimates time of death between one and three a.m. He wasn't in the water very long."
"It'd help if we could figure out the murder weapon," Stottlemeyer said, sipping from a steaming take-out cup of coffee. "The M.E. says a large, solid object, maybe cylindrical, but he's not sure."
"A scuba tank?" Natalie suggested.
The three men looked at her in surprise. "That's… a definite possibility," Stottlemeyer said, nodding. "Good thinking, Natalie."
"A very good guess," Adrian said, still crouched by the body. "But not quite accurate. The murder weapon was a fire extinguisher." He pointed at the head wound. "Fire extinguishers are cylindrical, but they have flat bottoms so they can stand alone and upright if needed. You can almost make out the shape of the rounded bottom edge of the canister, here."
Stottlemeyer squinted at the wound. "Yeah… I see what you mean."
"Also, smell his clothes," Adrian continued. "Even though they've been soaked in sea water, they still smell like fire retardant. I'd guess that he works at a facility where fire retardant is manufactured or used frequently, and the smell has worked its way into the fabric of his clothes."
Stottlemeyer leaned over, sniffed, and smiled. "Excellent deduction, Monk. Anything else?"
Adrian was studying something on the man's hand. "His hand is bruised," he pointed out. "Defensive wound?" He held his hand, palm out, over his head and pretended to block a blow, then nodded. "Yes, I think so." He stood and reached out to Natalie for a wipe. "That's all I see, for now."
"Randy!" Stottlemeyer called. "Tell the M.E. they can transport the body."
He and Adrian ducked back under the crime scene tape as the medical examiner's crew moved in.
"That's a lot more to go on than we had before, so thanks." Stottlemeyer leaned in and lowered his voice. "Sorry again to drag you out here. I know you had, uh, special plans last night."
Adrian shrugged. "The life of a cop. Or, in this case, former cop."
"It went well?" Stottlemeyer probed, glancing over at Natalie, who was chatting with Randy.
"Very well."
Stottlemeyer's eyebrows shot up at the sight of his friend's self-satisfied smirk. The man was fairly strutting. "Good for you, buddy."
"Randy says we have a check waiting at the station," Natalie told Adrian as he and the captain approached.
"Always good news," Adrian said. "We might as well stop by and get it now."
"That's what I thought, too," she agreed.
"Great, you can follow us in," Stottlemeyer said, and they headed off to their separate cars.
Back at the station house, they followed the captain and Randy into the crowded, bustling squad room. There was a hum of activity already even though it was still shy of eight a.m. "The check's at my desk," Disher told them.
"Oh, I still need a copy for my files," Stottlemeyer remembered, following them to his partner's workstation.
The squad room felt stifling after being outside in the chilly air for so long. Natalie unwound her scarf and stripped off her gloves, stuffing them in her coat pocket as Randy shuffled through the files on his desk. She absently tucked some of her hair behind one ear; with so little time to get ready this morning, she'd only pulled it back into a messy ponytail and strands were escaping everywhere.
"Hey, what's that?" Stottlemeyer said abruptly.
Natalie looked up quickly at his sharp tone, which had the effect of quieting most of the squad room. The captain was staring straight at her, his eyes narrowed, making her the center of attention. Randy froze, glancing between the two of them uncertainly. Adrian looked equally baffled. She glanced behind her but saw nothing out of the ordinary.
"What?" she asked Stottlemeyer, bewildered.
"That," he said, taking a step toward her and pointing. "On your finger."
She glanced down at her hands, still confused, and realized he was talking about her new, and very sparkly, ring. She had completely forgotten she was wearing it.
She shot a look toward Adrian. He shrugged imperceptibly and raised his eyebrows slightly, as if to say, We might as well tell them.
He was right, of course. There was no reason to prevaricate, now that Stottlemeyer's keen eyes had noticed her new piece of jewelry and called the entire squad room's attention to it.
