*bzzzt*

A buzzer sounded, and we heard a loud click as the door lock disengaged. I pushed against the door and into a small store frontage with glass cases taking up three of the interior walls as well as a central island. It was well lit from outside despite the somewhat faded signs covering the storefront window, advertising "Collector Coins", "We Buy Gold", and "Estate Jewelry" on yellowing, stiff cardstock with simple black lettering. Framed by gold filigree on the front door was the name "Rostoch's Rare Coins" in an elaborate banknote font. Our footsteps clicked against the worn ceramic tile as we entered. The room smelled stale, but not unpleasant. Of the three shops we'd found, we'd chosen a dealer who specialized in coins as well as precious metals since the gold coins took up the bulk of my collection. If it didn't work out, we could always go to one of the other shops.

Behind the glass counter in the back hunched a man of late middle age, with heavily tanned skin and pale blue eyes. He had straight blond hair that covered his ears, and what kind people would refer to as a receding hairline. He removed a pair of glasses and blinked up at us with a smile of inquiry.

"Hello, ladies. How may I help you today?" His blue eyes turned down at the outer edges, lending him a look of sympathy and benevolence.

"Uh, I'm here to get some items appraised," I replied as I approached. Kris remained at my side, while Bushra moved to look around with open curiosity around the shop. Iter still hadn't returned by the time we decided to leave. It was a bit odd not to have him shadowing me around. I wondered where he went to.

"Certainly," the man replied in a mild tone. "May I see the items?" He took out a large roll of some velvety looking material from underneath the counter and laid it out in front of him. I pulled the weighty satchel across my body to access the contents and began placing them on the counter, jewelry first. While I did so, I made sure to activate the skill Augur's Insight. I was curious how it would work.

The man watched the process with mild interest, his eyes cataloging the contents. When I started laying out the tubes of coins, though, I 'felt' rather than saw his customer service smile fix rigidly in place. I could sense a heightening of interest, and a change in demeanor. Outwardly, there was no change in the man's appearance. But the sudden shift was like a stone dropping in a pond to my newly activated senses. It was hard to describe. Kris was a watchful presence behind me, but I didn't feel anything from her in the same way. And Bushra's nervous interest was clear to see. Looks like, as advertised, the skill only worked on the specified target. I finished placing down the items from my bag.

"May I?" Still proceeding in a unaffected and placid manner, the man began spreading out the jewelry and isolating each piece. He put back on his glasses and began examining each item. He then sorted them into different piles, by what categorization I couldn't understand.

"The jewelry is quite varied. You have a quite a collection of different sizes and styles. Men and women's jewelry, too. May I inquire how you came by these?" His tone remained pleasant, even idle, as he continued to look through each piece. But again, I could sense a sharp undercurrent of suspicion and greed, at complete odds with his mannerisms.

"I inherited them from my relatives. I think some of them were from their brothers and sisters as well." I paused. "It's become quite a jumble, hasn't it?" I added with a troubled smile.

I felt the suspicion from the man ease, while not fading away altogether. It was an eerie, almost physical feeling. At the same time, a corresponding sense of greed and desire rose as the man moved to the first tube of coins after finishing with the inspection of the jewelry.

"Ah, do you have documentation, perhaps? Something to establish the ownership and provenance more directly?" He asked with a calm and even tone.

"No, it was all given to me piece by piece before they passed – as gifts." Well, hopefully that's sort of true. I didn't know if any of the former owners were alive or dead, after all.

His smile fell slightly, but he nodded understandingly. "Unfortunately, that might affect the value somewhat." In contrast to his kind yet patronizing tone, I felt a mild triumph from the man. He was obviously happy with my response. With nimble fingers he used a small tool to crack the red lid from the coin container, and drew out a coin. He held the shiny gold disk up to his eye to examine it carefully.

During this whole process, the excitement and greed were almost overwhelming me in waves. He placed the first coin on the mat, then extracted and examined the remaining coins from the tube, 10 in all. For the first time, I saw an outward glimpse of his emotion, as he licked his lips. I saw his gaze travel to the other 12 tubes on the counter. I felt a undercurrent of uncertainty and nervousness begin to rise, though it never overcame the excitement. He replaced the 10 coins gently and deftly back in the tube, before looking up at me.

"For the jewelry, I can offer a lump sum at the current price in gold, approximately $24.76 per gram. None of the pieces are unique, and I'm afraid I'm not a reseller of jewelry. You may get a better price for those items from a jeweler." His tone was even, and his smile was consoling. However, while I could sense a measure of truth to his words, there was a definite sense of dishonesty around price. Specifically, the offer of a lump sum at the lowest rate was a deception, is the impression I was getting. But the man continued.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

"As for the coins, these are quite clearly Canadian Maple Leaf gold. They have been kept decently well from the elements. I imagine you've kept them in the containers you've received them in?" He asked. I nodded. "Their worth far outstretches the value of the jewelry." He gestured to the jewelry on one side of the mat and the coins on the other, as if it were a scale. "Of course, I would need to completely examine each coin in more detail to give a more accurate estimate. But if you are looking to sell right away, I believe I could set a price now of $500 per gold coin."

