“I’ve been suffering since I was born,” Monk said. “Life is suffering.”

“He’s got things under control,” Stottlemeyer said, and took a sip of water. “Let’s move on, Paul.”

“How would you describe your working relationship?” Braddock asked.

“Professional and productive,” Stottlemeyer said. “When we have a case that strikes me as particularly complex or unusual, I’ll call him in for his unique perspective. Nobody analyzes a crime scene the way he does.”

Monk took a sip of his water, placed his glass next to Stottlemeyer’s, and squinted at the water level in each.

Braddock looked at Monk. “And you? How would you describe it?”

“It looks even to me,” Monk said, double-checking the level in the water glasses with his tape measure.

“He means our working relationship,” Stottlemeyer said, snatching the tape measure from his hand.

“That, too,” Monk said.

“I’m an old-fashioned cop. I focus on standard investigative procedure, gathering the facts and the evidence,” Stottlemeyer said. “Monk takes a different, more personal approach. He has an instinctive sense of how things should fit together, and when they don’t, it really, really bothers him. He tries to organize things and along the way he finds clues that might get overlooked by traditional methods.”

“How does he get paid?” Braddock asked.

“They issue me a check,” Monk said. “It’s in an envelope but I can assure you that nobody licks the seal, which, as you all well know, is an unsanitary and sickening practice engaged in by psychopaths, degenerates, and lunatics.”

There was a long moment of silence as everyone stared at him.

Stottlemeyer took another sip of water and cleared his throat. “We guarantee him a minimum of eighteen cases a year and pay him on a per-case basis on anything beyond that.”

“Not every case,” Monk said.

“Every case that we call you in on,” Stottlemeyer said.

“There are others?” Braddock asked.

“Sometimes Monk shows up at crime scenes without being called. I’m talking about routine cases that don’t really require his expertise.”

“You mean that you can handle on your own,” Braddock said.

“We can handle any case on our own,” Stottlemeyer said. “But there are some that are more difficult than others, and in those instances, we appreciate qualified help wherever we can get it, whether it’s from other law enforcement agencies, journalists, civilian experts in various fields, or anybody else with relevant information or special insight.”

Monk sipped his water, set his glass down next to Stottlemeyer’s, and compared the two. He didn’t like what he saw, though they looked even to me.

“And what happens when Mr. Monk shows up uninvited at the scene of one of these routine cases?” Braddock said.

“I solve them.” Monk took another sip of water, so small it could have counted as evaporation. But this time when he compared the two glasses, he seemed satisfied. He sat back in his seat and relaxed.

Braddock looked at Stottlemeyer. “So he does your job for you even on the small cases and doesn’t charge you for it. Lucky you.”

“When Monk solves a murder, it’s good for the citizens of San Francisco whom we protect and serve,” Stottlemeyer said. “It’s not about me.”

Stottlemeyer took another sip of water, much to Monk’s obvious consternation.

“In fact, Mr. Monk solves a lot more murder cases than he’s paid for,” Braddock said. “In the last seven years, Mr. Monk has personally solved nearly a hundred and fifty homicides and your department’s closure rate has reached an incredible ninety-four percent.”

“That’s all?” Monk said. “We should be ashamed of ourselves.”

Monk narrowed his eyes at his glass, picked it up, and took a carefully measured sip, then set it back down next to Stottlemeyer’s.

The captain glared at Monk. “Most police departments are lucky if they can clear half their murder cases. Our closure rate is thirty percent higher than the national average.”

“Explain the six percent of murders in San Francisco that haven’t been solved,” Monk said.

Stottlemeyer motioned to Braddock. “He’s asking the questions, Monk.”

“They must have been cases nobody showed me,” Monk said. “If you give them to me now, I’ll solve them.”

“They’re not for you. They’re mostly gang shootings and drug-related murders,” Stottlemeyer said. “We’ve got detectives with a thorough understanding of gang culture and a lot of experience on the streets handling those cases.”

Stottlemeyer picked up his glass, drank all of the water, and slammed it back down on the table so hard I thought it might break.

“But they’re not solving them,” Monk said. “I will. I’m streetwise. I’m down with those hepcats.”

Laughter rippled through the audience. Stottlemeyer was visibly embarrassed for Monk and shifted uncomfortably in his seat. So did I but there wasn’t anything either one of us could do to help him.

“Are you saying that you’re infallible, Mr. Monk?” Braddock asked.

“No,” Monk said. “There is one case I haven’t been able to solve.”

“Next question,” Stottlemeyer said bluntly, and looked out into the audience. “I’m sure somebody out there has a question they’d like to ask.”

I could have hugged him for that. He always tried to protect Monk from pain, self-inflicted and otherwise.

A detective stood up. “I’m Zev Buffman, Owensboro, Kentucky, PD. I got one. What was the department’s homicide closure rate before Monk began consulting with you?”

“I’m afraid I don’t have those figures in front of me,” Stottlemeyer said.

“I do,” Braddock said. “It was forty-three-point-five percent. How do you explain that, Captain?”

I think Stottlemeyer would have liked to explain it by punching Braddock in the face. Instead, he took a more diplomatic approach.

“There were lots of factors, Paul. Violent crime and homicide rates in the city were way up and at the same time we were understaffed and underfunded. The department cut four million dollars from the overtime budget, resulting in a hundred and ninety-five thousand fewer overtime hours, and forty-eight officers either quit or took early retirement. You can’t solve crimes without time and manpower. The city eventually restored our overtime budget and the homicide rate fell, but history is repeating itself now. Murders are up twenty percent from last year and our budget is being slashed.”

Monk took the pitcher and carefully poured enough water into Stottlemeyer’s glass to bring the water level even with his own glass.

“You can’t recall the stats but you’ve got all the excuses down cold,” Braddock said.

“I easily forget statistics but I never forget when my detectives are treated badly.”

“Do you know what the SFPD’s homicide closure rate was when Mr. Monk was still on the force?” Braddock asked.

“No, but I bet you do,” Stottlemeyer said.

“It was seventy-seven percent,” Braddock said. “And Mr. Monk himself had a hundred and twenty percent closure rate.”

“A hundred and twenty percent?” a female detective said from the audience. “How is that even possible?”

“I solved my own cases and ones that weren’t assigned to me,” Monk said.

“Like you do now,” Braddock said.

“I like to keep busy,” Monk said.

“How interesting,” Braddock said. “What is your personal case-closure rate, Captain?”

“I don’t know, but I’m sure it’s less than his and I am not ashamed to admit that,” Stottlemeyer said. “Monk is the best detective I have ever known, perhaps the best ever. He could outperform anybody in this room. We’re lucky to have him.”

“That’s an understatement,” Braddock said. “Right now, your closure rate is the envy of every department in the country. But without Adrian Monk, what would it be?”

Monk leaned close to the captain. “Would this be a bad time to ask for a raise?”

He didn’t mean it as a joke, because he doesn’t have a sense of humor, but that was how the audience took it anyway. They broke into uproarious laughter that drowned out the exchange between Monk and Stottlemeyer that followed. But I heard it.