I can’t believe I have to work this weekend; the town is filling up faster than I have ever seen it, because of the College World Series coming to town. It is only Wednesday and the action doesn’t even start until Friday. Not to mention my wife is furious with me because I have to miss her Dad’s 65th birthday party. He is finally becoming a senior citizen, which I guess makes it a big birthday. Of course I will send my regards and even a present, but there is no way the boss will let me get out of work this weekend. Sometimes she just doesn’t understand that if I want to keep my job, and she wants to keep the house, then I need to work. The College World Series is always a huge event in my hometown of Grand Island, Nebraska. I’m looking forward to the games as a true baseball fan, but not as an on duty detective in a small town with so many people.
This week always brings back memories. Sitting in the stands with my dad before he passed away, talking about baseball for endless hours. I’ve lived in this little town all of my life, and I have seen many College World Series. Most of our good memories were at the baseball field, in fact, probably our only good memories. We didn’t get along most of the time and would always fight about my school work and life around the house. He wanted me to be an excellent athlete with Harvard-bound grades. That didn’t happen. I was never a stellar student; I was always focusing more on sports, whether I was on the baseball field, football field, or basketball court. I was a three-season athlete including all state in baseball. I was recruited to play baseball at the University of Nebraska on a full ride scholarship. Ever since I started playing baseball and reading about it at the age of four, it has been my one true love. From the time I was in pre-school hitting home runs over the roof of my school, to the time I was hitting 400 foot home runs over fences, I never lost my determination or love. I feel that because of my persistency it led me to become the type of player I was. I became the starting shortstop for the Nebraska Cornhuskers for the first season I was there. I thought baseball was my ticket out of this small town. Those were the best days of my life, until one game; halfway through my sophomore season I blew out my knee and was done for my career. I finished my education at Nebraska where I majored in criminal justice, and moved back to Grand Island to be near my parents. If you asked me in college what I saw myself doing in five years, I never would have said a Detective. Now that I am a 26 year-old detective for the Grand Island Police Department, and a happily married man, I guess my life isn’t so bad after all.
It is only Wednesday and I feel like the week is over. I am getting one of those feelings where you feel like you have been at work for two weeks instead of only half a week. I am excited for the College World Series, no matter what hardships it may bring on the job. There are so many great players there, and so many major league scouts, it is a once in a lifetime opportunity for some of these young kids, and an opportunity I would have liked to have. My time is over now, but there is one thing I do every year at this time, and that is root for my alma mater, the Nebraska Cornhuskers!
I asked my boss this morning to put me in one of the four stadiums where the games are being played, and because I am a senior detective I assume he will accept my request. We need everyone from the department to be on high alert for the games because with a big event like this you never know what could happen. We don't have a big department in the first place; it has only about 16 officers and 3 detectives. With over 10,000 people expected to show up for these games, there is no doubt we will need all of these law enforcement officers.
Finally, the time has come for me to go home and enjoy the rest of my night. It is a dark and rainy night and the clouds are very low overhead. I hear some thunder rumbling in the distance, and then a flash of lightning strikes before my eyes just before I walk out the door. I stand there and start to watch for a little bit. The rain starts to come down harder and harder, and it starts to make a violent splashing noise as puddles start to form. I am always prepared for the worst, which is why I keep an extra umbrella stored in my desk for situations such as these. On my way back to my desk I notice that the building is almost completely empty. It is about 9 o’clock, and I see only three people in the department, one being the operator. I never knew we had such a small night shift. I probably should have figured this out by now since I have been called, and woken up at night, whenever there has been trouble. There isn’t a lot of crime in such a small town with a population of about 4,349, but the number of times being called always feels like more than it is. I get to my desk and reach for my umbrella, only to realize that after last week’s rainstorm, I had left it at home. This is one of the few problems that happen to me weekly. For example, last week I had forgotten my coffee in my favorite thermos on the roof of my car, and I drove away without realizing this. As I am driving along I hear people honking at me from behind and I looked back to see that the person behind me is holding a coffee thermos in their hand. Then it hits me, I had forgotten mine on the top of my car. I slammed on the breaks and there goes my coffee, right down the windshield, and into the street. It was a horrible experience especially because I am a person who loves coffee and needs it every morning before work. I feel like it helps me do my job even better. After recalling this incident, not having an umbrella feels like not such a big deal anymore. I walk back to the exit, waving at the very few people who are still in the building and with my briefcase over my head, run to my car as fast as I possibly can.
Once I am inside and starting to dry off, I start the car and roll out of the parking lot. The drive from the department to my house is about six miles, which isn’t bad at all. There is no public transportation in Grand Island so mostly everyone has a car or at least a bicycle. Most of those cars are not as nice as mine I like to think. I drive a 2004 Ford Mustang Convertible. I love it almost as much as my wife, and always take good care of it. It is bright red, and even has a Nebraska Cornhusker license plate that says “P20W.” It was the coolest thing I could think of that would fit into the plate but also represent me. I wore number 20 when I played at Nebraska, so that number has always meant a lot to me. The P and W are also my initials, which stand for Pat Walton.
As I pull into the driveway I can see my wife though the kitchen window making dinner. This was never a great site for me. In my opinion I don’t think of my wife as one of the World’s greatest chefs, but she tries hard. Maybe I don’t give her enough credit, but if I have to sit there and eat it without saying a word, then I should get some credit too. I walk in and am greeted by an aroma of homemade macaroni and cheese, my favorite of her dishes. We sit down at the table and enjoy a little conversation. My wife Linda has always been a talker, but tonight something seems to be bothering her. She works for a real estate firm that sells land and houses all over Nebraska.
“How was your day at work,” I asked her.
“My day was fine, except for the fact that this new lady who may I add is very large, stole my lunch right in front of me out of the refrigerator. I didn’t even know what to say I was in shock because this has never happened before,” said Linda.
“That is terrible, I’m sorry. Did you end up not eating lunch”? I asked with the sweetest tone so she would feel better.
“No I didn’t, but it’s ok because we’re having a nice dinner together now and that’s all that matters.
This was about all of the interesting conversations that took place at dinner. The rest of the time we talked about my work, and how her family is doing. Tomorrow she is leaving to fly to California for her Dad’s party. I am excited because I get the house to myself all weekend, and can relax without doing anything. Tomorrow night I am thinking about having a couple of guys over from the department to have a couple beers, and play some poker before the College World Series and the real work starts.
By the time dinner is finished it is 10 o’ clock and I am ready and changed for my TV watching. I am a huge TV guy, whether I am watching sports, or reality it never gets old. I don’t start work until 11 tomorrow so I can even sleep in late. The boss has decided to give me the late start because of the busy weekend to come. I turn on the TV and find the College World Series selection show on. They are picking the top 32 college baseball teams from division 1 and making a bracket of who is going to be playing whom. I notice that Nebraska is a number 5 seed out of 8 in their division. I have been following them closely this season, and there has really only been one bright spot for them this season, and that is a kid who plays shortstop named Myron Tiffee. He is quick as lightning and can hit the ball a mile. He leads divisions 1 baseball in steals and batting average, two very impressive categories. His defense has also been spectacular which led him to be named to the All-American 1st team as a sophomore. This is almost unheard of in college baseball. He is the one person I really need to see play in this tournament.
As the selection show finishes, I hop in bed next to Linda and take out my magazine, Sports Weekly. It has the best articles, pictures, and polls about sports. My wife Linda is reading some book about two Internet lovers who finally meet and then run away to Greece and live happily ever after. To me, that just sounds like a boring book with a predictable ending. Magazines have different information each week and you never know what the articles are going to be about. Sometimes they even make it a double issue. How many books can do that??? Finally at 11:30 I turn out the lights and fall into a deep sleep, where I start to dream about the College World Series and what would happen if I were still playing. This is always a sore subject with me because the team we had been building for the next years to come could have been so good and we could have really made a run at the national championships. Things in life don’t always work out the way you want them to and that is the moral of this story. It’s time for me to move on and really be thankful for what I have. JJJJJJJJJJJJJJ Where I started I woke up the next morning and Linda had already left. She left breakfast on the counter for me and she left the sports section out for me. I am so glad I married this woman. She knows what the key to my heart is, food and sports. The day breezed by. I left home at 10:45 so I could get to work by 11:00. The whole department was having a meeting at 12:00 about the mission to keep the College World Series a safe place. As I walked into the department I saw everyone waiting impatiently around the podium where the boss was standing. I had gotten the time wrong again! How could I have done this? Now the boss most likely won’t assign me to the stadium I requested.
“Well now that Detective Walton has decided to join us we can start. As you all know we have a very large and difficult task for a small number of men ahead of us. Every year we go through the same issues we always do with the College World Series. There are always some people who decide it is okay to drink too much and go to the games. This is never okay because there will be children there and we can’t tolerate this behavior when we are trying to give the greatest possible image of our town. There are also some people who decide just because they are not home means that they don’t care about the sanitation and image of this town. If you encounter any of this do not be shy in confronting the person and if they resist, bring them back to the department to cool off. If you are ever in doubt, do not hesitate to call for backup. This has always been a fun, but sometimes crazy week. We need everyone best effort on duty. Make sure to be safe. I would like to see Detective Walton in my office. Thank you.”
I was prepared for this when I had walked in. The boss always liked to have talks with people who showed up late or were having problems. I put my stuff on my desk and then made my way slowly over to his office.
"Come on in Pat."
"What can I do for you Chief Gordon"?
"Pat there are a couple things I want to talk about. First of all, your tardiness is the most important. The last two department meeting we have had you have been late. I understand the first time because everyone runs late once in awhile. The second time I start to get a little annoyed. You can’t keep doing this. If you’re late again there will be consequences. Is that understood.”?
"Yes sir. I am really sorry. It won't happen again. I’m just wondering sir, but have you had a chance to read my request."
"I have read your request and I guess its okay for you to be in the stadium where Nebraska is going to play. They are the most popular team here so were going to need at least one senior detective and officer there. Just know that they have the most fans, which means that there will be some rowdiness. Do you think you can handle that"?
"I am definitely up for the challenge. Thank you very much for honoring my request. Am I free to go or is there anything else?"
"There is one more thing. I hear you are having some of the boys over tonight for drinks and poker. Do you have room for one more?"
"Of course we have room. You are more than welcome. The others were going to stop by around 8:30. Bring some drinks and some money. We don't mess around on the poker table though. Be prepared to lose some money."
"Now you can’t say that without having seen me play. People do say I have a mean poker face. I'll see you at 8:30. You’re free to go Detective Walton."
"Thank you sir. See you then."
