"How on Earth is that… that sneaky, smarmy, weasley bastard Harrison Powell a beneficiary of Dale Biederbeck's will if we default?" Natalie sputtered in a blend of anger, annoyance, and disbelief.

Monk had to chuckle at her description of the attorney. "Well, let's face it, he is a shyster lawyer who is always more concerned about how deep his clients' pockets are rather than their guilt or innocence. So maybe he befriended Biederbeck or worked on appeals for him? I guess we could find that out easily enough. But the main thing is, now we know who is trying to sabotage us."

"I think his unscrupulous methods are about to catch up to him." Natalie put on the meanest face Monk had ever seen her make.

"What do you mean?"

"I think we can sue Douglas for malpractice and deceit and Powell for your kidnapping if we can find proof."

"Simmer down there, hot shot," Adrian replied with uncharacteristic humor.

Natalie looked at Adrian in surprise. "You're not as upset as I am?"

"Of course I am! But we have to plan what to do carefully so that we don't lose everything or tip them off."

"Aha! Now you like being rich!" Natalie laughed a little.

Adrian frowned at her for a second, thought about it, then smiled and nodded.

"Okay, what do we do first?" Natalie had calmed down, and rational thought had returned.

"We go home and make a plan. But we will need some help…again."

𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ

Later that afternoon, when the people closest to them, Leland, TK, Sharona, Randy, Julie, Jason, Molly, and Kyle, had gathered in Natalie and Adrian's family room, Natalie knew that the room was truly filled with their family. She observed as Adrian finally told the eight other people in the room what had happened in the last several months. Earlier, they had swept for bugs. They hooked the stereo up to an audio jammer playing white noise to thwart any parabolic listening devices like the one that Marci had in her backseat. Natalie looked it up after seeing the police inventory of Marci's car, a listening device like that could be had for under one hundred dollars on the Internet, but a stereo playing white noise from an audio jammer could interrupt the signal. White noise, she read before she purchased their device to thwart any outside listening device, is actually sound that contains all the audible audio frequencies, just all played at the same time and at the same amplitude. This means that it contains all the bassy sounds in the human range of hearing to all of the highest-pitched sounds humans can hear and everything in between, all at once, at whatever volume chosen by the user. So Natalie bought one from the International Spy Shop on Beach Street immediately.

Once Adrian finished the long explanation of the events from mid-March through what they had learned about Biederbeck's will earlier that day, he took a long drink from the bottle of water perched on the end table nearest him. Natalie patted his back from her seat beside him. Pretty much everyone was silent; Natalie could see from their expressions they were each lost in their own thoughts. She could almost imagine what the thoughts were, based upon their personalities and the expressions on their faces. Randy was simple… he was thinking of the money. Sharona was more complex. She was split between the joy of the money and the thought of Biederbeck's games. Natalie knew Sharona's history in the Biederbeck world, and the ick factor was high. Natalie really couldn't imagine what Julie was thinking, except maybe making sense of all the weird happenings since March. Leland's thoughts were written on his face… simply, "Ah-ha!" Just as happy as when Adrian solved a homicide case. TK was actually pretty easy to read as well; the happiness at her friends' good fortune was clear. Molly had a hand over the "o" of her lips. Shocked and excited and perhaps a tiny bit confused. She hadn't spent as much time around crime and criminals as the rest of them. Jason and Kyle were simply being kind and supportive of the young women they loved and supportive of the two people they respected and admired as much as their own parents.

Leland spoke first, "So what are you going to do now?'

"That's why we asked you here and told you what we shouldn't have told you. We really need help to lay a trap and end this nonsense." Adrian had a determined expression on his face as he laid out a plan that was both complicated and simplistic and, Natalie thought, would require quite a lot of lying for the worst liar in America.

𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ

With everyone having a basic understanding of their roles and ready to take part in a ruse so large and complicated, it was time to feed the masses. Natalie ordered dinner as the rest of the group refined the plan. Jason would remain in "jail" while he was really hidden at a local safehouse. He would shift from Randy's futon to a comfortable bed in a safe house not far from the city. Since his arrest was an overt move against Natalie and Adrian, Leland surmised that Powell believed one of them would remain with Julie while the other did some investigating. Powell underestimated Leland's ability to see the forest for the trees in that situation. Julie would stay with Adrian and Natalie and commute to school for the time being. Both for Julie's safety and Natalie's sanity.

