Mr. Monk and the Red Herring

S3, E10: Single mom Natalie Teeger (Traylor Howard) hears a noise in the middle of the night. She checks on her daughter, Julie, and then goes to her living room. An intruder lunges at her out of the darkness, and a vicious struggle ensues. In desperation, Natalie grabs a scissors and stabs the intruder, killing him. Captain Stottlemeyer and Lieutenant Disher arrive to investigate the case. It turns out Natalie had another intruder in her house a couple of days earlier: a man posing as a water meter reader who looked around her living room and took off. Nobody can figure out what the crooks were after, so Captain Stottlemeyer recommends that Natalie contact Monk.