Chapter 3 - New Charges Brought–Lisa
The day after Tom Murphy visited their office, Adrian and Natalie dropped Emery and Charlie off at school and drove to Sacramento. The hour-and-a-half drive was filled with conversation about Charlie.
"Should I make an appointment with Dr. Deveare earlier than his regular session next week?" Natalie asked Adrian. Charlie saw the psychiatrist once every three weeks to help him deal with the weight of his intellect. Emery didn't seem to need it as much; her outlets were creative, energetic, and all-consuming. She definitely bore the gift/curse thing differently than her father, her brother, or her uncle Ambrose.
"No, he's working it out a little at a time. Let him try. He's got to learn to do that, as I eventually did. I know it isn't easy, especially at his age, with that unfortunate Monk brain."
"Hey! I love that Monk brain of his. And yours." Natalie took her hand off the steering wheel to lay it on Adrian's cheek. He kissed her palm and gently placed her hand back in position.
"I'm grateful that Emery has so much more of you in her. Still so smart, but also so creative and emotionally flexible. She certainly manages the cognitive part better because of it." Adrian fretted.
"That is true. But Emery's tantrums are rougher; her highs are higher, her lows are lower. Charlie is far more even-tempered… like you most days." Emery also saw Dr. Deveare but on an as-needed basis. Neither child would be medicated for any reason other than illness and typical vaccines as long as Adrian was around. Still, he was concerned about Emery's almost bipolar behavior some days. Was that some sort of latent Monk trait he'd passed along? He and Ambrose had always suspected their mother had been bipolar. Would Emery need medication to balance this part of her personality? Natalie was less concerned, having already raised a mercurial girl and having been one herself. She'd keep an eye on Emery's emotional outbursts and her ability to manage the highs and lows and make a decision based on facts, not fear. Sometimes, the Monks had to parent on two different but parallel paths. Adrian worried more and tended towards alarm along with his incalculable love of their children; Natalie watched more and took a wait-and-see approach, along with her deep adoration of their kids.
When they finally arrived at the I Street courthouse/jail, they put aside their personal worries as they always did when they were on a case. Their main job was to meet with their client and gather any evidence they could from the police and the scene.
When Lisa Murphy was brought into the visitors' room, she didn't look well. Haggard and sad, Adrian realized. He immediately understood her pain and empathized. Despite the circumstances, Natalie caught his expression and allowed herself a short, silent burst of pride in her husband's continuous evolution and growth.
"Mrs. Murphy?" Adrian stood as she was escorted to the table in a baggy orange jumpsuit. Her handcuffs jangled.
"Lisa, please. Dr. Monk, Mr. Monk, It's so good to see you after all these years despite the circumstances."
Natalie was distressed despite her professional experience, "Oh, Lisa, it's so good to see you! But please tell us exactly what happened. Tommy filled us in, but we want to hear it all from you."
Lisa began the tale she'd told the police, her son, the lawyer they'd retained, and anyone else who asked. "Tom was down at UCLA; Desi was at a sleepover. I was visiting my mother in Elk Grove. She's in a nursing facility there. She has Alzheimer's, but once in a while, we get lucky, and she has a lucid day. We live in Meadowview. It's not more than ten miles from our house to the facility where my mother is. Hank had called me and said he was working late and to go without him. We usually go together on Fridays. I was disappointed; I liked him there with me; it was a comfort, and I feel—felt—his strength when my mother was having a bad time. Anyway, he said he'd pick up takeout for dinner from our favorite Italian place, and we'd have a late dinner when I got back. Usually, we'd go out afterward and discuss our week and anything but my mother's deterioration. She was as much a mother to him as she was to me. His mother died when he was young." Adrian and Natalie remained silent, allowing her to say as much as she wanted.
