Mr. Monk Goes to the Firehouse (14 page)

Monk smiled and pointed to me. “Yes, Natalie, what’s your guess?”

“Why did Mr. Dumas steal the towels?” I said.

“Correct!” Monk said. “He tunneled under the firehouse searching for the gold whenever the firemen left the station. But he didn’t want Sparky barking and attracting attention to his digging, so he’d lure him out of the station with a rubber hot-dog squeak toy. It’s Sparky’s favorite. There’s one on Mr. Dumas’s porch that’s identical to the toy in Sparky’s basket.”

All the disparate facts, all the things we’d seen and heard, suddenly fell into place for me. It was an exhilarating feeling, and for a moment I understood why detectives want to be detectives.

“Sparky got to this house by way of the tunnel and the sewer,” I said. “That’s how Sparky got past the razor-wire fence and impregnated Letitia. And that’s why Sparky always came back to the station smelling like he was covered with crap. It
was
crap.”

Gregorio broke into a deep sweat.

“Natalie is winning this round, Mr. Dumas,” Monk said. “You’re going to have to guess the right question to this answer to stay in the game. Here it is:
Fifteen years in prison
.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Gregorio screeched.

Monk shook his head. “No, I’m sorry, the correct question is: What’s the combined jail term for filing a fraudulent lawsuit and committing an extreme act of animal cruelty?”

“I treat Letitia like royalty!” Gregorio said.

“But you murdered Sparky,” I said.

“You’ve got it all wrong,” Gregorio said. “Yeah, I’ve been digging for Turlock’s gold, and I was in the firehouse Friday night, but I didn’t kill Sparky.”

“Convince us,” I said.

“The truth is, Letitia is over-the-hill, past her prime. The only reason she won her last show two years ago was because I spent twenty-two thousand dollars on an extreme makeover.”

“She had plastic surgery?” Monk said.

“It bought us another year on the dog show circuit, but that was it,” Gregorio said. “The judges have sharp eyes, and no amount of cosmetic surgery can prevent the inevitable decline of beauty. We’ve been living on the gold coins I’ve been able to dig up under the firehouse. My plan was that once the coins ran out, we’d live off a settlement from the fire department on our lawsuit.”

“Your fraudulent lawsuit,” I said. “You were using Letitia to keep Sparky occupied while you hunted for gold.”

“Tell us what really happened on Friday night, Mr. Dumas,” Monk asked.

Gregoria sighed heavily. “It started out like usual. As soon as the fire trucks left, I took the tunnel to the firehouse basement. I could hear Sparky barking. But when I came out in the basement I didn’t hear anything. So I took two towels, wiped off my feet, and went upstairs to look around. That’s when I saw Sparky lying there and the fireman leaving.”

I snorted in disgust. “You’re sticking to your story that a fireman did it? It’s laughable. Why don’t you just go all the way and admit what you did?”

“Because I’m telling the truth,” Gregorio said, his eyes welling with tears. “I couldn’t have killed Sparky.”

“Why not?” I asked with as much sarcasm and disgust as I could put behind the two words.

“It would have broken Letitia’s heart.” He wiped a tear from his cheek. “And mine, too. I loved that damn dog.”

Monk tilted his head from side to side and shrugged his shoulders. “Yes, that makes perfect sense.”

And with that, Monk abruptly got up and walked out the door without so much as a good-bye. I had to hurry to catch up with him outside.

“You’re not going to nail him?” I said.

“I just did,” Monk said, setting off in the direction of the Excelsior.

“For stealing towels and filing a fraudulent lawsuit, but what about killing Sparky?”

“He didn’t kill Sparky,” Monk said.

“Then who did?”

“It’s obvious,” Monk said. “Lucas Breen did.”

 

 

 

 

It was dark now, and we were retracing our steps back downhill to the Excelsior, where I’d have to skip a car payment to pay the attendant for parking. That was a compelling motive for murder right there. I was surprised the parking lot attendants weren’t wearing Kevlar and sitting in bulletproof cages.

“Why would Lucas Breen want to murder a firehouse dog?” I asked.

