On Monday, Sam called Pete Addison on a long shot, and asked him if Martin might have had a brother.

"Not that I know of," Pete said. "Or at least none that he talked about. Tell you what though, I'll be in the office Wednesday afternoon, and I'll check his information sheet. How was the cruise?"

"Wonderful! We'll get together for drinks and tell you all about it." He thought for a moment. "In fact, let's do it Wednesday evening. Say six? You can tell us about Martin's family status then"

He told Toby about the call when Toby got home from work.

"Sure," he said, "shall I think about something for dinner?"

They decided on steaks and salad. Sam was assigned the job of finding the steaks and something suitable for dessert at Jensen's.

"If I were you," Toby said, as they were getting ready for bed, "I don't think I'd mention anything about foreskin to Pete. He's going to think you're some kind of nut."

On Wednesday evening, Pete wasn't a font of information, although he did have one interesting item. "We have an information sheet on Martin, but there's nothing in it to indicate he had a brother. Or any other relative, for that matter." He took a sip of his vodka and asked, "What's your interest, anyway?"

"I don't know," Sam said, hedging. "I guess I was just wondering who our new next door neighbor might be. I mean, if he had a brother, the guy might want to live here."

"Well, you're not going to have a new neighbor anytime soon," Pete said. "That's the interesting thing. It seems that someone has paid up Martin's H.O.A. arrears-and paid for the next year to boot."

Sam reached for Pete's glass. "Someone? Who pays for a dead man's back dues? And then future ones, too?"

"Don't know. That's the funny part. Someone mailed us a cashier's check drawn on a bank in Miami, Florida, with a note telling us to apply the money to Martin's condo fees. Which we did. End of story. Now, tell me all about your cruise. I've thought of going on one, but I don't know... All those old straight people..."

"Not on the last night," Toby said. "You tell it, Sam while I put the steaks on.

Pete loved the story.

The next day, on a whim, Sam telephoned William, the real-estate agent, and asked if Martin's condo was going on the market. William didn't know but said that he'd ask around, even though it wasn't in the multiple listings.

On Saturday, they had to go out to their house. Bill had called and said that the pool people really needed to get started on the new pool. To accommodate Toby, they had agreed to meet on the weekend.

The two pool guys were like a father-and-son team. The older, the supervisor, was in his late fifties, Sam thought, and the other was in his late twenties, not very much older than Toby. The odd thing about them was that Joe, the older one, was in really good shape, almost gym-toned, while Clark, the young guy, was soft looking and just a bit overweight. They turned out to be very likable, and they worked perfectly with Sam and Toby.

"This shit," Joe said, indicating the old pool, "has to go. It's got those three fuckin' cracks in it, and there's no way on God's earth you're going to save it. So," he looked at Sam, "you can have any fuckin' thing you want."

Sam grinned. "Talk to him," he said, pointing at Toby. "He's the idea man; I just write the checks."

"If all this goes," Toby asked, "what happens to the hole? Does the new pool have to go in it?"

Joe scratched his head. "Not really. If you want the thing somewhere else we'll just fill the hole with the dirt from the new one and whatever else we need. It can be wherever you want."

"Good. Because not only is this one the wrong shape, it's in the wrong place. It should be over there," he said, pointing. "Outside the living room and kitchen."

Bill shook his head and turned to Sam, "Mary was right. That boy has vision. I thought from the beginning that the pool should be over there."

Sam smiled. "Would you have told me that? If Toby hadn't brought it up?"

"Probably. But it's going to be expensive."

"I thought we agreed," Sam said, "that we'd do this thing right or not at all."

Bill laughed. "You're the boss, Sam. We'll do it right."

They went over to where Toby was talking with Joe. Clark was writing things on a pad and making sketches as they talked.

"The pool shape is pretty important, it seems to me," Toby was saying. "I think, because of the design of the house, the pool has to be angular as well. But not a simple rectangle. Now, Sam here, likes to swim laps. So we need space for that. Long and fairly narrow, say six feet wide by fifty feet long?"