"Five hundred dollars!" Bushra blurted out behind me. "That's sixty thousand!" Her voice had risen and she was now staring in shock at the pile of coins on the counter. Kris, too, had her eyebrows raised, although she was doing a better job retaining her composure. She gave a tight lipped grimace in Bushra's direction, and turned to the coin dealer.

"Five hundred seems impressive, but we're not in a hurry to sell," she added.

All this time I was reeling. The price was far larger than I'd expected, but even more than that… my new skill was telling me the man was vastly underbidding the actual value. I couldn't tell by how much, exactly, but the sense of greed was pouring off of him in waves. He was irked by Kris' response but unwilling to let such a prize get away so easily.

Outwardly, he nodded and put on an expression of wounded understanding. "Of course, of course. Though I imagine you will hear the same from others. Even less, if they were to try to sell the coins as scrap." He looked away from Kris and back to me, the owner. "As a dealer in coins, it pains me to think of such specimens melted down in ignorance." His smile turned mournful, shaking his head in empathy for the coin's sad fate.

Then he took a measured breath, and looked back at me. "Very well, I will make an exception. I will raise the price to $750 per gold coin." The he held an open palm out to the piles of jewelry "In addition, I will accept these pieces as well, in order to bring the total to $100,000." He looked at me with an air of confidentiality. "A collector friend of mine to which I owe a favor has recently been in the market for gold coins, you see. I sadly did not have the stock when he approached me last. I'm willing to risk the increased price on the opportunity of a quick turnaround. But," he added, "there is a risk the man has already acquired the coins he was seeking elsewhere. I'd be willing to take that risk in order to repay my friend, if we were able to come to an arrangement today." He looked at me from under his brows, the smile now in resignation as to his potential for loss.

I couldn't stop myself from admiring the man. His sincerity, his desire to do good by his friend, his willingness to offer me all the benefits of this transaction – all compete and utter bullshit. The avarice and glee roiling off this placid and friendly countenance was frankly astonishing in their contrast. From what I was sensing, $750 per coin was still far undercutting the value, and $100,000 for everything was opportunistic bordering on fraud. I thought about how to proceed. Kris was right, there was no need to sell right away. But it was all found money to me. Why not make a deal here, and potentially cultivate a resource for future loot sales? But I wouldn't want to be taken lightly.

"$1500 per coin," I countered.

The man frowned for the first time. "I beg your pardon?" I could feel the irritation at the sudden rise in price, but the greed was still there. I had doubled his last asking price without thinking too much about it, but it seemed the coins were worth even more than that.

"Fifteen hundred," I repeated. "That would be, what $180,000? How about we throw the jewelry in for a nice round $200k?"

He peered at me, his consternation warring with his greed. His lips pursed in thought. "$180,000, with the jewelry." All pretense of charity and goodwill was gone. I felt like it was still a huge windfall for the man, based on what I was sensing. But if I pushed more forcefully, it might make the man harder to deal with going forward. For the sake of future dealings, I nodded firmly in agreement.

"Do you have that much in cash?" I asked. Now that the numbers were out there, I reeled a little at the amount.

A satisfied grin reappeared on the man's face. "As it happens, I do not. But I can provide an advance of 10% if you agree to allow me as agent to sell the items on consignment. I will be able to complete the purchase by the end of the week. Wait here while I fetch the agreements."

✦ ✦ ✦

Kris shook her head in a mixture of wonder and chagrin as we left the shop. "We didn't have to rush into a deal right there, you know."

"Yeah, I know," I placated. "But you were an immense help reviewing the terms of the paperwork. Thank you." I patted Kris on the arm and smiled up at her with genuine gratitude. She seemed mollified. Instead of a jumble of jewelry and coins, my satchel now held $18,000 and a set of agreements for $162,000 more by Friday. It felt oddly light, and not only from the burden of precious metals. As if a burden had been removed. Or maybe I was getting giddy from focus drain? I quickly remembered to turn off Augur's Insight.

"I still can't believe you sold all that for $180 thousand!" Bushra was trying to keep her voice low, but her excitement was pushing her volume higher. Thankfully, as a weekday afternoon, the streets were relatively bare. This part of Alameda was only now starting to recover from the hit to the local economy after the closure of the US Navy base some decades ago. Foot traffic was still low, so we were practically alone.

Enjoying the warm sun on me against the chill winter air, I grinned back at Bushra. "I know, right? How's that for some seed money to hold us over?" I glanced Kris' way.

"Hmm, well, with such a small team, it will last a little while. But you'll need to start finding a regular source of income as soon as possible. You won't be able to pay my frankly exorbitant fees otherwise." Kris smirked.

"Yeah," I began, when I felt my phone start vibrating. I pulled it out to see who was calling. "Oh shit." I stopped, forcing Kris and Bushra to turn back and look at me.

"What?" Bushra and Kris replied in stereo.

"It's Ben." The bastard who fired me.