She grabs a light and a magnifying glass from beside her on the counter and starts to inspect the gold, now that it's in her hands. The longer that she looks, the wider her eyes get.
"Look at that." JJ says. "It looks pretty real to me."
"Now hold your horses." She lifts her brows at him. "We haven't gotten to the acid test yet."
"Ooh, the acid test!" JJ nods enthusiastically. "My favorite, guys." He glances around at his friends, as they watch nervously from around the shop.
The broker turns around and returns with a small dropper full of liquid, and after dropping some onto the gold, she starts to mutter to herself, "Well, that ain't plated."
"Ma'am, I'm telling ya, this is as real as the day is long." JJ urges.
"It looks like somebody tried to melt it down." The woman squints closer at the shiny stack.
Alex swallows hard to stop herself from gasping, flipping through CDs faster as her heart races. How is JJ gonna talk his way out of this one?
JJ's face goes solemn and he slouches slightly, "My mom." He tells the woman. "She had all this jewelry laying around the house and she thought it was best to...to melt it down. To 'consolidate' it." He does air quotes.
The woman drops the gold into the scale, and the meter snaps to the opposite side. "Seven pounds?" She says in disbelief. "That's a lot of earrings."
"Okay, to be honest, ma'am." JJ drops his head. "It's really hard to see my mom fall apart with Alzheimer's."
The woman looks him up and down one more time, then resigns, "Give me a minute."
She disappears into a room behind the counter, and when JJ answers, his voice shakes convincingly, "Take your time ma'am."
Alex leans forward until her forehead is against the wooden bookcase, hoping that her smile is hidden by her hair. He's incredible.
It's only a few moments of silence and holding in laughter before the woman returns. "So, I talked to my boss."
"And?" JJ asks, leaning on the counter.
"This is what I can do." She tells him, and everybody else in the room perks up their ears while simultaneously pretending to be busy with the different displays around the room.
The woman places a slip of paper onto the desk, and JJ scans it before looking back up and narrowing his eyes at her, "Fifty-thousand? Really? You think I walked in here not knowing the spot price? Ma'am, I know for a fact that this is worth one-forty at least." He taps the counter with his pointer finger for emphasis.
"Well, sweetie, you're in a pawn shop." She smiles sarcastically. "This ain't Zurich. Do I look Swiss to you?"
JJ pinches the bridge of his nose, thinking for a second before he says, "Ninety, or I walk."
"Seventy." She counters. "Half price, and I don't ask questions about where you got this."
Alex turns away from the CDs to inspect the poster on the wall beside her, her pulse thrumming in her ears.
JJ pouts as he thinks, shooting secret glances to the others in the room, before nodding sharply. "I'm gonna need that in large denominations, please."
The broker shifts uncomfortably. "Here's the snag. I don't have that much denominated, not here anyway. I can write you a cashier's check."
"No, ma'am." JJ shakes his head. "I want the cold hard. That's what that sign says. Cash for gold. That's what I expect."
YOU ARE READING
SMOKE SIGNALS, outerbanks
Fanfiction❝ 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒎𝒖𝒔𝒕'𝒗𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒎𝒆... 𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒎𝒐𝒌𝒆 𝒔𝒊𝒈𝒏𝒂𝒍𝒔 ❞ or ; alex thornbury knew that her mother was hiding something. she just never could've guessed that it had to do with the shady cover-up of a m...
011, the cracks in the glass
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