Jared Learns More About David, Chapter 42 continued, Phantom Love

Jared bolted awake. The Netflix streaming menu flickered on the television screen. He must have fallen asleep while watching the Maltese Falcon after he’d posted David’s picture on a few photography forums. He looked at his cell phone clock: 12:04.

He’d heard nothing from Amy, so he assumed she had acted surprised when Mary told her about her engagement. He only hoped Amy hadn’t spilled the beans about his telling her about David ahead of time.

Punching the off button on the TV remote, Jared rose and stretched. He sure wasn’t a young resident who could pull all-nighters and still work a full day anymore. As he passed the dining room, the light flashed on his laptop indicating it hadn’t been shut down yet. Probably wouldn’t take but a minute to check to see if there were any replies on the photography forums.

The first site, FotoStock.com, had no entries under his thread. Jared clicked the site closed and moved to the next one. Zip. The third and fourth sites yielded the same results. He yawned and clicked open the final site, PictureThis.com. To his surprise, a few comments had been listed under his initial post. He pulled up the discussion thread to read the entries.

His initial post came first.

Have You Seen This Man? Can anyone tell me who this man is? I came across this photo and think he’d be perfect for a tooth whitening product commercial I’m working on. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

Jared had taken creative license to obscure the real reason he was seeking information about the David Kline.

RE: Have You Seen This Man?

That looks like Ray Germain. My company used him on a shoot last year and he’s fantastic. His agency is in New York.

RE: Have You Seen This Man?

That’s Ray all right. He’s with the Better Looks, Better Shots modeling agency in New York. But you’re outta luck for your commercial because he’s in Italy for an extended period and won’t be back until next year sometime.

Unbelievable. Looks like his wild hunch that the photo on the brochure wasn’t someone named David Kline was right. He Googled the company Better Looks, Better Shots. Ray Germain’s name was listed as under contract with the agency. Clicking over to Ray’s partial portfolio online, a spitting image of the photograph gracing the cover of David Kline’s brochure popped up on the screen. He jotted down contact information to call the agency in the morning. With any luck, he’d be that much closer to deciphering who David Kline really was. And that much closer to saving Mary from making a big mistake.

Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. Phantom Love is copyrighted and cannot be used in any form without permission from Sarah Hamaker.