“Hey,
Myles?”
Myles
glanced up from the ring he was resizing. Sliding the magnifier to his
forehead, he waited for Steven to continue.
The
salesman threw a thumb behind him. “There’s a lady who wants to sell us some
jewelry.”
Myles
nodded. “Thanks. I’ll go check it out.” Getting up from his stool, he grabbed
his scale and carried it out into the front of the store.
The woman
was standing by the case of freshwater pearls. For a second, he paused to observe
her—how she looked, how she dressed, the way she clutched a small black velveteen
bag in one hand. He judged her to be in her mid-twenties.
“May I help
you?”
She
straightened and looked over at him. A timid smile transformed her ordinary
face to one of beauty as she took in his headset. However, he was more
intrigued when her eyes widened at the sight of the scale he’d placed on top of
one counter.
She walked
over and place the velveteen bag in front of him. “I need to sell this jewelry.
I was wondering if you’d be interested.” She motioned toward the front door.
“Your sign says you buy gold.”
Judging by
her dress and shoes, he didn’t take her as the type of woman who held anything
expensive. Expecting to see a collection of costume jewelry, he pulled a
display tray from under the counter and set it in front of him. “Let’s see what
you have.”
Taking the
bag, he opened the braided silk ties and carefully poured the contents onto the
lined tray. What he saw lying before him almost took his breath away.
“Where did
you get these?” he asked. For a fleeting second he wondered if she’d stolen the
pieces. Or worse, if she was trying to fence what someone else had pilfered.
“They were
my grandmother’s.” By her tone and the honest sadness he heard, all thought of
him looking at stolen jewelry flew out the window. That intuitive instinct also
gave him fleeting hope.
Picking up
one ring, he dropped the magnifier over his eyes and turned on its light. He
brought the piece close to his face as he admired the unique and definitely
dated cut of the diamonds in its center.
“I haven’t
seen this kind of cut in a very long time,” he admitted. “That makes these
diamonds very rare, and that alone makes them worth a lot of money.” Removing
the magnifier, he ran his fingertips over the other items on the tray. There
were two engraved gold bracelets, four pairs of drop earrings he’d bet had the
same cut of diamonds, and two more rings. The bracelets alone were of a quality
of gold that hadn’t been used in over a century. Myles gave her a stern look.
“Why are you selling these? They’re heirlooms, and worth a whole lot more than
I could offer you. You’d be better off taking these to an auction house and
having them auctioned off.”
The woman
shook her head. “I can’t wait that long. I’ve done what I could and sold what I
had to, but I’m still behind in paying my property taxes. The bank’s about to
foreclose on the house. I have nothing else that’s worth anything, so I was
hoping…” Tears ran down her cheeks, forcing her to stop and wipe them away.
Intrigued
to learn more, Myles dropped his professional persona. “Listen, Miss…”
“Pierce. Georgiana
Pierce.”
“Miss
Pierce, where did you say you got these?” he asked, hoping to glean a bit more
information before continuing.
“I told
you. They were my grandmother’s, and she said they’d been in the family for
ages. I hate the idea of having to sell them, but I’m at the point where I have
no other choice.”
“How did
you get hold of them? Does she know you have them?”
The woman
seemed to bristle. “I didn’t steal them, if that’s what you’re thinking.”
Myles held
up a hand, knowing he’d stepped over the line. “That’s not what I meant. It’s
just that, usually, jewelry like this is handed down to the next child in line.
The next living son or daughter, like your mother or father.”
“I never
knew who my father was. That part is blank on my birth certificate. My mother
was a drug addict and died a couple of months after I was born. My grandparents
raised me, but Pawpaw died six years ago, and Nana died last year from cancer. I
was their only living relative, so I got the house and property.” Her lower lip
trembled. “And I’m about to lose that, too.”
Myles
studied the woman. Everything she’d said sounded plausible. Truthful. But there
was one more test he had to do before he could make any final decision.
The
doorbell sounded, indicating another customer had entered the store. He turned
to call for Steven when the man quickly exited the back room and went to wait
on them.
Not wanting
to risk any of the antique jewelry being stolen, Myles leaned over the counter
to whisper, “Let’s take this into the back where we can have some privacy.” The
woman nodded, and he gathered up the tray and scale.
Once they were alone, he set the
items down on his worktable and went to fetch a nearby chair for her to sit in.
Going back to his bench, he placed the gold bracelets on one side of the scale.
A quick check of her hands didn’t reveal any jewelry she was wearing. No
bracelet or ring. Not a necklace. Neither did she have any earrings. Wondering
what he could ask of hers to place on the other scale, he remembered the black
bag she’d been carrying. The velveteen bag that still held her touch, her scent.
And more importantly, her essence. Picking it up, he placed it on the other
side, then waited.
The woman gave him a curious look.
“What…”
He held up a hand for silence.
Together, they stared at the scale.
At the perfectly even pans that gave him his answer. The answer he’d been
hoping for.
Smiling, he sat back.
She continued to be confused. “That
can’t be right…can it? I mean, those bracelets are real gold. They’re heavy.