The rest of the day after that was pretty slow. The tourists had really started to pour in and the streets were starting to get crowded. Everyone wanted to go to Sally's Pizza Palace. It was rated number three on the best pizza places in the United States. That is only one of the perks that people get from coming to the College World Series. Along with the great baseball, exciting atmosphere and great food, there is no other place I would rather be. The time had come for me to leave the department. It was about 6:30 and I had a couple of errands to run before the guys came over. I needed to go get some beer, and some food. The streets were so crowded that by the time I was done with all of my errands it was 7:30. There were lines of cars on every street trying to find a place to stay in either Grand Island or one of the neighboring towns. Thank goodness I lived on a small street where there is not a lot of traffic. Right when I got inside the phone started to ring. I quickly put down my briefcase and groceries and picked up the phone. “Hello.” I asked heavily into phone. “Hi honey it’s me.” I heard Linda’s sweet voice on the other end of the phone. “Linda how are you? How is everything going on your trip”? “My trip is going great. I’ve met some nice people over here. I was just calling to make sure you haven’t burnt the house down yet.” “What makes you think I would burn down the house? I am a very responsible man…..sometimes. You should enjoy your trip, don’t worry about me and the house.” “Alright I believe you. Just make sure that whatever you are doing gets cleaned up and there are no injuries like last time I went away on business. Remember that”? “You know that wasn’t my fault. I was just there to enjoy the laughs. I didn’t know Detective Rodriguez and Officer Rush would actually start boxing in the living room.” “Whatever you say Pat. Have fun, but be safe. Love you.” “Love you too. I’ll call you tomorrow.” As I hung up with Linda I realized that it was 8:00. I still had to shower and get the poker table set up. I ran into my room, got undressed and hopped into the shower. I turned on my shower radio and started listening to my favorite country station, 102.5. They were playing the song “One in Every Crowd” by Montgomery Gentry. It was a classic that I used to listen to all the time. Just as the song finished I finished my shower. I got dressed and quickly set up the poker table. The doorbell rang and in came the crowd. There were 8 people coming over from the department. Detective Rodriguez, Officer Rush, Detective Cane, Officer Franks, Officer Boley, Officer Baker, Officer Shields, and Chief Gordon were all great guys, but more importantly great at their jobs. I had a great relationship with each and every one of them. I was most likely going to be working one of the stadiums with Officer Boley tomorrow. I had a special relationship with Officer Boley. We had been friends for about 4 years now. Back when I started on the force he was the first friend I made. He is one year older than me and started the year before me. He really helped me get to know everyone and get to know the town. He is married with no kids also so we often have family dinners together. Our wives are very good friends which makes it easier for us to be good friends. We both love sports and our jobs. I am looking forward to tomorrow already. “Come on in everybody. I got beer, chips, and a television. Don’t forget those boxing gloves Rodriguez and Rush. What else can you ask for at a party”? Everybody strolled in and we talked for a little bit. Then out of the blue we heard: “Can we get this game going? I need to take all of your money.” Everyone turned around and there is Officer Rush sitting on the couch with his wallet in hand. “How much money are we all putting in”? said Officer Cane. “I was thinking 50 bucks. We all have work bright and early tomorrow morning and we can’t be here all night,” I said. Everyone agreed and we sat down to play. The game started off great for me. I won the first two hands that were worth about 15 bucks each. I was in first place most of the night. As I drank more and more my poker intelligence had started to decline. I was going in on hands I had no chance of winning and I was making stupid bets. This was the case for most of the guys, but even so, I was not feeling lucky. At the end of the game Chief Gordon ended up winning big and cashing out at $250. I guess he was telling the truth when he said he was very good at poker. I just think it’s ironic that the guy who makes the most money out of all of us won. No one is upset though. It is about 2 in the morning when everybody decides it is time to go home. Most of us have to start work at 7 in the morning tomorrow because the games start at 8. Once everybody leaves I don’t even worry about cleaning up. I just walk into my room, set the alarm for 6:45 and crash. I hear the dreadful sound of my alarm clock go off and I so badly wan to hit the snooze button, but I know I can’t. It is a big day and I need to be on top of my game. I quickly get changed, make coffee and run out the door. When I get to the station I see a big board of where people are going to be stationed. Like I predicted Officer Boley and I are in stadium two. This is exactly where I wanted to be because this is where Nebraska plays its regional. There are four regional rounds in the College World Series. There are 32 teams and 8 teams play in each regional. When there are only two teams left from each regional, those 8 teams go to one stadium for the Elite Eight, and then the Final Four. It is a really interesting process and I have admired it for awhile. The stadium is a 5 minute ride from the department and all four stadiums are within 4 miles of each other. No matter which stadium you are in you can see the other three. It is pretty cool how they designed them. Officer Boley and I hop into a squad car and get going. “Who are you rooting for”? I asked Detective Boley. I know he is a huge basketball fan, but I’m not quite sure how big of a baseball fan he is. “There are so many good teams I honestly don’t know if I can choose. I haven’t been following College Baseball very closely. From what I know North Carolina has the best pitching staff with David Beacon as their ace. I also know that Georgia has the best offense in the country. Nebraska has the best base running in the country all thanks to that one kid, the shortstop, I forget his name……..” “Myron Tiffee. He is probably my favorite player in the country because he reminds me of how I used to play back in the day at Nebraska.” I blurted out. “I didn’t know you felt so passionately about him,” laughed Officer Boley. “Now if you would let me finish. If I had to choose one team to root for it would have to be the Boston College Eagles. I like the way they play.” “For someone who doesn’t follow College Baseball you sure do know your stuff. To me all that matters is my alma mater and that is the Nebraska Cornhuskers. They have home-state advantage, and the best defense and base running in the country. Not to mention my favorite player. He made a diving stab on a shot up the middle and then made a glove flip to get the force out at second base. I couldn’t believe it.” * This was the exact play I made to clinch the Big 12 championship when I was a freshman. There were two outs in the ninth inning and the bases were loaded. We were up one run with our closer Ryan Grey on the mound. He was the most efficient closer in college baseball that year. If we won this game we were going to the College World Series, and if we lost we didn’t qualify. Baylor’s number two hitter was up and he had been a consistent hitter all season long. Ryan has gotten him into a 2-2 count, when ping, the ball was smoked right past Ryan. I had gotten a good read on it and I knew I could get there. I slid right at the ball, stopped it with my glove. I didn’t have enough time to transfer the ball to my hand so while I was still sliding I flipped the ball backhanded with my glove to second base for the force out. We had won the game on that play and it gave us a berth to the NCAA tournament. It was the happiest day of my life. Unfortunately we lost that year in the first round to UC Irvine, which was one of the best teams in the country. Our miracle run had ended. I thought I would have another three years to make it back. It turned out I had zero. Midway through the next year I was taking a throw from the catcher to second base when the runner slid right into my knee and tore all of my ligaments. I was never the same and could not return to playing. It was the saddest day of my life. Whenever I watch this kid play sometimes it is hard for me because he reminds me so much of myself. Other times I just truly love watching him play and hopefully nothing gets in his way of becoming a success. ** “Do you know how many games we get to watch today”? asked Officer Boley. “There are 4 games that need to be played today to get it down to the right number of teams. I’m pretty sure that there is a game at 8:00, a game at 12:00, a game at 4:00, and a game at 8:00. We have a full day today. I think Nebraska is the last game and I have to watch that one. I’m not expecting to get home till late tonight.” “It should be a fun day that’s all I know.” We approached the stadium and saw all of the team’s busses in the parking lot. Even the teams playing at 8:00 had shown up to see the early games. I am impressed by those college kids getting up so early. There is one thing I promised myself would do while I was here and that is go see coach. Coach Friedman had been the coach of Nebraska baseball for the last 24 years. He had made the tournament the last 8 years and 20 out of 24 years. He was the coach when I was there and we had a grat relationship until my injury. After my injury I tuned out of baseball for awhile. I couldn’t even look at a baseball without being depressed. I haven’t talked to coach since the day I left. I figure I owe him a thank you for everything he had done for me. Officer Boley and I walked into the stadium to observe what was going on. It was a very nice stadium. There were lots of seats and concessions. The field looked like one of the nicest I had ever seen. The outfield grass had been cut in a pattern that spelled CWS 2010. The infield grass was cut in a beautiful diamond pattern. The pitcher’s mound and infield had been watered to perfection. There should be no bad bounces today. This brings back so many good memories. All of a sudden I see the Nebraska team sitting by the first base line with Coach Friedman behind them. I told Officer Boley I was going to go say hello to an old friend. I walked over to him, but on the way trying to think of what I should say. He noticed me coming and a smile grew across his face. “Is that Pat Walton I see”? he shouted as I was walking towards him. “It is Coach. How have things been? The last time we talked was back in my short playing days. That freshman season was the best time of my life. I’m sorry I never came back. I just loved the game so much and after my injury I just didn’t think I could handle coming back. I hoped you never thought of me differently after that. I felt I just needed some time to get my life back in order.” “Slow down there Pat. Of course I never thought differently of you. You were the best shortstop I ever had, until maybe now of course.” He pointed to Myron Tiffee three rows ahead of us. “This kid is unbelievable. He is as fast as lightning, he can hit for power and average, he is the best defensive player in the country, and he listens to me. You would think a player of that caliber would have a big ego, but no. he is the nicest and most gracious kid you will ever meet.” “I have been watching him all year. He is amazing. He reminded me a little of myself out there.” “Well in that case. MYRON come up here. There is someone I want you to meet.” I was frozen. I had no idea I would actually get to meet Myron Tiffee himself. I had no clue of what I should say. “Yes Coach. Who is it”? asked Myron. “Myron, this is Pat Walton. He was the shortstop for me in 2003. He was one of the best I ever had until someone slid and blew out his knee when he was a sophomore. You could learn a lot from this guy.” “It is a pleasure to meet you Mr. Walton. I’m sorry about what happened to your knee.” “It’s great to meet you too Myron. I had been watching you play this year. You have done a fantastic job, keep up the good work. You look better than me when I was in my playing days.” “Thank you Mr. Walton I really appreciate it. Will you be staying for the game today”? “I’m planning on it if there is no trouble anywhere else. I’m here on work so if I get called away I have to go.” “Thanks Myron, you can go back with your teammates now, said Coach Freidman, who looked surprised to hear I was working. “What are you doing with your life these days Pat.”?
I’ve been a Detective with the Grand Island Police Department for 4 years now. I love my job, it has been so great. I also married Linda Sterling. I don’t know if you remember her back from when I was playing for you. She would usually come and watch our practice or sometimes pick me up. She’s a great girl.” “Ah yes I do remember Linda. I’m happy that you’re living happy out here. For me, my life consists of being with Cheryl and coaching baseball. You can’t ask for much more than that.” “So Coach what does the scouting report look like for your opponent today”? I asked while UC Irvine took the field to start the first game of the tournament against the University of Florida. “Our first game is against the University of Clemson who are a very good team. They have the best hitter in the country in Bobby Jay, and they are strong defensively. I think we can definitely handle them. We have our ace Lefty Ford on the mound today so we should be all set. You have probably watched some of our games so you know how we play.” “I have faith you guys will be fine. Nebraska has always been a well coached team.” Coach got a kick out of that last joke I just made. We said our goodbyes and I went back to sit with Officer Boley behind home plate. It was really nice to see and be able to talk to Coach Friedman again. He was one of the people I felt I could really talk to at Nebraska and I miss that feeling. “Who was that”? asked Officer Boley. “He used to be my coach back when I played at Nebraska. He was one of the coolest guys I knew. I hadn’t seen him since I left after my injury so I felt I owed him a visit.” “Seems fair enough to me. It’s only the first inning of this game and UC Irvine is winning 4-0. They are the number one seed, but still. This is crazy they are so good.” The game continued with UC Irvine destroying the University of Florida. The final score of the game was 13 to 2. The UC Irvine starter had gone 8 innings and given up two hits and no runs. The reliever who came in gave up the only Florida two runs. You have to give credit to Florida for fighting hard. UC Irvine had advanced to the next round and they would play the winner of the University of Sand Diego against the University of Connecticut. Officer Boley and I decided that we were hungry so we went over to the concession stand and loaded up on food. I bought popcorn, chicken fingers, and my favorite treat, fried dough. You never get anything like this when there aren’t any games so I have to take advantage of the situation. The next game had started and it was about 1:00. We were right on schedule. The rest of the day flew by with University of Connecticut winning 3-2 on a walk off homerun, and Charlestown College beating Arizona State in a huge upset. The light started to turn on as it was getting darker. The Arizona State and Charlestown College game had just ended and we had about 30 minutes to kill before the Nebraska game. The stadium had started to fill up even more and this game looked like it would get to full capacity. The Nebraska fans started to get a little rowdy towards the Clemson fans. We had to remove one fan from the stadium because he was swearing around little children which was very inappropriate. He wasn’t happy about being removed, but when we threatened to throw him in jail for not cooperating with police officers he didn’t seem to have a problem. We took care of this incident just in time for the game. We came back to our seats and got ready for the big game that was about to take place. Just then we saw huge gray clouds overhead. N one had expected rain on such a beautiful day. The weatherperson on channel 3 said that there was a chance that there could be passing showers. The rain started to come down lightly and then it came down hard. The players retreated to their dugouts and prepared to wait out the delay. The rain decided to finally stop around 9:30. The game needed to be played today so everyone was expected to wait as long as possible. There was a tarp over the field so it was still in good condition. Most of the fans had decided to leave which made our job easier. The only bad thing about this is that I will get home later and get to bed later. I still have to wake up at the same time tomorrow morning no matter what. Nebraska is the home team in this game. Once the grounds crew has finished fixing the field, the Nebraska starters take the field. Lefty Ford is looking as sharp as ever today. He has all of his pitched going for him today. He has a nasty fastball that is consistent at 96 mph. His splitter is his next best pitch at 89 mph. Those two pitches are offset by a devastating breaking ball at 82 mph and a changeup that sets the tone at 79. There is such a difference in his velocity and the batter can never tell because his windup never changes. This is what makes him so goo and the major league scouts love him. The first three Clemson hitters go down on strikes. He had a nine pitch first inning and all those pitched were strikes. This looks like it could be a pitcher’s duel today. Pitcher’s duels can be the best thing in baseball to watch depending on what type of fan you are. Some people just like when hitters are crushing the ball and the final score turns out to be 11-10. To me that seems fun, but there is more to baseball then that. It is about beating the other team mentally and physically. Maybe I am just saying this because I was a former player, but I am sure there are many people who agree with me. The Clemson Tigers took the field in the bottom of the first inning with their ace on the mound. They were more of an offensive team then a strong pitching team. There pitcher was very good, but not where near as good as lefty. The first Nebraska hitter up to the plate was no one other then Myron Tiffee. This kid just had a swagger when he walked up to the plate. He had confidence that not many people had. Before Tiffee got into the box he took a couple of practice swings and got his timing down. He stepped into the box and glared at the pitcher. The pitcher came to the set and released the ball from his hand. The ball got closer and closer and then……………… JJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJ Where I started from 6500 Pow! Right off the bat you knew that it was out of there. Myron Tiffee had just lead off the game with a solo home run. The crowd went wild as he crossed the plate. The game continued to the surprise of everyone. The Clemson pitcher had everyone for the Nebraska team fooled and off balance. It was a pitcher’s duel throughout the whole game. Going into the top of the ninth inning the score was 1-0 Nebraska. They had brought in their closer Kerry Freeland. He was one of college baseball’s most efficient closers. He proved tonight why he had earned that name. He faced three batters and struck out all three of them in nine pitches. It really was a sight to watch. He had all of his pitched going and this led Nebraska into the next round. After tonight they look like they could not be stopped. I headed for my car and was ready to go home. When I got home I was exhausted. I had spent all day at the ballpark and by now it was one in the morning. I walked in the door, kicked off my shoes and walked straight to my bed. I lay down, set my alarm for six and dozed off. I was awoken at 4:45 in the morning and it wasn’t by the sound of my alarm. My phone was sitting on my nightstand buzzing off the hook. I had two missed calls and it was buzzing a third time. I picked it up and heard Officer Boley’s voice on the other end: “Pat, you’re going to want to come down to the stadium. We have a very big problem.” “Boley it’s 4:45 in the morning what could be so huge that you would wake me up at this hour. How did you even get there so fast”? “I was awake when they called me. I figured I could go back to my college days and try it. The real reason I called isn’t to chat. Pat, Myron Tiffee has been found murdered in the locker room.” “What?!?!?!?! How could that happen? I saw and was talking to him less than 4 hours ago. Boley if you are playing some kind of joke on me I will be so mad.” “Pat this is no joke, get down here and ill explain everything.” I couldn’t believe what I had just heard. There were so many things that were running through my mind. How did he