Opening Scene:
It's night time on a deserted highway. We see a car swerving along at a top rate of speed; the road is wet from a recent rain when we hear a cell phone within the car ringing. The car takes the turn rather fast. We hear the voice of a woman inside.
Woman: "Harry, thank God you called!"
There is a man taking something large and boxed shaped out of the back of his van. He's parked on the shoulder of the same road.
Man: "Kate! Where are you now?"
Woman: "Ohhh ahh... I'm on my way!"
The man proceeds to drag the box out to the road as thunder and lightening are witnessed behind him.
Woman: "I'll be there in twenty minutes, how is she?"
The man is now in the middle of the road with the box.
Man: "I don't know, the veterinarian won't let me see her!"
We see the woman now inside the car, she looks frantic as she drives while talking on the cell.
Woman: "Well, what did they say?"
We hear the man over her cell.
Man: "She was hit by a car - that's all they know!"
The woman looks distressed by the news.
We see again the road with the man, the box is a metal ramp that he places next to one already set down on the asphalt.
Woman, barely in a whisper, we hear the metal placed on the road: "Oh - oh God!"
Man: "They think her back legs are broken!"
Now we see the actual dog in question, 100% fine, an attentive little Yorkshire terrier watching her master from the van setting up what now is apparently a trap. The dog is whining at the sound of her mistress's voice over the phone and standing up on the seat, a leash attaching her to the door.
Woman: "My poor baby!"
Woman in the car again, tears in her eyes: "I don't - I don't know how it happened, how did she get out of the yard?!"
The man is concentrating on placing the ramps, there is a little earphone in his left ear: "Oh, I don't know - Maria must have left the gate open!"
We see the car approaching a bump and coasting along, still at top speed.
Woman: "No, I don't think so! I checked it myself!"
Man: "Where are you now?"
Woman: "Oh, I'm - ah - going past the ranger's station! Oh God, if something has happened to her I will never forgive myself!"
The man is looking up eagerly, seeing the car in front of him.
Man: "Just hurry!"
Woman: "I'm going as fast as I can!"
The man sees the crash eminent, and runs back out of the way to his van. The car is ever approaching and the rain has picked up.
The woman sees the ramps, is jettisoned off of them and airborne, she screams and forgets the phone and the car disappears from view. The man runs past a sign that shows caution because of falling rocks - indicating a cliff, he looks off the side of the road - an evil smile crosses his face.
*Opening credits*
We see the outside of the SFPD, as some people are walking in the front door, a siren is heard very intermittently as a black and white cop car goes past in the scene.
There is a police press conference going on inside, several important people and reporters are milling around looking for a seat before the precedings. We pan across the scene to see suddenly next to a flagpole, Sharona running in from off to the side and Adrian immediately going over to the US flag in the corner of the hall.
A police officer puts out his arm, stopping Sharona at the entrance.
Officer: "Whoa! Press pass?"
Sharona: "No!"
Adrian is playing around with the tassels on the bottom of the flag.
Officer: "Are you on the list?"
Sharona, looking at him incredulously: "No!"
Officer: "Sorry, I can't let you in!"
Sharona holds her hand out to Adrian to her side: "Officer, this is Adrian Monk!"
Officer looks up realizing his mistake: "Sorry, sir, I didn't know!"
Adrian looks up from smoothing the tassels of the flag to give him a grievous and serious face.
Sharona: "Ah - could we stand over there - we don't like to be touched!"
The officer now holds out his hand to direct them to the seats. By now, she realizes Adrian isn't even paying attention to her, still distracted by the flag.
Sharona: "Adrian! Adrian! Come on!"
Adrian turns to his side to avoid the officer touching him in any way and follows Sharona into the press conference, which by now is getting under way.
There is a man at the podium addressing the crowd.
Man: "As you can imagine, the past three days have been very difficult, very painful for the entire department."
We see Sharona appearing to listen, and then Monk beside her to hear what is being said.
Man: "�Our prayers are with the Ashcombe family. The former commissioner is here and has asked to say a few words! Commissioner!"
Commissioner comes up to the podium, it's the man who killed the woman in the rain in the opening segments.
