Torn and Restored

Chapter 17 - Seven of Hearts

Will explored the entire museum, searching for Olivia. Finally, he came to the room where he had found her phone. Something was amiss. If she had lost her way, she would've had the phone with her. If someone had harmed her, the phone would've been lying on the ground but that wasn't the case either. The phone was placed perfectly on the platform that held a sign which read – The Portrait of John Waters. Will saw the portrait and noticed something unusual as he flashed the light over the portrait. They had scrubbed the walls to prep them for the fresh paint. The wall which held the portrait still had some old paint left over and Will saw an outline surrounding the portrait, enclosing the portrait in a sort of rectangular halo. Will got it. A bigger painting had been in its place before being moved or worse, sold.

Will knew he couldn't ask the guards for help, finding Olivia. They did not know that Olivia had been there. He knew where to go. Will had no other choice but meet the person he'd avoided for so long.

It took Will less than an hour to reach his destination. He was greeted by a few officers who directed him to Detective Graves. Emery Graves, the one person Will never wanted to meet again. She wasn't bad. She was exactly like him and that made her worse. Will pushed all those thoughts away as he took a seat before her.

"Ah! Mr Raynor, we meet again. I hoped for a sooner one but better late than never", she said.

Will had no idea what she was speaking about.

"I need to file a complaint, detective. Olivia is missing", he said.

"Olivia is the girl with you, right?"

"Yes", he replied.

"Could you be more specific?" she asked.

Will started from the beginning and narrated the entire happening to the point where he'd found Olivia's phone. Emery's face was blank the entire time. Will doubted if she even believed what he said.

"Interesting. You never seem to follow rules", she quipped.

Will was about to comment when the door creaked open. Waldo walked in, surprised to see Will. They greeted each other. The tension in the room lightened a little.

"So, are you happy? He finally showed up. I told you that it'd –"

"Will Raynor has come to report the disappearance of his friend, Olivia" Emery interrupted Waldo.

"What? Olivia's missing?" Waldo asked, shocked.

"Yeah", Will replied.

Will explained everything again. Waldo's concern made Will add details that he had missed earlier.

Emery made a note of these things before asking," Waldo, why did you come in here?"

"The search is complete in Will's mansion. These are the list of things found there in each room", he said as he handed the list over to Emery.

Emery took a quick look at the list and said," Here, Mr Raynor. Take a look at the list and find out what's missing."

"That's won't be necessary", Will replied.

"Well, it is. At least to us", she said.

"I know what's missing. It's a painting from my room", Will said.

Emery looked at the list. She searched desperately to prove Will wrong. But to her disappointment, she couldn't find it on the list.

"But Sir, how did you?" asked Waldo.

"It's a long story. It's a painting of John Waters", he said.

"Was it valuable?" Waldo asked.

"Yes", Will replied.

Emery was silent. She opened her drawer and took an envelope out. She handed it to Will, " Your friend, Ernest, was here yesterday. He gave me this."

Will got the envelope. It wasn't sealed. Inside it was a letter and a small note.

The note read –

Will,

I was in a search to find the people who harmed you. The phone number from which you received calls was my only lead but all those attempts were futile. I never knew that I'd get my answer at a post office. A friend of mine intercepted this letter and gave it to me. I know it'll be hard to take in but you ought to read this.

Love,

Ernie.

Will opened the letter and read it out loud.

Dear Sir,

This letter is to seek permission for setting up a public magic show. The last time I applied for this, it was rejected citing that I was already a part of a magic crew. But, now, that isn't the case. The show experienced one of the worst failures and I'm sure that people will never come back here, again. This gives me a great opportunity to set a separate show. Please do consider my request.

Regards,

Tarquin.

Will's hand trembled as he put the letter down. He was so sure that it was Tarquin's handwriting and his signature. There was something more to it. It was the date. The 3rd of April. The day Tarquin died.

Emery and Waldo threw a lot of questions at him but he couldn't answer them. His best friend could never do that to him. There must be something. There had to be something that they'd missed. Will recalled the time when he had blamed Olivia for not untying the knot during the show but Will realised that it was indeed Tarquin who had tied the knot in the first place. Will could no longer stay there. He got up and left the place despite Emery's protests to stop him. He got into the car and drove home.

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Olivia tried to free herself from the chains. She couldn't. There wasn't a single knot that she couldn't untie. The time she took might differ but no rope could tie her forever. Maybe that's why the kidnapper had used chains.

How did he know this much? Why should he kidnap Olivia? Did Will find out what she had wanted him to know? Was he looking for her? Where was she? And a thousand more questions puzzled her as she waited for someone to enter the deserted room.