die? Who could have done something like this? What is going to happen to the College World Series? When news of this gets out tomorrow the baseball world will go into shock. I got out of bed and put on clothes as quickly as I could. I grabbed my keys, badge and gun as I sprinted through the door towards my car. There was no traffic on a chilly early morning. It was very dark outside because the sun hadn’t started to rise. I got to the stadium in less than 10 minutes and when I got there, there were so many things going on I didn’t know where to start. There were 10 news trucks with tons of reporters all outside of the stadium, trying to figure out what exactly had happened. That is exactly what I am trying to find out also. Officer Boley wasn’t exactly clear on how this murder had taken place. I walked swiftly through the crowd of news reporters with all of them asking me several questions about what had occurred. I proceeded on into the stadium and saw Officer Boley standing outside of the dugout. “Boley!” I shouted from behind the plate. “Pat, glad you got here so quick. As you know Myron Tiffee the star baseball player from Nebraska has been murdered. Chief Gordon has made you the lead detective because he feels you are the most connected and you are the right person to solve this case. It’s a nasty one, I’ll tell you that and it could not have come at a worse time.” “He made me the lead detective? This is crazy. Isn’t there anyone else with more experience who could be the lead”? “I’m sure there I, but he feels like you are ready for the task and have the best resources to solve this case. This isn’t my decision. You can talk to him if you want. I’m just here giving the orders. Let me take you to the crime scene.” I can’t believe Chief Gordon mad me the lead detective on this case. I have never done anything so big in my entire life. I don’t know if I’m ready for it. What if I make a mistake? That could end my career because there is so much riding on this case being solved. The locker room felt like it was miles away. Even though we had only been walking for less than a minute it felt like the longest minute of my life. There were people everywhere in the tunnel leading to the clubhouse and locker room. I finally arrived in the locker room and saw the dead corpse lying on the floor covered with a tarp. Even with the tarp over it you could tell that the body of Myron Tiffee was very limp and lifeless. There was blood spatter along the wall in certain parts of the room and there was certainly a lot of it. Whoever wanted Myron Tiffee dead had a serious grudge against him. I went over to the tarp and stood over it for a minute. I recalled the time I was talking to him with Coach. It was only a few hours ago. I can’t believe he was gone. He was such a bright young man with a great future. I lifted the tarp off of his body to examine what had happened to him. Right when I lifted the tarp I grimaced. It looked as if he had his head bashed in. There were also multiple stab wounds in his chest area. This was no work of a human. This was the work of a pathological killer. This murder really hit a nerve. This kid reminded me exactly of myself. When he was murdered it was like I was murdered. To kill such a young and innocent life is juts cruel. I will not sleep until I bring this murderer to justice and make sure he gets the full penalty he deserves. I was ready to take this case head-on and make it know that I was not to be messed with. “Officer Boley, I want pictures taken of everything that has happened. I want every piece of evidence documented and taken back to the department for future reference. I want the whole field scanned and searched for a sign that Myron Tiffee wasn’t in the locker room for the whole time. There are many possible scenarios of what could have happened and our number one priority is to figure out that scenario. Next we need to figure out motive for why the killer would brutally murder someone like this.” There are a couple reasons for why someone is usually murdered. The first reason is that they owe somebody something. This can range from anywhere to money from gambling or horse hay. The second reason is jealousy. Someone else could have something that the killer wants to have. This could trigger an emotional outbreak and that switch will just snap in his head telling him it is alright to kill. The third and final reason is that there is something mentally wrong with the killer. There is always something wrong with all killers, but in this case the killer has a mental disorder that leaves them in no control over their body and emotions. From what I know about this case I am going to assume that it is either one of the first two reasons. I can rule out the third because there is almost no way that a mentally ill person would go out of their way to seek out Myron Tiffee. I just need to figure out if Myron Tiffee was involved in some sort of illegal activity or if he was just the victim of someone else’s anger. After I gave Officer Boley and the rest of the guys their assignments I headed towards my car so I could go back to the department and figure out where to start in this case. As I was closing in on the exits I figured I should talk to the media and let them know what was going on. I didn’t want to tell them too much because I wanted a chance to talk to the team before the media got to them. I had no idea how greatly they would react to this tragedy so I had to take every precautionary measure. I walked closer to the media and then stopped and coughed to get their attention. “Hello everyone. Thank you for being so patient on this early morning. I know it has been tough for you to get out of beds, but a tragedy has occurred this morning. One of the players taking part in the College World Series has been brutally murdered in the clubhouse earlier this morning. Unfortunately, I cannot go into any of the specifics right now about who has been murdered and what is going to happen. All I can say is that there will be a press conference at eight in the morning today for anyone who is interested in hearing more of the details. Again, it will be at noon in front of the Grand Island Police Department. Thank You.” As soon as I had finished talking there were shouts and questions being thrown all over the place. People were asking who had been murdered and what is going to happen to the College World Series and all of the questions I told them would be answered later. As a detective I have come to realize how annoying the press can be, but at a time like this it really has become over the top. Instead of driving over to the department I headed for the hotel where the Nebraska team was staying. I had to wake up Coach and let him know what had happened. It was about a 10 minute drive from the field because it was in the next town over called Turtle Rock. I connected my iPod to the tape player in the car and just sat there, not saying or thinking anything. I just drove along the dark, black roads and didn’t say a word. The only thing I could hear was the nice beat of California Gurls by Katy Perry featuring Snoop Dogg. There was no one on the roads and it was as quiet as could be. I couldn’t help but think about how I was going to tell Coach about what happened and how he was going to react. If he broke down into tears I wouldn’t know how to react. I guess the best thing to do would be just sit there in silence. Just as my thought ended I pulled into the hotel parking lot. It wasn’t a huge hotel, just the right size for a baseball team and other guests. I had heard the school rented out the whole hotel for players, coaches and families. They never did that back in my playing days. I walked through the front door and saw that there was a small middle ages women working the front. I went up to her and she could see the pained look in my eyes. “Can I help you with something sir,” she asked very kindly. “Yes actually there is. My name is Detective Walton from the Grand Island Police Department. I need to speak with the coach of the Nebraska Cornhusker baseball team. Can you tell me where he is”? “I’m really sorry sir. I was directed to not tell anyone the assigned room numbers for any of the baseball players of coaches.” “I appreciate that you are trying to do your job, but maybe you didn’t hear me correctly, I am a detective with the Grand Island Police Department. I need to speak to the Coach of the Nebraska Cornhusker baseball team regarding the murder of one of his players. Can you please tell me what room he is staying in”? “One of his players was murdered? That is horrible I’m so sorry. Let me just check the computer and I will tell you in one second.” It seemed like forever for her to check her computer. How hard could it be to find one of the guest’s names and number? I personally don’t think it takes a brain surgeon, but maybe I am juts cranky from everything that has happened. “Sorry for the wait sir I was having some computer problems. The coach is staying in room 236B. That is on the second floor and when you get off the elevator it is too the right. I hope everything works out and you catch the killer.” “Thank you very much for your help.” I started walking towards the elevator when I stopped in my tracks. What if coach already knew? How would I explain that the media had gotten to him before I did? I didn’t give the media much to go with, but they have a lot of smart people and could have easily figured it out. I pressed the up button on the elevator and the door opened. I was just praying that I had gotten to coach and the team first. The elevator door opened on the second floor and I walked out. I went to the right and proceeded down the hallway. My steps got slower and slower as I became more nervous. I finally approached room 236B and knocked on the door firmly three times. After a couple of seconds I heard some rustling around in the room. Coach was taking his time because he probably figured it was one of the drunken kids playing a fun game of ding-dong-ditch. After about a minute he came to the door and looked very surprised to see me. “Pat, what are you doing here so late”? asked a very tired looking coach. “Coach we have had a terrible incident occur. Would it be possible for you to gather the team downstairs in the main lobby so I can talk to all of them? You are most likely going to want to talk what I am going to tell you as a team.” “Pat what is going on. Did I miss something”? “Please just gather everyone together and I will let everyone know of the news.” After about 30 minutes everyone was gathered in the main lobby looking as confused as ever. It was about six in the morning and now one was expecting to be up for at least another hour or two. Coach asked everyone to settle down and pay close attention to me. “Thank you all for coming down here so quickly. Unfortunately, I have some horrendous and sad news to share with you. Last night at around3:30 in the morning a hell of a baseball player, a good person and most importantly a great kid who you all know as your teammate Myron Tiffee was brutally murdered last night in the clubhouse at the stadium you played in. I know this is a terrible, terrible thing that has happened and this is an awful way to find out, but the Grand Island Police Department is going to do everything they can to make sure that this case gets solved and the killer gets all of the justice that is coming to him. Myron was a great kid and that is only from when I met him last night. I could just tell that he was going somewhere good in life. Unfortunately, his life came to a short end thanks to a cold blooded murderer. You all probably had better relationships with him and were very close with him. I’m so sorry for your loss and I hope Myron will be in everyone’s best memories. After everyone has had some time to settle down and relax I am going to need to speak with everyone on the team including coaches. Thank you.” The room was dead silent. Nobody said a word. Everyone was just looking down at the ground in awe. They couldn’t believe what had happened. I look over to the left and saw multiple members of the coaching staff all in tears. There were some players in tears including the second basemen Angel Verdona, who was Myron’s best friend. I couldn’t say I blamed any of them. When you’re on a team like this, everyone is family. Whenever you lose someone it hurts everyone. When everyone seemed to be regaining their control Coach stood up and was ready to talk to the team. “Guys, we all know how big a part of the team Myron was. Not only was he our teammate, but he was our family. This is a huge loss for all of us and it will take a long time to get over, no doubt. Right now we have to figure out was Myron would have wanted us to do after a tragedy like this. Should we stay in or pull out of the tournament. I would like to give everyone a chance to go back to their rooms to shower and change, and then we can come back down and decide. Be back here in 30 minutes.” Right as the team was about to disperse, Lefty Ford stood straight up and let everyone know his opinion. “There is no fucking way we are backing out of this tournament. We are going to win this whole thing and then dedicate the trophy to Myron. If he was here it’s what he would want us to do. Now I don’t know how you guys feel, but no matter what I am taking tat field tomorrow. Now who is with me”? At that moment everyone in the main lobby started clapping and shouting. There was not one person who was against continuing in the tournament. I was very impressed with the heart these kids had. If that was me I don’t know if I could have done it. As everything quieted down I stood back up and told everyone what the schedule looked like for today. “I’m glad you made that decision guys, it seems like the right one. You do your job on the field and I’m going to do mine off the field to solve this case. The first games have been pushed back to ten o clock. I have already talked to the commissioner and he has agreed that that is the right thing to do. There will be a press conference at eight o clock, which is in approximately one hour and thirty minutes away. I would like it for all of you guys to be there. It will be outside of the Grand Island Police Department. All of you boys go shower and get ready. Don’t forget, let’s come out to play today and win this game. “FOR MYRON!” I shouted at the top of my lungs. This was followed up a huge roar from the team. “FOR MYRON!” They all yelled. There was no doubt in m mind that the hotel had just been woken up. I really did not care at this time. I felt horrible for these kids and what they had just been through. They are some of the strongest kids I have ever met and I respect every single one of them. I went up to Coach and gave him a big hug. “Coach we will catch this guy don’t you worry.” I assured him as we embraced. “I swear to god, you better get your hands on him first before I do or else we will have serious problems. He was the best kid I ever had. There will never be another Myron Tiffee.” “I know Coach, I know. I have been put in charge of this case and I will not sleep until this guy is caught. Tonight make sure all of your players come back to the hotel so I can interview them and just be sure that they were all here and accounted for.” “I will have them here, but there is really no need for that. None of my players would have ever hurt Myron. He was the nicest kid for being such a good player.” “Coach I don’t believe it was one of your players either, but you know it is my job just to be safe and check. Go get some rest and I will see you in a couple of hours. Good luck.” When everyone filed out of the main lobby and back to their room, I left the hotel and got back into my car. I needed to get to the department to figure out what I was exactly going to say to the media. The ride over was short and I had figured out what I had wanted to say. The press conference was in half an hour and now all I could do was figure out the first step in my investigation. I need to get all of the evidence from the clubhouse and see what has emerged from it. I also want to go back to Myron’s hometown to talk to his family and friends to find out more about him. This was going to be hard to do. I have never talked to the family of someone who had a family member killed. This was going to be extremely hard to do. I sat at my desk staring at my notepad until one of the officers at the department came up to me and said that everyone was outside and ready for the press conference. I got up, brought my notepad with me and was ready to go. “Ladies and gentlemen, as some of you already know, there has been a murder of one of the most prominent players in the College World Series. Myron Tiffee was found dead in the clubhouse of stadium two, at 3:30 in the morning. This was a shock to everyone and this department will not rest until the killer is found. We have the Nebraska baseball team here today who has decided that in honor of Myron Tiffee they will continue in the tournament. Myron Tiffee was a great baseball player, a great teammate, and most importantly a great person. His life was ended too shortly by a terrible person. I have been put in charge of this case and I believe that we have the right resources to close this case and give Myron the proper respect he deserves along with some closure for his family. If anyone has any information regarding this case please contact me or the department and w regarding this case please contact me or the department and we will make sure you remain anonymous. Thank you.” Everyone who was there looked absolutely stunned. The Nebraska baseball team were the only people who had already heard of the news. The reporters were all scribbling in their notebooks as fast as they possibly could. I was worried what this news could do to the town. Names can get tossed around then who knows what will happen. As soon as everyone had left the area I went back inside and got ready to leave. I saw Officer Boley sitting at his desk. I went by told him to call his wife and tell her he wouldn’t be home for dinner because we were going on a road trip. He looked a little bummed out, but he knew we had a job to do. We got into the car and headed for Route 4. This road would take us the 200 miles we needed to go to get to Myron’s small hometown. I was driving like usual and Officer Boley has his chair leaned back like he was ready to take a nap the whole way. I was going to try and keep him up so I wouldn’t be lonely the whole ride. “So Boley, What do you think happened with this whole case? How did such a great kid get murdered”? I knew this topic would get officer Boley going. He always loved to talk about this stuff. More importantly he always loved to make assumptions. “In my opinion someone was jealous of him .Who wouldn’t be. He’s a stud. He was going to be a top 5 pick in the draft and get to the majors quicker than anyone. I think it was either someone on the team or someone from another team who was thinking he was going to hurt their chances of winning it all. What about that pitcher from Clemson? He has some serious motive to kill Tiffee. Giving up one run and it was a homerun to him that ended up winning the game. You never know.” “That is a pretty big conclusion to jump to. We haven’t even started the real investigation yet how can you be so sure it was him”? “Tell me this Pat. Would I have become a Police Officer if I didn’t have such a keen sense for these kind of things? I don’t think so. I’m willing to make a bet with you that I’m right. Let’s say, $200. Are you scared I might beat you”? “That was a very stupid bet my friend. You’re on. Now for the more logical explanation of what happened. I believe that Myron Tiffee was killed by a player from the Nebraska Cornhuskers. Maybe they got into a fight and it just turned really ugly or maybe it was something else. Just by looking around at them this morning I could tell some of them were not that affected by the death of their teammate. I found that hard to believe because he was their best chance of winning the World Series. Sometimes things in life just really don’t make sense.” That was the end of that conversation and we both were hoping we were right. We put big money on that bet and I could buy a lot of things with that money such as a new IPod. I always wanted one, but never got around to getting one. I was always a CD guy. We talked for the rest of the way about many different things including the basketball playoffs, and the MLB season going on. We got to Myron’s town in about three hours. There was no traffic and the weather was nice which made for a good trip. It was a very small town with a population of about 1,200. It was a little hard to find the Tiffee residents, but after about 20 minutes of searching we found it. It was a nice big ranch with a barn in the back. It looked like there was old baseball equipment in the back near the barn and I saw netting on the side of the barn. It probably used to be a batting cage. No wonder this kid used to be so good. It looked like he had the ability to practice whenever he wanted. He was a lucky kid, not everyone was so