"That's… my engagement ring," Natalie admitted, ducking her head and smiling shyly.
In the moment of shocked silence that followed, Adrian slid his arm around her waist and beamed proudly at his friends.
"Son of a gun," Stottlemeyer said under his breath. Then his mustached face broke into a huge, delighted grin. He whacked Adrian on the back with such force that the former detective stumbled forward and nearly tripped headlong over Randy's desk. "Congratulations!" he all but roared.
The next minute, he had grabbed Adrian's hand and was pumping it enthusiastically. "Hey, everybody! Monk and Natalie are getting married!"
The squad room broke out into cheers and raucous applause. Natalie's cheeks glowed crimson as detectives and officers alike surged forward to shake her hand or admire her ring. Adrian, to his private horror, was shaking hands left, right, and center, and was the recipient of several additional hearty backslaps.
Randy was grinning ear-to-ear. "This is great news! Does Sharona know?" he asked. Natalie shook her head.
Stottlemeyer distracted her by pulling her into an enthusiastic bear hug. "God, I'm happy for you two. Monk, I'm gonna throw you a bachelor party like you've never seen!"
"Leland, I really don't — " Adrian tried, but was ignored.
"Hang on, I gotta call T.K., she's going to be so excited!" Stottlemeyer disappeared into his office.
"Hey, guys, come here!" Randy punched the speaker button on his cell phone. "Sharona, Monk and Natalie are engaged!"
"OH MY GOD!" The shriek was amazingly loud and high-pitched for such a tiny speaker.
Natalie snatched the phone, turned off the speaker, and handed it to her new fiancé. She liked Sharona, but even so, she didn't want the entire squad room privy to her exuberant congratulations and no doubt incessant questions.
And Sharona did not disappoint. "Hi, Sharona, it's Adrian," he said, holding the phone a few inches from his ear and wincing as his former assistant shrieked again. "Yes, it's true…. last night… of course I gave her a ring….yes, we'll send you pictures… no, not yet… for heaven's sake, Sharona, it hasn't even been twelve hours, we haven't made any plans… I will… yes, I will… I promise. Okay. Thanks." He gave the phone back to Randy.
"She's, uh, very excited for us," he told Natalie dryly. "She made me promise you'd e-mail her pictures of your ring. And she wants you to call her later."
Stottlemeyer came back in. "T.K. wants to have you guys over for dinner tonight to celebrate! What do you say?"
"Um…" Natalie's thoughts were whirling. She looked at Adrian, who looked uneasy but shrugged noncommittally. "Sure, I guess so."
"Great!" the captain beamed. "She'll have dinner ready at seven but she said you could come earlier if you wanted. Oh, and bring Julie too, if she's free." He disappeared back into his office.
"Uh, Randy, could we get that check?" Natalie asked, more than a little desperate to get away from all the commotion.
"Oh, yeah, sure!" he said, grabbing a file from the top of a stack. Adrian initialed the papers quickly as Natalie tucked the check into her purse, and they made their way to the door, stopping as little as possible.
"Could I have a wipe?" Adrian asked the moment they were out of the squad room.
"Of course," Natalie said, digging one out for him. She was amazed that he hadn't asked for one earlier. He must have shaken hands with two dozen cops already.
He wiped his hands thoroughly and heaved a sigh, tossing the wipe into a nearby trash can. "I'm glad that's over."
"Me too," she agreed uneasily. "I hadn't anticipated that our news would be announced so… publicly." Natalie sighed. "I say we go back to your place for some peace and quiet."
"Actually…" he hesitated. "Now that the news is out, maybe we should tell Ambrose? I suppose I could call, but…"
"You should tell him in person," Natalie said, understanding. "He's your brother."
"At least it'll be quiet at his house," Adrian pointed out.
And it was. As usual, Ambrose Monk's crowded, cluttered house was as silent as a tomb when he opened the door to them. "This is a pleasant surprise," he beamed, ushering them inside.