Commissioner: "It's been 72 hours since my wife Katherine disappeared! I want to thank everyone for their prayers and good wishes. It's meant the world to me!"
Monk looks moved by the commissioner's words, Sharona is biting her lip pensively. She looks thoroughly unimpressed.
Commissioner: "There is someone out there who knows what happened to my wife! I'm asking you to look into your heart, and to come forward with any information you might have!"
Monk looks rather broken up as he thinks no doubt of Trudy in the back of his mind. We get a close up of his face as we continue to hear the commissioner's words.
Commissioner: "To Kate, if you can hear this - hang in there, babe!"
Monk starts rubbing the bridge of his nose as his emotions begin to disturb him.
Commissioner: "...I love you. Don't give up!"
The commissioner abruptly leaves the podium, a reporter stands up in the crowd.
Reporter: "Sir, has anyone threatened...?"
More reporters chime in like she did. He plows through the crowd without another word, Adrian quietly watches him. We then see Stottlemeyer doing the same thing and approaching Adrian and Sharona. He seems surprised to see Adrian.
Stottlemeyer: "Monk, what are you doing here?"
Monk: "I want to help!"
Stottlemeyer: "You want to help - say a prayer for the man!"
Sharona gives the captain a rather insulted look, but says nothing.
Monk: "I can do more than that captain, you know I can!"
Stottlemeyer: "Can you imagine what that man is going through?"
Monk looks at him with a veiled anger in his eyes: "Yes - I can!"
Sharona looks at the captain with an 'I told you so!' look.
Stottlemeyer: "Come on!"
He walks towards the door.
Stottlemeyer: "Follow me!"
Sharona puts her hand on Adrian's back and they walk from the room.
Stottlemeyer in the main station hallway, they see the commissioner turning to them. The captain holds out his hand to Monk behind him, Sharona pacing them at his side.
Stottlemeyer: "Commissioner! Harry! Adrian Monk."
Commissioner: "Yes, of course! How are you detective?"
The commissioner holds out his hand for Adrian to shake, Sharona immediately dives into her purse for a moist wipe.
Monk: "Former detective."
Commissioner: "Not for long I hope, we miss you! Thank you for coming."
Monk: "Sir, if there's - anything I can do, I'm available 24/7!"
He begins to pinch pieces of lint off the commissioner's jacket. The commissioner looks at him in surprise.
Commissioner: "We appreciate that..."
Monk: "I've become pretty familiar with this type of crime."
Stottlemeyer glares at Adrian, his hands on his hips: "There's no crime - yet, Monk! This is a missing person's case!"
Monk begins to concern himself with the commissioner's other lint on the opposite lapel: "Of course, I know... I know that - um - I'm sorry!"
He keeps fussing with the lapel, and Sharona grows a little nervous.
Sharona: "Adrian!"
He stops.
Monk: "...I just mean, if worse comes to worse - and I pray it never does, I think I could be a real asset here!"
Sharona: "You won't be sorry, sir, he is the best."
Commissioner: "Well, how could I not accept an offer from Adrian Monk?"
Both Adrian and then Sharona beam with very proud smiles at his compliment, each accepting it as their own.
Commissioner: "Leland, see that he gets a copy of the file and full access!"
The captain looks on to Adrian rather jealously, but remains quiet.
Stottlemeyer: "Yes, sir!"
Commissioner: "Welcome aboard detective!"
Monk: "Thank you, sir! - thank you..."
As he says these words, he proceeds to brush more lint off the commissioner's jacket as he starts to follow Stottlemeyer and Sharona already walking between the cubicles of the station. The phones are ringing in the background. He takes one last swipe and quickly follows the group, the commissioner looks a bit disgruntled.
*Change of scenes*
We're outside on a coast line down the side of a cliff, seagulls are flying overhead as we see the water crashing into the rocks. There is an old sedan parked in the sand. There is a woman sleeping inside, her head resting on the seat to one side, she wakes up. Her head lulls around at first, trying to come to. She looks around, down at the dash and behind her to figure out where the hell she is.
Woman: "Where am I?"
She looks around one more time and then opens the door of her car.
