I sighed. Then shivered.
Sixteen hundred. Well more than I had on me, probably more than I could get before closing time.
Sigh.
Shiver.
“She’s got expensive taste,” I tell the clerk, who clearly wants to close the case and put it back in the vault as soon as he can. “And she’s persistent when she’s taken a shine to something, but I don’t know.”
The clerk closed the case and set it to his right. Folding his arms across the table, he attempted a polite smile and sighed himself.
“I’ve had dozens of requests to view this item, all in the last three weeks. Every customer seemed excited to see it, but when I’d open the case, they would squeal and walk out. Some ran.” He paused and tucked the case underneath the counter. He looked nervous, his smile gone.
“I don’t even want it in this shop. I never did.” He stared at me. Eyes wide, probing.
“How is it that you didn’t just up and leave? Didn’t run? Aren’t you scared?”
“I’m terrified,” I told him. “But what I fear most is going back to her empty handed.”