Thomas had been amazing. He had taken the younger children too. The girls were too young to understand what was going on with their mother. Adrian was home every day when the children got home.

"Hi girls," he said when they got home, "How was your day?"

They all told him about their day.

"Wonderful," he said, "Who wants to go out to eat?"

"Before that," Hope said, "We have a question?"

"Of course," Adrian said, "Ask me anything?"

"Where's mommy," Annie asked.

"When is she coming home?" Faith wondered.

Adrian had known that this question would come .

He just hoped it would be a bit longer.

"I don't know exactly." He admitted. He'd figured it was best to be honest.

"But we are all going to make sure she comes home just as soon as she can."

"Why can't she come home?"

Adrian had tried to think of a way to explain it to them in his head. And failed. He would have to wing it at the moment.

"Well your mom is helping catch a very bad person. But she's safe. And she loves you all so much, misses you and looks forward to seeing you all."

Adrian made hot cocoa for everyone, and read out loud from The Wizard of Earthsea.

Then they all settled into sleep.

The next day as Adrian drove the kids to school they chatted excitedly about a trip they were taking. They were going to the amusement park.

"Okay girls," Adrian said, "Have a great day. I love you all."

"We love you too Daddy," they all said.

Adrian stopped at a little cafe to pick up some breakfast before he visited Trudy. Ethan Rickover happened to be there.

"Your girls are absolutely adorable," Ethan said.

Adrian had to force himself to stay calm.

"What do you want," he asked calmly.

"Is that a nice way to greet a friend," Ethan asked.

"How do you figure that we're friends," Adrian asked, "You're trying to kill my wife."

"She killed a 4-year-old little girl," Ethan said calmly, "I have this funny thing about not letting murderers go free."

"Trudy is no murderer," Adrian replied in a clipped but steady tone.

"I delivered a legally appropriate sentence," Ethan pointed out.

"Not a fair sentence at all."

"That's not up to you to determine Mr. Monk."

Adrian thought Rickover's smile was smug. He restrained himself from punching the other man in the face.

"No, it's not." He agreed. "It's up to the evidence."

"We'll see about that."

Luckily Adrian's order was called out at that point. He took his coffee and the paper bag with the breakfast sandwich and left as quickly as he could.

At the station, he was still fuming.

"That guy turns up everywhere."

"I was worried this might happen," Leland admitted. "I don't like it. I don't like him around us, our families. Let me show you what we've been working on."

Adrian followed Leland into his office. Leland began to explain everything to him. Shortly after, he got a phone call. It was from San Francisco Children's Hospital.

"I'm sorry to tell you," The doctor said, "Someone sprayed Faith with a bottle of acid. We expect her to make a full recovery, but she will need to have reconstructive surgery."

"WHEN DID THIS HAPPEN," Adrian exclaimed.

"It happened around 30 minutes ago. She was brought en route just now."

"Monk," Leland asked, "What's wrong?"

Adrian hung up and explained the situation to Leland.

"I'll come with you," Leland said, "Randy, you're in charge."

They got to the hospital and were let into the room Faith was in. She was completely distorted.

Adrian got an anonymous text message. It was a picture of Diana Rose Alexandra's dead body.

2 Adrian M: Do you still think the person who did this to her should get away with what she did?

Adrian looked up and saw Ethan.

"Did YOU do this," he demanded.

Ethan laughed.

"Of course not," he said, "I was in the Cafe when this happened. Just for the record, I'm sorry that this happened to Faith but your wife poured acid into Diana Rose Alexander and it ate her from the inside out. At least your daughter will be alright."

"You're either completely insane or out of your mind," Adrian said.

"Neither," Ethan returned, "I just do the right thing."

"Like kill a person and set another person up to take the fall for it?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Ethan said, "And I would consider myself lucky if I were you."

Ethan walked away.