Woman: "Where the hell...?"
She closes her door, we now see that she's still in her dressing gown but otherwise in day clothes, she looks behind her in surprise. She is obviously lost. She sees something off in the distance and proceeds to climb up through some undergrowth. Inspecting it a little closer, we see that she notices the dead body of the commissioner's wife, Katherine, blood down her forehead and resting against the cracked door of her damaged car.
Woman: "Ohhhhh...!"
*Next scene, same setting*
We see the full scope of the cliff now and sirens off in the distance. We pan down to the totalled car with Katherine at the bottom of the rocks - it's now a crime scene. Two paramedics go over to remove and inspect the body, while a forensic photographer snaps pictures in the background. There is a stretcher on the ground.
We move around to see Stottlemeyer with his hands on his hips listening to their only witness - the woman, Dolly Flint, a psychic of less renowned credentials. Lieutenant Disher is taking notes as she speaks.
Dolly: "She was calling me, she lead me here! See, that's the way it happens sometimes! I was driving the car, but her aura was guiding me!"
She points to Disher's blotter.
Dolly: "Write that down, lieutenant, it was her aura!"
Disher seems unsure of this woman and where she's coming from. He looks up at the captain who gives him a bemused expression.
Dolly: "And, then I woke up and I was right here. See, she wanted me find her! She didn't want to lie for eternity under all that mud, I mean, can you blame her?"
Disher looks at her again like she's from another planet.
Disher: "And, you never met Mrs. Ashcombe?"
Dolly: "No, never met her. Not until this morning."
Disher: "And, do you know her husband at all?"
Dolly: "Never had the honour."
The captain looks like he's getting tired of her little act.
Stottlemeyer: "Is there anything else you can tell us, Ms. Flint?"
Dolly comes up and acts very casual to the captain, putting her hand on his arm.
Dolly: "Oh hells bells, captain, you can call me Dolly. You've known me for twenty years!"
Stottlemeyer: "Hellooo Dolly!"
Dolly starts laughing at his little joke, Disher doesn't know what to make of the alliance just yet - he looks at his superior, strangely. Dolly points at the captain as she talks to Disher.
Dolly: "Did he tell 'ya? He arrested me three times - bonco and fraud! You always thought I was a quack, didn't 'ya, captain? Never thought I'd actually find somebody..."
She sees them moving the body and starts running over to the paramedics.
Dolly: "...Oh hi! Excuse me, can you get a picture of me with the car - I'm just going to..."
Stottlemeyer interrupts seeing her disturbing the crime scene.
Stottlemeyer: "Hey!...Hey! No! Dolly! Dolly!"
He comes over and grabs her away by her upper arm.
Stottlemeyer: "He is a police photographer - he's not from the National Enquirer!"
He hands her off to Disher. Disher leads her out of the picture.
Disher: "...Right this way!"
Dolly: "Can't I have just one shot?"
Stottlemeyer looks off to the open ambulance behind him and then notices up on the cliff face is Sharona and Monk examining the scene. Monk is looking at the ground, Sharona is looking down at the captain.
Stottlemeyer whispers to himself and sighs: "...What the hell?"
*Up on top of the cliff*
Adrian is leaning over to his right side, his whole body titled and his hands forming an angle as he stands in the middle of the road. Sharona is just watching him without question, doing his little thing. He runs backwards towards Sharona, she sidesteps out of his way and then Adrian turns doing the same thing facing her, but not looking up... he's still eyeing the road.
He bends down and then dashes back and forth, his hand up to his mouth, biting his knuckles as he grows excited by what is revealed only to him. Eventually Stottlemeyer walks up to him in the scene. Adrian is bending down, not noticing anyone and eyeing the road closer on his haunches.
Stottlemeyer: "What are you doing?"
Monk: "Look at this!"
We see scratch marks all along the stretch of highway that he's been examining.
Stottlemeyer: "What?"
We see Sharona come up to him to see what he sees.
Monk: "Looks like something - was - maybe dragged along here - something metal..."
Stottlemeyer: "That could be anything!"
Monk: "But - you see - you see where the car ended up..."
