Delusion by Avery North
Chapter 9
Richard opened the door to the McCarthy Gallery, feeling nervous and excited. He knew nothing about art other than some of it was very expensive but knew that he could do a great job having worked in security before. Looking around, he knew he was early, so he wandered around a bit, looking at the different paintings and sculptures.
“Excuse me?” Frederick said when he saw Richard standing in front of one of the paintings.
“Hello. Are you Frederick?” Richard asked, wondering why the man had such a strange look on his face. “I’m here about the security position.”
“You must be Richard,” Frederick said, holding out his hand. “I’m sorry for staring, but you are a dead ringer for the owner, Jake McCarthy. Have you ever seen him?”
Richard shook his head. “No, I haven’t. I honestly don’t know anything about him.”
“Unfortunately, Mr. McCarthy is not here at the moment, but I wish he was. The resemblance is uncanny. You are slightly shorter, though,” Frederick said, pointing to his office door. “Shall we go into my office and chat?”
Richard nodded, following Frederick into his office.
"Can I get you a drink, coffee, or tea?" Frederick asked.
“Maybe a water,” Richard said, his throat feeling dry.
Looking around the office, he couldn’t help but remember Corrine saying he looked like someone. Could it be this Jake McCarthy? But why would someone like Jake McCarthy know someone like Corrine?
Hopefully, if he got the job, he'd have an opportunity to talk to Jake and ask if he knew her, and perhaps he would know how Richard could get ahold of her.
✽✽✽
"So, how is little Adam doing?” Susan asked. She felt like going out for a drink and had made plans to meet Amber at their favorite spot.
“Oh, he’s doing just great,” Amber gushed. “He is a changed little guy. He loves his room and loves helping around the house. We’ve started giving him chores, so he gets an allowance now. He said he was going to save up his money to buy us a present.”
“He is such a sweet little guy. I guess it’s a blessing he had no recollection of his past.”
"It is, but I do have to prepare myself because I know at some point when he gets older, he will start asking questions,” Amber said, looking down at her wine glass.
“So, what’s on your mind?” Susan said. “You look like you have the weight of the world on your shoulders.”
“Have you ever seen anyone in town that looks like Jake?” Amber asked, looking at her friend.
“No, can’t say that I have. Why?”
“Well, we have solved the first part of our mystery,” Amber said.
“Really? You mean the pictures?”
Amber nodded. “Well, it seems that Jake is being framed or something. Those pictures aren’t him,” Amber said, taking a sip of wine.
“What do you mean?”
“The guy in the pictures has a tattoo on his left ankle. Jake doesn’t have tattoos anywhere on his body,” Amber replied. “The guy is just an amazing lookalike.”
“Holy shit. Do you think Corrine set it up?” Susan asked, shaking her head.
“She had to. She delivered the pictures,” Amber said. “I just have to find out why and what she hoped to achieve.”
“Could it be a photoshop job? I hear that it’s hard to tell sometimes,” Susan said, sipping her wine.
“I don’t think so. Jake brought one of the pictures to a friend who is a photoshop guru, and he said no. He said the photos are authentic. No tampering at all. So now we have to find out who this guy is and why did he get photographed, and more importantly, how Corrine had access to them.”