Mr. Monk is Cleaned Out (23 page)

Hearing that, Bob and Anna demanded to see their lawyer. They knew they were finished. I’m sure Bob was already considering the pros and cons of the fungal-foot brain defense. There wasn’t much else he could try.

The captain called in a forensics unit to handle the search, took another call, then waved the two of us over to him.

“We’ve got Sebes on those three murders and he knows it,” Stottlemeyer said. “I think it’ll go down just like Natalie predicted it would. He’ll plead guilty to the Ponzi scheme and trade us all the money that he’s hidden away in exchange for taking the death penalty off the table for him and showing some mercy to his wife.”

“I certainly hope so,” Monk said. “I desperately need whatever I can get back from my life savings.”

“I think I can ease some of your financial worries.” Stottlemeyer took a folded sheet of paper from his coat pocket and handed it to him. “There’s your agreement, Monk, signed by the mayor and the chief of police.”

“You’re going to honor it after all?” I said.

“Monk held up his end of the bargain and we’re going to hold up ours. That’s a three-year pay-or-play consulting agreement, effective immediately and retroactive to the day we let him go. In addition, the city attorney will harass and intimidate Monk’s landlord into revoking his eviction. And I’m even gonna throw in a police report on the car wash incident that you can give your insurance company so you won’t be liable for the damage to your car.”

“Wow. That’s wonderful,” I said. “Thank you, Captain.”

“It’s the least I can do.” Stottlemeyer offered Monk his hand. “I’m sorry about everything. I hope you can forgive me.”

They shook hands.

“You have nothing to apologize for, Captain. You were doing your job.”

“I could have shown a lot more faith in you,” he said. “The way Natalie did.”

“She has to,” Monk said. “She works for me.”

“I’m your friend, Monk. And friends stick up for one another, through thick or thin, no matter what.”

“You have.”

Stottlemeyer shook his head. “I jerked you around and didn’t give you the support you needed. I put the job in front of our friendship and that wasn’t right.”

“After Trudy was killed, I had a total meltdown. I was thrown off the force. Nobody wanted to have anything to do with me. But you didn’t walk away. You never gave up on me. You cashed in every IOU you had and fought to get me hired as a police consultant. You saved me, Leland.”

“I didn’t this time.”

Monk shrugged. “You will next time.”

“That’s a promise,” Stottlemeyer said and started to walk away, when something seemed to occur to him. “By the way, that call I got was from the DA. The jury came back with their verdict in the Moggridge trial.”

“Already?” I said.

“They only deliberated for thirty minutes, not counting the hour they took to eat one last lunch on the city’s dime. The jury found the greedy SOB guilty on every count. So it’s a winning day for the Good Guys all around.”

“Yes, it is,” I said.

“It bodes well for the future,” he said.

“The future never bodes well,” Monk said. “You can always be certain that you’re facing disappointment and misery.”

“I’m glad to see you’re back to your old cheerful self again.” The captain clapped Monk on the back and went to confer with Disher.

“I’m proud of you, Mr. Monk.”

“For what?” he asked.

“For being so kind and forgiving to Captain Stottlemeyer. That couldn’t have been easy after everything you’ve been through this week.”

“He’s my boss. It’s called kissing up,” Monk said. “You ought to try it sometime.”

I smiled at him. “What do you think I’m doing right now?”