He is directing their attention towards the edge of the cliff, they all look in the same direction together. Now they are all in the middle of the road.
Monk: "...Imagine the trajectory, it doesn't make sense!"
Stottlemeyer is unconvinced: "Don't complicate things, Monk! She was probably doing 70 or 75 miles an hour when she missed the turn. Hey! Did you hear who found the car?"
Monk looks very unimpressed, he already knows: "I heard! Dolly Flint!"
Stottlemeyer: "Crazy Dolly! Can you believe that?"
Monk: "No - I can't!"
Sharona rolls her eyes.
Sharona: "Monk doesn't believe in psychics..."
Monk: "I believe in what I can see!"
He looks down at Sharona, she's visibly upset.
Monk: "I believe - in - what's in front of me!"
Sharona: "You know how I found out that my ex was still seeing his old girlfriend?"
Monk is rather flippant as he says: "Please - tell us!"
Sharona is now thoroughly pissed. "A psychic told me!"
Monk looks over and raises his eyebrows and gives a false shocked expression to the captain.
Sharona: "...now that's a true story and was the best $35 bucks I ever spent!"
Monk looks at her laughing to himself and the captain is doing the same: "$35 bucks?"
Stottlemeyer surprisingly is supporting her: "There have been cases, documented cases, where psychics have found missing kids - "
Adrian is holding his head in his hands, the conversation giving him a headache.
Stottlemeyer: " - bodies. It happens!"
Sharona is strumming her fingers on her purse strap, Adrian shrugs in disbelief.
Monk: "It ah yah ah... Of course it happens! A thousand psychics making ten thousand predictions a year - two or three of them have to be right!"
Stottlemeyer sighs loudly as he hears the sirens behind him.
Stottlemeyer: "Ahh... Here he is!"
We see a plain-clothed police officer stopping on the dirt road down from where the trio stands, he opens the door for the commissioner. They chat briefly, but we can't hear what is being said, it's too far away. As Stottlemeyer, Sharona and Adrian walk closer to the approaching visitors - the captain fusses with his tie, nervously, he straightens it out.
Stottlemeyer: "Ahh... You know, I was the best man at their wedding!"
Monk: "Really?"
Stottlemeyer: "This is going to kill him!"
Stottlemeyer under breath as he begins to walk away: "Kill him...dah*" (*can't make out this bit)
Sharona and Adrian look on, Sharona makes a rather 'this will be brutal' look and looks up at the sky. We then shift over to focus on a rather bare tree on the horizon.
Monk: "That's strange!"
Sharona: "What?"
Adrian levels his hand out to show Sharona where he is focussing his attention.
Monk: "She went off the road here - look at the tree! The tree's intact!"
The tree is shown again, it's a pathetic little tree.
Monk: "...No broken branches..."
*Scene switch*
We move down where the commissioner and Stottlemeyer stand in the open back end of the ambulance. They are standing in front of the body of Katherine, covered by a white sheet and bound to the stretcher.
Stottlemeyer: "Harry, I really don't think you should look!"
Commissioner: "Why not?"
Stottlemeyer: "Because you should remember her as she was."
Commissioner: "Leland, I have to see! I have to say goodbye."
Stottlemeyer looks down, knowing he's going to regret his actions. He strips back the cloth covering Katherine's torn and battered face, her neck and head are resting in a brace of orange foam. The commissioner reacts immediately, raising his hand to his mouth.
Commissioner: "Katherine!"
The captain sees that he isn't looking at her anymore, and quickly covers Katherine's body again. Dolly approaches the commissioner slowly and tries to show her sympathy.
Dolly: "Hi!"
Stottlemeyer: "Commissioner, this is Dolly Flint, she found your wife's body!"
The commissioner tries to show some sort of false front of bravery and shakes her hand.
Commissioner: "Yes, of course. It's amazing! I can't thank you enough."
Disher is standing off to the side, his arms crossed listening, intently.
Dolly: "I just wish I could have found her before she crossed over."
Dolly is holding the commissioner's hand in both of hers, he slowly lets go and walks off by himself a bit. He covers his mouth again, trying to look grieving, but possibly covering a sly smile. Adrian notices it and watches him puzzled. By this time, he's growing sceptical.
