Page 17 of A Breath of Life
Tallus found a placating smile for the terrified woman and pressed his hands together in a pleading gesture. “So sorry about that. Ignore my partner. He’s… being funny, believe it or not. It’s a new thing. He’s not very good at it.” He chuckled as though backing up his claim. “It’s hard to tell most days, but that’s what humor looks like on Diem. Anyhoo, we have an appointment to meet with Joshua Stroud. Is he around?”
With a pinched expression and a clearing of her throat, the woman said, “A moment. I’ll find him.” Then she hastily disappeared into a back room, but not without giving me a wary glance over her shoulder before departing.
I glared right back with a semi-maniacal grin I was sure made her question Tallus’s claims.
The heat of my boyfriend’s animosity burning the side of my face made me turn. Doing all I could to temper the smirk wanting to form, I asked, “What?”
“You’re a pain in my ass.”
I shrugged and focused on scanning the store. “That’s hardly fair. I was careful last night to be sure you were prepared, knowing my… girth is a lot to take, but you kept begging me to get on with it, so if your ass is sore today, that’s on you.”
Tallus punched me in the shoulder, and I couldn’t help the laughter that snuck free. “Diem Krause, I don’t know what’s gotten into you, but I like it. Carry on.”
I liked it too, especially when my poor attempt at humor made Tallus smile. It might annoy the rest of the world, but not him. Before I could lean in and steal a quick kiss, Joshua Stroud emerged from the back room.
He was exactly the kind of man I expected to see in a high-end jewelry store. Refined, with a perfectly tailored suit, coiffed hair, and enough glimmer and glitz adorning his wrists, neck, and fingers to make Tallus drool.
The cool look in Joshua’s eyes radiated superiority. Remembering he was one of Memphis’s fuck buddies, I hated him instantly. Joshua was one of those men who thought they were above you, who looked down on you like you were a slug. He might dress like a million bucks, but he lacked personality.
When he held out a hand to Tallus, saying, “You must be the fella Memphis was telling me about,” his voice came out laced with a hint of condescension that made him sound ridiculous, and I didn’t like the way he suggestively scanned my boyfriend, either.
They exchanged handshakes of the variety that appeared too delicate and intimate, and my hackles rose enough that I had to bite my tongue to avoid snapping something inappropriate.
“Tallus Domingo,” Tallus said with the sultry smirk I thought was reserved for me alone. Apparently not. “This is my partner, Diem Krause.”
Joshua didn’t offer me his hand to shake—I was clearly beneath him—but he did eye Echo with an edge of disdain.
Echo, for all the dirty looks she was getting, sat obediently at my feet, tongue lolling and wearing a smile—or rather, the expression I perceived as a smile. Who could hate that face?
“Memphis said something about an appraisal. Is that correct?” the man asked Tallus.
Tallus handed Joshua the leather pouch. “Yes. We were wondering what you could tell us about this item. What is it made of? What is it worth? Anything, really.”
With long, delicate fingers, Joshua untied the strings and drew the card from within. He immediately flinched, a stunned expression lighting his face. It was the same look Tallus had worn the previous day when he’d removed it from the bag for the first time.
The pair of them saw dollar signs.
Joshua darted his attention to Tallus. “Where did you get this?”
“Not important,” I interrupted. “Is it worth anything, or is it junk? That’s all we need to know.”
The man glanced warily between us. When Tallus stayed quiet, Joshua pressed his lips together and nodded. “Okay. Um… Let’s have a look. This way.”
He moved along the length of the display counter to a place at the back of the room, waving for us to join him.
Tallus and I followed.
Joshua withdrew several items from a drawer: a scale, a loupe, calipers, and several other instruments I didn’t have names for. He lined them up on the counter beside a silky black swatch of cushioned fabric.
Setting the card in the middle of the fabric, he flicked on a high-powered light and angled it to shine on the item. Donning gloves, Joshua used a specific type of cloth and spray to buff the card to a shine. Then, after glancing cautiously from the front door to his business partner—who was occupied—he began the examination.
Using the magnifying glass, he inspected the card thoroughly without saying a word. Tallus had explained about markers, but with the naked eye, we hadn’t been able to find any. Joshua had more success.
From there, the jeweler proceeded to use calipers on the gemstones, followed by a strange laser device, and a second laser-type device on the card itself. He then flipped it over and conducted further analysis on the back.
The process took longer than I expected, although I had no idea how long an appraisal typically took. The chime on the door rang at intervals as customers came and went. Joshua’s focus broke each time as he inspected the newcomer before returning to his work. The customers browsed the display cases and asked questions to the woman we’d first met. A few greeted Echo when they noticed her.
A man inquiring about engagement rings caught my attention, and I remembered Tallus’s joking comment from earlier. Fearing he might have been serious, I shoved the memory away and locked it into a vault inside my head. I didn’t have the bandwidth to deal with something of that magnitude right now.