“He didn’t want to,” Monk said. “He had to. Breen didn’t know the dog was there when he sneaked into the firehouse.”

“What was Breen doing there?” I asked. As we got closer to the Financial District, the number of people around us thinned out and the streets seemed to get darker and colder.

“He came to steal a firefighter’s coat and helmet,” Monk said. “Breen was the fireman whom Mr. Dumas saw leaving the firehouse.”

“I don’t understand this at all,” I said. “What makes you think that was Breen?”

“Means, motive, and opportunity,” Monk said, then explained to me his theory of what happened on Friday night.

Lucas Breen slipped out of the Excelsior around nine fifteen, walked to Esther’s house, and smothered the woman with a pillow. He made it look like she fell asleep smoking, and then he hid outside until he was sure the living room was consumed with flames. Breen was rushing back to the hotel when he discovered he’d left something incriminating behind.

But it was too late to run back inside the house; it was already ablaze and the firefighters were on their way. And he couldn’t take the chance that whatever belonged to him would burn in the fire. As luck would have it, the firehouse was nearby. He decided to steal a firefighter’s gear, go back to Esther’s house, retrieve whatever he’d left behind from the inferno, then return the outfit to the station on his way to the hotel.

“But he didn’t know about Sparky,” Monk concluded. “The dog charged him, so Breen grabbed the pickax to defend himself.”

That would mean it happened just as Monk described the first time we visited the firehouse.

We were so busy talking, I hadn’t paid much attention to our surroundings, but that changed as we passed between two buildings and a blast of icy wind slapped me awake.

The forest of skyscrapers blocked out what little moonlight there was. The wind whistled between the building, tossing fast-food wrappers and other loose trash, the tumbleweeds of a modern city.

I clutched my jacket tightly around myself. The chill wasn’t the only thing making me shiver. Monk and I seemed to be the only people on the street. It was amazing how fast the Financial District buildings had emptied out. With the exception of the occasional passing car or bus, it felt like we were the last two people on earth.

“What was it that made you realize Breen came to steal firefighting gear?” I asked.

“When we visited the firehouse the first time, I saw a firefighter’s coat on a hanger that was facing the wrong direction,” Monk said. “I fixed it, but it’s bothered me ever since.”

Only Monk would be bothered by something like that. I once made the mistake of accepting a baker’s dozen at Winchell’s, and Monk has been haunted by that thirteenth doughnut ever since.

“Captain Mantooth likes order,” Monk said. “The firefighters know better than to hang a coat on a hanger that’s facing the wrong way. But Breen didn’t. The coat I rehung was the one he stole the night he murdered Esther Stoval.”

“Then his fingerprints will be all over it,” I said.

Monk shook his head. “The coats and helmets are cleaned shortly after every fire to remove the toxins from the smoke.”

If the firemen weren’t so anxious to clean and shine everything, we might have had the evidence we needed to nail Lucas Breen. But now we had nothing, unless Monk had figured out something he wasn’t telling me yet.

“So how are you going to prove that Lucas Breen was in the firehouse?”

Before Monk could answer, someone grabbed me from behind, yanked me into an alley, and put the edge of a very sharp knife to my throat.

“Drop your purse,” a raspy voice hissed into my ear.

Monk turned and his eyes widened in shock. “Let her go.”

“Shut up and get over here or I’ll slit her throat right now.”

Monk did as he was told. We backed deeper into the dark alley. I was afraid to breathe, or even to tremble, for fear the movement would make the blade slice me.

“You,” the attacker said to Monk. “Give me your wallet and your watch.”

Monk took out his wallet, opened it, and began to carefully examine the contents.

“What the hell are you doing?” the mugger said. I was thinking the same thing. Didn’t Monk see the knife to my throat?

“Sorting through my wallet for you,” Monk said.

“I can do that myself,” the mugger said. I could smell the alcohol on his breath and the desperation in his sweat. Or maybe that was my desperation I was smelling.

“But if I do it,” Monk said to the mugger, “I can keep what you’d otherwise throw away.”

“Give me the damn wallet!”

“Obviously you want the money and the credit cards, but I’d like to keep the photo of my wife.” Monk showed him the tiny photo of Trudy.

