Different Degrees a Caleb Joyner Mystery

2 The Case

2 The Case

The Giants and Dodgers have been rivals since 1890 when the former was in Manhattan and the latter, Brooklyn. Both teams decided to leave the New York area for less expensive venues, the Giants thinking of Minnesota and the Dodgers for Los Angeles. Then Dodgers owner Walter O’Malley convinced Giants owner Horace Stoneham that they should keep the rivalry going so the Giants moved to San Francisco where generations of new fans grow up hating Dodger Blue, including my lovely date, Ruth Park.

True to her word Ruth and the limo appeared at my place at 5:30. I had gone home not only to enjoy my air conditioner but also to take a cold shower and dress for San Francisco baseball. Through it all, I couldn’t stop pondering the sudden appearance of my old love, Ruth Park.

It had been three years since she had left me with a note on my windshield. It was raining and by the time I had come down from my office the only thing legible was “Love, Ruth” the ink having run down the page like tears. I called her number to find it disconnected. Went to her townhouse to find it rented out. Visited her church to find that she had become a missionary to some backwater country in Africa. No long goodbyes with tawdry reunions, but a total disengagement, as if she were a butcher with a meat cleaver. It was like she had died, leaving me forlorn and confused. Now I was just confused. Why show up today after three years? Did she want to start up where we left off? There are other detectives in the Valley, why me?

I managed to push aside my thoughts of her ghostly return and review the Jason Toler file. He’s the VP of operations at Jewel Semiconductor, employed there for the past 5 years, age 42. His wife, one Jessica Toler, 29 years old, a stay at home wife, is head of a number of Valley charities and social groups. She is an avid golf and tennis player and an Ivy League graduate. They’ve been married for seven years.

“All right! Home run!” Ruth yelled, jumping up out of her seat as if a Jack in the box at the end of a tune, and showering me with popcorn in the process. “Did you see that Caleb? Right over the fence! Probably into the bay!”

“Wow,” I said, as I picked popcorn from my new ‘Giants’ warm up jacket that Ruth had given me while driving up in the limo. I popped the pieces of popcorn into my mouth. Ruth sat down in her matching Giant’s jacket, crossed her arms, staring through me, as if searching for a life form inside my head. After a few moments I asked, “What? Do I have popcorn in my hair or something?” I watched as the batter swung and popped a high one into left field. The Dodgers caught it and ended the inning.

“I thought you were a baseball fan? You seemed to have a fun time when we went to that game in Korea,” she said, referring back to the time we first met. I was still with the Army and she was a student at Ewha University. I bought a ticket that just happened to be next to her seat. I was amazed at how she spoke fluent English. We talked all through the game ignoring the girlfriend that she came with and everyone else in the world as well.

“The games there were a lot more fun!” I said, remembering the way the fans joined together, singing Abba songs and becoming part of the entertainment. “Here we kind of just sit and give half hearted yells. There we are part of the game.”

She continued staring at me like that for a few moments with a couple strands of hair, having worked their way loose from her ponytail, wiggling across her face in the bay breeze. I reached over slowly and pushed back a strand, purposefully touching her soft cheek, before she said, “Yeah, you’re right. It is more fun to watch a baseball game there or even a soccer game. In a way it’s part of the people’s identity.”

“Here we mimic the players.” I said, finding myself suddenly aroused at having touched her and wanting to feel her skin against my own. She ignored my comment for at that moment the crowd jumped up to shout at the umpire. Ruth did as well giving me a view of her tight jeans as she shouted, “He was out by a mile! Come on ump! Get some glasses!” The guys behind us cursed.