*Moments later, same scene*
Adrian is standing on a long piece of lumber to avoid dealing with the trappings of mud on his spotless shows, he's a good yard away from the actual car wreck.
Sharona is already leaning in the car window: "Adrian? Don't you want a closer look?"
Monk: "No - ah ah - I can see from here!"
Sharona is frustrated as the police are still doing their actual job and he isn't. She gestures from the car to him. There is a man examining the mud with a bucket and the forensic photographer is still taking photos.
Sharona: "Would you like us to move the crash site a little closer to you?!"
Monk's legs are visibly trembling, possibly at the tone of Sharona's voice.
Monk: "No - umm - I'm fine!"
They both hear a car door slam, and turn to see Dolly coming from her abandoned car. She sees Adrian and Sharona, she shouts over to them.
Dolly: "Hi!"
Sharona immediately runs for her, hopping across the puddles of mud. Monk doesn't move as she rushes past his board.
Monk: "You found the body?"
Dolly: "Yeah! Are you a reporter?"
Sharona is all excited as she comes up to Dolly.
Sharona: "Ms. Flint? Hello!"
She shakes Dolly's hand.
Sharona: "Umm... my name is Sharona Fleming and this is my friend - oh, excuse me - my boss, Adrian Monk!"
Adrian looks rather angry at how Sharona is carrying on like a rock fan.
Sharona: "Umm... he was consulting on the case before you showed up to solve it!"
She pats Dolly's hand in absolute glee.
Dolly doesn't take note of anything she just said: "Why is he - ah - staring at me?"
Sharona: "I know, it's a little creepy if you don't know him!"
Dolly looks distressed, as she holds up her finger and goes for her car.
Dolly: "Excuse me!"
She begins to lift her bare foot out of the mud and proceeds to clean off the dirt with her fingertips.
Sharona: "Uh... Ms. Flint?"
Adrian sees what Dolly is doing and looks deeply disturbed by the display, he grimaces in disgust and can't watch.
Sharona: "I just have to say, that it is an honour to meet you, I can't tell you how much money I have wasted on those TV psychics!"
She's moved as she says: "...But, you really have the power! I mean a gift!"
Dolly laughs a bit as she wipes off her hands: "Ha! Apparently!"
Sharona: "Um, can I call you sometime for a private reading?"
Dolly walks to her open driver side window and keeps on talking to Sharona: "Oh yeah! But listen - um - the rates on my card no longer apply, they've gone up!"
She returns with a card or two cards in her hand.
Dolly: "...As of about two hours ago."
She hands a ticket to Sharona. She holds out one to Adrian.
Dolly: "Here's one for you, Mr. Monk!"
Adrian holds up his hands, definitely not wanting one.
Sharona: "I'll take it to him!"
Sharona comes over to deposit it in Monk's pocket, he shakes his head vehemently, but she does it anyhow. He looks away bitterly.
Dolly: "Maybe I could help you with - ah - one of your cases sometime!"
We see Dolly raise her hand to wave and turns back to her car.
Dolly: "Ciao!"
Sharona waves at her, happily. Monk still looks sceptical.
Sharona: "Bye!"
As Dolly sits in her car, slamming her door, she adjusts her seat upwards. Monk immediately notices and looks at her actions with concern. Dolly pulls away, in the process kicking up mud from her front tires, which hits Monk's spotless pant leg.
He cries out in agony, like being burned on a stove. Grasping his hands in fists at his side, Sharona immediately digs in her purse.
Sharona: "Hold still! Hold still, it's not the end of the world!"
Monk: "Did you see that?"
Sharona looks up briefly from cleaning off his pants with a moist wipe: "It's just a little mud!"
Monk: "No, she moved her seat forward. When she got in the car, she moved her seat!"
We see Dolly's car pulling up past the commissioner, Stottlemeyer, and Disher who watch her leave the scene. Monk steps forward on the plank, his mind starting to piece together the clues.
*Next scene, the SFPD headquarters*
Stottlemeyer comes through the door of his office and stops, he looks rather frustrated to notice Adrian and Sharona waiting for him.