He glanced at Sam who nodded and added, "And it doesn't have to be real deep. Three, three and a half feet?"

Toby went over to Clark, took the pad out of his hand and began to draw. "Like this, with the main pool here, in the center. Like a "T" with slender arms and a thick stem."

Joe got out his measuring tape, and they roughly laid it out. Toby wanted a seat to run the length and width of the main pool but not in the lap portion. When Joe asked about steps Toby looked at the house, thought for a moment and then said steps should run the full width of the pool.

When he described the handrails, four of them, evenly spaced along the steps, Bill nudged Sam. "That's it! I don't know if I would've seen it, but that's it. Four handrails will mirror the supports for the patio roof. Only they're smaller, so there are more of them. Perfect."

They spent several more hours working out details. It was easier when they got to the question of the spa. Both Joe and Clark were tuned in to Toby by then, so the sketches went rapidly.

The surprise was the urinal. Toby wanted a shallow bowl, three feet across, set in the deck and plumbed. The bowl, he said, would be filled with glass pebbles the same color as the house and needed to have a flushing system. Clark thought it was a great idea and suggested a low sprinkler arrangement surrounding the bowl. If he was surprised at it's location, fairly close to the pool and out in the open, he didn't show it. Joe just snorted and said he doubted that he'd ever use it. Bill didn't say a word.

That night they had dinner at a little Mexican place that was fast becoming a favorite. After they were seated on the patio and had been served their margaritas, Sam said, "You know, that urinal out by the pool was a stroke of genius. It'll keep people from peeing in the pool or having to traipse through the house to the bathroom. But why did you put it where you did? Why not over by where the equipment will be?"

Toby laughed and toasted Sam with his margarita. "Because I'm a pervert and like to watch guys pee. Always have, since I was a little kid."

Sam toasted him back. "Does that mean you're into, uh..."

"Water sports? No, Sam, I've never gotten into that. But if you..."

"Maybe someday. I mean, never say never, right? But at the moment, no."

The next day was Sunday, the third of July. The CCBC was celebrating early with a Prettiest Penis contest, and Sam and Toby decided to go. They also decided that neither of them would enter the contest, although Sam was pretty sure Toby would win..

The day was hot, the sun was hot, and, as Toby put it, the men were hot. While they were waiting for the official contest to begin, they walked around the grounds and stumbled across several unofficial contests.

"You know," Sam said, "I think that, other than the dick, the balls are the most interesting and unique part of a man."

"Not the ass?" Toby patted the part in question.

Sam thought for a moment. "Well, a man's buns are nice, but no, I still have to go with the balls. Look at those two guys over there, for instance. Their dicks are fairly well matched, but the balls: that one guy has very big ones, but they're held up, close to his body. The other man's hang down, way below his dick and they sway when he walks. Look at yours." He cupped Toby's balls. "They hang down-well, except when you're about to come-but they don't hang below the head of your dick."

"Keep that up and the head of my dick will be pointing at the sky," Toby laughed. He did not, however, remove Sam's hand.

"Well, you get the idea," Sam said, squeezing gently.

They went into one of the small buildings where porn was playing on a big-screen TV. There were wide benches against the walls which held men busily helping other men to watch it. They stayed for a while, playing with each other until they were both very hard. After a time Toby kissed Sam and whispered, "Careful, Sam. I don't want to take the edge off it yet."

They went outside and found a drinking fountain where Sam ran cold water in his cupped hand and then poured it over Toby's dick. "That'll help it come down," he said, pouring some on his own. "Now let's go see if the contest has started."

The contest was fun. They sat on the lawn in the shade with a bunch of guys, one of whom slowly masturbated through the whole thing. The parade of naked men showing off their penises, all of them flaccid, was quite a show. The M.C. asked each contestant why he thought he had a pretty penis. The answers ranged from the downright narcissistic, "I've never seen a prettier one," to the slightly embarrassed, "My boyfriend says I do and made me enter."

Sam figured that the winner would be the guy with the biggest one and was pleasantly surprised when it wasn't. The dick that came in first was quite handsome, perfectly proportioned to its owner, smooth looking and with a short foreskin that just covered the head.