"I got to my mother around 5:45. I stayed about two and a half hours. I was able to get her interested in a game of cards. I didn't want to lose the opportunity to talk to her while she was coherent, so I stayed. Ordinarily, our visits are shorter, an hour, hour and a half at most." Natalie and Adrian both nodded. Natalie was jotting notes as was her habit; Adrian silently assessed Lisa for truthfulness and took mental notes. "There were dozens of people who saw me while I was there. I never left. I used the bathroom in her suite. So, I got home at around 8:30. Hank's car was in the driveway, and I remember thinking I was so hungry, and I laughed because my stomach growled in agreement." At this, she stopped and swiped at a tear that had escaped to wend down her cheek.
"I went into the house through the garage as I usually did. We don't like getting the foyer dirty; there's a mudroom between the kitchen and the garage. We leave our shoes there," Adrian nodded approvingly, "and I walked into the kitchen and called out a greeting of some kind. I can't remember what I said. I found Hank on the kitchen floor in a pool of blood. I ran to him and tried to feel for a pulse. He was still warm. I grabbed my cell from my jacket pocket and called 911. I couldn't tell much, but I knew he wasn't breathing, or at least not very deeply." Another tear rolled down her cheek.
"Lisa, what did the police say when they arrived?" Natalie asked.
"No forced entry, no proof anyone was in the house. The only suspect they looked at was me. They didn't look for anyone else. So I asked Tom to go to you."
"Well, it was a smart decision. It doesn't sound like the police up here are very conscientious," Adrian said disapprovingly. His remarkable intuition was already telling him that Lisa Murphy wasn't guilty. "Lisa, may we have permission to go into your house today if the police say it's alright?"
"Of course! Tom has keys; my daughter Desi is with my sister and brother-in-law, and they have keys." Quickly, she rattled off their address, and Natalie noted it.
"We will secure permission and then see what we can see. If there's more there, Adrian will find it, no question. We're also terribly sorry for your loss. I'm sure no one has told you that with all this is going on."
"No. They haven't. I appreciate it, Dr. Monk."
"Please. Natalie."
"Thank you. And thank you for trying to help me. When you're in here, you feel so damn alone."
"You're not alone, Lisa. We will do our best," Adrian replied, sad that they couldn't just get her out of there now. "Is there anyone Hank was worried about or afraid of? A problem he'd had at work?" All of the usual questions seemed so trite right now.
"Honestly, not that I'm aware of, but Hank never brought problems home from work. I'd usually only find out after the fact. He was kind of closed-mouthed about that stuff. He liked to keep work out of the house."
Natalie and Adrian nodded but looked at each other meaningfully because their work and lives were so enmeshed there was no way they could ever separate them. Yet, each wondered what that might feel like…being able to leave the things they saw and heard behind, locked in their offices and out of their minds.
"Okay, we will try to get a message to you with any updates later today or, at the very least, early tomorrow. We will be in touch with Tom and your attorney. We will do everything we can, Lisa. You have our word." Adrian gave Lisa a confident smile while Natalie shook her hand. That was one leftover quirk from the Adrian Monk Natalie met so long ago that it would never disappear. Adrian Monk would not voluntarily touch you unless you were a family member.
𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ𝕸ɳ
Natalie and Adrian were sitting in a coffee shop with Tom Murphy an hour later. "The first time we ever ate together, Tom, it was a place like this," Natalie said with a smile. "But to complete the memory, you'll have to wave around a hotdog and spit some chewed-up vegetables."
Adrian quivered at the ghastly memory, yet he was smiling too. "You were cute but gross," he said with a laugh. Adrian was grateful for the memory and the experience. It had made him a little less fearful when Charlie was born. They each sipped their coffees thoughtfully, and Adrian carefully broached a subject that he'd been afraid to ask. "Tom, I know you're not currently living at home, so you may not have a great idea of what your parent's relationship was like up until the other day, but your sister might. I realize it's asking a lot, and she's fairly young, but maybe she will have noticed something you couldn't tell us when we met at the office the other day."
"I was thinking that, too, honestly." Tom put his hand to his head and rubbed his forehead with one finger.
