The Lovely Chocolate Mob - By Richard J. Bennett Page 0,96
game as she could, since their daddy was going to be there. She couldn’t tell them why, however, since the less they knew, the better for all involved.
The children needed to see their father as well. They knew was he was missing, and everyone in town was looking for him for crimes against humanity, or Cornelius Lovely, but not much more than that. All the children’s peers at school knew was what their parents and the television was telling them, that Old Man Lovely was dead, the family fortune was missing, and that Dr. Burke was the most likely candidate for his murder. This was hard on all the school children, but Mindy, a college student, missed much of this. J.R., the youngest, took most of the burden since he couldn’t reason out the situation or defend his father among his playmates.
Helen didn’t want this to look like a family outing; the police might get suspicious. The children were all told to get to the park separately, in their own cars and bicycles, if they could. J.R. rode with a teammate to the park, Mindy and Beth took their own cars, and Lucia went bike riding for the afternoon. Nobody was at the Burke household except for Sylvia, the maid, and the various pets. The police didn’t really see a pattern until the two girls took off in their cars, at separate times. Everybody was gone, and nobody told the cops where they were going.
It was around 8 p.m. when J.R.’s team started playing. We arrived after the first inning, walking in as though we owned the place, and sat high in the bleachers. Franklin was with me, and Walter and David came in another car. Walter had dressed exactly like Dr. Burke, so he could act as a decoy if Dr. Burke were spotted. We sat in the far right bleachers, behind first base; Walter and David sat in the far-left bleachers, behind third base. David was dressed an awfully lot like me, which was a lot like Dr. Burke. I hoped we all four weren’t spotted together; we’d probably draw more attention as a foursome, four middle-aged men who dressed a lot alike, who all shopped at the same dollar store.
Dr. Burke and Walter both wore a wig and dark colored glasses and a mustache. It was especially good that they weren’t seen together, as they would have drawn looks from the people in the park.
The game carried on, until J.R. came up to bat. I watched Dr. Burke during this time, hoping he wouldn’t cheer too much and draw attention to himself. We were only there to watch, and not be watched. He was a well-known man in the community, and we didn’t want anybody putting two and two together concerning the strange man cheering J.R. Burke.
The girls had also arrived at the ballpark and managed to find each other and were seated in the stands, up high in the bleachers behind the backstop, where they could talk and see the most action. This is where it was most crowded; the parents all gathered together in this general area; the girls felt safer in the middle of a crowd. All they knew was they were there to cheer for their little brother’s team. If Helen was there, she was not seen.
The game was mostly even, and the teams were tied 11 to 11 by the eighth inning. The park lights had come on, and the teams were now playing with lights. We were mostly under cover of darkness, where we felt safer. I told Dr. Burke to remain seated, and I’d try to contact his daughters so they could meet with him. Since two of them didn’t know me, and I’d only met Mindy once, I hoped she’d remember me, or else I’d have to find a way of convincing them.
I walked over to the crowded middle area and climbed the bleachers to the top. Walking towards the middle where the three sisters were seated, I stood as near to them as I could and tried to capture their attention.
“Mindy! Mindy!” I called. All three sisters looked in my direction, which was about 15 feet away. Mindy didn’t recognize me, which was what I was afraid of. They started talking among themselves and giving me the evil eye, as though I were some sort of aged pervert. Great. I hoped the other spectators didn’t turn to look at me in the same manner.