The sad ending to Ralph's life that had affected so many people had taken a back burner. It had now been over 20 years . Sheri had gone on her daughter had married and Joe was thinking about retiring.
He walked into the evidence room where he had gone so many times before and once more took out one of the boxes that held the evidence on the case that had rocked his life. Ralph's items had been sitting there for all of that time and before he retired Joe wanted to take a last stab at it.
There were so many small pieces, with some receipts from the day. There were no time stamps on most of them, however, there was a time stamp that was visible on a few. These time stamps let Joe and the others know where Ralph or Sheri had been the day before. There should be only so many fingerprints on that tiime stamp, however, the water had destroyed those so many years
Tom now had a friend and partner, who too was interested in what had actually happened to the young man who had been found in the canal. Marcus had now been a police officer himself for over ten years. There had always been thoughts and ideas on what could have happened on that fateful day and the prior days leading up to the murder.
Once again Joe and Marcus went through the items and sent a few back to the lab in the hopes that somehow some dna could be discovered. There had been amazing discoveries over the years and this was one of their few hopes that his murder would be solved.
But it was exactly 20 years to the day that had changed so many lives happened. That day the day that they had found Ralph's body Joe got a phone call that would finally put a new piece of evidence to the long overdue solving of the case.
Joe and Marcus were both at the office when they received an intriguing phone call. The caller's name was Jane Field. She had lived iwth the knowledge of what had happened the night before Ralph was killed. Her husband Fred had been quiet about everything and she had always wondered what had happened the night. That evening he and Ralph and some of the coworkers had gone out together drinking. The company was in the process of being sold and there had been some discord about the sale. The worry was that if the company was sold they were afraid that they would lose their jobs. Many of the guys were upset, but Fred had said that Ralph had been the most upset. Hew was sure as the youngest worker would be the first to go.
Jane had been to the doctor's office the day before. She had not been feeling well and it had a terrible stomachache that just wouldn't go away. The doctor had some bad news. She had cancer and the diagnosis wasn't good. If things didn't work such as chemotherapy she had but six months to live. She had to get this off of her back . This was going to be bad bad for her husband but she needed to let the police know what she knew. it was time for the truth to come out.
The two police officers headed right over to the Field home. It was a neat home with nice shrubs and a large yard. They were met by Jane at the front door. She appeared a little nervous, but welcomed the two men in and offered them a cup of coffee.
With the taking of a deep breath, Jane began to tell the two men who she had known all her life the truth of what had happened the evening before Ralph had disappeared. I was much younger then and my boys were still in grade school. Fred was the manager at the store and had been busy negotiating the sale of the company. it was not known to many at the time , however, Fred was going to get a huge bonus if he could finish the deal by the end of the month.
Fred had gone to a lot of trouble to make sure that the deal that he had made with the buyer remained secret. He had been in the office that evening talking with the buyer when Ralph had walked in. He had heard the conversation and was now aware of the deal and he was mad. There had been an argument and the fight had actually gotten physical. Fred had hit Ralph that evening.
Joe and Marcus listened to the words that Jane was saying. She would be dealt with later , but for now they needed to go speak to Fred. The business had been bought and now Fred was the manager of the large business that employed over 200 not the 20 that it had employed 20 years before. Fred now owned a tesla a home in the mountains of New Hampshire and the nice house in their small town. This could be the smoking gun that they had been looking for. Could it have been Fred all that time? He had been a suspect, but they had never been able to prove anything.
With that the two officers headed over to the factory where Fred worked, It was a clean building with modern windows, and as they had hoped Freds car was parked in his parking spot.
Fred was at his office remembering what had happened on this very day 20 years ago. He had always worried and felt sick whenever this day came. He had to live with the fact that he and Ralph had a physical confrontation on the evening before he disappeared. They had shaken hands later on and gone out for drinks that same evening. But, he had always worried had Ralph bumped his head during the fight? He had never been able to definately answer that question. Now, his wife of over 25 years had cancer and he was contemplating talking to the police when he looked up. The police were there to talk to him.
