Page 27 of The Silence of Hell

“Wow, this certainly plays into the Adam’s family haunted house theme,” Tatum observed cheerfully.

“Sorry, it’s quite embarrassing, but there’s been a lot going on,” I replied and didn’t elaborate. I stopped outside the room with the coins, unlocked it, and then pressed my thumb print to the sensor before wiping it clean. I opened the door and admitted Tatum.

Tatum’s eyes widened, and he looked around the large bedroom. “This is the collection?” he asked, somewhat faintly.

“Yes.”

“Any idea how many there are?”

“Several thousand, I would assume,” I answered.

“Excuse me, but shit. I wasn’t expecting that,” Tatum said as he reached out and opened the nearest box. He checked a few more and began frowning. After he’d studied twenty, Tatum sighed.

“You’ve a massive problem, Miss Bloodsworth.”

“Call me Lavender. What’s the issue?” I asked.

“You’re lucky you called me. I’m a rarity in the coin world. Lavender, I have an eidetic memory. I can read something once and never forget it. Which is why I read about every single coin possible. You no doubt have a valuable collection. But this is all over the place. Whoever did this bought coins and basically shoved them in here. Those twenty alone, seventeen are from different countries. And those twenty are worth about one hundred thousand dollars. This isn’t something I can assess and value on the day I’d planned to stay,” Tatum said as he opened another box.

“Beautiful, perfect condition, this coin I’d value at another ten thousand and make that eighteen countries now,” he muttered.

“What are you suggesting?” Chatter asked.

“I’m going to need to clear a space in here so I’m able to work. I’ll require crates to pack coins from the same country in. Once that is done, I’ll start valuing and drawing up the relevant documents. However, that’s not happening in a day, let alone a week,” Tatum answered honestly.

“I can pay. Do you want the job?” I asked bluntly.

“Yes, this is any valuer’s dream come true. And I can begin right now if you’ve someone to help me,” he replied as he glanced around.

“Lavender, I’ll stay. Do you have any large crates?” Chatter said.

“Yes. However, I don’t have another empty room to work out of,” I worried. “Not on this level, and you’re going to need a big area to stack crates, and frankly, you couldn’t swing a cat in here.”

“Nobody is using the hallway, and we’re the only ones up here. Place the crates along the walls. Once we have made a decent space in here, we’ll simply move the coin boxes in here into the space, creating stacks. When we’ve finished, we can pack them into crates and store them,” Chatter suggested.

“That’s a great idea. Chatter, I’ll send someone up to help,” I offered, and he nodded.

“One of the boys would be good. All they need to do is line boxes up along the hallway outside, and Tatum and I can do the rest,” Chatter replied.

“Don’t know how to thank you for this,” I murmured, and Chatter’s eyes softened.

“Sure you’ll think of something!” he responded with a smirk, and a blush began.

“I’ll send Kelly and Dan to help,” I said and skittled away

Chatter

He was as suspicious of Tatum as he was of anyone handling Lavender’s treasures. But the guy worked efficiently. Tatum glanced at a coin, informed Kelly who’d they’d kept, which country it belonged to, and Kelly placed it in a crate under a security guard’s watchful eye. Before long, they’d cleared a corner. Kelly and Dan carried a table and chairs up as Chatter stacked boxes where Tatum told him to.

Half the room was organised by the end of the day, impressing Chatter. They brought extra crates up and packed the stacks with a lot of coins away.

“There’re millions of dollars here, aren’t there?” Chatter asked.

“Yes. I’ve not even started valuing them or examining them, but the quick glances I was taking… we’re into double-digit millions,” Tatum agreed.

“Jeez, Lavender will have a meltdown,” Chatter said.

“Chatter, I get the sense these aren’t the only treasures,” Tatum murmured.

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