Randy would run interference at Police HQ with anyone asking questions. He was good at confusing situations, Adrian explained, and Natalie hid a grin behind her hand. She noticed several others did too. Sharona would go to Powell's office in the guise of needing a shark of a lawyer in a case reminiscent of the one where her uncle died on the golf course at Eastdale Country Club. Her complaint would be fictional, of course, and her meeting preliminary. At the end of the day, she'd hide in a restroom and check out his office when the office emptied at the end of business. She was pretty excited for the challenge. At any rate, she was the only one of the group that hadn't met Harrison Powell during that disastrous time when Adrian had to face off with him in court, so she was the only one who could accomplish this task.

Randy objected to his wife's sleuthing, but Sharona had countered that there really was no danger; she'd have some cover story about passing out in the bathroom at the ready if she got caught. Leave it to Sharona to be right in the thick of things and to have a white lie to cover her. Adrian reminisced for a brief moment about the time when she'd been his assistant. He knew if Sharona hadn't left when she did, he might never have met Natalie, and he might not have the life he had today. Situations always worked out, and if he believed in fate or mystical things, he'd have believed that fate had a hand in how things worked out for them. He refocused on the conversation.

TK was going to visit attorney Martin Douglas' office, saying she was going to write a story about successful "home-grown" professionals of San Francisco. She'd chosen him, the mayor, a renowned heart surgeon, and the police commissioner. Douglas would be flattered to be in such esteemed company if he were the narcissist that he seemed. She'd graduated from consumer product stories at Consumer Currents to human interest stories at the Chronicle. She was excited to give some sleuthing a try too. Plus, perhaps she'd get a real story her editor would like.

All Leland could do was shake his head and hold his tongue. He knew better than to argue with TK, Sharona, or Natalie. They were strong, stubborn, brave women. He, Randy, and Monk were lucky men. Leland's focus would be on looking into the connections between Powell and Biederbeck. From his position in the Police Department, he'd have access to records and information right from his desk. Molly, Kyle, and Julie would be doing research on Biederbeck's holdings and how they might relate to Powell or Douglas, aside from the obvious will writing. Leland would place the young women and Kyle in a secure room just off of his office so he could keep them safe and be the first to know if anything popped.

Over a thoughtful and subdued dinner of Chinese food, one often punctuated with new ideas and refinements of the big plan, every person gathered on Briarcliff Terrace was excited and nervous for the next day.

𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ

The morning was overcast and gray, as befitted the emotions of the people involved in one of the most unusual and important endeavors in any of their lives. Natalie was in a hurry to push through the day to get it over with and end the suspense and anticipation that was holding Adrian and her hostage in so many ways. Everyone was where they needed to be, and Natalie knew they were safe at work or at the police station, doing what needed to be done, but she couldn't help the creep of worry in her mind. She couldn't honestly say that anyone was really in any danger, but the menace of evil was still a feeling Natalie couldn't shake, and she didn't want to burden Adrian with the feelings in her head.

Natalie didn't realize that Adrian intuited her feelings from her behavior and her silence throughout breakfast, but not wanting to make it worse, he chose the silence over a discussion. They left to meet their first client of the day, behaving as if the rest of the people they loved weren't doing everything in their power to help them resolve this bizarre situation. The client they were meeting was struggling with various family members over the inheritance of a painting that had gone missing. The irony of the inheritance factor of the case didn't escape either of them, but again they didn't discuss it. Adrian did his thing, spoke with each of the named benefactors individually, and Natalie watched him with detached pride and pleasure. A small frisson of desire ran through Natalie as it had for years when she watched his confident "here's what happened" summations. It was his brain that had first attracted her if she was honest with herself. Natalie got her thoughts in order and wondered how the rest of their "family" was faring on this hideously tense and overcast day.

𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ

Molly, Kyle, and Julie sat tucked into the annex next to Leland Stottlemeyer's office. It was so little used; they'd cleaned off the two desks and dusted thoroughly before they began. The two young women were Adrian Monk's sort-of-step-offspring, after all. They were staring at computer screens scrolling through a voluminous amount of information on Harrison Powell. They'd been at it since 6 am. Hoping they could find the kernel of truth, the nugget of connection. So far, they'd found a lot of false starts, false leads, and even a false bottom to a drawer in a desk one of them was using.

On the other side of the wall, Leland was practically pulling his hair out of his head. He knew he didn't have a lot left to fool around with, so he gave up on that and cracked his fingers. He hadn't found what connected Biederbeck to Powell, as he'd been tasked to do. He stood, stretched, and his back objected with an ominous crack. He paced in front of his desk, anger management yo-yo in hand. Today it was a frustration management yo-yo. Leland then walked towards the room where the kids were working, wondering if they'd made any progress on Powell's reasons for trying to corrupt the terms of Dale the Whale's will.

