Toby and the "Midnight Readers"

     In Snap Shots there is a story called "Toby and the 'Midnight Readers'."  It is the 7th Chapter in the book.  In the "Preface" of the book, I explain that the all stories in the book are factual or based on real people and real incidents.  As such, Toby was a real person that I knew who made a good living writing "midnight readers."  However, in the story I changed the circumstances somewhat and the location.  Although the real Toby did live in California, he was closer to the Bay Area, actually in Sonoma County.
     The real Toby (that was his real name) was indeed a college professor just like the one in the story.  However, unlike the character in the story who worked part-time at a junior college, the real Toby was employed by a four year university full time and enjoyed a reputation for being an authority in his field of specialty, which was the 18th Century English Literature.
     When I first met Toby, I had no idea that he was a popular author of soft porn novels.  It wasn't until I visited his house, a very nice house in Sebastopol, California, and saw all those soft porn books in his office/library that I learned of his sideline vocation.  Just like in the story, when I asked him, he admitted to being the author of these "midnight readers" as he called them.  Naturally I was quite surprised.  Here, a middle aged, very respectable English professor with a sterling reputation as a scholar, was in fact a writer of soft porn novels!  What made this revelation all the more amazing was the fact that Toby (the real one) was gay!  Yet, his "midnight readers" were all about the sexual encounters of heterosexual couples, not gay sex!  Toby published these soft porn books under an assumed, exotic sounding woman's name.
     Toby's house was gorgeous, located on about an acre in a wooded area.  I am sure today it would cost several millions of dollars.  Even back in those days, some 45 years ago, it cost a fortune!  It was not the kind of a house that an average professor of a state university would be able to afford.  Perhaps the president of the university or one of the administrative types, but not a typical teaching faculty member.  So it was quite apparent that his income from his "sideline" was very lucrative! 
     Toby entertained often and lavishly, he could afford it!  He would invite other faculty members from the English Department as well as other departments.  In those days, most faculty members would simply hold a wine and cheese gathering, often a BYOB affair.  But not Toby, he provided all the wine and booze and food that was catered!  He was a popular guy.  California being always very liberal even back then, no one seemed to pay any heed to the fact that he was gay.  He was a very charming, witty individual who was very popular with fellow faculty members and students alike.
     But then, sadly, he began to change.  He started to flaunt his homosexuality, at times making things very uncomfortable for heterosexuals.  Pretty soon most faculty members stopped going to his parties.  Toby not only became more outwardly gay, but he would invite gay students to the parties and some of them would get very obnoxious at those gatherings.  Rumors started to circulate that he was carrying on with several gay students and held wild parties at his house.  Pretty soon his bizarre behavior reached a point that no heterosexual person attended any of his parties or socialized with him at all.  Other faculty members began to even shun him at school, avoiding any sort of contact.  In fact, there were a couple other gay members of the faculty who also avoided him!  It was hard to figure what caused this change in his behavior.
     Then, over the summer of that year, a completely unexpected and shocking incident took place.  One morning, according to some of the first hand witnesses (a couple of gay young men who were staying at his house), Toby calmly sat down in the middle of the lawn of his large back yard and poured gasoline over himself and set himself on fire.  The witnesses said that Toby would daily go out into the lawn and sit and meditate for at least an hour, so they didn't pay any attention when he did go out.  No one noticed that he took a can of gasoline with him.  A shocking and horrible death.  No one could have predicted this, despite his strange behavior of the past months.  Thus, came an end to the series of popular soft porn books that were supposedly written by a woman with an exotic sounding name.
     About twenty years ago the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office announced that they had reopened Toby's case that was previously closed as a suicide.  The case was reopened as a homicide and two men were arrested for possible involvement.  After intense interrogation and investigation, the two gay men admitted to having murdered Toby.  They admitted to having plotted to rob Toby, believing that he had valuables hidden in the house.  They had apparently tortured him, but couldn't get him to tell them where the valuables were located.  So, one of them, in a fit of rage poured gasoline over Toby and threatened to set him on fire.  When Toby still wouldn't tell them, they set him on fire!
     Because the body had burned completely, there was no autopsy.  However, one of the detectives thought he saw traces of burned rope or string, but couldn't be sure.  It bothered him all these years and whenever he had an opportunity, he would look into the case again.  More than 20 years had passed and the detective was looking into retirement within few years.  Then one day the Sheriff's Office got a complaint call about a gay couple that was arguing loudly, disturbing the neighbors.  When the deputies arrived on the scene, the woman who had called in the complaint said that the two gay men who lived next door had been arguing and each accusing the other of having set someone on fire.  The two men were arrested and brought in for booking.  When the detective heard about what they had accused each other, he immediately checked their names and discovered that they were the two young gay men at Toby's house the morning he died.  It didn't take long from that point to get to the truth and a confession from both.
     So, despite his bizarre behavior, Toby did not kill himself by setting himself on fire.  Instead, he was tortured and murdered by two men that he so recklessly took-in during one of his wild binges.  Strange how fate sometimes works.  What are the chances of the two murderers staying in the same area after all these years!  Even more remote, what are the chances of the two staying together all these years!  But they did stay in the same area and they did stay together and ultimately got caught.  It may have taken more than 20 years, but in the end, they did get caught for their crime!