The big one came in second.

That evening, sitting in the cool Jacuzzi with glasses of wine, Sam commented on the number of guys they'd seen wearing cock rings of one sort or another. "You ever wear one?" he asked. "Do you even have one?"

"I'm not much into body adornment or jewelry," Toby replied.

"I've noticed. You don't even wear a tie clip to work."

Toby laughed. "But I do wear a pretty fancy Wal-Mart watch." He was silent for a few moments and then said, "I used to, though...wear jewelry I mean. Jack liked me to. He even convinced me to get my ear pierced and wear a diamond stud he bought for me." He laughed again, although Sam didn't detect much enjoyment in it. "At least he said it was a diamond."

Sam kissed him. "So what..."

"I left it behind when I left. After a while the hole in my ear closed up. That was another sign I'd gotten away from him."

They didn't say anything for a while, enjoying just being together and holding hands.

"How about you? You don't wear any jewelry, either."

Sam added a little wine to their glasses. "Oh, I wore a ring for a few years. It's still around somewhere."

"Why'd you stop wearing it?"

"It... The symbolism was gone. There wasn't any point in wearing it after that."

There was a long silence which Toby finally broke. "Will you tell me about it someday?"

Sam turned and folded his arms around Toby. "It's not a secret. I'll tell you right now if you want to hear it."

Toby kissed him for a long time. "I'd like to hear it."

So Sam told Toby about his time with Joel, the chauffeur-the only man, before Toby, that he'd shared true passion with and the one man who had prepared him to love Toby.

After it was told, they went to bed and practiced what Joel had taught him.

The next day was the Fourth of July, and Toby had the day off. When they finally got out of bed, they went out for brunch and then went out to the house just to look around again. They were surprised to find stakes and string outlining the new pool.

"Those guys work fast," Sam said. "I didn't expect to see anything before next week."

"And they got it right, just like we said. Even to the urinal," Toby pointed to a small circle of stakes. "I was afraid they thought I was joking."

After an hour or so, they went back to the condo for a nap. Then they went to the pool, where a Fourth of July buffet was being set up.

They poured themselves drinks at the bar and looked around for Duane and Howard but didn't find them. Pete Addison said he thought they had gone away for the long weekend. He also said they should go over and admire the buffet before it was ravaged by the guys. It was Scotty's usual lavish production, and everyone was complimenting him. The more compliments he got, the more he made his dick sway, and the bigger his grin got. He even let a couple of the guys fondle him when they hugged him. Scotty was a happy man.

"Uh-oh, here comes trouble," Sam said, nudging Toby.

"Where? Oh, Walt and Nick."

"Yeah, and Walt doesn't look happy. I wonder what... Oh, Scotty."

Sure enough, Nick pulled Scotty into a hug and quite obviously groped him. Walt, who could hardly miss seeing the grope, looked ready to explode. When he moved toward Nick and Scotty, Sam said, "Get ready. Here it comes."

And come it did. "You God-damned whore," Walt said loud and low, with almost a guttural sound. He grabbed Nick by the shoulder, hard enough to hurt, and pulled him away, dragging him across the deck. As they exited there was a sound that could only be a hard slap to a man's ass.

"Jesus, why do they do that?" Sam said to Toby. "And that was not accidental. Nick did it on purpose, knowing that Walt would see it. What's with them?"

"I don't know," Toby replied, "but maybe..."

"What?"

"Well, maybe it's some kind of weird sex thing. I mean, it looked to me as if both of them were on the verge of getting hard. You know, when you're puffed up but it hasn't started to rise? I'd swear they were both like that."

Sam thought for a minute. "You know, you may be right. But if you are, they are two sick puppies. Come on, let's forget them and go sample Scotty's buffet."

They finished eating just as the fireworks started. The display was being fired from the small baseball stadium a few blocks away, and they had a perfect view of the aerial fireworks. Someone turned most of the pool area lights off, and the effect of the colored fireworks reflecting in the pool, and off the naked men watching, was very beautiful.

