Carolina Rain by Rick Murcer Page A

through the door in full uniform. She must have stolen it, yet no uniforms were reported missing by the staff. Josh said they were still digging, so he’d wait. He had no choice. Still, when someone says you did something to them and they wanted to kill you, it prompted questions that needed answers.
    And what of Garity’s file ? Josh wanted Manny’s review and first impressions on his murder . He’d gone over Garity’s file a dozen times, staring at his attacker’s death in photos and reports, comparing them to the man’s life from his FBI personnel file.
    Manny stared at the floor. He wanted to hate him, to take satisfaction that Garity was dead, and that he’d gotten what he deserved. But, oddly, he hadn’t gone there . . . much. His profession had taught him about human nature . H e was convinced that people did abnormal things out of what they perceived as normal. I n the end, d id that make them so much different than the rest of the human race? Didn’t we all want what we wanted? Weren’t we all slave s to our motives? His real concern was with just that: Garity's motives.
    After reviewing the file, he was at a loss for what had truly happened in the homicide of Michael Garity. Almost. Two bullet holes in the back of Garity's head ruled out any natural causes, but had he just been in the wrong place at the wrong time? Gambling debt? Some form of ritual killing? He glanced at the other file, Lance Morgan’s. How about the fact that Garity was found in the same general area that Lance Morgan’s killer had decided to go to work? That was probably a coincidence but , at this point, he couldn’t overlook anything. Besides, he didn’t believe in coincidence.
    He did want to see the rest of the toxicology report because there was one thing he noticed that no one had yet addressed: the small puncture wound just below Garity's right eye. It looked out of place . H e’d talk to Alex and Dean about it when the instance was right.
    The file on Morgan was the last one he’d received from Josh and , because it was the newest crime, it had the least amount of information. But there was enough there for Manny to suspect they had a true problem in North Carolina , that the killer wasn’t done. The murder was far too detailed to think this was a onetime shot. To take the time this killer had taken meant pure enjoyment or a tremendous sense of revenge. By the position of the body, its nudity, and the careful stitching around the mouth show casing the medallion, Manny was sure there was some sort of intimate connection between Morgan and his killer —or at least, the killer’s perception of intimacy. That, with the relative ease in which the unsub got in and out with no detection, made him bel ieve that Morgan knew the killer .
    Manny threw off thoughts of any case, even Garity’s or the would-be guard who had tried to kill him, for now . There was time for that tomorrow or next week. He was getting out and , by God, that was a miracle worth celebrating.
    He glanced at the colorful wall calendar displaying bright-red tulips and purple lilacs that he swore he could smell, and the large green circle around April 1. It marked the fifty-fifth day he'd been tied to a hospital bed and , for him, that was about fifty-four and one half too many. April 1. More irony to digest. Leaving this place on April Fool’s Day seemed to fit with how his life had unwound the last three years. But he was still alive and he was being released from the hospital after fifty-five long days. He glanced around to make sure he was alone.
    “Happy dance it is,” he said out loud.
    The next second, he shuffled his feet and swung his arms back and forth, then spun in a circle like some cartoon character. He stopped, put a hand on the bed, and then touched the virtually- healed incision on his chest. The pain was minor and he guessed another dance could wait but he’d gotten on e in, by God! It was worth it!
    He stood and put his Detroit Tiger’s