Oddly like Adrian, Natalie thought. Maybe those days with Adrian at an impressionable time in his life had imprinted on Tommy more than they had imagined.
Natalie said, "We're not insinuating anything, Tom, but you have to understand, to see the whole picture, we have to examine every angle. We believe your mother when she says there was nothing wrong in their marriage and that your father kept work issues to himself. However, people sometimes hear and see things they don't even realize they've seen and heard, and it's my job to try to pull out those latent memories. Gently, calmly, and I hope, kindly."
"Thanks, Dr. Monk, and I think Desi will jump at the chance to do whatever she can to help. She loves our parents and is not your typical sixteen-year-old rebellious girl, from my experience. She's bright and thoughtful but sometimes acts before thinking, so she gets into jams."
"Hm. I think I love three female somebodies like that…" Adrian replied wryly. His mouth quirked up in a pained smile as he thought of the mischief Emery got into regularly and the things Natalie and Julie had gotten themselves, and sometimes him, into with the best of intentions with the worst of outcomes.
"When can we meet her?"
"I'll pick her up from my Aunt and Uncle and meet you at the house, alright?"
"Sure," Natalie patted his arm comfortingly as she took a key from Tom's outstretched hand. She jotted the alarm code into her phone's notes app.
They parted in the parking lot, and Natalie and Monk drove to the Murphy's house.
"It's lovely, isn't it?" Natalie said with sadness in her voice. The lawn was well manicured, and pretty purple and white winter kale and other late fall greenery decorated the beds along the driveway and the foundation.
Adrian looked at the house and grounds and could see the care with which the house was kept, including the bright white paint on the shutters and the front door. He relaxed, knowing a killer did not live in a house like this. A killer did not raise Tom. A wife did not murder her husband in this house. In his specific way of just knowing, he felt sure down to his bones without even setting foot inside the home.
They entered through the front door and used the alarm code Tom had provided. The sharp tang of bleach and cleanser was still in the air, as the crime scene clean-up crew had just been through the house.
They separated briefly. Adrian went directly to the crime scene, reconstructing it in his mind, using the scene photos as his guide. He placed the pictures on the counter, lifted his hands, and became lost in his examination.
Natalie, meanwhile, went to the master bedroom. She looked for the telltale signs of a failing marriage. What she found was the opposite. A small, well-curated selection of pictures of the couple and the children was on each nightstand. On the dresser—a formal wedding photo. Although the pictures didn't prove anything, in Natalie's experience, the absence of such images would say much more. On the wall opposite their room in the hall and moving towards the front of the house, a timeline of family photos. The first picture clearly shows that it was not long after Adrian had given Tommy to Hank and Lisa. He was still the cute, chubby little toddler, although he was dressed better and had a better haircut. Tommy grew with each step along the gallery, and Desiree entered the picture a little down the hall. It didn't seem they skipped a year for a formal family picture, much like the Monks did themselves.
Natalie returned to the home office and looked at bank statements, bills, insurance documents, and other legal papers. After getting permission to take the documents, a more thorough look would be done in their office or at home. Adrian came in then.
"What do you think, Natalie?"
"I think these were happily married people, with children they loved, with respectable incomes and bank accounts to afford them a lovely lifestyle. Normal insurance, like ours, for people with children and a mortgage in case something happened to either of them."
"I saw the pictures."
"Mmhm," she replied as she continued to look over the pages of the insurance policy in her hands.
"I also know that isn't proof, but it certainly is better than them not being there."
Natalie sighed mightily as she nodded in agreement. "But that doesn't help Lisa."
"No, it doesn't." Adrian turned and started to look through items on the desk. He quickly deduced that Hank had used blue folders for the work he brought home, Lisa had used red folders for her work, and they had used yellow folders for home. The folders were organized, orderly, and consistent. That would definitely help in the investigation. He sat at the desk and began to read as he and Natalie waited for Tom and Desiree to arrive home.