fortunate to have that opportunity and I think he knew that. That is what made him such a great kid. Officer Boley and I got out of the car and walked up the walkway to the front door. I knocked twice and then stepped back to give them space to open the door. The door opened and a short, but sweet looking lady stood there. She looked as if something sad had just happened. I’m guessing this was his mother. “Ms. Tiffee. My name is Detective Walton with the Grand Island Police Department and this is my partner Officer Boley. We are here to ask you some questions about the death of your son if that is okay with you.” “Yes yes, come on in.” She sounded very depressed and not happy to see us. Who would be happy to see us? She realized that if she wanted the killer to be brought to justice she would have to talk to us. “Ms. Tiffee we are just going to ask you a couple of questions about Myron and then we will be out of your hair. If you could please cooperate then this will go much quicker.” I was trying to reassure her we were only here to help. “Yes that is fine.” “Alright, Ms. Tiffee. How had things been going for Myron at school and on the baseball team”? “Myron was a great kid and he always did well in school. That is one of the first things we taught him, that school comes before baseball. When he was a kid he always had to do his homework before he was allowed to go outside and practice baseball. He was getting good grades and the team was supposedly pretty good to. I do remember a couple of things he told me. Myron had always been somewhat of a Mamma’s boy so he would tell me a lot of stuff that was going on with him. He said that he was being hazed by a couple of the players on the team and it was really bugging him. He said once when they were on a road trip they put eggs in his pillow and when he went to go to sleep on it his face got covered in eggs. He also told me that they were constantly mean to him. Myron was a tough kid and he could handle himself, but I’m sure deep down it was hurting him.” “Thank you that will definitely help a lot. Did Myron ever say who these players were that were constantly hazing him?” “He told me that there were three of them. One of them was the backup shortstop, whose name I don’t know, another of them was Riley Green, one of the relief pitchers, and the last one was Nate Starr, the backup catcher. I just don’t understand why they feel the need to do that to my baby. There was one boy on the team that I really did like. His name was Lefty Ford. He was the best pitcher on the team and from what Myron told me he was the real leader. Myron would always say that Lefty Ford stood up for him whenever he experienced the hazing. Lefty and Angel Verdona were his best friends on the team so most likely they will know what is going on better than I do.” “We will be sure to talk to everyone on the team and interview them thoroughly. Can you tell us about Myron’s personal life? Did he have a girlfriend or anyone like that close to him”? “Myron did have a girlfriend recently. The last time we talked he hadn’t mentioned her which was odd because he usually does. Her name was Sophie Vale. They had been dating ever since Myron got to Nebraska and he had been so happy with her. I don’t know if things just ended abruptly or not, but that may be something to look into.” “Thank you so much for your help Ms. Tiffee. You have given us so much to work with and we appreciate it so much. Thank you for the time you have given us and we are deeply sorry for your loss.” “Detective promise me two things. I want you to keep me informed with what is going on and two I want you to get this guy so we can let Myron rest in peace.” “Absolutely Ms. Tiffee, We will catch this guy and bring him to justice. Don’t Worry.” We said our final goodbyes and then Officer Boley and I departed. It was a long car ride back and we had a lot of stuff to go over. We started driving and got back to Route 4. I started the conversation because Officer Boley seemed to be speechless from what we just heard. He was thinking very hard. “I had no idea the star player might be getting hazed. That juts didn’t occur to me. I think our next step should be to interview those players from the team that were hazing Tiffee and see where that takes us. I also feel like we should interview Lefty Ford and Sophie about what was going on with them and Myron. The next couple of interviews should really tell us everything we need to know.” “Yeah I agree with you on that, but we do need some hard evidence. Before we do anymore interviews we need to go and look at the autopsy report and all of the evidence collected from the scene. They did lift a few fingerprints which could be huge.” The rest of the ride was silent. Neither of us knew what to say or do, so the best thing we could think of was just to sit there and gaze at the open road ahead of us. Our next step was clear and that is exactly where we were head. The ride was longer then I had expected. There was a herd of sheep that had crossed the road when we were halfway down Route 4. It took us about 20 minutes to go around them. We got back to the department around seven. There weren’t a whole lot of people there, just the usual one or two police officers on duty. Officer Boley and I were almost ready to call it a night, but we decided we should visit the evidence locker first and look at everything we had collected. We hopped on the elevator and were there in no time. The evidence locker was very small because there really were no crimes in Grand Island. I remember when I was eight years old. All over the news in Nebraska there was talk of a serial killer in Grand Islands. He had murdered 6 people and has still not been found to this day. Eventually he had stopped killing, but he was known as The Grand Island Killer. Who knows if he will ever strike again? This was the last real tragedy to hit Grand Islands other than the occasional drag racing death on Route 4. The biggest box we had in the locker was the one we were looking for. It had a big title across the front labeled HOMOCIDE, and under that was the name Myron Tiffee. I grabbed the box and placed it on a big and cold table that was in the middle of the room. I pulled the top off and one by one Officer Boley and I grabbed each piece and put it on the table. There were a couple of things that I noticed right away. The bigger bags were the ones we sorted through first. We went through Myron’s uniform and collected all of the traces of fiber and items that looked like they didn’t belong. We put those in little jars and we were going to send them to the forensics lab. The next pieces of evidence we decided to go through was the blood samples found at the scene. We put these with the fiber samples to go to the lab. We had juts about finished sorting everything when Officer Boley pulled out one final bag from the box. It was a relatively small bag so it could have gone easily unnoticed. “Pat, look what I found. It looks like a piece of a fingernail. The bag says they found it on Myron Tiffee’s body when he was found dead. This is huge. We need to get this to the lab right away.” Officer Boley and I were in a dead sprint to the lab where the technician had left for the day. This was just perfect. We could have a potential break in the case and there was no one around to help. “Well that sucks. We should leave it in her door and she will get it first thing tomorrow. What do you say we head over to the Nebraska game and see what is going on? The game starts at 8 and we should make it just in time.” I asked Officer Boley. “Yeah that sounds like a good plan. I am in need for some good baseball after a hard day’s work. Maybe even a beer would hit the spot. Let’s hit the road.” We walked to the car, where we had spent most of our day, and hit the road once again. Thank god this time it was a short drive because my legs were killing me from so much driving. We got to the stadium in less than 5 minutes and we got there just in time for the opening ceremonies in honor of Myron Tiffee. The PA announcer had begun to speak and the crowd went silent. It was like all of the energy that was buzzing around the crowd had just left and gone to some other far off place. “Ladies and gentlemen, we gathered here today to mourn the loss of a friend, player, and great person. As you all know Myron Tiffee was brutally murdered in the waking hours of last night in the clubhouse. It is one of the worst events to ever happen at the CWS and possibly in the state of Nebraska. This game is being played through hardships and we must respect all of the players playing today. In honor of the late Myron Tiffee may me all rise for a moment of silence.” Everyone rose to their feet and the look on their faces was painstaking. Everyone was in shock that something like this could have ever happened. The Nebraska grandstand was the worst as expected. There were multiple people crying and weeping being consoled by one another. Other then my mother and father’s funeral, this was the saddest event I had been to. Back when I was eight years old my parents and I were on a trip to South Dakota to see Mount Rushmore. It was one of the best trips of my life and one of the only real experiences I got to spend with my parents. We had climbed Mount Rushmore and spent the night over in South Dakota. We left the next morning and headed along Route 4. We were all the way back in Nebraska and almost in Grand Islands when we saw a car pulled over to the side of the road. There was a guy who was trying to wave us own for help. My parents had always been exceptionally nice people so obviously they would pull over. Both of y parents got out of the car to try and help the man. They had left me in the car buckled in the back so I could see everything that was happening. It looked as if the man had a flat tire and he needed help getting the car jacked up. He asked my mother and father to jack up the car while he got the spare from the trunk. My parents agreed. Little did they know the man was not getting the spare tire from his trunk, instead he came back with a crowbar the size of a tree trunk. He smashed the crowbar over my father’s head and then over my mothers. They were both lifeless after this, but he continued to whack them. It was like he was taking out all of the anger that was in his life on them. It was horrifying to watch from the back seat knowing I couldn’t do anything to stop him. I knew I had to be quiet if I wanted to live. When he finally stopped he grabbed both of my parents and dragged them into a ditch on the side of the road. He put his tire back on with ease and aped off into the distance I got out of the car and saw my mother and father lying there motionless. I couldn’t even look at them their faces had been beaten so badly. I saw my mother’s cell phone, picked it up and called 911. I had no idea where I was. I remember telling them I was on a big road and saw a sign that said number 53. Mile Marker 53. Whenever I drive by there it still haunts me to this day. I visit there every year in honor of my parents and leave flowers where they had been found. One thing I forgot to mention, my parents were two out of the six victims killed by The Grand Island Killer. Every day when I am in the office the first thing I do when I come in is check the cold case files for anything updated on the Grand Island Killer. Just being back and being at a ceremony like that brings back horrible memories. I feel the pain of anyone who has lost someone close to them. I know the direct impact and it can be very hard. The reason I came to Grand Island after my parent’s murder was because I fell in love with my wife Linda. She really allowed me to escape from everything and be happy with who I am. It’s why I love her and am happy to be with her. The moment of silence came to an end and the players were ready to go. Nebraska was the better seed and they were taking the field first against Alabama. This was the best of a three game series and the winner would advance on to the next round. The game was underway with Nebraska taking the field. There second best pitcher named Vernon Holloway was on the mound and he was out there with a vengeance. He shut the first three kids down on strikes and that is when Nebraska came up to hit. Nobody really knew what to expect, but everyone was definitely hoping for the best and that is exactly what they got. Nebraska’s first eight hitters had all gotten hits. The ninth hitter, who was Myron Tiffee’s replacement named Kimono Hall and also one of the kids who bullied Myron Tiffee had made the first out. This happened exactly the same way again. The first eight batters in the order had gotten hits and Kimono Hall ended the inning by grounding into a double play. No one really blamed him because they knew this was his first real playing experience this year, but then again, people knew that if Myron Tiffee was out there it would be a whole different ballgame. The pounding continued until the final score ended up being 16-0 Nebraska. Vernon Holloway pitched the game of his life. He one-hit the opponent, and was named player of the game. Everyone was really proud of this team for overcoming the odds and winning. The team’s next game wasn’t for another two days so tomorrow we had plenty of time to interview the whole team and the coach to see what had been going on behind the scenes. Officer Boley and I walked into the parking lot and were on the way to the car when we heard some yelling. We turned around and there were a couple of guys who had broken out into a fight. It looked to be between some of the Nebraska fans and some of the Alabama fans. This didn’t look good and had the potential to turn into an all out brawl. Officer Boley and I sprinted over to where this altercation was taking place and started to break it up. Punches were being thrown everywhere and we did the best we could to break it up until I heard a loud popping sound and everyone stopped. Officer Boley had fired one round from his gun into the air to get everyone to stop. He started to scream at everyone involved. “I want everyone involved to stop what they are doing, get on the ground and out their hands behind their head.” There were about a total of six people involved which was less then I originally had thought. “I want everyone else to walk away, go back to their cars, and go home.” We got statements from everyone, got all of the information from everyone involved, and got into the car. “This has been quite an eventful day don’t you think”? I asked Officer Boley. “This had all been such a mess. All I want to do is go home and sleep for as long as I can. You do know what this fight means though right? We have to go back to the station and fill out a report of what happened. This is terrible. Sometime I really do hate me job.” Officer Boley knew he wasn’t serious when he said that, but he is right sometimes the job can be very demanding when all you want to do is relax. We knew what we need to do though and we headed back to the station to fill out a report. In my professional opinion and from working this job for a couple of years, there will most likely be no charges filed. It is too much of a hassle for people to hire a lawyer, pay that lawyer, find the person they are looking for and then making a case against that person. It is too much to do when there is not enough at stake. Like usual, the drive to the station was short with almost no conversation. Officer Boley actually fell asleep for a couple minutes until we got to the station. When I woke him up he looked dead. He was just very overtired and needed some sleep like the rest of us. We walked into the station side by side. I handed him our notes and told him to get started and that I would be there shortly. He gave me the usual answer of whatever, and he walked away. I was headed in the other direction towards the cold case files. Every time I walked into the department I just had to check those files. No matter what else I was doing or how important it was, I would drop it and go. The room was small, but definitely filled to capacity. There were boxes and boxes on top of each other. Each case contained evidence, files, and the report in it, so overall there were not that many cases. There was just a lot of material for each case. I never really understood the system they used either. It was nowhere near being in alphabetical order or being stacked by size. In this case I guess it helps me because I am looking for the biggest box and it was right there in the middle of the stacks. There were a total of two boxes, each was very large: One with papers about The Grand Island Killer, and one with the evidence found at all the scenes. I always started with the box containing the papers about the killer. This was almost the most interesting and it always had the most information. I had memorized this whole case file by now, but one more look couldn’t hurt. I opened up the folder with the general information, about The Grand Island Killer. It contained a sketch of his face and information about his height, weight, age and physical characteristics. One thing I noticed that the file contained was alibis. I scanned over the alibis and I saw a name that I had seen earlier that night. One of his most commonly used alibis was Vince Hall. I had heard that name earlier that night, but I couldn’t remember where. Then it struck me. The name of the Nebraska backup shortstop was named Hall. This could be a huge break we were looking for in both cases. My heart jumped and I sprinted out with the file in hand trying to locate Officer Boley…………… Epilogue: It turned out this really was the big break that Detective Walton was looking for. Detective Walton along with the help of Officer Boley had solved the murder of Myron Tiffee and this led to the solving of The case of the Grand Island Killer. It turned out that that alibi used by The Grand Island Killer was his real name. After the killer had used the name he got rid of it and went off the map. He had a son shortly after he murdered his sixth victim and this is when he stopped his murders. His son turned out to be a spectacular baseball player who went on a full ride scholarship to Nebraska. He had been a starter for Two years but then when Myron Tiffee came along he lost his job and became highly upset. Something just went off in his head and one night when Myron was the last person in the locker room he took advantage of the situation and murdered Myron. A lot of people say killing runs in the blood. When Detective Walton and Officer Boley interviewed Kimono hall he had admitted to killing Myron Tiffee. When the team found out they were shocked and couldn’t believe they had spent so much time with this guy when he was really a cold blooded killer. After Kimono had come out of the closet about the murder, Detective Walton asked to speak with his father so he could just ask a couple of follow up questions. Kimono led them to his father who had become very sick and had to stay home and rest in bed. When Detective Walton and Officer Boley walked into his room, Vince Hall, otherwise known as the Grand Island Killer, simply said, “I was waiting for the day that you guys finally caught me.” After he had spoken they knew it was him. Detective Walton went flying towards his bedside and started to strangle him. Officer Boley had to restrain him, but after a while he calmed down. Both of the Hall’s went away for life in prison with no chance of parole. Every year on the day that his mother and father had been killed Detective Walton places flowers on the roadside where the tragic incident of his parent’s death occurred. He now sleeps better at night knowing they caught the Grand Island Killer. Detective Walton had been offered a job to go and work with the FBI in their counter-terrorism unit. This was the opportunity of a lifetime for him and he happily accepted. Officer Boley was promoted to head of Police in Nebraska and is very happy with his new job. The Nebraska team kept on winning until they got to the finals where they lost 2-1 in the final game against Cal State Fullerton. They continue to mourn the loss of Myron Tiffee. He had a proper burial after the tournament and his number was retired by the College Baseball Association. The highest honor a player can have………
I can’t believe I have to work this weekend; the town is filling up faster than I have ever seen it, because of the College World Series coming to town. It is only Wednesday and the action doesn’t even start until Friday. Not to mention my wife is furious with me because I have to miss her Dad’s 65th birthday party. He is finally becoming a senior citizen, which I guess makes it a big birthday. Of course I will send my regards and even a present, but there is no way the boss will let me get out of work this weekend. Sometimes she just doesn’t understand that if I want to keep my job, and she wants to keep the house, then I need to work. The College World Series is always a huge event in my hometown of Grand Island, Nebraska. I’m looking forward to the games as a true baseball fan, but not as an on duty detective in a small town with so many people.