When the fireworks were finished, Sam asked Toby if he wanted to go inside and check out the action in the showers. "And don't forget our rule. I asked, and I'm prepared to accept your answer, whatever it is."

Toby thought for a long moment. "You know, Sam-we both know-that it's going to happen sooner or later. We, both of us, like sex play too much for us to give it up. But not just yet. Maybe next month, okay?"

Sam reached down and fondled Toby's dick. "Okay. Then how about we go over there, behind the bar, and you let me blow you?"

Toby went hard in a hurry. When he nodded, Sam led him behind the bar and turned him so he was looking out at the men around the pool. Then he slipped down and took Toby in his mouth. It didn't take three minutes before Toby let out a deep, guttural groan and had to hang on to the bar so he wouldn't collapse.

"You liked that," Sam said, standing. It wasn't a question, but if it had been, he could still taste the answer.

Sam poured another drink for each of them, and when Toby was breathing normally again they went out to socialize. Clark put his hand on Toby's shoulder and asked him if he was all right. "It looked for a minute there like you were going to fall down."

Toby laughed. "I suppose I did. Sam got a little frisky behind the bar there."

Sam just smirked and said nothing.

When they got home, they took their clothes off again and settled into the spa.

"You know, Sam, I've been thinking about it, about going into the showers and playing. I think it'd be fun, but you know what?"

Sam leaned in and kissed him. "What?"

"Well, I think, the first time I'd like to play with Howard and Duane, just the four of us. Do you suppose they'd want to do anything with us? Did you ever-"

Sam pulled him into his lap and hugged him. "No, I never had that pleasure. I thought that time they had me to dinner that it might develop into something, but it didn't." He ran his hands over Toby's chest and belly, ending in his crotch. "But I'd bet they'd like to. And I think we better do it soon."

Toby twisted around to look at him. "Why?"

"Because I think we're in danger of becoming good friends, and you know what they say about friends."

"What?" He felt Sam growing hard under him.

"That once you become friends, you'll never make it to bed. It's just the way that stuff works."

"Then," Toby said, twisting around again to kiss him, "let's get ourselves over to that lounge chair before we get too friendly."

"We'll never get that friendly," Sam said and lifted him onto the edge of the spa so they could get out. "Never."

They didn't even bother to dry off.

On Tuesday evening, there was a Prime Timers mixer that took place in four different bars along the same block. In Street Bar they ran into William and Red.

"Hi, guys," Toby said. "We missed you on the Fourth of July at CCBC."

After, they gave each other hugs, William said, "I tried to get him to go and enter that pretty thing of his, but he wouldn't. Wouldn't go without me, and I had to work. Sold a house, too."

"Too bad," Sam said to Red. "From what I remember, you'd have had a good chance of winning."

They laughed and talked about the contest for a few minutes. Then William snapped his fingers and looked at Sam. "Oh, I forgot to call you today. I'm sorry, but not only did I sell a house on Sunday, but I sold two more yesterday, and I was up to my balls in paperwork today. Anyway, I did get a chance to ask around about that condo next door to you. And it's the weirdest thing. It's not on the market; it's still in his name and someone has paid off both the mortgages."

"Someone?"

"That's the really strange part of it. I talked to the mortgage company today on behalf of one of my clients and happened to mention that place. The guy told me they'd gotten a cashier's check for the payoff, drawn on some bank in Florida. The only instructions were that they were to hold on to the papers until further instructed. No signature, no address, nothing but the check. Weird, no?"

"So what happens now?" Toby asked.

"Nothing," William said with a shrug. "My contact said he called the bank in Florida and was told they had no involvement other than issuing the cashier's check. When he asked who bought the check, the guy at the bank just laughed at him."

"So that's it?"

"Yup, that's it. Oh, but I did ask the guy at the mortgage company to flag the file and to let me know when there's any activity in it. Said I was interested in the property. So, yeah, that's it until I hear from the guy."

"Well, thanks for all that," Sam said. "I really appreciate it. And congratulations. Selling three houses in the same weekend sounds like quite a feat. You must be very good at what you do."

