Read Online Mr. Monk on the Road by Lee Goldberg - Free Book Online Page B

didn’t say that,” he said.
    I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “At what point yesterday did I say that I needed a vacation?”
    “Right after Lieutenant Devlin shot the knife out of Aaron Monroe’s hand.”
    “The knife that he held to my throat after you exposed him as a murderer.”
    “Yes, the filthy knife.”
    “Given the context of my statement, isn’t it obvious that what I want is a vacation from my work?”
    “This wouldn’t be work.”
    “What happens every time we go out of town together?”
    “You don’t bring enough cleaning supplies.”
    “You inevitably get involved in a homicide investigation,” I said. “That is not a vacation for me.”
    “You just don’t know how to relax.”
    “This may shock you, but I don’t find stumbling across corpses and hunting down killers relaxing.”
    “That’s my point.”
    “I am not going on a trip with you.”
    “And Ambrose,” he said.
    “He’s not going on a trip with you, either. So this whole ridiculous conversation is moot.”
    Monk turned in his seat to face me. “Ambrose has been imprisoned in that house for thirty years. His life has been the same day in and day out. Nothing ever changes.”
    “He’s living your dream.”
    “You’ve got it backward, Natalie. My life has been his dream. I left home. I lived on my own. I fell in love. I saw the world. And while I was doing all that adventurous living, he has been stuck in that house, living vicariously through me. The only solace I have is that at least he was spared the sorrow of losing the love of his life the way you and I lost ours.”
    “The pain was worth it,” I said.
    “And you have Julie,” he said. “And I have Molly. My life is even now in a way it hasn’t been since Trudy was killed. Everything is balanced. I have it all. I want Ambrose to have it, too. So, for his birthday, I would like to give Ambrose the same balance. I would like to give him something new to see out of his window. I would like to give him a chance to experience life beyond his front door. But I can’t do it without your help. The truth is, there’s very little in my life that I can do without you.”
    I was boxed in. I’d tried so hard to bring Monk and Ambrose closer together. Now that Monk wanted to do something special for his brother, to express how much he loved him, how could I possibly refuse to help?
    Monk’s intentions were good, and I was sure that Ambrose would be touched just knowing that his brother wanted to do something special for him, but I didn’t see how he was going to accomplish it.
    Then again, I never knew during our investigations how Monk would solve the seemingly impossible cases that he tackled—and yet he always did. And I knew he would. I went along on loyalty, faith, and confidence in his abilities. So why should this be any different?
    “Okay,” I said. “I’m in.”

CHAPTER EIGHT
    Mr. Monk and the Happy Birthday
    M onk soon realized that my help wasn’t going to be enough, at least not in the initial stages. So he drafted two more people to give us a hand. And once I fully understood what form his gift to Ambrose was going to take, and what would be required of us to pull it off, I was convinced that in the history of bad ideas, this was the worst one ever.
    I tried to back out of it almost immediately, but Monk refused to listen to my objections. I pointed out the many ways it could all go wrong, and what an ordeal it would be for him and for his brother, but he waved off my concerns. He was willing to take those risks.
    That left me with only one remaining objection: the big, personal reason I wanted him to call it off.
    But I couldn’t bring myself to tell him what it was.
    I knew I had to, but every time I tried, I couldn’t summon the words. It was just too embarrassing.
    And before I knew it, the day had come to celebrate Ambrose’s birthday and the plan was too far along for me to stop it.
    It was a bright, sunny, beautiful day. We