Simple Genius (Sean King & Michelle Maxwell 3)

WHEN THE WOMAN OPENED THE DOOR, Michelle saw that Viggie Turing had indeed taken after her mother.

She’d been expecting them, the woman said, and ushered the pair inside.

“You’re Viggie’s mother?” Michelle said.

“No, I’m her aunt. My poor sister died years ago. But people have always said that we looked a lot alike.” She led them into the living room. As soon as Viggie saw Michelle she started playing the piano. Michelle sat down next to Viggie and hugged her.

Viggie’s aunt, whose name was Helen, said, “I didn’t even know they were in Virginia. And I certainly didn’t know anything had happened to Monk. And then Viggie just appeared one day. I nearly fainted.”

“So Monk had custody of her?”

Helen lowered her voice so Viggie couldn’t hear. “My sister had a very troubled life. Drugs, mental illness; we believe that she even physically abused Viggie. Monk finally got her away but maybe I should have tried to intervene more. But I have a way to make it up to her. I’m going to adopt Viggie.”

“That’s great, Helen,” Michelle said out of Viggie’s earshot. “She’s a very special girl.”

“I know that she needs counseling and other treatment. At first I was worried because the help it seems she needs is very expensive. But then very recently I’ve come to understand that Monk died a rich man. Viggie will have more than enough money for anything.”

Sean said, “If you need a good psychologist, I have a name for you. And he’s already seen Viggie.”

Viggie pulled Michelle to the window and pointed outside at a nearby lake. “Can we go on the water again?”

“You think you’re up to it? Remember last time.”

“That’s because I went alone. If I go with you everything will be okay, right?”

“Right.”

As they were walking back to the limo later Michelle said, “It really was generous you giving the treasure away, considering you found it.”

“Heinrich Fuchs really figured it out. But finding the treasure cleared up something else that had been bugging me.”

“What?” Michelle asked.

“Remember Monk had those red stains on his hands?”

“Right, rust stains from climbing the chain link fence.”

“No. That chain link was brand-new, it had no rust stains. I saw that when I was cutting through the fence. Monk got the stains from scraping at the bricks to get to the treasure, just like I did.” Sean shook his head. “Codes and blood. I was wrong. It had nothing to do with Alan Turning and bloodlines. Monk was being literal. His hands looked bloody because of digging through the brick for the treasure.”

“How many times do you think Monk infiltrated Camp Peary?” she asked.

“At least once too many. He obviously witnessed what we saw too. Only he didn’t get away. The fact that he left a coded message in those musical notes about what he’d seen makes me believe he started out a treasure hunter and ended up trying to bust what he saw as illegal activity at Camp Peary.”

“But how was he going to get the treasure out? Gold isn’t easy to move.”

“Maybe Monk just did it for the challenge of finding the treasure. But the guy was a genius. Maybe he was just planning to take the jewels. They’d be relatively easy to carry.”

“And when Monk said to Len Rivest that it was ironic—” Michelle began.

“Right, it was ironic that the greatest secret-keeping organization in the world was clueless about a secret treasure right under its nose.”

When they got back in the limo, Whitfield said, “We need to finish the deal.”

“The copies of the video?” Sean said and Whitfield nodded.

Sean told the limo driver where to go. Sean had gotten the copies from Horatio and hidden them in various safe places. After they collected the copies, he handed them to Whitfield. The man looked at them and handed one back to Sean.

Sean said, “Ian, they’re expecting five. If you only deliver four you could be having an accident in China too, not to mention what’ll happen to us.”