The Portrait Chapter 2: The second victim

Three days after the funeral, I was sitting in my apartment, thing about my next step. And then the telephone rang. Naturally, I picked it up and answered, "Hello?" "Hey, it's Charles, remember me?" Charles was another friend of mine, specializing in English Horror novels and making a lot of money with his talent. Of course I remember him."Yes, of course I do. I haven't seen you for what? 3 years?" I asked. "Yeah, give or take. I'm calling you to let you know that it happened. It happened again." Charles' tone suddenly got serious. I got curious. What happened? "So? What exactly happened?" "He's dead. Ian got a portrait and now he's dead. The people there saw his portrait fall off a balcony and the next thing you know his skull cracked. You think this has anything to do with Ryan?" Charles' grim voice rang in my ear. My only reaction was to reply with uncertainty, "Ummm... I think so. I mean, they can't both die right after they did something to their portrait and then die from  the thing they did, right? It can't be a coincidence. Thanks for the heads up, Charles. Working on a new novel?" "Yeah. This topic piqued my interest. Plus, Ian used to sit next to me in class. How can I not write something to honor him?" And with the lingering question, he hung up.

I started packing. I had to get to the scene of the crime and take a look at the body and the portrait. Thirty minutes later, I arrived at the scene. Fortunately, the body was still there, so I used my privileges as a P.I. to get into the crime scene. "So, if it isn't the Private eye. So, who hired you this time? The victim doesn't seem like any major character." It was Corporal Benny Chen speaking. I hated him, always getting in the way for no reason. So I looked at him and said in a serious tone, "No one. I used to study with this guy, it just piqued my interest. It's not everyday that you get to see someone killed by a painting. Any more questions?" The corporal looked at me and said, "No further questions, my honor," and he walked away. I took a look at the body, lying on the balcony. Ian hadn't changed his haircut, always so messy and uncut. His face looked shocked and his pair of yellow-rimmed spectacles were askew. He was bleeding from the top of his head, causing the blood to soak his messy, untamed hair. His jaw was open, like he didn't expect it. Well of course he wouldn't expect it, he got killed by his own painting! Thinking of this, I chuckled slightly.

I walked over to Corporal Chen and asked him if I could take a look at the portrait, and he said yes. Bringing the portrait to me, I got a closer look at Ian's portrait. In the painting, he was grinning stupidly, and everything looked normal, save for the askew pair of spectacles and bloody hair. It looked exactly like his corpse. I thanked the Corporal for letting me see the portrait, and I walked home.

Back in my apartment/office, I sighed and plopped onto my couch and got thinking. It couldn't be a coincidence that the two of them died after doing the exact same thing to their portrait that caused their deaths. I took out a piece of paper and started writing.
A study in the death of portraits

1st victim: Ryan Y. (Death by drowning)
2nd victim: Ian W. (Death by blunt force trauma; fell off a balcony figuratively)
Anything in common: studied at the same school, deaths caused by mysterious portraits

Portraits: Strange, mysterious, possesses powers that cause death. WITCHCRAFT?

After writing the long list down, it hit me. What if, the strange deaths were caused by the most cliche powers in a fantasy novel? What if they died from witchcraft and magic and stuff? I took a look at the capital letters WITCHCRAFT on my paper, and decided to check the library for anything magic related.

I walked out of my apartment and decided to go to the old library 2 blocks away. People say that the owner there had an extensive collection of witchcraft and magic related books.