He felt a knot in his stomach as the appraiser stammered for words. It was clear that this was no ordinary painting. But he could never have imagined it being worth more than a few hundred dollars.
But when the appraiser finally regained his composure, he couldn’t believe the words that came out of his mouth.
Eric Douglas always prided himself in helping anyone that needed it. Anytime he passed a homeless person in his hometown of Albuquerque, he would give them any spare change he had.
His helpful nature would also extend to his family too.
Eric’s aunt Louis and uncle Lou were lucky enough to have a beautiful house in a good neighborhood, but they battled from many complications due to their old age.
That’s where Eric came in. He would run errands and do anything that they asked him to do since he was much closer than any of their other relatives.
After helping them for two years, tragedy struck. His aunt, Louis, passed away from old age in her sleep. Uncle Lou fell into a deep depression and needed Eric now more than he ever did before.
Eric was there every evening to help him cook and tidy. No one called him his caretaker, but at that point, he essentially was. But he had no idea what would be coming to him.
After a year of looking after his relatives, his uncle has something very surprising to say. He told Eric that he was moving away to a more exotic place, one his wife wanted to retire to one day.
Eric would miss him but understood his wishes. But what his uncle said next had tears streaming down his face.
He told Eric that he would leave him the house and everything in it. Eric broke down from the grand gesture and accepted the estate. His uncle packed the things he needed and moved to a much nicer place for retirement.
Eric had never owned a house before. Up until now, he had only rented a shoddy apartment on the wrong side of town. But the last thing he expected was what he found inside the house.
Eric’s aunt and uncle had a thing for antiques. Throughout the house, they had many relics, from wall clocks to wardrobes. But there was one particular piece that quickly caught Eric’s eye.
It was a painting in the bedroom. He felt drawn to it. He had a feeling in his gut that it wasn’t like anything else in the house. But what Eric didn’t know what that it would attract the attention of others too.
Eric had been living in the house for a week now, and every day when he woke up, the first thing he saw was the painting staring back at him.
It appeared in his dreams. He knew he wasn’t wrong about it, but how would he prove it?
All Eric could find was an old article about some stolen painting decades ago. But that was impossible. His aunt and uncle were good people, so he dismissed it. Still, he wished he knew more about the painting, so he decided to get some professional help.
But Eric had no idea that it would end up with unwanted people knocking on his door.
Eric called an expert appraiser to come to the house and finally figure out more about the painting. All he could gather from his research was that it was an impressionist painting.
The next day Eric heard a knock on his door, and he smiled as he saw the face of the appraiser. But if Eric knew what he was about to find out, he would have shut the door in the man’s face and burnt the painting.
He felt a knot in his stomach as the appraiser stammered for words. It was clear that this was no ordinary painting. But he could never have imagined it being worth more than a few hundred dollars.
But when the appraiser finally regained his composure, he couldn’t believe the words that came out of his mouth.
The appraiser looked Eric in the eye before telling him that the artwork they stood in front of was a Willem De Kooning.
De Kooning was a brilliant impressionist painter whose talent was discovered after he moved to the United States during the ‘60s.
Eric’s excitement was short-lived, however, as soon the appraiser’s facial expression turned to a grim one. There was clearly something very wrong, but what was it?
Soon the appraiser would explain, and Eric would soon wish he had never discovered the painting.
It turned out that the painting was, in fact, stolen many years ago from an art museum by an unknown couple. The couple couldn’t have been his aunt and uncle. Could they have been?
Eric had no idea that the artwork was stolen property, nor did he know how his relatives actually got it.
Soon there would be a knock on his door, and when he opened it, he saw two men wearing suits. They informed them that they were from the FBI and investigating the stolen painting in question.
Eric would have to let them seize the painting, but thankfully no charges were pressed against him. He still had their house to enjoy and didn’t mind the art being taken. He just wondered how it came into his uncle’s possession.