Stottlemeyer: "Oh, I'm sorry, I thought this was my office!"
Sharona seems slightly dismayed sitting in a chair in the captain's office, Adrian is standing in front of her.
Stottlemeyer: "Yes, see - I'm confused, because my name is on the door!"
Adrian smiles good-naturedly waiting for an explanation, Sharona covers her face in shame.
Adrian holds out his hands to her, still smiling: "Don't - don't blame Sharona, captain!"
Sharona shoots him an insulted look.
Stottlemeyer: "I have no intention of blaming Sharona!"
Stottlemeyer walks around his desk, Adrian is still trying to explain.
Monk: "I was just following up on the Ashcombe case."
Stottlemeyer points down at his desktop, realizing all of his office trinkets and belongings are gone, it's completely clean.
Stottlemeyer: "What happened here?"
Monk: "I took the liberty of straightening up a little!"
Stottlemeyer holds out his hands in dismay: "Where is all my crap?!"
Monk: "It's in your drawers, and of course I had to throw some stuff away!"
Stottlemeyer looks supremely pissed as he glares up at Adrian. He begins to retrieve his things buried in his desk.
Sharona holds up her hands: "I'm sorry, sir, I - I tried to stop him!"
Stottlemeyer looks up at Monk: "There is - no Ashcombe case, Monk. The inquest is over."
Monk looks unimpressed.
We see off to the side Stottlemeyer sitting down.
Stottlemeyer: "This is what happened - it was raining, she was a terrible driver, she went off the road! A mud slide covered the car, until..."
Monk angrily finishes his sentence: "...Until the biggest flake in North America just happened to find it?"
Stottlemeyer seems amused at his anger: "And you can't stand that, can you?"
Stottlemeyer straightens a little desk clock on a stand in front of him across the desk.
Stottlemeyer: "Dolly Flint showed you up - and you can't stand it!"
The amusement is now apparent in the captain's voice, irking Monk to no end - causing him to revert a bit to his OCD and he becomes fixated on Stottlemeyer's gooseneck lamp that he paws with his fingertip.
Sharona immediately chastises him: "Adrian! *Sit!*"
He does as she says right away, but the anger is very apparent in his face.
Monk: "We have Dolly Flint's file!"
Stottlemeyer: "Yeah, I know she has a jacket, Monk - we made three of those collars myself!"
Monk: "Fraud! Trespassing! Reckless endangerment!"
Stottlemeyer: "Yeah, she has a sleep disorder, she walks in her sleep. She's got - um..."
Stottlemeyer looks up at Sharona for assistance as she was a former nurse. "
Stottlemeyer: "What do you call it - sand - ah ah...?"
Monk: "Do you know how many cases Dolly Flint offered to help with and failed?! 220!"
Stottlemeyer: "So she's one for 220!"
The captain looks at Adrian with a pause: "It's possible!"
Monk: "No, it's not!"
Stottlemeyer: "Yes, it is!"
He opens a folder and produces some photos, he takes the top one in his hand.
Stottlemeyer: "She was photographed going through a red light, last night - she was alone in the car..."
He slides it across the desk for Adrian to see, we see the picture of a car caught by surveillance, the license plate clearly visible.
Adrian looks shocked at the realization that he may be wrong, Stottlemeyer gives him a certain look.
Stottlemeyer: "It happened!"
Adrian looks at the captain in disbelief and then the photo again, his faith in his abilities somewhat shaken.
*Scene change, we are The Ashcombe home*
We see a lavish wake inside the sumptuous home of the commissioner, several people are talking amongst themselves all dressed in black - Adrian and Sharona are in the middle of it all.
Monk: "I'm not good at parties!"
Sharona: "It's not a party! It's a memorial service."
We pan across the crowd from down the chandeliered staircase to Stottlemeyer, the commissioner and Disher quietly observing the guests from across the room.
Sharona comes up, stating her point as she holds up her hand.
Sharona: "This - is a nice place!"
We now see Monk standing aside her.
Sharona: "Obviously whomever lives here doesn't work for you!"
Monk: "The late Mrs. Ashcombe was richer than Canada!"
