Barely coherent, Leo kept repeating how everything had fallen apart. I could tell he wasn’t only talking about how J had gone missing. Though concerned, I didn’t say much as the secretaries manning the desk looked troubled by my anxious friend’s phone call. 

I wrapped up the call as soon as I possibly could and relayed a message to the secretary that had come to get me a moment ago. 

“Please tell the team that something urgent has come up regarding an investment. I’ll give them details regarding the situation later.”

I finished with a sweet smile to put her mind at ease. It seemed to work and I took off at a normal pace until I reached the parking lot. 

Leo was behaving in an odd manner on the phone. He was known for his levelheadedness, so I was quite thrown by panicked manner in which he acted. Luckily, I was able to get the address before he had completely lost it. 

It was a short drive and upon hearing the address, I immediately knew where to go. J’s studio was coincidentally down the road from my own home. Once I arrived, I found myself in front of an apartment building. I remembered vaguely touring these before settling on where I lived now. They were nice with lots of amenities and security. 

As I approached the door, two police officers were walking out. They passed me and made their way to their vehicles and left. In tatters was a distressed Leo, thrown on a sofa in the resident lobby. 

I called out for him and he lifted his head from his hands immediately to look at me. He looked haggard like he hadn’t slept since the last time I saw him, which I wholeheartedly believed. Without a word, he motioned for me to follow him. Even when we were in the elevator he didn’t utter a word. We went up seven floors and walked to the end of the hall to the very last door. 

He silently punched in the door code and pushed the door open. The place was an absolute wreck. The tiny bed was in disarray with ripped sketches thrown across it and canvas paintings torn to shreds. I walked further in stepping over boxes that had been torn through and left scattered on the floor. Dried paint that had spilled over covered the beige tiles. 

“Does this seem like someone just threw a tantrum?” 

Leo said this angrily as he kicked one of the boxes across the room. 

“Is that the conclusion the police drew from this?” 

I picked up a sketchbook and flipped through it before taking a seat on the bed, the sketches were intricate and precise.

“That’s exactly what they said. Since there were no signs of forced entry, they said he likely threw a tantrum and left. Nothing makes sense anymore.”

“What happened that you’re so worked up?”

I asked this as he kicked more boxes around.

“When you called me last week, I tried to play it off, but I’ve lost a good number of artists lately. I had acquired contracts with all the artist’s you listed at the same time and they all refused to extend theirs and left without another word.”

He sighed and sprawled himself out on the other side of the bed. 

“It’s odd, despite trying to contact them all, all of them disappeared without a trace. They clearly signed with someone else, but I have no idea who. They were big contracts too, my mother is concerned, but she pretends not to be.”

“Do you know who he sold the three paintings to?”

At this point, Leo was curled into a fetal position looking like he just might cry. I pushed him off the bed with my foot and he went crashing to the ground. 

“Gentle! I get it, I’ll act more professional. Anyways, I was able to get a little information on it. It was a weird deal. I wasn’t the one who was approached to facilitate the commission. J came to me and asked me to just put it on record. I never met the buyer or saw any of the paintings. I was told to accept the commission and not ask questions. I found it odd, but it was a favor so, I went with it.”

He handed me a single paper that was completely barebones. It only stated the names of the paintings and the price of each of them. At the bottom there was two signatures, one from the artist and one from the buyer. Underneath the single letter J, was a V.

“They didn’t sign an contract?”

He shook his head and plucked the paper from my hands and put it back in his briefcase. 

“That’s why I need your help. Please help me find out what’s going on. I don’t have anyone I can trust and you clearly have interest in what’s going on. How did you possibly know all the artists that left me?”

He looked a little scared as he waited for my answer. I gave in and told him about the mysterious mail I’d received. 

After that we searched the entire place and came up with nothing. There wasn’t anything of importance after we tore the place apart. I spent the rest of the month at Leo’s office and out at art events networking to dig up any information on the artists or up and coming investments. No one seemed to know a thing.

We were still in our cool off period and it seemed as though I was being met with more questions than answers. From what Leo told me, he didn’t even know much about the artist, J. He had met him about ten years ago and had worked with him since. In that span of time, he’d only met with him in person a handful of times, otherwise they only spoke on the phone or through emails. 

Each time that they met in person, his hair color had changed and he always wore sunglasses. He wrote off his behavior as just being an eccentric guy. J had no family and lived and loved his life in seclusion. 

There was nothing notable to take away from any of this in my opinion and Leo felt the same. To make matters worse, I had suddenly been met with terrorizing nightmares I couldn’t even remember.

I’d wake up with a lingering fear, gasping for air. I wondered how I could make it through another event in such a state, but this event was my last hope. 

Someone I hadn’t seen since college was supposed to be here. A person that would most likely have the information I was in dire need of. She was incredibly hard to get in touch with as she had been abroad for sometime.

“I heard you were looking for me.”

Her words stung with sweetness as she put a hand to my cheek.