Free Caribbean Rain by Rick Murcer

get a closer look, got it?” she growled.
    Sophie covered her mouth and laughed. Alex didn’t bother. He just laughed out loud. Manny joined him.
    “Did ya hear that Williams? I’m royalty. I need to be treated that way,” Chloe reminded him.
    “I got it handled,” said Manny.
    “I’ve got other patients who might actually listen to what I’ve got to say, so let’s get this in motion. Both of you, on the bed, chop, chop.”
    “You guys are in deep do-do,” said Sophie.
    Just then the phone rang, and Josh snatched it off the nightstand. “This is Corner. Yes, Detective Ruiz. Good to hear from you, too.”
    The expression on Josh’s face changed, and Manny felt his heart climb to his throat.
    “What’s the bad news, detective?” asked Josh.
    A moment later, the phone slowly slipped from his hand and bounced off the tiled floor. Manny grabbed it before it could rebound a second time. He brought the phone to his ear and heard only static and line noise.
    The room had taken on one of those eerie quiet reversals of ambience with which this group had grown far too familiar. Joy one moment, hell the next. By the look on Josh’s face, hell had left another calling card. Manny wondered if it would ever stop.
    “What is it, Josh?” he asked softly.
    “Remember that ‘in’ I have, uh, had at the rainforest park department?”
    “Yes.”
    “He was the head of the division. They just found his body, and he was murdered like the others.”
    Josh looked at Manny with a sadness he thought only possible in his own world. “His name is Caleb, Caleb Corner, my brother.”

Chapter-14
     
    Wiping the blood and tissue, not to mention the pesky strands of hair, from his blade, he couldn’t get the smile off his face. The task of cleaning his sword had been very unpleasant at first, maybe even morbid. However, after the second executions, the cleaning began to lend itself as pleasurable on some level. He had studied other areas of academia but had little desire to delve deeply into the human psyche. He still didn’t, but his natural curiosity couldn’t, wouldn’t, be dismissed as easily as a confused student in one of his classes. Nevertheless, he had little time to research what his emotions might mean. He was far too busy, and in a real sense, enjoying himself far too much to care what any such analysis would reveal. His overall purpose was noble, enlightened, even destined, if one chose to travel down the road leading to any kind of spiritual superstition or religion. God never entered into his definition of existence, but if there was a God, He would surely approve of what he was doing. After all, sacrifice was a part of any equation that leads to advancing human knowledge. His smile grew wider.
    Never mind that each lesson I deliver to the infidels in my rainforest is becoming almost as satisfying as any sexual encounter I’ve ever experienced . . . maybe more.
    He carefully placed the rapier back in the sheath and took it into the den, securing it in the oblong safe he had built just for his collection. He bent lower and frowned in concentration, examining the safe’s contents with the gaze of a protective, proud father. Each one was perfect in its own right. Each one carefully constructed by men who shared his passion for perfection and purity, albeit centuries in the past. The type of genius required to create such objects of sheer precision was as rare then as it was today.
    After touching and affectionately caressing each of the other five rectangular cases, he chose one that was a little shorter than the rest. There was no question that his attempt at impartiality was compromised by what lay hidden in the felt lining of the customized leather case. It was his favorite. He felt a tinge of guilt at that admission, but truth is always truth, no matter how much makeup one uses to disguise it.
    Carefully pulling out the container, he released the combination locks at each corner and opened it. He could only