THE PICTURE Part 1

Kent McKamey stood staring at the picture on the wall of the family room. He was in this house in one of the older sections of town to give an appraisal for Jack King Real Estate. They had recently been contacted by the heir of the late owners about selling the property. The house was quite large and set on spacious grounds. It was quite an imposing structure albeit somewhat run down due to the ill health of the late owners.
He had first seen the picture when Jack had brought him over to the house yesterday and had been intrigued by it ever since. The picture seemed to have been taken in the very room where it hung. One could see the drapes, which covered the front windows, behind the figure as if they had been used for a backdrop. What had caught Kent's attention was the fact that the man in the picture looked enough like him to be his twin. Standing there, now, he became determined to find out about the picture.
This was not the first picture, seemingly of himself, that Kent had been confronted with. There had been the one in the bar up at the state capital. Then there was the one he had caught a glimpse of as it was being loaded in a van. He had tried to catch up to the van but lost it due to having to find a place to turn around. He had gone inside the photo shop where the picture had come from, only to be told he was mistaken. The proprietor had said there was no picture taken from his establishment. Kent had no choice but to mark it up as imagination on his part and let it go at that. He still had the reality of the one in the bar, though, and now this one. If he could only trace the picture to the photographer and learn who the subject was.
Taking the picture from the wall, Kent examined it in the light from the windows , after opening the drapes. In one corner there was a mark that could very well be the logo of the photographer. It was not very clear, however, and would need to be examined under better conditions and with a magnifying glass. This would necessitate removing the picture from the frame and from the premises as well. With no way to get in touch with the heirs except through Jack's agency, he started to rehang the picture. Just as he was about to place it back on the wall, he noticed a mark on the frame as though someone had tried to remove the picture. Wanting to be sure it was not removed before he could check it out, Kent decided to take it with him when he finished his preliminary appraisal. Then, when he came back for a more thorough look at the house, he would return the picture.
With his mind made up about what he was going to do, he got busy taking notes as he gave the old house a once over. It was his custom not to spend a lot of time on the preliminary appraisal. Many people were reluctant to pay for a thorough appraisal and only wanted enough of one to enable them to make a quick sale. On the other hand, he wanted to give a fair value to the property so the heirs would be able to make a good decision.
Upon completion of his work at the house, Kent took the picture and, locking the door, walked to his car parked on the driveway. As he placed the picture on the front seat beside himself he glanced at it one more time. There was something about it that unnerved him somewhat. Why would a picture that looked like him be hanging in this particular house and what about the other two?
Once Kent arrived back at his office, with the picture, he immediately began a closer examination. Taking a magnifying glass from a drawer of his file cabinet, he bent over the logo in the corner of the picture. He was able to make out the letters J.M. with some kind of flourish beneath them. It was the very same way he had made his signature during his high school years. However, he had not used it several years and it came as a shock to him to find it here. The more he delved into the mystery of the pictures, the stranger it got.
Taking a small knife from this desk, he turned the picture face down and began loosening it from the frame. Upon removing it from the frame he glanced at the back for any writing but, at first saw nothing. Closer examination, though, revealed some faint markings suggesting that the picture had once been signed. With his magnifying glass, he as able to read what had been erased. It read: To my love J.M. with the same flourish as was on the front. No further writing appeared though he studied the picture intently with the magnifying glass.
He replaced the picture in it's frame and had just turned it over when Jack King opened the door and stepped inside. Kent showed him the picture and asked what he made of it without telling him where he had gotten it. Jack told him it appeared to be a picture of him and was dumbfounded when told where it had come from. He was even more amazed when Kent told him about the other two pictures and the mystery surrounding them. He even went so far as to say that Kent must have had some connection with the late owners of the house. That idea proved untenable when taken into conjunction with the two other pictures.
Kent asked about the heirs only to be told that the had contacted Jack through a letter. The return address was a Post Office box in a distant city and there was no other means of contacting them. All correspondence had to be through the mails. Kent would get no help from that quarter.
Kent knew by now that he had to find out about the picture, no matter what it took. There was no way he was going to just let things continue as they were with three pictures that looked like him but weren't. There had to be someone who knew what was going on and he meant to find that someone. With the money from this appraisal he would be able to take a few days off and that was exactly what he intended to do.
It was five days later when Kent received a call from Jack telling him he needed to come by the Real Estate office to talk about the appraisal. He wouldn't discuss the reason over the phone so Kent had no choice but to close up and go. When he reached Jack's office there was no one in the front so he went on back and knocked lightly on Jack's door. Receiving no answer to his knock, he opened the door to see Jack slumped over his desk. There was no sign of life and, when he checked, he found no pulse. Reacting as any normal person would, he called 911 and gave them what information he had.
The Police arrived before the ambulance and immediately took charge of the situation. They questioned Kent about his finding Jack and whether he had seen anyone when he arrived. At this time there was no indication of a cause of death and wouldn't be until the medical examiner did his preliminary examination. Still, the police were treating this like it was a homicide. For all anyone knew, though, it could have been a heart attack or any number of health related things.
By the time the police had finished taking his statement, Kent felt like a suspect in a murder case and was only too glad when the M.E. arrived. He would soon be able to put their minds at ease concerning the cause of death. Things didn't work out quite like Kent expected, in that the M.E. stated that he was unable to make a ruling until he performed a Post-mortem. This would not be until the day after tomorrow as he would be out of town until then.
With the normal warning not to leave town, the police dismissed Kent and he was able to leave. Just as he walked out the door he saw the same van he had seen leaving the photo shop with the picture. Again, before he could get to his car and follow, the van had vanished.
By the time Kent got back to his office he as totally worn out due to everything that had happened. Not only had he not discovered what it was that Jack had wanted to discuss with him but Jack was dead and ,to all intents and purposes, so was his contract. Without Jack he had no way to get in touch with the people he was working for. This meant no job and no pay; at least as far as he could tell.
You can imagine his surprise when he opened his office door and found an envelope with cash enough in it to cover his preliminary appraisal plus an advance on the final. There was no note and certainly no contract to be signed and returned, but there was one small piece of paper besides the money. It was the kind of tiny picture like the kids at school gave to their friends, and it appeared to be of him. Of course he knew it wasn't him because he had never owned the kind of clothing in the picture.
Closing the office early, Kent drove back to the old house with the intention of returning the picture he had "Borrowed". Taking the picture under his arm, he walked up the steps and crossed the porch to the front door. As he started to put his key into the lock, he noticed that the door was slightly ajar. He was sure he had closed and locked it when he had left the day before, but thought Jack may have been there since. Pushing the door wide, he stepped into the shadowy interior and made his way to the parlor where the picture had been hanging. The drapes were still open, allowing him to see fairly well, and he immediately noticed a picture hanging where the one he now held had been previously. And it was truly a picture of him as he recognized it as one he had taken upon graduation from college.
There was no doubt someone was up to something involving him, but he had no idea who or what. He only knew he was going to do everything in his power to get to the bottom of the mystery. Meanwhile, he thought it best to exchange the pictures and get out of there.