Well I needed to start writing on one of my favorite TV shows that I watch every Friday!

Disclaimer: I own none of the following characters...or liknesses thereof! Sorry! Don't sue!

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXx

It Was After Dark...

Chapter 1...Evil Deed...

Staggered breathing could be heard through the dark hallway as she ran. Running for her life and casting into the shadows...a man following closely behind as she runs into the closet and shuts the door quietly. She hears his voice, deep and ragged, bellowing through the walls and echoing through each room.

"Where are ya tramp? HUH! You thought you could cheat me didn'tcha? Thought you could run?" His voice was steady, as she heard her heart rate picked up and slight tremors ran through her thin frame. "Where'd ya hide it huh? I wanna know!"

She tried to stop herself from breathing so hard...but as she heard him approach the door it was hard. She heard him knock twice and lean his weight as the door creaked. "I know you're in there...come to daddy sweetie."

He opens the door violently and looks down in the mess of trinkets and clothes and pulls out her thin frame roughly causing her to cringe at the contact. "Let go!" She screamed. "Let go!"

"Shut up!" He then threw her into the wall. "Just shut up! You thought that you'd get away. Well I'm here to stop that. Where'd you hide it?" He struck her across the face with the back of his hand...his ring cutting her slightly, drawing blood across her pale cheek. Tears combined with it...the saltiness making it sting.

"I didn't do anything! Leave me alone!" She kicked his groin and he doubled over in pain...tripping her with his arm as she tried to run.

"You ain' gettin' away that easy, come back here!" He groaned and struggled to pull himself upright dragging her by her foot into the next room. He threw her against another wall and drew a gun from his pocket. "Now you're going to tell me or I'll shoot you and find it myself."

"I didn't do anything." She sobbed and tried to push him off. "Please leave me alone."

"Wrong answer!" He shoved her to the floor and kicked her side repetitively. Then he picked her up by her hair and threw her against the side table breaking a lamp in the process. Glass flew everywhere and some struck him across the arm, not that he seemed to notice. Some pieces flew about and cut her across the face, down the arms, and down her legs. He then picked her up and threw her against the table, breaking it as she crashed through.

After that he picked up his gun again and stepped towards her bleeding frame and leveled the gun at her head. "Looks like you just made things difficult for yourself." He then aimed and fired.

XXXXXXXXXXXXxxxxxx

Monk had just woke up and gotten dressed. He then went to the kitchen to find Natalie already putting groceries away for him. "Good morning Mr. Monk. How are you."

"Okay." He commented and shrugged his shoulders a little bit. He then walked over to the cabinet where she had just finished putting some spices in and realigned them by size. "Could be better...but okay."

"Have you been getting enough sleep lately Mr. Monk?"

"Off and on I guess." He shrugged again and went to the fridge to fix more groceries. "How's Julie been?"

"She's been great. Schools been going well." She smiled and walked towards the fridge handing him more things to organize. After the food was put away her cell phone began to ring.

"Hello?"

Slight pause.

"Oh hi Captain...what can I do for you."

Long Pause

"Okay we'll be there."

She shut the phone and turned to Adrian. "That was the Captain...he needs to see us over at the office...we have a case."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXxxxxxx

After a brief meeting at the office they were then going to the old house at the corner of Dragin Street.

"They said that she died of a gunshot wound to the chest." Stottlemyer stated. "She was only 20, her name was Elizabeth Brock."

Monk looked around the crime scene which extended from the back hallway to the front living room where the body had been moved. He looked to the side and saw a table with blood on it but didn't see what he was looking for. "There was a lamp here..."

"Huh?" Stottlemyer turned confused.

"See the dust ring? Obviously a circle shape wide enough to be considered a lamp. The glass patterns indicate that there was some sort of struggle and judging by this here..." He trailed off picking up a metal end with his handkerchief. "It was a lamp."

They looked down at the end of a light bulb and then it was placed in an evidence bag. He continued to walk around the room..." Did anyone know her personally?"

"Just a few people Monk. She wasn't very social. Her father said that she had an enormous amount of things that she wanted to keep hidden. Apparently, whoever it was that was here, knew about these 'things' and wanted to be told where they were."

"She was thrown through this table right?"

"Yeah."

"Judging by the angle that this table was broken and the amount of blood here." He gestured to the splintered wood. "I'd say that she might have been dead long before she got shot."

Disher walks up behind the Captain. "What's up?"

"Was she close to anyone else besides her immediate family?"

"There was a boyfriend, I think her father mentioned. And some groupies at a club, mostly guys. That was about it. Other than her business advisors."

"Business advisors?" Monk asked puzzled.

"She worked for an independent business. But they really didn't know much about her 'things'. Her father could only tell us that it was important documents and some sort of money deal." Disher stated. "Other things lead to rare collections and things that..."

"What sort of rare things?"

"We don't know."

"I'd like to talk to this boyfriend first." Monk stated talking to Stottlemyer.

XXXXXXXXXXXxxx

End chapter one! Dramatic pause! Read and Review!