Fred Forchelli - Chapter 6

Chapter 6 – The Hints – Continued

Feeling a slight bit of anger toward whomever had made those copies of the newspaper articles, Fred pondered his next course of action. It was then that he remembered the investigation that he had gotten involved in the prior fall. That case had required that he do some research into some articles that had been printed in the newspaper of another city a couple of hours away. Normally, he would have taken a trip to the newspaper headquarters in that city and asked permission to view their microfilm archives. Alternatively, some larger libraries may have copies of that microfilm. But that is very time-consuming, not even including the travel time and expense to that city.

A chance meeting with another investigator had led him to consider using an Internet research tool, Newspapers.com, instead. Often associated with genealogical research, there were other good reasons for using it. One, you could do it from the privacy of your own home/office, Two, all the newspaper articles were indexed so finding things was considerably easier. But, perhaps most attractive for Fred, the cost of a subscription was less than even one trip to that city. Fred had gotten a one-year subscription and it had proved key to his investigation. He’d not used it since that case, but there were several months left on his subscription.

 

It was early evening when Fred closed up his laptop and unplugged it. Long past the normal hours he kept, even the Christian Counseling Service on the floor below would be closing soon. He’d like to vacate the building before the guard locked the front doors and began making his rounds and the logistics of leaving would be complicated by having to avoid setting off the door alarm downstairs.

Fred was also getting hungry. He’d need to decide if it was better to heat up a can of something in his apartment or to order out – for the second time that day. Even with the extra income from that cashier’s check that he’d deposited yesterday, Fred felt the need to be cautious in his spending. Habits from several years of counting his pennies during these early years in his career were not to be changed overnight.

As Fred wrapped things up and turned off the fan – the fan that had been a blessing for the last few hours and enabled him to keep going – he thought through all that he had learned that day. The indexing power of Newspapers.com had made possible research that would have been impossible just a few years earlier. That was a subscription that he’d definitely renew in the fall.

 

His theory about the mis-matched cutting around the second article had proved to be correct. While still in the society section of the newspaper, instead of a cutout of marriages, engagements, and births, the backside of that page contained obituaries. The cuts were around the death announcement of a man who was prominent in the area – in fact the owner of the largest venture capital company. At the time of his death, he had only been in his late 50s. While his demise was attributed to a heart condition, Fred had recalled that there had been questions at the time. He had used the index of Newspapers.com and had found a few other stories about him to confirm his recollection. He had made screenshots of the various articles and saved them in an electronic folder for this case. Fred wondered if his rapidly developing computer skills meant that his reliance on paper files needed adjusting.

The reverse side of the fourth article that had led to the afternoon’s change in direction had also proved to be enlightening. It was one of those reader-opinion letters that the newspaper published on their editorial page a few times a week. This particular writer was complaining about the newly expanded tax exemptions that the city council had given that seemed to benefit individuals who had donated to the re-election campaign of the mayor. Following his instincts, Fred had done some research into both the donors and the mayor, and he found himself agreeing with the writer of the opinion piece.

But it was on a hunch that Fred decided to also check the other two newspaper clippings that had been put in the manila envelope. The clipping about the farm and fracking was fine – there was nothing of significance on the reverse side. But the article about the Chamber of Commerce awards showed that cut that Fred had assumed was just to get the long article to conform to the shape of the copier had also left out a paragraph in the article. That paragraph was about the recipient of the “Futurist” award – one that was given to someone who was up-and-coming and was expected to make significant contributions in the coming years. And the person being recognized was one of the men who were the re-election donors to the mayor’s recent campaign. Fred felt he might finally be on to something.

He still had to do some research into the copy of the police report, but it was with a sense of satisfaction that Fred picked up his briefcase, turned off the light, and locked his office door. Tomorrow was another day. Now it was time to stop ignoring the growing rumbles in his stomach and focus on his supper.

  

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