There’s no way they can be equal in weight to that empty bag.”
“Not in that way, no,” he admitted.
“Then how…”
He turned to her. “Miss Pierce, may
I call you Georgiana?”
“Yes.”
“Georgiana, what I’m about to tell
you may seem farfetched, but it’s the truth. You see, this isn’t an ordinary
scale. Yes, it does weigh objects, but it also weighs more than weight. It also
weighs truth and integrity.”
She frowned. “I don’t understand.
Are you saying that scale is…magical?”
“Only in the hands of someone like
myself.” He couldn’t believe he was telling her this. Then again, he could
count on one hand how many people he’d met in his lifetime who balanced as
perfectly. Who had such a purity of soul. He gazed deep into her eyes. And he
couldn’t let this one get away.
“Like yourself? What do you mean?”
she inquired.
“I’m a Libran. A justifier.”
“You’re not a gemologist?”
He chuckled. “I’m that, too. But as
a Libran, I have the ability to pass judgment on people by comparing what
they’re telling me to the truth.”
“The truth?” She shook her head.
“How would you know if it’s the truth or not? I don’t understand.”
He pointed to the bracelets. “Those
are a given. Concrete evidence. Fact.” He indicated the black velveteen bag.
“That represents you because you’ve touched it. It holds your essence, you
could say. Normally I would ask the other person for a piece of their own
jewelry, or a scarf, or something they’ve been in contact with. You’re not
wearing any of that, so I used the bag. Tell me, Georgiana,” he indicated the
scale. “What do you see?”
“I see the bracelets and the bag
are equal in weight, when I know for a fact they shouldn’t be.” She was
perplexed, but she was also becoming angry, and he knew why. She suspected the
scale might not be calibrated correctly.
Myles shook his head. “Not this
time. Not yet, anyway. You see, I asked the scale to weigh your story about the
jewelry belonging to your grandmother to the truth. The fact that the two pans
are perfectly even tells me you were telling me the truth. That
everything you’ve told me is exactly as you’ve said.”
Georgiana continued to stare at
him, waiting for him to continue.
He took a deep breath. “And now,
when I tell the scale to weigh the items according to their true weight…”
The scale suddenly shifted. The pan
with the bracelets dropped to the table, leaving the other pan with the bag at
the top.
“Now let me see exactly what you’ve
brought me,” he declared and reached for the electronic scale he kept in the
drawer.
She pointed to it. “I was wondering
why you were using that old-fashioned thing and not a scale like that one.”
“In my business, Georgiana, I’m
often brought jewelry items that have either been stolen or pawned off as being
more expensive than they really are. Some have even been recast or covered with
a thin layer of gold to cover up a lesser grade of metal.” Myles tapped the
foot of his balance scale. “This little lady has been my salvation in
discovering those frauds and saved my business hundreds of thousands of
dollars.”
He quickly checked the other
pieces. As he’d suspected, the diamonds in the drop earrings were of the exact
same cut and clarity as the ones in the ring. When he was done, he jotted down
their estimated value on a notepad, tore off the sheet, and presented it to
her. “I don’t know how much you owe in back taxes, but I think this will cover
it.”
Georgiana gasped at the amount
tallied. “Are you sure? Is this for real?”
“That’s what I believe you could
get from a reputable dealer, yes. At an auction house, I can pretty much
guarantee you’d get more. But see that amount I underlined? That’s all I can
offer you at this time.” He watched her bite her lower lip and knew what she
was going to say before he heard the words.
“That much will pay the bank what I
owe,” she informed him. “Please, Mr. Robb.”
“Call me Myles.”
“Please, Myles. I’m fine with that
total. How soon can you get me the money?”
“Unfortunately, I don’t keep that
much cash on hand in the store, but I can write you a check that you can
deposit. In fact, the Second Union Bank is on the next block over.”
“I know. That’s where I bank.”
“Good! So do I. Why don’t I walk
you over there, and we can settle up this whole thing together. Then, if you
don’t mind, since it’s almost lunchtime, I would love to buy you lunch, unless
you already have a previous engagement.”
She seemed both delighted and taken
aback by his offers. “I would like that very much, Mr…Myles. Thank you. And
thank you for all your help and kindness.”
“Hold on a sec. Let me put these
away in the vault first before we go. Then I have to let Steven know where
we’ll be.”
He quickly moved the tray of
jewelry to the vault, then closed and locked it. If the salesman needed to get
into it while they were gone, he’d have to wait until Myles returned since he
didn’t know the combination.
Georgiana graced him with another
one of those beautiful smiles when he joined her at the front door. Feeling
more lighthearted and hopeful than he had in years, he prepared himself for an
enjoyable hour or two getting to know more about Miss Georgiana Pierce.
And once their first of what he wished
would become many dates was over, as soon as he got back to the shop, he’d
contact his friend at the auction house to set up a meeting. He was certain the
man would jump at the chance to sell such a wondrous collection of antique
jewelry. And after the monies were collected from the sale, and he’d reimbursed
himself the amount he’d pay Georgiana, he’d give her the remainder.
Because it was the right and true
thing to do.