This week always brings back memories. Sitting in the stands with my dad before he passed away, talking about baseball for endless hours. I’ve lived in this little town all of my life, and I have seen many College World Series. Most of our good memories were at the baseball field, in fact, probably our only good memories. We didn’t get along most of the time and would always fight about my school work and life around the house. He wanted me to be an excellent athlete with Harvard-bound grades. That didn’t happen. I was never a stellar student; I was always focusing more on sports, whether I was on the baseball field, football field, or basketball court. I was a three-season athlete including all state in baseball. I was recruited to play baseball at the University of Nebraska on a full ride scholarship. Ever since I started playing baseball and reading about it at the age of four, it has been my one true love. From the time I was in pre-school hitting home runs over the roof of my school, to the time I was hitting 400 foot home runs over fences, I never lost my determination or love. I feel that because of my persistency it led me to become the type of player I was. I became the starting shortstop for the Nebraska Cornhuskers for the first season I was there. I thought baseball was my ticket out of this small town. Those were the best days of my life, until one game; halfway through my sophomore season I blew out my knee and was done for my career.
I finished my education at Nebraska where I majored in criminal justice, and moved back to Grand Island to be near my parents. If you asked me in college what I saw myself doing in five years, I never would have said a Detective. Now that I am a 26 year-old detective for the Grand Island Police Department, and a happily married man, I guess my life isn’t so bad after all.
It is only Wednesday and I feel like the week is over. I am getting one of those feelings where you feel like you have been at work for two weeks instead of only half a week. I am excited for the College World Series, no matter what hardships it may bring on the job. There are so many great players there, and so many major league scouts, it is a once in a lifetime opportunity for some of these young kids, and an opportunity I would have liked to have. My time is over now, but there is one thing I do every year at this time, and that is root for my alma mater, the Nebraska Cornhuskers!
I asked my boss this morning to put me in one of the four stadiums where the games are being played, and because I am a senior detective I assume he will accept my request. We need everyone from the department to be on high alert for the games because with a big event like this you never know what could happen. We don't have a big department in the first place; it has only about 16 officers and 3 detectives. With over 10,000 people expected to show up for these games, there is no doubt we will need all of these law enforcement officers.
Finally, the time has come for me to go home and enjoy the rest of my night. It is a dark and rainy night and the clouds are very low overhead. I hear some thunder rumbling in the distance, and then a flash of lightning strikes before my eyes just before I walk out the door. I stand there and start to watch for a little bit. The rain starts to come down harder and harder, and it starts to make a violent splashing noise as puddles start to form. I am always prepared for the worst, which is why I keep an extra umbrella stored in my desk for situations such as these. On my way back to my desk I notice that the building is almost completely empty. It is about 9 o’clock, and I see only three people in the department, one being the operator. I never knew we had such a small night shift. I probably should have figured this out by now since I have been called, and woken up at night, whenever there has been trouble.
There isn’t a lot of crime in such a small town with a population of about 4,349, but the number of times being called always feels like more than it is. I get to my desk and reach for my umbrella, only to realize that after last week’s rainstorm, I had left it at home. This is one of the few problems that happen to me weekly. For example, last week I had forgotten my coffee in my favorite thermos on the roof of my car, and I drove away without realizing this. As I am driving along I hear people honking at me from behind and I looked back to see that the person behind me is holding a coffee thermos in their hand. Then it hits me, I had forgotten mine on the top of my car. I slammed on the breaks and there goes my coffee, right down the windshield, and into the street. It was a horrible experience especially because I am a person who loves coffee and needs it every morning before work. I feel like it helps me do my job even better. After recalling this incident, not having an umbrella feels like not such a big deal anymore. I walk back to the exit, waving at the very few people who are still in the building and with my briefcase over my head, run to my car as fast as I possibly can.
Once I am inside and starting to dry off, I start the car and roll out of the parking lot. The drive from the department to my house is about six miles, which isn’t bad at all. There is no public transportation in Grand Island so mostly everyone has a car or at least a bicycle. Most of those cars are not as nice as mine I like to think. I drive a 2004 Ford Mustang Convertible. I love it almost as much as my wife, and always take good care of it. It is bright red, and even has a Nebraska Cornhusker license plate that says “P20W.” It was the coolest thing I could think of that would fit into the plate but also represent me. I wore number 20 when I played at Nebraska, so that number has always meant a lot to me. The P and W are also my initials, which stand for Pat Walton.
As I pull into the driveway I can see my wife though the kitchen window making dinner. This was never a great site for me. In my opinion I don’t think of my wife as one of the World’s greatest chefs, but she tries hard. Maybe I don’t give her enough credit, but if I have to sit there and eat it without saying a word, then I should get some credit too. I walk in and am greeted by an aroma of homemade macaroni and cheese, my favorite of her dishes. We sit down at the table and enjoy a little conversation. My wife Linda has always been a talker, but tonight something seems to be bothering her. She works for a real estate firm that sells land and houses all over Nebraska.
“How was your day at work,” I asked her.
“My day was fine, except for the fact that this new lady who may I add is very large, stole my lunch right in front of me out of the refrigerator. I didn’t even know what to say I was in shock because this has never happened before,” said Linda.
“That is terrible, I’m sorry. Did you end up not eating lunch”? I asked with the sweetest tone so she would feel better.
“No I didn’t, but it’s ok because we’re having a nice dinner together now and that’s all that matters.
This was about all of the interesting conversations that took place at dinner. The rest of the time we talked about my work, and how her family is doing. Tomorrow she is leaving to fly to California for her Dad’s party. I am excited because I get the house to myself all weekend, and can relax without doing anything. Tomorrow night I am thinking about having a couple of guys over from the department to have a couple beers, and play some poker before the College World Series and the real work starts.
By the time dinner is finished it is 10 o’ clock and I am ready and changed for my TV watching. I am a huge TV guy, whether I am watching sports, or reality it never gets old. I don’t start work until 11 tomorrow so I can even sleep in late. The boss has decided to give me the late start because of the busy weekend to come. I turn on the TV and find the College World Series selection show on. They are picking the top 32 college baseball teams from division 1 and making a bracket of who is going to be playing whom. I notice that Nebraska is a number 5 seed out of 8 in their division. I have been following them closely this season, and there has really only been one bright spot for them this season, and that is a kid who plays shortstop named Myron Tiffee. He is quick as lightning and can hit the ball a mile. He leads divisions 1 baseball in steals and batting average, two very impressive categories. His defense has also been spectacular which led him to be named to the All-American 1st team as a sophomore. This is almost unheard of in college baseball. He is the one person I really need to see play in this tournament.
As the selection show finishes, I hop in bed next to Linda and take out my magazine, Sports Weekly. It has the best articles, pictures, and polls about sports. My wife Linda is reading some book about two Internet lovers who finally meet and then run away to Greece and live happily ever after. To me, that just sounds like a boring book with a predictable ending. Magazines have different information each week and you never know what the articles are going to be about. Sometimes they even make it a double issue. How many books can do that??? Finally at 11:30 I turn out the lights and fall into a deep sleep, where I start to dream about the College World Series and what would happen if I were still playing. This is always a sore subject with me because the team we had been building for the next years to come could have been so good and we could have really made a run at the national championships. Things in life don’t always work out the way you want them to and that is the moral of this story. It’s time for me to move on and really be thankful for what I have.
JJJJJJJJJJJJJJ Where I started
I woke up the next morning and Linda had already left. She left breakfast on the counter for me and she left the sports section out for me. I am so glad I married this woman. She knows what the key to my heart is, food and sports. The day breezed by. I left home at 10:45 so I could get to work by 11:00. The whole department was having a meeting at 12:00 about the mission to keep the College World Series a safe place. As I walked into the department I saw everyone waiting impatiently around the podium where the boss was standing. I had gotten the time wrong again! How could I have done this? Now the boss most likely won’t assign me to the stadium I requested.
“Well now that Detective Walton has decided to join us we can start. As you all know we have a very large and difficult task for a small number of men ahead of us. Every year we go through the same issues we always do with the College World Series. There are always some people who decide it is okay to drink too much and go to the games. This is never okay because there will be children there and we can’t tolerate this behavior when we are trying to give the greatest possible image of our town. There are also some people who decide just because they are not home means that they don’t care about the sanitation and image of this town. If you encounter any of this do not be shy in confronting the person and if they resist, bring them back to the department to cool off. If you are ever in doubt, do not hesitate to call for backup. This has always been a fun, but sometimes crazy week. We need everyone best effort on duty. Make sure to be safe. I would like to see Detective Walton in my office. Thank you.”
I was prepared for this when I had walked in. The boss always liked to have talks with people who showed up late or were having problems. I put my stuff on my desk and then made my way slowly over to his office.
"Come on in Pat."
"What can I do for you Chief Gordon"?
"Pat there are a couple things I want to talk about. First of all, your tardiness is the most important. The last two department meeting we have had you have been late. I understand the first time because everyone runs late once in awhile. The second time I start to get a little annoyed. You can’t keep doing this. If you’re late again there will be consequences. Is that understood.”?
"Yes sir. I am really sorry. It won't happen again. I’m just wondering sir, but have you had a chance to read my request."
"I have read your request and I guess its okay for you to be in the stadium where Nebraska is going to play. They are the most popular team here so were going to need at least one senior detective and officer there. Just know that they have the most fans, which means that there will be some rowdiness. Do you think you can handle that"?
"I am definitely up for the challenge. Thank you very much for honoring my request. Am I free to go or is there anything else?"
"There is one more thing. I hear you are having some of the boys over tonight for drinks and poker. Do you have room for one more?"
"Of course we have room. You are more than welcome. The others were going to stop by around 8:30. Bring some drinks and some money. We don't mess around on the poker table though. Be prepared to lose some money."
"Now you can’t say that without having seen me play. People do say I have a mean poker face. I'll see you at 8:30. You’re free to go Detective Walton."
"Thank you sir. See you then."
The rest of the day after that was pretty slow. The tourists had really started to pour in and the streets were starting to get crowded. Everyone wanted to go to Sally's Pizza Palace. It was rated number three on the best pizza places in the United States. That is only one of the perks that people get from coming to the College World Series. Along with the great baseball, exciting atmosphere and great food, there is no other place I would rather be.
The time had come for me to leave the department. It was about 6:30 and I had a couple of errands to run before the guys came over. I needed to go get some beer, and some food. The streets were so crowded that by the time I was done with all of my errands it was 7:30. There were lines of cars on every street trying to find a place to stay in either Grand Island or one of the neighboring towns. Thank goodness I lived on a small street where there is not a lot of traffic. Right when I got inside the phone started to ring. I quickly put down my briefcase and groceries and picked up the phone.
“Hello.” I asked heavily into phone.
“Hi honey it’s me.” I heard Linda’s sweet voice on the other end of the phone.
“Linda how are you? How is everything going on your trip”?
“My trip is going great. I’ve met some nice people over here. I was just calling to make sure you haven’t burnt the house down yet.”
“What makes you think I would burn down the house? I am a very responsible man…..sometimes. You should enjoy your trip, don’t worry about me and the house.”
“Alright I believe you. Just make sure that whatever you are doing gets cleaned up and there are no injuries like last time I went away on business. Remember that”?
“You know that wasn’t my fault. I was just there to enjoy the laughs. I didn’t know Detective Rodriguez and Officer Rush would actually start boxing in the living room.”
“Whatever you say Pat. Have fun, but be safe. Love you.”
“Love you too. I’ll call you tomorrow.”
As I hung up with Linda I realized that it was 8:00. I still had to shower and get the poker table set up. I ran into my room, got undressed and hopped into the shower. I turned on my shower radio and started listening to my favorite country station, 102.5. They were playing the song “One in Every Crowd” by Montgomery Gentry. It was a classic that I used to listen to all the time. Just as the song finished I finished my shower. I got dressed and quickly set up the poker table.
The doorbell rang and in came the crowd. There were 8 people coming over from the department. Detective Rodriguez, Officer Rush, Detective Cane, Officer Franks, Officer Boley, Officer Baker, Officer Shields, and Chief Gordon were all great guys, but more importantly great at their jobs. I had a great relationship with each and every one of them. I was most likely going to be working one of the stadiums with Officer Boley tomorrow. I had a special relationship with Officer Boley. We had been friends for about 4 years now. Back when I started on the force he was the first friend I made. He is one year older than me and started the year before me. He really helped me get to know everyone and get to know the town. He is married with no kids also so we often have family dinners together. Our wives are very good friends which makes it easier for us to be good friends. We both love sports and our jobs. I am looking forward to tomorrow already.
“Come on in everybody. I got beer, chips, and a television. Don’t forget those boxing gloves Rodriguez and Rush. What else can you ask for at a party”?
Everybody strolled in and we talked for a little bit. Then out of the blue we heard: “Can we get this game going? I need to take all of your money.” Everyone turned around and there is Officer Rush sitting on the couch with his wallet in hand.
“How much money are we all putting in”? said Officer Cane.
“I was thinking 50 bucks. We all have work bright and early tomorrow morning and we can’t be here all night,” I said.
Everyone agreed and we sat down to play. The game started off great for me. I won the first two hands that were worth about 15 bucks each. I was in first place most of the night. As I drank more and more my poker intelligence had started to decline. I was going in on hands I had no chance of winning and I was making stupid bets. This was the case for most of the guys, but even so, I was not feeling lucky. At the end of the game Chief Gordon ended up winning big and cashing out at $250. I guess he was telling the truth when he said he was very good at poker. I just think it’s ironic that the guy who makes the most money out of all of us won. No one is upset though. It is about 2 in the morning when everybody decides it is time to go home. Most of us have to start work at 7 in the morning tomorrow because the games start at 8.
Once everybody leaves I don’t even worry about cleaning up. I just walk into my room, set the alarm for 6:45 and crash.
I hear the dreadful sound of my alarm clock go off and I so badly wan to hit the snooze button, but I know I can’t. It is a big day and I need to be on top of my game. I quickly get changed, make coffee and run out the door. When I get to the station I see a big board of where people are going to be stationed. Like I predicted Officer Boley and I are in stadium two. This is exactly where I wanted to be because this is where Nebraska plays its regional. There are four regional rounds in the College World Series. There are 32 teams and 8 teams play in each regional. When there are only two teams left from each regional, those 8 teams go to one stadium for the Elite Eight, and then the Final Four. It is a really interesting process and I have admired it for awhile.
