There was a hole cut in it, right where Dr. Rahner’s extra finger would go.
Monk dangled the glove in front of Dr. Rahner’s face. “So you poked a hole in the glove for your extra finger, but you couldn’t leave it uncovered, could you?”
He dropped the glove on a table, reached into the bag again, and brought out a severed finger portion from a rubber glove.
“So you cut off a finger from another glove to cover it with,” Monk said.
Everyone turned to look at Dr. Rahner, whose face was reddening with anger.
“A hole in a glove and a piece of rubber don’t prove anything, ” Dr. Rahner said. “You still can’t put me in Leupolz’s duplex the night when you claim the murder occurred.”
“I don’t have to,” Monk said. “She did that for me.”
He pointed to Mildred.
“I did?” she said, looking very confused.
“With your beautiful collage.” Monk pointed to the picture she took of Dr. Kroger and Dr. Rahner together. “I was so freaked out by your fingers, and the sight of you with Dr. Kroger, that I didn’t even notice the pillow feathers stuck to your clothes. But thanks to the wonders of modern pharmaceuticals, I did today.”
Everyone but Dr. Rahner stepped up to examine the picture. Sure enough, there were some down feathers clinging to his sweats.
We all turned back to look at Dr. Rahner, who just sat there, shaking his head in sad disbelief.
“Shoelaces and feathers,” Dr. Rahner said. “That’s all it takes to destroy a man.”
Dr. Kroger looked at Dr. Rahner. “How could you murder two people?”
“I didn’t intend to,” Dr. Rahner said. “It was all a terrible accident. I’m not a murderer.”
“So I suppose you accidentally locked us in a shack, accidentally doused it with gasoline, and accidentally set it on fire,” I said.
“Things just kept getting worse,” Dr. Rahner said, fixing his gaze on Monk. “If you hadn’t followed your psychiatrist to Germany, nobody would have ever known how badly things went wrong.”
“I doubt it,” Geshir said. “You’re underestimating the investigatory skill of our homicide unit.”
“No, he isn’t,” Stoffmacher said.
“We’re sharp,” Geshir said.
“We’re adequate to the task, most of the time. But if it wasn’t for Mr. Monk’s eye for detail and his relentless determination, we never would have seen these events as anything but a suicide, a natural death, and a tragic coincidence. Now we know the truth. It was murder.” Stoffmacher tipped his head towards Dr. Rahner. “Arrest this man, Kommissar, and call the forensic unit up to go over his room. I’m sure we’ll find more feathers and other trace evidence.”
Geshir took out a pair of handcuffs, pulled Dr. Rahner’s arms behind his back, and cuffed his wrists.
Monk stepped up and looked Dr. Rahner in the eye. “Did you kill my wife?”
“I told you, I’m not a killer,” Dr. Rahner said. “At least I wasn’t until three days ago.”
Geshir led Dr. Rahner away. I put my arm around Monk.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Monk,” I said.
“Don’t be,” he said. “I’ll get him.”
Dr. Kroger came up to us. “That was impressive work, Adrian. You might want to consider sticking with this medication.”
Monk shook his head. “The case was solved before tonight. This was the easy part.”
“It didn’t seem easy to me,” Dr. Kroger said.
“That’s because you aren’t the world’s best detective,” Monk said.
“I see the drug doesn’t diminish the ego,” I said.
“I’ll have to make a note of that,” Dr. Kroger said.
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
CHAPTER ONE - Mr. Monk and the Assistant
CHAPTER TWO - Mr. Monk and the Balance of Nature
CHAPTER THREE - Mr. Monk Takes the Cake
CHAPTER FOUR - Mr. Monk Sees His Shrink
CHAPTER FIVE - Mr. Monk Falls Apart
CHAPTER SIX - Mr. Monk Loses Count
CHAPTER SEVEN - Mr. Monk and the Likely Suspect
CHAPTER EIGHT - Mr. Monk Takes Flight
CHAPTER NINE - Mr. Monk Arrives in Germany
CHAPTER TEN - Mr. Monk and the Appointment
CHAPTER ELEVEN - Mr. Monk Returns
CHAPTER TWELVE - Mr. Monk and the New Experience
CHAPTER THIRTEEN - Mr. Monk Goes on Vacation
CHAPTER FOURTEEN - Mr. Monk and the Six Fingers
CHAPTER FIFTEEN - Mr. Monk Sees a Corpse
CHAPTER SIXTEEN - Mr. Monk and the Deal
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN - Mr. Monk Makes a Discovery
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN - Mr. Monk and the Perfect Storm
CHAPTER NINETEEN - Mr. Monk and the Stakeout
CHAPTER TWENTY - Mr. Monk Meets Nature
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE - Mr. Monk Gets Some News
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO - Mr. Monk and Dr. Kroger
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE - Mr. Monk Visits Freakville
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR - Mr. Monk and the Guy
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE - Mr. Monk and the Friendly Skies
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX - Mr. Monk Goes to Berlin
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN - Mr. Monk Hits a Wall
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT - Mr. Monk Takes a Walk in the Woods
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE - Mr. Monk Has a Brand-new Bag
CHAPTER THIRTY - Mr. Monk Gets the Picture