"Sorry it's so early," Natalie apologized. "We were at a crime scene this morning and we just decided to stop by."
"Not at all, I'm delighted to have company. Do you want coffee? Something to eat? I just made muffins."
Adrian's smile was a bit strained. "Sounds great."
They made small talk for a while, sipping and chatting, with Adrian wondering how to bring up the subject they'd come to discuss. He wasn't entirely sure how his brother would take the news. He knew at one time Ambrose had harbored romantic feelings for Natalie, but that the two had decided to remain friends.
He remembered vehemently protesting to Ambrose at one point that there was nothing even remotely romantic about his feelings about Natalie, and his brother's answering skeptical expression. Perhaps Ambrose had known more about Adrian's feelings than Adrian himself had.
He had visited Ambrose shortly after the New Year to tell him about the resolution of Trudy's case, and he had mentioned at that time that he and Natalie had become romantically involved, but he wasn't entirely sure his brother had taken him seriously. This made him wonder, again, how to bring up the news they had to share.
Ambrose, however, beat him to it.
"Natalie, that's a very lovely ring," he commented. "Is it new?"
She glanced at Adrian. "It is," she said tentatively. "Adrian gave it to me on Valentine's Day." She was reluctant to say anything more, as she thought Adrian might want to be the one to tell him the news.
"I'm impressed!" Ambrose chuckled. "Adrian, I didn't realize you had such superb taste in jewelry. Of course, I should have known, judging by the necklace you gave her at Christmas."
Adrian cleared his throat. "Uh, Ambrose… about her ring… it's actually an engagement ring."
Ambrose looked from Adrian to Natalie, then back again, as if he expected one of them to start laughing and admit it was just a practical joke. When they didn't, he sat back in his chair, apparently dumbfounded. "You're getting married?"
Natalie and Adrian nodded in unison.
"Well, this is unexpected," Ambrose said, blinking rapidly. "I… I didn't realize things were quite so… serious."
"You're one of the first to know," Natalie said, looking a little worried. "We wanted to tell you right away."
"My sincerest felicitations," Ambrose said, sounding dazed. Then he smiled broadly, and took Natalie's hand. "I'll be very delighted to have you as my new sister-in-law."
Her heart melted. "And I'll be so glad to have you as my brother-in-law," she said, embracing him. "Not just me, you know – Julie will be your step-niece. You'll be Uncle Ambrose."
"Well, that's a title I never expected to have," he said, flushing pink. "I shall endeavor to be the finest of uncles."
He looked over at his brother, then, and reached out to shake his hand. "Congratulations, Adrian," he said earnestly. "I'm really very happy for you."
"Thank you, Ambrose," Adrian said, and meant it.
"I look forward to seeing the video of the wedding," Ambrose said cheerfully, rising to clear his empty dishes.
"The video?" Natalie said. "You won't need a video; you'll be there!" She laughed, but neither man laughed with her.
Ambrose shook his head, scraping crumbs into the sink. "I'm not sure if I can manage that, Natalie. All those people…" he trailed off.
"You were at Adrian's wedding to Trudy, weren't you?" Natalie asked uncertainly, looking between the two brothers.
Adrian shook his head, staring at the table and deliberately not looking at his brother. Truth be told, even though he understood the reality of his brother's illness, he was still a little hurt that Ambrose hadn't been able to come to his first wedding.
"Ambrose, if you can manage to come to my house for Christmas, I think you could make it to the wedding," she cajoled.
"No, I really don't think…" Ambrose said, looking desperately uncomfortable.
Adrian sighed, exasperated. "It's no use, Natalie. Trudy and I spent hours trying to persuade him last time."
Natalie folded her arms. "Well, I intend to keep trying."
"I'll think about it, okay?" Ambrose offered timidly.
"Fair enough." Natalie smiled, but her eyes were glinting with determination. "We'll talk about it again sometime soon."