The stadium is a 5 minute ride from the department and all four stadiums are within 4 miles of each other. No matter which stadium you are in you can see the other three. It is pretty cool how they designed them.
Officer Boley and I hop into a squad car and get going.
“Who are you rooting for”? I asked Detective Boley. I know he is a huge basketball fan, but I’m not quite sure how big of a baseball fan he is.
“There are so many good teams I honestly don’t know if I can choose. I haven’t been following College Baseball very closely. From what I know North Carolina has the best pitching staff with David Beacon as their ace. I also know that Georgia has the best offense in the country. Nebraska has the best base running in the country all thanks to that one kid, the shortstop, I forget his name……..”
“Myron Tiffee. He is probably my favorite player in the country because he reminds me of how I used to play back in the day at Nebraska.” I blurted out.
“I didn’t know you felt so passionately about him,” laughed Officer Boley. “Now if you would let me finish. If I had to choose one team to root for it would have to be the Boston College Eagles. I like the way they play.”
“For someone who doesn’t follow College Baseball you sure do know your stuff. To me all that matters is my alma mater and that is the Nebraska Cornhuskers. They have home-state advantage, and the best defense and base running in the country. Not to mention my favorite player. He made a diving stab on a shot up the middle and then made a glove flip to get the force out at second base. I couldn’t believe it.”
*
This was the exact play I made to clinch the Big 12 championship when I was a freshman. There were two outs in the ninth inning and the bases were loaded. We were up one run with our closer Ryan Grey on the mound. He was the most efficient closer in college baseball that year. If we won this game we were going to the College World Series, and if we lost we didn’t qualify. Baylor’s number two hitter was up and he had been a consistent hitter all season long. Ryan has gotten him into a 2-2 count, when ping, the ball was smoked right past Ryan. I had gotten a good read on it and I knew I could get there. I slid right at the ball, stopped it with my glove. I didn’t have enough time to transfer the ball to my hand so while I was still sliding I flipped the ball backhanded with my glove to second base for the force out. We had won the game on that play and it gave us a berth to the NCAA tournament. It was the happiest day of my life. Unfortunately we lost that year in the first round to UC Irvine, which was one of the best teams in the country. Our miracle run had ended. I thought I would have another three years to make it back. It turned out I had zero. Midway through the next year I was taking a throw from the catcher to second base when the runner slid right into my knee and tore all of my ligaments. I was never the same and could not return to playing. It was the saddest day of my life. Whenever I watch this kid play sometimes it is hard for me because he reminds me so much of myself. Other times I just truly love watching him play and hopefully nothing gets in his way of becoming a success.
**
“Do you know how many games we get to watch today”? asked Officer Boley.
“There are 4 games that need to be played today to get it down to the right number of teams. I’m pretty sure that there is a game at 8:00, a game at 12:00, a game at 4:00, and a game at 8:00. We have a full day today. I think Nebraska is the last game and I have to watch that one. I’m not expecting to get home till late tonight.”
“It should be a fun day that’s all I know.”
We approached the stadium and saw all of the team’s busses in the parking lot. Even the teams playing at 8:00 had shown up to see the early games. I am impressed by those college kids getting up so early. There is one thing I promised myself would do while I was here and that is go see coach. Coach Friedman had been the coach of Nebraska baseball for the last 24 years. He had made the tournament the last 8 years and 20 out of 24 years. He was the coach when I was there and we had a grat relationship until my injury. After my injury I tuned out of baseball for awhile. I couldn’t even look at a baseball without being depressed. I haven’t talked to coach since the day I left. I figure I owe him a thank you for everything he had done for me.
Officer Boley and I walked into the stadium to observe what was going on. It was a very nice stadium. There were lots of seats and concessions. The field looked like one of the nicest I had ever seen. The outfield grass had been cut in a pattern that spelled CWS 2010. The infield grass was cut in a beautiful diamond pattern. The pitcher’s mound and infield had been watered to perfection. There should be no bad bounces today. This brings back so many good memories. All of a sudden I see the Nebraska team sitting by the first base line with Coach Friedman behind them.
I told Officer Boley I was going to go say hello to an old friend. I walked over to him, but on the way trying to think of what I should say. He noticed me coming and a smile grew across his face.
“Is that Pat Walton I see”? he shouted as I was walking towards him.
“It is Coach. How have things been? The last time we talked was back in my short playing days. That freshman season was the best time of my life. I’m sorry I never came back. I just loved the game so much and after my injury I just didn’t think I could handle coming back. I hoped you never thought of me differently after that. I felt I just needed some time to get my life back in order.”
“Slow down there Pat. Of course I never thought differently of you. You were the best shortstop I ever had, until maybe now of course.” He pointed to Myron Tiffee three rows ahead of us. “This kid is unbelievable. He is as fast as lightning, he can hit for power and average, he is the best defensive player in the country, and he listens to me. You would think a player of that caliber would have a big ego, but no. he is the nicest and most gracious kid you will ever meet.”
“I have been watching him all year. He is amazing. He reminded me a little of myself out there.”
“Well in that case. MYRON come up here. There is someone I want you to meet.”
I was frozen. I had no idea I would actually get to meet Myron Tiffee himself. I had no clue of what I should say.
“Yes Coach. Who is it”? asked Myron.
“Myron, this is Pat Walton. He was the shortstop for me in 2003. He was one of the best I ever had until someone slid and blew out his knee when he was a sophomore. You could learn a lot from this guy.”
“It is a pleasure to meet you Mr. Walton. I’m sorry about what happened to your knee.”
“It’s great to meet you too Myron. I had been watching you play this year. You have done a fantastic job, keep up the good work. You look better than me when I was in my playing days.”
“Thank you Mr. Walton I really appreciate it. Will you be staying for the game today”?
“I’m planning on it if there is no trouble anywhere else. I’m here on work so if I get called away I have to go.”
“Thanks Myron, you can go back with your teammates now, said Coach Freidman, who looked surprised to hear I was working. “What are you doing with your life these days Pat.”?
I’ve been a Detective with the Grand Island Police Department for 4 years now. I love my job, it has been so great. I also married Linda Sterling. I don’t know if you remember her back from when I was playing for you. She would usually come and watch our practice or sometimes pick me up. She’s a great girl.”
“Ah yes I do remember Linda. I’m happy that you’re living happy out here. For me, my life consists of being with Cheryl and coaching baseball. You can’t ask for much more than that.”
“So Coach what does the scouting report look like for your opponent today”? I asked while UC Irvine took the field to start the first game of the tournament against the University of Florida.
“Our first game is against the University of Clemson who are a very good team. They have the best hitter in the country in Bobby Jay, and they are strong defensively. I think we can definitely handle them. We have our ace Lefty Ford on the mound today so we should be all set. You have probably watched some of our games so you know how we play.”
“I have faith you guys will be fine. Nebraska has always been a well coached team.”
Coach got a kick out of that last joke I just made. We said our goodbyes and I went back to sit with Officer Boley behind home plate. It was really nice to see and be able to talk to Coach Friedman again. He was one of the people I felt I could really talk to at Nebraska and I miss that feeling.
“Who was that”? asked Officer Boley.
“He used to be my coach back when I played at Nebraska. He was one of the coolest guys I knew. I hadn’t seen him since I left after my injury so I felt I owed him a visit.”
“Seems fair enough to me. It’s only the first inning of this game and UC Irvine is winning 4-0. They are the number one seed, but still. This is crazy they are so good.”
The game continued with UC Irvine destroying the University of Florida. The final score of the game was 13 to 2. The UC Irvine starter had gone 8 innings and given up two hits and no runs. The reliever who came in gave up the only Florida two runs. You have to give credit to Florida for fighting hard. UC Irvine had advanced to the next round and they would play the winner of the University of Sand Diego against the University of Connecticut.
Officer Boley and I decided that we were hungry so we went over to the concession stand and loaded up on food. I bought popcorn, chicken fingers, and my favorite treat, fried dough. You never get anything like this when there aren’t any games so I have to take advantage of the situation. The next game had started and it was about 1:00. We were right on schedule. The rest of the day flew by with University of Connecticut winning 3-2 on a walk off homerun, and Charlestown College beating Arizona State in a huge upset.
The light started to turn on as it was getting darker. The Arizona State and Charlestown College game had just ended and we had about 30 minutes to kill before the Nebraska game. The stadium had started to fill up even more and this game looked like it would get to full capacity. The Nebraska fans started to get a little rowdy towards the Clemson fans. We had to remove one fan from the stadium because he was swearing around little children which was very inappropriate. He wasn’t happy about being removed, but when we threatened to throw him in jail for not cooperating with police officers he didn’t seem to have a problem. We took care of this incident just in time for the game. We came back to our seats and got ready for the big game that was about to take place. Just then we saw huge gray clouds overhead. N one had expected rain on such a beautiful day. The weatherperson on channel 3 said that there was a chance that there could be passing showers. The rain started to come down lightly and then it came down hard. The players retreated to their dugouts and prepared to wait out the delay.
The rain decided to finally stop around 9:30. The game needed to be played today so everyone was expected to wait as long as possible. There was a tarp over the field so it was still in good condition. Most of the fans had decided to leave which made our job easier. The only bad thing about this is that I will get home later and get to bed later. I still have to wake up at the same time tomorrow morning no matter what.
Nebraska is the home team in this game. Once the grounds crew has finished fixing the field, the Nebraska starters take the field. Lefty Ford is looking as sharp as ever today. He has all of his pitched going for him today. He has a nasty fastball that is consistent at 96 mph. His splitter is his next best pitch at 89 mph. Those two pitches are offset by a devastating breaking ball at 82 mph and a changeup that sets the tone at 79. There is such a difference in his velocity and the batter can never tell because his windup never changes. This is what makes him so goo and the major league scouts love him. The first three Clemson hitters go down on strikes. He had a nine pitch first inning and all those pitched were strikes. This looks like it could be a pitcher’s duel today.
Pitcher’s duels can be the best thing in baseball to watch depending on what type of fan you are. Some people just like when hitters are crushing the ball and the final score turns out to be 11-10. To me that seems fun, but there is more to baseball then that. It is about beating the other team mentally and physically. Maybe I am just saying this because I was a former player, but I am sure there are many people who agree with me.
The Clemson Tigers took the field in the bottom of the first inning with their ace on the mound. They were more of an offensive team then a strong pitching team. There pitcher was very good, but not where near as good as lefty. The first Nebraska hitter up to the plate was no one other then Myron Tiffee. This kid just had a swagger when he walked up to the plate. He had confidence that not many people had. Before Tiffee got into the box he took a couple of practice swings and got his timing down. He stepped into the box and glared at the pitcher. The pitcher came to the set and released the ball from his hand. The ball got closer and closer and then………………
JJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJ Where I started from 6500
Pow! Right off the bat you knew that it was out of there. Myron Tiffee had just lead off the game with a solo home run. The crowd went wild as he crossed the plate. The game continued to the surprise of everyone. The Clemson pitcher had everyone for the Nebraska team fooled and off balance. It was a pitcher’s duel throughout the whole game. Going into the top of the ninth inning the score was 1-0 Nebraska. They had brought in their closer Kerry Freeland. He was one of college baseball’s most efficient closers. He proved tonight why he had earned that name. He faced three batters and struck out all three of them in nine pitches. It really was a sight to watch. He had all of his pitched going and this led Nebraska into the next round. After tonight they look like they could not be stopped. I headed for my car and was ready to go home.
When I got home I was exhausted. I had spent all day at the ballpark and by now it was one in the morning. I walked in the door, kicked off my shoes and walked straight to my bed. I lay down, set my alarm for six and dozed off.
I was awoken at 4:45 in the morning and it wasn’t by the sound of my alarm. My phone was sitting on my nightstand buzzing off the hook. I had two missed calls and it was buzzing a third time. I picked it up and heard Officer Boley’s voice on the other end:
“Pat, you’re going to want to come down to the stadium. We have a very big problem.”
“Boley it’s 4:45 in the morning what could be so huge that you would wake me up at this hour. How did you even get there so fast”?
“I was awake when they called me. I figured I could go back to my college days and try it. The real reason I called isn’t to chat. Pat, Myron Tiffee has been found murdered in the locker room.”
“What?!?!?!?! How could that happen? I saw and was talking to him less than 4 hours ago. Boley if you are playing some kind of joke on me I will be so mad.”
“Pat this is no joke, get down here and ill explain everything.”
I couldn’t believe what I had just heard. There were so many things that were running through my mind. How did he die? Who could have done something like this? What is going to happen to the College World Series? When news of this gets out tomorrow the baseball world will go into shock. I got out of bed and put on clothes as quickly as I could. I grabbed my keys, badge and gun as I sprinted through the door towards my car. There was no traffic on a chilly early morning. It was very dark outside because the sun hadn’t started to rise. I got to the stadium in less than 10 minutes and when I got there, there were so many things going on I didn’t know where to start. There were 10 news trucks with tons of reporters all outside of the stadium, trying to figure out what exactly had happened. That is exactly what I am trying to find out also. Officer Boley wasn’t exactly clear on how this murder had taken place. I walked swiftly through the crowd of news reporters with all of them asking me several questions about what had occurred. I proceeded on into the stadium and saw Officer Boley standing outside of the dugout.
“Boley!” I shouted from behind the plate.
“Pat, glad you got here so quick. As you know Myron Tiffee the star baseball player from Nebraska has been murdered. Chief Gordon has made you the lead detective because he feels you are the most connected and you are the right person to solve this case. It’s a nasty one, I’ll tell you that and it could not have come at a worse time.”
“He made me the lead detective? This is crazy. Isn’t there anyone else with more experience who could be the lead”?
“I’m sure there I, but he feels like you are ready for the task and have the best resources to solve this case. This isn’t my decision. You can talk to him if you want. I’m just here giving the orders. Let me take you to the crime scene.”
I can’t believe Chief Gordon mad me the lead detective on this case. I have never done anything so big in my entire life. I don’t know if I’m ready for it. What if I make a mistake? That could end my career because there is so much riding on this case being solved. The locker room felt like it was miles away. Even though we had only been walking for less than a minute it felt like the longest minute of my life. There were people everywhere in the tunnel leading to the clubhouse and locker room. I finally arrived in the locker room and saw the dead corpse lying on the floor covered with a tarp. Even with the tarp over it you could tell that the body of Myron Tiffee was very limp and lifeless. There was blood spatter along the wall in certain parts of the room and there was certainly a lot of it. Whoever wanted Myron Tiffee dead had a serious grudge against him. I went over to the tarp and stood over it for a minute. I recalled the time I was talking to him with Coach. It was only a few hours ago. I can’t believe he was gone. He was such a bright young man with a great future. I lifted the tarp off of his body to examine what had happened to him. Right when I lifted the tarp I grimaced. It looked as if he had his head bashed in. There were also multiple stab wounds in his chest area. This was no work of a human. This was the work of a pathological killer.
