Mr. Monk Goes to the Carnival

Summary
Stottlemeyer's old friend finds himself framed up for a murder he did not commit. Even for Monk, it is difficult to piece the truth, since nobody else could have killed the victim on a Ferris wheel. Stottlemeyer needs to know the truth, because if this is a frame-up, then it could lead to the acquittal of a brutal killer. Meanwhile, Sharona decides that Monk should seriously do something to get his pay raised.
Plot
Leland drops of his colleague Adam Kirk to a carnival. Adam is a cop whose brutality is well known, in fact, he is facing a court order for allegedly beating out a confession of a killer called Leonard Stokes. Leland is worried, as the guy who called him could be armed & dangerous. Adam assures Leland & tells him to go back. Adam has come to the carnival because a man named John Gitomer has helped to offer information about a purple haze(high quality LSD) deal.
John approaches Adam himself, clearly looking worried. Therefore, Adam complies when John asks him to take a ride on a Ferris wheel. But when the wheel goes up, John starts shouting that Adam is trying to kill him, forcing the operator to stop it. Adam comes out of the wheel cage & assures the people that everything is ok, but when he turns back, he finds John stabbed to death.
Meanwhile, Leland is hesitating to take Monk on this case as he might be worried about facing the panel looking into his re-instatement. Monk somehow faces the panel & the interview ends better than he expected. Confident that he will be re-instated, he even tries to drive his car by himself(nearly killing Sharona & himself in the process). Leland reluctantly calls Monk on the case.
Since Sharona's financial situation is worsening, she forces Leland to recommend Monk for re-instatement. Leland is supposed to testify before the panel. Leland, on the other hand, wants Monk to see into the case as Adam's guilt might acquit Stokes. Monk, starts investigating out of sheer habit.
Two facts are easily noticed by Monk:-
1] John's stomach has some serious beating injuries, but Adam could not have inflicted them in such a short time.
2] Despite a hot evening, John was wearing a sweatshirt, which was also zipped up.
Monk also questions Kitty, the wheel operator, but finds no conclusive evidence. Benjy wins a boom box in the carnival by correctly guessing the number of jellybeans in a bag(though he was off by only 8 jellybeans), after Monk tells him that there are 8,385 beans. Sharona is astonished, but Monk refuses to tell her how he knew.
Stokes is acquitted, as expected, as Adam stands in the dock now. Monk questions Stokes, where he learns that Stokes served some time in Straight & Sober. Monk & Sharona visit John's apartment, where they find a rope attached to the ceiling fan & some socks filled with batteries. Monk finds this suspicious, but other than the fact that John had a lot of money(and that his landlord disapproved his spending habits), he does not find anything.
Meanwhile, Leland thinks that Monk is not ready to be a cop. So, he changes his decision to recommend Monk. Sharona is angered. Some time later, Monk is seen busy cleaning Sharona's home, but suddenly becomes violent. Sharona tries to calm him(but is more relieved than happy), when Monk tells her that he solved the case.
Here's what happened
Sharona calls Leland & Monk explains that Stokes did not plan to discredit Adam - he planned to make Adam look like a killer. John and Stokes knew each other, so Stokes used him. John hung the small sock to the rope. When the fan moved, the sack gave a nice punch to John's stomach, causing the bruises that would normally had been caused in a fight. Since those bruises had to be kept covered, John was zipped up.
John met Adam, but was himself unaware of the other half of the plan. Stokes had met Kitty, the crane operator, at Straight & Sober. This became clear to Monk when he saw them wearing the same orange pin. On Stokes saying, Kitty killed John to frame Adam. Meanwhile, Stokes & Kitty are talking in the carnival.
Monk & Sharona reach the carnival, but Stokes kills Kitty to cover up the truth. Monk & Sharona try to find him. Sharona sits in the Ferris wheel to find Stokes, Monk operates it. Unknown to Sharona, Stokes is behind her. He tries to kill Sharona. Monk tries to overcome his fears & climbs the wheel. In between the scuffle, Leland comes & arrests Stokes.
Adam gets re-instated & Leland tells Monk to not to give up. Sharona asks Monk again about the jellybeans(holding his "shoe" hostage). Monk tells her that he saw 6 empty packs of jellybeans in the trash, which were having 1400 jellybeans each. He saw a kid pick up a fistful, which made the number of jellybeans 8385. Sharona bursts into laughter & gives him his shoe back. Monk tells her to not to do that as "it is not at all funny".
 
< Prev   Next >