Tom chuckled as he looked closer at one of the coins with the help of his torch. He carefully read the inscriptions on the front and then turned it to read the ones at the back. He still couldn't believe his luck. To think that he had dug up all of these treasures from a private land without even paying a single cent was nothing short of something right out of his wildest dreams. The only thing that was both a blessing and a source of regret to him was that the owner would never know!
He had been enemies with old Jackson since he was a boy and he would have loved nothing more than a chance to poke at the garrulous old bear once again. But unfortunately, if that were to happen, old Jackie would certainly bury his ass in lawsuits that could probably land him in jail. So yeah, old Jackson must never know. Not now, not ever, not... Tom's head jerked up at the sound of banging he'd just heard outside. What on Earth was that? He stayed silent, with the coin in his hand, waiting for a repetition of the sound. Few seconds passed and nothing came. Suddenly, his dog started barking. Tom hissed and breathed a deep sigh of relief. He had thought it was something serious. That dog was old and mad. It had formed the habit of barking only for irrelevant reasons and even at innocent passersby. Most likely, one of those street urchins had thrown a stone on the roof of the shed which had led to that banging sound.
By now, the dog's barking had come to an abrupt end. Tom went back to inspecting his precious find. With an expert's eye and brain, he began evaluating each and every piece, attaching a virtual price tag to each item, calculating the potential costs and estimating his final profits with the speed of a calculator. He was deeply engrossed in this task when the door flew open! But before he could look up, something dark flew out of nowhere and whipped his head, sending him flying halfway across the room.
"Jesus!", Tom screamed in terror as he landed on his face on top of his halfeaten dinner. He heard the sound of hurried steps coming towards him and he quickly rolled onto his back, but the food had plastered his face, covering his eyes, so he could barely see anything.
Suddenly, something... someone grabbed him roughly by the hair and pulled him up. Tom screamed in fear. He thought he was being attacked by aliens or maybe old Jackson had found out about his theft and had sent hired killers after him. The person holding him suddenly gave him a sound slap and that side of Tom's face went numb, the force and unexpected nature of the strike nearly making him pee his pants.
"Please! Please don't kill me," he begged, shaking from head to foot like a leaf being blown by the wind.
"Shut up!", his attacker ordered. Tom obeyed instantly. He was still shaking and his fear inspired him to keep his mouth completely shut. He fell back on the ground with a thud as the hand that had been holding him suddenly let go. This gave him some hope that he might be spared after all. The voice that had shouted at him was a female one and it sounded familiar!
Still scared to death, but emboldened by the prolonged silence all around him, Tom managed to clean the food off his face with his shaking hands and peered up at the face of his attacker.
"You!"
"Yes, me," Lisha answered testily. "I have come to kill you. I'm just thinking how best to go about it to avoid leaving any traces. Maybe drowning would be best."
"But why?!", Tom wailed. "I paid you in full. I... I did everything just as we agreed. I..."
"Shut up!", Lisha silenced him. "Did we agree that the bastard I told you to catch should turn around and go kill my mother and destroy my family?!"
A cold shudder ran through Tom. Now he was sure he was a dead man! This girl would certainly not leave here without avenging her mother's death on him! His mouth opened to beg for his life again, but nothing came out. All that came out was the sound of his teeth chattering wildly.
Without notice, she bent down and picked him up by his hair again. Tom closed his eyes, thinking this was surely the end.
"Why didn't you let me know when he escaped, huh?!", she shouted into his face and Tom shuddered again.
"I swear, I didn't know! Please believe me... I didn't know! I... I... The person I sold him to... he never told me anything. I swear on my mother's grave, I'm only just hearing..."
"If you want to live, you will help me find him or..."
"Yes, yes, yes! I will. I will. I will help you," Tom nodded endlessly like a zombie.
Lisha let go of his head again and stood up. "You better start now," she said and turned on her heels.
Tom quickly scrambled to his feet and made the Catholic cross on himself. He could hardly believe that he was still alive and relatively unhurt. But... if he didn't find the escaped merman, he certainly would not remain so for long.
"Madam... Madam. Sorry for bothering you," Tom apologized profusely, bowing repeatedly as he ran up to meet Lisha who was already walking down the driveway. "How do I reach you when I have um... information?"
Lisha stared him up and down and threw a piece of paper at him. The paper fluttered to the ground and Tom dove after it as if it was the Holy Grail. He picked it up and looked at it carefully. It contained only a phone number. When he finally looked up, Lisha was gone. He still had no idea what her name was.