This murder really hit a nerve. This kid reminded me exactly of myself. When he was murdered it was like I was murdered. To kill such a young and innocent life is juts cruel. I will not sleep until I bring this murderer to justice and make sure he gets the full penalty he deserves. I was ready to take this case head-on and make it know that I was not to be messed with.
“Officer Boley, I want pictures taken of everything that has happened. I want every piece of evidence documented and taken back to the department for future reference. I want the whole field scanned and searched for a sign that Myron Tiffee wasn’t in the locker room for the whole time. There are many possible scenarios of what could have happened and our number one priority is to figure out that scenario. Next we need to figure out motive for why the killer would brutally murder someone like this.”
There are a couple reasons for why someone is usually murdered. The first reason is that they owe somebody something. This can range from anywhere to money from gambling or horse hay. The second reason is jealousy. Someone else could have something that the killer wants to have. This could trigger an emotional outbreak and that switch will just snap in his head telling him it is alright to kill. The third and final reason is that there is something mentally wrong with the killer. There is always something wrong with all killers, but in this case the killer has a mental disorder that leaves them in no control over their body and emotions.
From what I know about this case I am going to assume that it is either one of the first two reasons. I can rule out the third because there is almost no way that a mentally ill person would go out of their way to seek out Myron Tiffee. I just need to figure out if Myron Tiffee was involved in some sort of illegal activity or if he was just the victim of someone else’s anger.
After I gave Officer Boley and the rest of the guys their assignments I headed towards my car so I could go back to the department and figure out where to start in this case. As I was closing in on the exits I figured I should talk to the media and let them know what was going on. I didn’t want to tell them too much because I wanted a chance to talk to the team before the media got to them. I had no idea how greatly they would react to this tragedy so I had to take every precautionary measure. I walked closer to the media and then stopped and coughed to get their attention.
“Hello everyone. Thank you for being so patient on this early morning. I know it has been tough for you to get out of beds, but a tragedy has occurred this morning. One of the players taking part in the College World Series has been brutally murdered in the clubhouse earlier this morning. Unfortunately, I cannot go into any of the specifics right now about who has been murdered and what is going to happen. All I can say is that there will be a press conference at eight in the morning today for anyone who is interested in hearing more of the details. Again, it will be at noon in front of the Grand Island Police Department. Thank You.”
As soon as I had finished talking there were shouts and questions being thrown all over the place. People were asking who had been murdered and what is going to happen to the College World Series and all of the questions I told them would be answered later. As a detective I have come to realize how annoying the press can be, but at a time like this it really has become over the top.
Instead of driving over to the department I headed for the hotel where the Nebraska team was staying. I had to wake up Coach and let him know what had happened. It was about a 10 minute drive from the field because it was in the next town over called Turtle Rock. I connected my iPod to the tape player in the car and just sat there, not saying or thinking anything. I just drove along the dark, black roads and didn’t say a word. The only thing I could hear was the nice beat of California Gurls by Katy Perry featuring Snoop Dogg. There was no one on the roads and it was as quiet as could be. I couldn’t help but think about how I was going to tell Coach about what happened and how he was going to react. If he broke down into tears I wouldn’t know how to react. I guess the best thing to do would be just sit there in silence. Just as my thought ended I pulled into the hotel parking lot. It wasn’t a huge hotel, just the right size for a baseball team and other guests. I had heard the school rented out the whole hotel for players, coaches and families. They never did that back in my playing days.
I walked through the front door and saw that there was a small middle ages women working the front. I went up to her and she could see the pained look in my eyes.
“Can I help you with something sir,” she asked very kindly.
“Yes actually there is. My name is Detective Walton from the Grand Island Police Department. I need to speak with the coach of the Nebraska Cornhusker baseball team. Can you tell me where he is”?
“I’m really sorry sir. I was directed to not tell anyone the assigned room numbers for any of the baseball players of coaches.”
“I appreciate that you are trying to do your job, but maybe you didn’t hear me correctly, I am a detective with the Grand Island Police Department. I need to speak to the Coach of the Nebraska Cornhusker baseball team regarding the murder of one of his players. Can you please tell me what room he is staying in”?
“One of his players was murdered? That is horrible I’m so sorry. Let me just check the computer and I will tell you in one second.”
It seemed like forever for her to check her computer. How hard could it be to find one of the guest’s names and number? I personally don’t think it takes a brain surgeon, but maybe I am juts cranky from everything that has happened.
“Sorry for the wait sir I was having some computer problems. The coach is staying in room 236B. That is on the second floor and when you get off the elevator it is too the right. I hope everything works out and you catch the killer.”
“Thank you very much for your help.”
I started walking towards the elevator when I stopped in my tracks. What if coach already knew? How would I explain that the media had gotten to him before I did? I didn’t give the media much to go with, but they have a lot of smart people and could have easily figured it out. I pressed the up button on the elevator and the door opened. I was just praying that I had gotten to coach and the team first. The elevator door opened on the second floor and I walked out. I went to the right and proceeded down the hallway. My steps got slower and slower as I became more nervous. I finally approached room 236B and knocked on the door firmly three times. After a couple of seconds I heard some rustling around in the room. Coach was taking his time because he probably figured it was one of the drunken kids playing a fun game of ding-dong-ditch. After about a minute he came to the door and looked very surprised to see me.
“Pat, what are you doing here so late”? asked a very tired looking coach.
“Coach we have had a terrible incident occur. Would it be possible for you to gather the team downstairs in the main lobby so I can talk to all of them? You are most likely going to want to talk what I am going to tell you as a team.”
“Pat what is going on. Did I miss something”?
“Please just gather everyone together and I will let everyone know of the news.”
After about 30 minutes everyone was gathered in the main lobby looking as confused as ever. It was about six in the morning and now one was expecting to be up for at least another hour or two. Coach asked everyone to settle down and pay close attention to me.
“Thank you all for coming down here so quickly. Unfortunately, I have some horrendous and sad news to share with you. Last night at around3:30 in the morning a hell of a baseball player, a good person and most importantly a great kid who you all know as your teammate Myron Tiffee was brutally murdered last night in the clubhouse at the stadium you played in. I know this is a terrible, terrible thing that has happened and this is an awful way to find out, but the Grand Island Police Department is going to do everything they can to make sure that this case gets solved and the killer gets all of the justice that is coming to him. Myron was a great kid and that is only from when I met him last night. I could just tell that he was going somewhere good in life. Unfortunately, his life came to a short end thanks to a cold blooded murderer. You all probably had better relationships with him and were very close with him. I’m so sorry for your loss and I hope Myron will be in everyone’s best memories. After everyone has had some time to settle down and relax I am going to need to speak with everyone on the team including coaches. Thank you.”
The room was dead silent. Nobody said a word. Everyone was just looking down at the ground in awe. They couldn’t believe what had happened. I look over to the left and saw multiple members of the coaching staff all in tears. There were some players in tears including the second basemen Angel Verdona, who was Myron’s best friend. I couldn’t say I blamed any of them. When you’re on a team like this, everyone is family. Whenever you lose someone it hurts everyone. When everyone seemed to be regaining their control Coach stood up and was ready to talk to the team.
“Guys, we all know how big a part of the team Myron was. Not only was he our teammate, but he was our family. This is a huge loss for all of us and it will take a long time to get over, no doubt. Right now we have to figure out was Myron would have wanted us to do after a tragedy like this. Should we stay in or pull out of the tournament. I would like to give everyone a chance to go back to their rooms to shower and change, and then we can come back down and decide. Be back here in 30 minutes.”
Right as the team was about to disperse, Lefty Ford stood straight up and let everyone know his opinion.
“There is no fucking way we are backing out of this tournament. We are going to win this whole thing and then dedicate the trophy to Myron. If he was here it’s what he would want us to do. Now I don’t know how you guys feel, but no matter what I am taking tat field tomorrow. Now who is with me”?
At that moment everyone in the main lobby started clapping and shouting. There was not one person who was against continuing in the tournament. I was very impressed with the heart these kids had. If that was me I don’t know if I could have done it. As everything quieted down I stood back up and told everyone what the schedule looked like for today.
“I’m glad you made that decision guys, it seems like the right one. You do your job on the field and I’m going to do mine off the field to solve this case. The first games have been pushed back to ten o clock. I have already talked to the commissioner and he has agreed that that is the right thing to do. There will be a press conference at eight o clock, which is in approximately one hour and thirty minutes away. I would like it for all of you guys to be there. It will be outside of the Grand Island Police Department. All of you boys go shower and get ready. Don’t forget, let’s come out to play today and win this game.
“FOR MYRON!” I shouted at the top of my lungs. This was followed up a huge roar from the team.
“FOR MYRON!” They all yelled.
There was no doubt in m mind that the hotel had just been woken up. I really did not care at this time. I felt horrible for these kids and what they had just been through. They are some of the strongest kids I have ever met and I respect every single one of them. I went up to Coach and gave him a big hug.
“Coach we will catch this guy don’t you worry.” I assured him as we embraced.
“I swear to god, you better get your hands on him first before I do or else we will have serious problems. He was the best kid I ever had. There will never be another Myron Tiffee.”
“I know Coach, I know. I have been put in charge of this case and I will not sleep until this guy is caught. Tonight make sure all of your players come back to the hotel so I can interview them and just be sure that they were all here and accounted for.”
“I will have them here, but there is really no need for that. None of my players would have ever hurt Myron. He was the nicest kid for being such a good player.”
“Coach I don’t believe it was one of your players either, but you know it is my job just to be safe and check. Go get some rest and I will see you in a couple of hours. Good luck.”
When everyone filed out of the main lobby and back to their room, I left the hotel and got back into my car. I needed to get to the department to figure out what I was exactly going to say to the media.
The ride over was short and I had figured out what I had wanted to say. The press conference was in half an hour and now all I could do was figure out the first step in my investigation. I need to get all of the evidence from the clubhouse and see what has emerged from it. I also want to go back to Myron’s hometown to talk to his family and friends to find out more about him. This was going to be hard to do. I have never talked to the family of someone who had a family member killed. This was going to be extremely hard to do. I sat at my desk staring at my notepad until one of the officers at the department came up to me and said that everyone was outside and ready for the press conference. I got up, brought my notepad with me and was ready to go.
“Ladies and gentlemen, as some of you already know, there has been a murder of one of the most prominent players in the College World Series. Myron Tiffee was found dead in the clubhouse of stadium two, at 3:30 in the morning. This was a shock to everyone and this department will not rest until the killer is found. We have the Nebraska baseball team here today who has decided that in honor of Myron Tiffee they will continue in the tournament. Myron Tiffee was a great baseball player, a great teammate, and most importantly a great person. His life was ended too shortly by a terrible person. I have been put in charge of this case and I believe that we have the right resources to close this case and give Myron the proper respect he deserves along with some closure for his family. If anyone has any information regarding this case please contact me or the department and w regarding this case please contact me or the department and we will make sure you remain anonymous. Thank you.”
Everyone who was there looked absolutely stunned. The Nebraska baseball team were the only people who had already heard of the news. The reporters were all scribbling in their notebooks as fast as they possibly could. I was worried what this news could do to the town. Names can get tossed around then who knows what will happen. As soon as everyone had left the area I went back inside and got ready to leave. I saw Officer Boley sitting at his desk. I went by told him to call his wife and tell her he wouldn’t be home for dinner because we were going on a road trip. He looked a little bummed out, but he knew we had a job to do.
We got into the car and headed for Route 4. This road would take us the 200 miles we needed to go to get to Myron’s small hometown. I was driving like usual and Officer Boley has his chair leaned back like he was ready to take a nap the whole way. I was going to try and keep him up so I wouldn’t be lonely the whole ride.
“So Boley, What do you think happened with this whole case? How did such a great kid get murdered”? I knew this topic would get officer Boley going. He always loved to talk about this stuff. More importantly he always loved to make assumptions.
“In my opinion someone was jealous of him .Who wouldn’t be. He’s a stud. He was going to be a top 5 pick in the draft and get to the majors quicker than anyone. I think it was either someone on the team or someone from another team who was thinking he was going to hurt their chances of winning it all. What about that pitcher from Clemson? He has some serious motive to kill Tiffee. Giving up one run and it was a homerun to him that ended up winning the game. You never know.”
“That is a pretty big conclusion to jump to. We haven’t even started the real investigation yet how can you be so sure it was him”?
“Tell me this Pat. Would I have become a Police Officer if I didn’t have such a keen sense for these kind of things? I don’t think so. I’m willing to make a bet with you that I’m right. Let’s say, $200. Are you scared I might beat you”?
“That was a very stupid bet my friend. You’re on. Now for the more logical explanation of what happened. I believe that Myron Tiffee was killed by a player from the Nebraska Cornhuskers. Maybe they got into a fight and it just turned really ugly or maybe it was something else. Just by looking around at them this morning I could tell some of them were not that affected by the death of their teammate. I found that hard to believe because he was their best chance of winning the World Series. Sometimes things in life just really don’t make sense.”
That was the end of that conversation and we both were hoping we were right. We put big money on that bet and I could buy a lot of things with that money such as a new IPod. I always wanted one, but never got around to getting one. I was always a CD guy. We talked for the rest of the way about many different things including the basketball playoffs, and the MLB season going on. We got to Myron’s town in about three hours. There was no traffic and the weather was nice which made for a good trip. It was a very small town with a population of about 1,200. It was a little hard to find the Tiffee residents, but after about 20 minutes of searching we found it. It was a nice big ranch with a barn in the back. It looked like there was old baseball equipment in the back near the barn and I saw netting on the side of the barn. It probably used to be a batting cage. No wonder this kid used to be so good. It looked like he had the ability to practice whenever he wanted. He was a lucky kid, not everyone was so fortunate to have that opportunity and I think he knew that. That is what made him such a great kid. Officer Boley and I got out of the car and walked up the walkway to the front door. I knocked twice and then stepped back to give them space to open the door. The door opened and a short, but sweet looking lady stood there. She looked as if something sad had just happened. I’m guessing this was his mother.
“Ms. Tiffee. My name is Detective Walton with the Grand Island Police Department and this is my partner Officer Boley. We are here to ask you some questions about the death of your son if that is okay with you.”
“Yes yes, come on in.” She sounded very depressed and not happy to see us. Who would be happy to see us? She realized that if she wanted the killer to be brought to justice she would have to talk to us.
“Ms. Tiffee we are just going to ask you a couple of questions about Myron and then we will be out of your hair. If you could please cooperate then this will go much quicker.” I was trying to reassure her we were only here to help.