“Fine, keep it. Give me the rest. Now. Or I’ll slit her throat. I will.”

I felt him shaking with nervous frustration right through the sharp edge of the knife pressed against my skin. All it would take was the slightest increase in pressure and I’d be bleeding.

“Please do as he says, Mr. Monk.”

Monk ignored me and took out a green-and-gold card, holding it up for the mugger to see. “What good is my Barnes and Noble Reader’s Advantage Card to you? You don’t strike me as a big reader. Do you really need a ten percent discount on books? I think not.”

“I’m going to cut her, Goddamn it!” the mugger said. I believed him. He was getting edgier by the second.

“And what about my Ralphs Club Card? What good is it to you? You probably get your discount on groceries by stealing them.”

All of the mugger’s attention was focused on Monk now. I felt the pressure on my neck slacken and his hold on my waist loosen. Without thinking, I grabbed his wrist with one hand, smacked him in the face with the back of my other hand, and stomped on his foot as hard as I could. I felt the bones crack under my heel.

The mugger yelped and released me, dropping his knife. I kicked the knife away, spun around, and drove my knee deep into his crotch. He doubled over and I shoved him headfirst into the wall. The mugger bounced off the wall and dropped flat on his back to the ground. I planted my knee in his crotch, pinned down his arms with my hands, and looked up at Monk.

He was still standing there, absorbed with putting everything back in the right place in his wallet. My heart was pounding and I was breathing hard as the adrenaline surged through me.

“Thanks,” I said. “You were a big help.”

“I was distracting him until you could make your move.”

“
My
move? What about
your
move?”

“That was my move.” Monk put his wallet back in his pocket. “Where did you learn to do that?”

“I’d like to know, too.” The mugger groaned.

“Watching my daughter in her tae kwon do class.” I glanced at Monk and jerked my head toward my purse. “You can use my cell phone to call the police.”

“Not yet.” Monk came over and crouched beside me. “Excuse me, Mr. Mugger. Do you work this street a lot? Is this your mugging turf?”

The mugger didn’t answer. I ground my knee into his testicles until he whimpered. I am woman; hear me roar.

“Answer the question,” I said.

The mugger nodded. “Yeah, it’s my patch.”

“Were you working on Friday night?” Monk asked.

“I don’t get a lot of vacation days in my profession,” the mugger said.

“Did one of your victims Friday night include a man named Lucas Breen?”

“Screw you.”

I increased the pressure on his privates. “You’ll have a hard time screwing anything ever again if you aren’t more forthcoming.”

I knew I sounded like a character in a bad cop movie, but I was still riding on adrenaline and pissed off about having a knife to my throat. The tougher I talked, the better I felt and the more the fear began to fade away.

“Yeah, I robbed Breen,” he croaked. His eyes were bulging so much I was afraid they might pop out and bounce away. I eased the pressure I was exerting on him.

“What time did you mug him?” Monk asked.

“I don’t have a watch.”

“You must have stolen hundreds of watches in your career. You never considered keeping one?”

“I don’t have lots of appointments.”

“Was Breen missing anything?”

“He was after I met him,” the mugger said.

“But not before,” Monk said.

“I took his wallet and his watch. I let him keep his wedding ring.”

“Why?” I said.

“Because people are real touchy and stupid about ’em. They’ll risk their lives for their wedding rings.” He looked at Monk. “I’ve never seen anyone do it for a Ralphs Club Card.”

“The savings really add up,” Monk said. “Did you notice anything unusual about Breen?”

“He was in a big hurry, couldn’t wait to give me his stuff,” the mugger said. “And he smelled like smoke, like he just ran out of a burning building or something.”

 

Monk called Stottlemeyer and, while he was filling him in, a black-and-white the captain sent showed up and two officers jumped out to take care of the mugger. I took the phone from Monk, called my neighbor Mrs. Throphamner, and begged her to take care of Julie for a couple hours while we followed up on what the mugger told us. Ever since I started working for Monk, Mrs. Throphamner has become used to my frantic calls for emergency babysitting.

We were just finishing up giving our report to the officers when Stottlemeyer showed up and motioned us into his car.