"Oh, he is," laughed Red. "He's very good at everything he does."

Sam and Toby circulated to a couple of the other bars, talking to people and generally being social. Then they went to dinner.

"You know," Sam said over his linguini with clam sauce, "I really like those Prime Timers functions. We've met a lot of really interesting guys at them."

"Yeah, Prime Timers was a life saver when I first moved down here. It was kind of an instant family and kept me from that loneliness you can feel moving to a new place where you don't know anyone."

"Yeah, I guess it was that way for me too. And besides, look who I met there."

The next weekend was spent at the house, refining the design of the pool and decking with Joe and Clark from the pool company on Saturday and then explaining it to Tom and Dan on Sunday. Sunday afternoon was spent over at Tom and Dan's with gin and tonics and then grilled steaks.

On Tuesday, Sam went to a Prime Timers lunch at Melvin's, a very exclusive-and very good-restaurant in an old, and very upscale, boutique resort. The lunch was informal, but it was pretty obvious that dinners there would be coat and tie.

Sam was sorry Toby wasn't with him, but, as Howard had said, he'd have to get used to it. Toby seemed to like his job and there was no way Sam was going to upset that.

During the cocktail hour Sam ran into Matt Stevens from the Coroner's Office and bought him a drink.

"How's it going, Matt? You still got the Coroner's Office under control?"

"Hey, they're brighter than I gave them credit for."

"I find that hard to believe. They're county government, aren't they?"

"Yeah," Matt said with a laugh, "but somehow they're bright enough to promote me to supervisor."

"Well, congratulations," Sam said, offering his hand. "Let me buy you a drink on that."

Matt shook his head. "They also gave me a hefty raise, so let me buy."

While Matt was at the bar, Sam had an idea. When Matt came back with new drinks, Sam asked him how much information was kept about the bodies they had to deal with.

"A lot," Matt said. "That's why they need me and the clerks-to keep all that stuff straight and filed properly. We even got a new computer system a couple of years ago, so lots of the stuff is in there, pictures and everything."

Bingo, Sam thought. "So you guys take pictures of the bodies?"

"You bet we do. From every conceivable angle-to back up the written stuff. They even take pictures at the autopsies."

"Look, Matt. I don't know if you know, but I was the one who found that man who killed himself in my complex. It was a horrible experience, and it's still haunting me-keeps me awake at night sometimes. I can't get it out of my head that there was something... I don't know, something wrong with what I saw. I think... I think if maybe I could see the pictures of the guy-see impersonally what I saw in person-well, maybe I could figure it out and get it out of my head."

Matt gave him a strange look but didn't say a word.

Sam thought, Come on guy. Pick it up. He said, "Could that happen? Could you let me see the pictures of him? Maybe see what they said about him?"

Matt narrowed his eyes, and Sam thought, Shit! He's not gonna do it.

"Well," Matt said after a long pause, "maybe. I mean, if it'll help you get some sleep." A small smile played at his lips. "You have been looking a bit haggard lately, now that you mention it. Sure, I think I can help you. Give me the guy's name and come around at noon Thursday. The clerks'll be at lunch then, and I can show you around."

Sam thanked him, not too effusively he hoped, and wrote Martin's name on the back of one of his cards, along with the date of the suicide. Then he offered to buy Matt another drink, but lunch was announced, and they weren't sitting at the same table.

That evening Sam told Toby about the lunch and his conversation with Matt.

"You really said that? You're losing sleep over finding Martin? Man, that must have been a performance worthy of an Emmy! Especially seeing as how you sleep so soundly they could tear the house down around you and you wouldn't even notice until morning."

"Well, yeah, maybe I did overstate it a little. But damn it, Toby, I need to see those pictures-just to prove to myself that the man they pulled out of there was circumcised." He shook his head. "I'm beginning to doubt myself now, and I hate that. If I don't do this, sooner or later, I will start losing sleep over it."

Toby nodded. "I know you're troubled over this, Sam. See if he'll give you a print or two of the guy. I'd like to see what he looks like." He laughed. "Be sure to get one that includes his face, not just pictures of his dick."