The silence in the room was odd. Leland was used to chatter wherever he found Molly and Julie together. Kyle had run out for coffee. "Real stuff," he told Leland on his way out. Leland looked down with fond affection at the two bent blonde heads, one currently bent over some papers and one bent over a laptop. These were Monk's "girls," and he felt as protective of them as Monk did. Leland was happy they were in the police station, safe while they worked.

Molly looked up from the pile of papers and said, "Oh my god!"

Julie looked up instantly. "What?"

Neither girl had noticed Leland yet. They jumped when he said, "Molly, what is it?"

"I know how Powell is connected to Biederbeck. I know what he is after!"

Leland didn't even ask, he just pressed his number 2 speed dial, and when Natalie answered, he simply said, "Come to my office, now!" and hung up.

𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ

Less than 20 minutes later, Natalie and Adrian came bursting through Leland's office door only to find it empty. Confused, they looked at each other, and then Leland stuck his head into the office from the annex. They rushed forward, and as they ridiculously tried to get through the door simultaneously, Leland shook his head. Natalie rolled her eyes and stepped back, and Adrian tripped over the threshold. Some things never changed, no matter how much their lives changed. Kyle laughed, despite the situation.

After righting himself and pulling Natalie through the doorway, Adrian asked, "Well? What is it?"

"You were right, Adrian!" Molly grinned up at him.

"Of course I was!" He smiled smugly. Then a puzzled look came over his face, "About what?"

Natalie intervened, "Molly, what did you learn?"

Molly walked to the whiteboard and pointed to a picture. "This is Powell's family business. It's a bar downtown, just outside the Tenderloin off of Geary Street, near the theaters."

"Good location," Leland said. Adrian nodded.

Molly continued, "They've been there since just after the 1906 earthquake! Literally four generations deep. He was the first on either side to go to college and make something more than blue-collar money." She moved on to the next posted picture. "This is something that was hidden in that bar. In plain sight for years. You own it now. It is an extremely rare Welsh buckler from Wrexham."

"A what?" Natalie and Adrian asked in unison.

"It's a buckler, or a shield, from around 1540! Biederbeck basically stole it from Powell's family when Harrison was just a kid. The family had no idea what it was worth; it was simply passed down from father to son, it seems, and ended up on the wall of that bar. It should have been in a museum. In Biederbeck's young– uh, thinner, uh, more mobile days, he must have seen it, understood its value, and had it stolen. If nothing else, Biederbeck had an eye for things of worth from what I've seen."

Julie took over, "This artifact was a point of pride for the Powell family. When it was lost, they were devastated. They always suspected Biederbeck, but nothing could ever be proved. It took Harrison Powell more than 20 years to prove it, at least to himself. He wormed his way into Biederbeck's business as a consulting attorney on his art collection, of all things. He actually has the credentials. I found minutes from a fifteen-year-old museum board meeting online on a website. They were both there. That might be how they met."

Leland finished, "I guess he was hoping to get his hands on the shield by getting close to Dale the Whale, but it now belongs to you."

Dumbfounded, Adrian stood silently as he let the information penetrate his mind. Natalie reached for his arm and squeezed. This brought Adrian's mind back to the room. He looked at Molly and smiled hugely. "Fantastic, Molly!"

Julie had been working during the explanation. "The British Museum website says the piece if authenticated, is worth more than twenty-thousand Euros. So it probably has more emotional, intrinsic value than monetary worth to Powell."

Everyone nodded, agreeing with Julie's assessment.

"Then why try to upend the will?" Natalie wondered aloud. "Why not just ask Adrian for it?"

Leland shrugged, "Because a guy like Powell only knows how to play games, not how to do things in a straightforward and honest way."

"But the amount of effort seems way out of whack," Natalie replied. "I mean enlisting Marci to spy… kidnapping and letting Adrian go.…."

"All a spectacle to both keep an eye on you if you default or force it to happen without actually harming you. He knows the law," Leland said with his usual logic.

"Maybe he's still angry about the legal case with the sculptor. The one he lost because of me," Adrian said with a tilt of his head and a raise of one shoulder. Uncomfortable that he may have caused them to be harmed and threatened.

Leland nodded, "That makes some sense. You definitely humiliated him on that case, especially since he thought he'd bested you."

"Still, it seems a little extreme," Natalie insisted. "There has to be more to it than an ancient artifact that he simply could have asked for. Adrian and I haven't even seen the thing yet. Neither of us has any idea of where it actually is at the moment. And that case was…what…three years ago?"

"Thirty-one months," Adrian answered automatically.

"Okay, but that's a long time, and he could just be a normal human and ask for what he felt belonged to him."