“Yes that is fine.”
“Alright, Ms. Tiffee. How had things been going for Myron at school and on the baseball team”?
“Myron was a great kid and he always did well in school. That is one of the first things we taught him, that school comes before baseball. When he was a kid he always had to do his homework before he was allowed to go outside and practice baseball. He was getting good grades and the team was supposedly pretty good to. I do remember a couple of things he told me. Myron had always been somewhat of a Mamma’s boy so he would tell me a lot of stuff that was going on with him. He said that he was being hazed by a couple of the players on the team and it was really bugging him. He said once when they were on a road trip they put eggs in his pillow and when he went to go to sleep on it his face got covered in eggs. He also told me that they were constantly mean to him. Myron was a tough kid and he could handle himself, but I’m sure deep down it was hurting him.”
“Thank you that will definitely help a lot. Did Myron ever say who these players were that were constantly hazing him?”
“He told me that there were three of them. One of them was the backup shortstop, whose name I don’t know, another of them was Riley Green, one of the relief pitchers, and the last one was Nate Starr, the backup catcher. I just don’t understand why they feel the need to do that to my baby. There was one boy on the team that I really did like. His name was Lefty Ford. He was the best pitcher on the team and from what Myron told me he was the real leader. Myron would always say that Lefty Ford stood up for him whenever he experienced the hazing. Lefty and Angel Verdona were his best friends on the team so most likely they will know what is going on better than I do.”
“We will be sure to talk to everyone on the team and interview them thoroughly. Can you tell us about Myron’s personal life? Did he have a girlfriend or anyone like that close to him”?
“Myron did have a girlfriend recently. The last time we talked he hadn’t mentioned her which was odd because he usually does. Her name was Sophie Vale. They had been dating ever since Myron got to Nebraska and he had been so happy with her. I don’t know if things just ended abruptly or not, but that may be something to look into.”
“Thank you so much for your help Ms. Tiffee. You have given us so much to work with and we appreciate it so much. Thank you for the time you have given us and we are deeply sorry for your loss.”
“Detective promise me two things. I want you to keep me informed with what is going on and two I want you to get this guy so we can let Myron rest in peace.”
“Absolutely Ms. Tiffee, We will catch this guy and bring him to justice. Don’t Worry.”
We said our final goodbyes and then Officer Boley and I departed. It was a long car ride back and we had a lot of stuff to go over. We started driving and got back to Route 4. I started the conversation because Officer Boley seemed to be speechless from what we just heard. He was thinking very hard.
“I had no idea the star player might be getting hazed. That juts didn’t occur to me. I think our next step should be to interview those players from the team that were hazing Tiffee and see where that takes us. I also feel like we should interview Lefty Ford and Sophie about what was going on with them and Myron. The next couple of interviews should really tell us everything we need to know.”
“Yeah I agree with you on that, but we do need some hard evidence. Before we do anymore interviews we need to go and look at the autopsy report and all of the evidence collected from the scene. They did lift a few fingerprints which could be huge.”
The rest of the ride was silent. Neither of us knew what to say or do, so the best thing we could think of was just to sit there and gaze at the open road ahead of us. Our next step was clear and that is exactly where we were head. The ride was longer then I had expected. There was a herd of sheep that had crossed the road when we were halfway down Route 4. It took us about 20 minutes to go around them. We got back to the department around seven. There weren’t a whole lot of people there, just the usual one or two police officers on duty. Officer Boley and I were almost ready to call it a night, but we decided we should visit the evidence locker first and look at everything we had collected. We hopped on the elevator and were there in no time. The evidence locker was very small because there really were no crimes in Grand Island. I remember when I was eight years old. All over the news in Nebraska there was talk of a serial killer in Grand Islands. He had murdered 6 people and has still not been found to this day. Eventually he had stopped killing, but he was known as The Grand Island Killer. Who knows if he will ever strike again? This was the last real tragedy to hit Grand Islands other than the occasional drag racing death on Route 4. The biggest box we had in the locker was the one we were looking for. It had a big title across the front labeled HOMOCIDE, and under that was the name Myron Tiffee. I grabbed the box and placed it on a big and cold table that was in the middle of the room. I pulled the top off and one by one Officer Boley and I grabbed each piece and put it on the table.
There were a couple of things that I noticed right away. The bigger bags were the ones we sorted through first. We went through Myron’s uniform and collected all of the traces of fiber and items that looked like they didn’t belong. We put those in little jars and we were going to send them to the forensics lab. The next pieces of evidence we decided to go through was the blood samples found at the scene. We put these with the fiber samples to go to the lab. We had juts about finished sorting everything when Officer Boley pulled out one final bag from the box. It was a relatively small bag so it could have gone easily unnoticed.
“Pat, look what I found. It looks like a piece of a fingernail. The bag says they found it on Myron Tiffee’s body when he was found dead. This is huge. We need to get this to the lab right away.”
Officer Boley and I were in a dead sprint to the lab where the technician had left for the day. This was just perfect. We could have a potential break in the case and there was no one around to help.
“Well that sucks. We should leave it in her door and she will get it first thing tomorrow. What do you say we head over to the Nebraska game and see what is going on? The game starts at 8 and we should make it just in time.” I asked Officer Boley.
“Yeah that sounds like a good plan. I am in need for some good baseball after a hard day’s work. Maybe even a beer would hit the spot. Let’s hit the road.”
We walked to the car, where we had spent most of our day, and hit the road once again. Thank god this time it was a short drive because my legs were killing me from so much driving. We got to the stadium in less than 5 minutes and we got there just in time for the opening ceremonies in honor of Myron Tiffee. The PA announcer had begun to speak and the crowd went silent. It was like all of the energy that was buzzing around the crowd had just left and gone to some other far off place.
“Ladies and gentlemen, we gathered here today to mourn the loss of a friend, player, and great person. As you all know Myron Tiffee was brutally murdered in the waking hours of last night in the clubhouse. It is one of the worst events to ever happen at the CWS and possibly in the state of Nebraska. This game is being played through hardships and we must respect all of the players playing today. In honor of the late Myron Tiffee may me all rise for a moment of silence.”
Everyone rose to their feet and the look on their faces was painstaking. Everyone was in shock that something like this could have ever happened. The Nebraska grandstand was the worst as expected. There were multiple people crying and weeping being consoled by one another. Other then my mother and father’s funeral, this was the saddest event I had been to.
Back when I was eight years old my parents and I were on a trip to South Dakota to see Mount Rushmore. It was one of the best trips of my life and one of the only real experiences I got to spend with my parents. We had climbed Mount Rushmore and spent the night over in South Dakota. We left the next morning and headed along Route 4. We were all the way back in Nebraska and almost in Grand Islands when we saw a car pulled over to the side of the road. There was a guy who was trying to wave us own for help. My parents had always been exceptionally nice people so obviously they would pull over. Both of y parents got out of the car to try and help the man. They had left me in the car buckled in the back so I could see everything that was happening. It looked as if the man had a flat tire and he needed help getting the car jacked up. He asked my mother and father to jack up the car while he got the spare from the trunk. My parents agreed. Little did they know the man was not getting the spare tire from his trunk, instead he came back with a crowbar the size of a tree trunk. He smashed the crowbar over my father’s head and then over my mothers. They were both lifeless after this, but he continued to whack them. It was like he was taking out all of the anger that was in his life on them. It was horrifying to watch from the back seat knowing I couldn’t do anything to stop him. I knew I had to be quiet if I wanted to live. When he finally stopped he grabbed both of my parents and dragged them into a ditch on the side of the road. He put his tire back on with ease and aped off into the distance I got out of the car and saw my mother and father lying there motionless. I couldn’t even look at them their faces had been beaten so badly. I saw my mother’s cell phone, picked it up and called 911. I had no idea where I was. I remember telling them I was on a big road and saw a sign that said number 53. Mile Marker 53. Whenever I drive by there it still haunts me to this day. I visit there every year in honor of my parents and leave flowers where they had been found. One thing I forgot to mention, my parents were two out of the six victims killed by The Grand Island Killer.
Every day when I am in the office the first thing I do when I come in is check the cold case files for anything updated on the Grand Island Killer. Just being back and being at a ceremony like that brings back horrible memories. I feel the pain of anyone who has lost someone close to them. I know the direct impact and it can be very hard. The reason I came to Grand Island after my parent’s murder was because I fell in love with my wife Linda. She really allowed me to escape from everything and be happy with who I am. It’s why I love her and am happy to be with her.
The moment of silence came to an end and the players were ready to go. Nebraska was the better seed and they were taking the field first against Alabama. This was the best of a three game series and the winner would advance on to the next round. The game was underway with Nebraska taking the field. There second best pitcher named Vernon Holloway was on the mound and he was out there with a vengeance. He shut the first three kids down on strikes and that is when Nebraska came up to hit. Nobody really knew what to expect, but everyone was definitely hoping for the best and that is exactly what they got. Nebraska’s first eight hitters had all gotten hits. The ninth hitter, who was Myron Tiffee’s replacement named Kimono Hall and also one of the kids who bullied Myron Tiffee had made the first out. This happened exactly the same way again. The first eight batters in the order had gotten hits and Kimono Hall ended the inning by grounding into a double play. No one really blamed him because they knew this was his first real playing experience this year, but then again, people knew that if Myron Tiffee was out there it would be a whole different ballgame. The pounding continued until the final score ended up being 16-0 Nebraska. Vernon Holloway pitched the game of his life. He one-hit the opponent, and was named player of the game. Everyone was really proud of this team for overcoming the odds and winning. The team’s next game wasn’t for another two days so tomorrow we had plenty of time to interview the whole team and the coach to see what had been going on behind the scenes. Officer Boley and I walked into the parking lot and were on the way to the car when we heard some yelling. We turned around and there were a couple of guys who had broken out into a fight. It looked to be between some of the Nebraska fans and some of the Alabama fans. This didn’t look good and had the potential to turn into an all out brawl. Officer Boley and I sprinted over to where this altercation was taking place and started to break it up. Punches were being thrown everywhere and we did the best we could to break it up until I heard a loud popping sound and everyone stopped. Officer Boley had fired one round from his gun into the air to get everyone to stop. He started to scream at everyone involved.
“I want everyone involved to stop what they are doing, get on the ground and out their hands behind their head.”
There were about a total of six people involved which was less then I originally had thought.
“I want everyone else to walk away, go back to their cars, and go home.”
We got statements from everyone, got all of the information from everyone involved, and got into the car.
“This has been quite an eventful day don’t you think”? I asked Officer Boley.
“This had all been such a mess. All I want to do is go home and sleep for as long as I can. You do know what this fight means though right? We have to go back to the station and fill out a report of what happened. This is terrible. Sometime I really do hate me job.”
Officer Boley knew he wasn’t serious when he said that, but he is right sometimes the job can be very demanding when all you want to do is relax. We knew what we need to do though and we headed back to the station to fill out a report. In my professional opinion and from working this job for a couple of years, there will most likely be no charges filed. It is too much of a hassle for people to hire a lawyer, pay that lawyer, find the person they are looking for and then making a case against that person. It is too much to do when there is not enough at stake.
Like usual, the drive to the station was short with almost no conversation. Officer Boley actually fell asleep for a couple minutes until we got to the station. When I woke him up he looked dead. He was just very overtired and needed some sleep like the rest of us. We walked into the station side by side. I handed him our notes and told him to get started and that I would be there shortly. He gave me the usual answer of whatever, and he walked away. I was headed in the other direction towards the cold case files. Every time I walked into the department I just had to check those files. No matter what else I was doing or how important it was, I would drop it and go. The room was small, but definitely filled to capacity. There were boxes and boxes on top of each other. Each case contained evidence, files, and the report in it, so overall there were not that many cases. There was just a lot of material for each case. I never really understood the system they used either. It was nowhere near being in alphabetical order or being stacked by size. In this case I guess it helps me because I am looking for the biggest box and it was right there in the middle of the stacks. There were a total of two boxes, each was very large: One with papers about The Grand Island Killer, and one with the evidence found at all the scenes. I always started with the box containing the papers about the killer. This was almost the most interesting and it always had the most information. I had memorized this whole case file by now, but one more look couldn’t hurt. I opened up the folder with the general information, about The Grand Island Killer. It contained a sketch of his face and information about his height, weight, age and physical characteristics. One thing I noticed that the file contained was alibis. I scanned over the alibis and I saw a name that I had seen earlier that night. One of his most commonly used alibis was Vince Hall. I had heard that name earlier that night, but I couldn’t remember where. Then it struck me. The name of the Nebraska backup shortstop was named Hall. This could be a huge break we were looking for in both cases. My heart jumped and I sprinted out with the file in hand trying to locate Officer Boley……………
Epilogue: It turned out this really was the big break that Detective Walton was looking for. Detective Walton along with the help of Officer Boley had solved the murder of Myron Tiffee and this led to the solving of The case of the Grand Island Killer. It turned out that that alibi used by The Grand Island Killer was his real name. After the killer had used the name he got rid of it and went off the map. He had a son shortly after he murdered his sixth victim and this is when he stopped his murders. His son turned out to be a spectacular baseball player who went on a full ride scholarship to Nebraska. He had been a starter for Two years but then when Myron Tiffee came along he lost his job and became highly upset. Something just went off in his head and one night when Myron was the last person in the locker room he took advantage of the situation and murdered Myron. A lot of people say killing runs in the blood. When Detective Walton and Officer Boley interviewed Kimono hall he had admitted to killing Myron Tiffee. When the team found out they were shocked and couldn’t believe they had spent so much time with this guy when he was really a cold blooded killer. After Kimono had come out of the closet about the murder, Detective Walton asked to speak with his father so he could just ask a couple of follow up questions. Kimono led them to his father who had become very sick and had to stay home and rest in bed. When Detective Walton and Officer Boley walked into his room, Vince Hall, otherwise known as the Grand Island Killer, simply said, “I was waiting for the day that you guys finally caught me.” After he had spoken they knew it was him. Detective Walton went flying towards his bedside and started to strangle him. Officer Boley had to restrain him, but after a while he calmed down. Both of the Hall’s went away for life in prison with no chance of parole. Every year on the day that his mother and father had been killed Detective Walton places flowers on the roadside where the tragic incident of his parent’s death occurred. He now sleeps better at night knowing they caught the Grand Island Killer. Detective Walton had been offered a job to go and work with the FBI in their counter-terrorism unit. This was the opportunity of a lifetime for him and he happily accepted. Officer Boley was promoted to head of Police in Nebraska and is very happy with his new job. The Nebraska team kept on winning until they got to the finals where they lost 2-1 in the final game against Cal State Fullerton. They continue to mourn the loss of Myron Tiffee. He had a proper burial after the tournament and his number was retired by the College Baseball Association. The highest honor a player can have………