Adrian is holding a book in his hands, he looks up to see the commissioner approach them.
Monk: "Commissioner, I thought this might help - !"
He hands him the book he has in his hands.
Monk: "When I lost Trudy, I - I read it every night!"
The commissioner looks down and reads the front cover: "Ralph Waldo Emerson!"
Monk: "Yes, sir!"
The commissioner looks up in compassion: "Thank you, Adrian!"
Monk looks touched, and near tears at his own shared memories.
Commissioner: "And thank you for coming! It means the world to me."
He holds out his right hand for Adrian to shake, Adrian obviously hesitates. Slowly he places his hand in the commissioner's.
Commissioner: "It looks like we won't require your services after all!"
As he says these words, he Adrian's hand and covers it with both of his in a warm gesture.
We scan up to see Sharona looking at the move with obvious doubts and anxiety, she very slowly looks up to see Adrian's expression, knowing full well the affect. She bites her lip.
Commissioner: "But I want you to know how much I appreciate your offer!"
Adrian is trying to swallow back his discomfort, clear tears in his eyes now - not from the memories but his fight to control his anxiety. He smiles rather nervously at the commissioner and nods without replying.
The commissioner looks at Sharona and nods pleasantly.
Sharona acknowledges him: "Thank you!"
Adrian's hand is still suspended in the air, frozen in place, his expression still the same plastered smile. As the commissioner walks away, Adrian looks at his hand in repulsion, Sharona instinctively dives into her purse for a moist wipe to the rescue.
Sharona: "Hold on!"
Monk: "No, no, no - bathroom! Bathroom! I - I - I need a wash...!"
Sharona: "Just try upstairs! Try upstairs!"
Monk: "Did you see that? It was a two-hander!"
Monk goes running off for the stairs in abject terror, his hand still held high like it was contaminated.
Sharona: "I saw it - just don't make a scene!"
Adrian has already bounded up about eight steps and is rushing like mad for the bathroom.
Sharona nervously turns and smiles rather embarrassed at someone behind her.
Next we see, Adrian dashing up the second floor staircase, walking wooden-like with his diseased hand. He runs into the Ashcombes' bedroom and there are boxes strewn with stuff beside the bathroom to his left. He stops and examines them for a moment in curiosity, his detective side kicking in.
He walks to a mid section before the bathroom, an inside closet perhaps and notices something strange, his hand still held up - he seems puzzled. He sees a pair of discarded boots with what appears like mud lining the bottoms. He lowers his hand slightly and gulps as the realization hits him.
He makes it to the bathroom and we see him cleaning his hands under a faucet. He grabs a hand towel to turn off the faucet and dries his hands with it. That's when he notices a box to his immediate right.
Fascinated with it, he takes the towel and lifts the top a bit to peer inside. It's filed with glass trinkets and vanity items. Gingerly, with his bare hand; he lifts a small, empty glass perfume bottle up and examines it closely.
Commissioner appears out of nowhere: "The guest bathroom is down the hall!"
Monk jumps around startled: "Commissioner! I'm sorry - ah - I was - ah - I was - ah - I was was just - I mean - later, after - you know - before, when we - I...!"
He laughs, clearly nervous.
Monk: "OK! Here's the thing...!"
Commissioner: "I can remember when you began this sentence."
He takes the vial out of Adrian's fingers. Adrian chuckles.
Commissioner: "Everyone gets lost...the house was always too big for Katherine and me. We didn't buy it, it was wedding gift from her father!"
Monk: "Ahh!"
The commissioner puts the little bottle back in the box.
Commissioner: "You understand - right? I mean - you lost your wife."
Adrian looks down at the box as the commissioner is starting to walk towards the door.
Monk: "Ahh - understand what, sir?"
Commissioner: "The natural desire to pack her things away! You don't want them around to - remind you..."
Adrian looks disbelieving, pain in his face.
Monk: "I guess I had the opposite reaction. I haven't thrown anything of Trudy's away. Not even a hairbrush, not even a - hair from a hairbrush..."
The commissioner seems disappointed that he is not letting this slide.
Commissioner: "Really?"
Adrian gives him a clearly suspect look.