"It was the only thing he would have gained if you defaulted?" Leland asked, confused.

Monk replied, "Well, it wasn't explicitly mentioned. Just that the one item he wanted would become his if we defaulted. There was nothing else. Maybe a codicil would be filed if we defaulted."

"So we're back to Douglas and his people," Natalie declared, then rethought her statement. "Or maybe it's Douglas and Powell together."

Julie said, "Back to our computers, gang. Let's see how Powell is connected to Douglas."

Natalie looked at Adrian with surprise. Perhaps Julie would have to change her major.

𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ

Hours later, they still hadn't substantiated their theory about the connection between Powell and Douglas, so Adrian and Natalie went to see their next client. There was nothing else they could do but behave normally.

Leland had another crazier idea and went to the jail to talk to Marci Maven again. Frustrated and irritated, Leland looked at his watch as he gave it another try.

"Marci, please…stop babbling about Monk. He isn't in any danger. He's with Natalie. They're working; they're fine. I just saw them. What I'm trying to get to is anything you can recall about the people who hired you."

"I told you, Captain Leeeelaaaand," Marci whined his name and made it several seconds longer than it needed to be. "I didn't see the people."

"Okay. Would you recognize their voices?"

That shut Marci up for a moment. "You know…maybe. You got something for me?"

Leland let out a guffaw that was more of a bark and cued up the YouTube video of Harrison Powell going on about his latest win. Earlier, he had made sure to get it to a point that the idiot lawyer didn't say his name thirteen times. He played it now without showing Marci the picture. He just let her hear the audio. The fact that he'd been allowed to bring his phone into the visitor's room was only because he and the warden went way back.

Marci listened with her eyes closed and a thoughtful expression. A slow smile spread across her wide mouth.

Leland briefly thought that she'd be attractive if she weren't so loopy.

"Yes! That's him. The man who paid me to do what I was doing anyway! Who is he? Do you have a voice so I can identify the woman?"

"Not yet," Leland said, pleased that his little fishing adventure had paid off. Marci may have been cuckoo, but she was at least a witness. Now he needed a recording of Douglas and Douglas' secretary. He looked at his watch once again. TK was working on that now.

𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ

At 6:30, Natalie and Adrian walked back into Leland's office to check on Molly, Julie, and Kyle. They found a small party in progress as Randy and Jason had joined them, and Leland was walking in the other door. He'd unlocked it as he precariously balanced pizza boxes with bottles of soda on top in his hands. He had a bag hanging in his other hand, which contained cutlery, plates, cups, and napkins. He unburdened himself with Adrian's help. Leland relocked the door immediately.

All at once, there was a commotion at the other door. TK and Sharona came rushing in with big smiles and excitement in their eyes. They each garnered a relieved hug from a husband who had suppressed his worry all day. Then the women told their stories over pizza and soda in a small, secure annex off of Leland's office.

TK went first, explaining how her "interview" had gone. It seems Attorney Douglas didn't suspect a thing. She recorded the whole thing, so she had clear recordings of Douglas and Polly, his secretary. TK looked positively triumphant. "If he weren't such a slime, it really would have been an interesting profile." Everyone laughed.

Sharona's story was similar. She had met with Powell as "Sharona Fleming" and described the situation she had with her uncle falling and dying at the golf club. She was simply asking about his fees and what she thought he could do for her in a preliminary pre-hiring meeting. The meeting had been positive and punctuated with personal asides. Having been briefed by phone, Sharona also worked in a lament about how the extended family was already fighting about a few family heirlooms that had more emotional value than monetary. Powell took the bait and launched into his own story about a lost family heirloom and how he was determined to recover it.

"Did you need a lawyer?" Sharona teased Powell.

"In fact, I did. I don't like the idea of representing myself."

"Well, maybe I should hire that guy!" Sharona laughed and batted her eyelashes.

"I could recommend you, but I'm sure I can take care of all of your needs," Powell had flirted back. Sharona left Powell's office with a promise she'd call him with her decision by the day after tomorrow.

She hid in the ladies' room for another half hour. She found Douglas' business card in Powell's darkened office. She also found a folder of pictures from the family bar, as well as pictures of the shield and information garnered from the Internet. She took pictures of everything with her cell phone. She walked into the SFPD feeling that they were definitely on the right track.

Everyone toasted Molly, Julie, TK, and Sharona and their brilliant work with their cups of soda and one bottle of Sierra Springs, and then they decided to get some rest. The three and a half real detectives would go back to work the next day as everyone else, including poor persecuted Jason, his roommate having been found safe, alive, and utterly bewildered in Oregon of all places, went back to their own lives for now.