A picture that was not there
When the parcel arrived at Ivo's framing shop, it contained a scratched wooden frame, a blank postcard, and a note asking him to restore the view. There was no photograph behind the glass. The sender had included a return address on Willow Lane and a telephone number, but each time Ivo called, the line rang without an answer.
He checked the packing paper, then the frame's backing board. Nothing had slipped into either place. The postcard was plain cream on one side and divided into empty address and message spaces on the other. Only its lower edge was unusual: a shallow crescent had been cut into it, too neat to look like accidental damage.
The frame had its own peculiarity. Tiny brass hinges along one inner edge suggested that it had once held something movable. Ivo knew ordinary picture frames, and this one had been altered by someone with a patient hand. The note's final sentence made the omission harder to dismiss: 'Please keep the card exactly where you found it.'
He had found the card lying loose inside the parcel. Perhaps that was the mistake. Rather than mounting an empty card as a picture, he photographed the contents and walked to Willow Lane after closing. The house at the return address had blue shutters and a broad upstairs window. In the garden, a woman was trying to photograph a tall pear tree.