Unspoken Read Online Free Page A

and the success of his plan rested in large part on her skills. “Kim, I’m going to hand you five hundred coins to sell, mostly gold, 1810 to 1880, all high grade, and I need you to move half of them within a month.”
    Kim’s hand trembled against the glass. But Bryce saw the gleam of excitement in her eyes and gave her a slight nod. She worked on salary plus a three-percent commission, and he was offering to make her a very good year. “Have your best sales staff on the phones to contact customers, plan an auction, travel to show the coins—whatever you decide will work best. The first of the coins are going to reach Bishop Chicago this afternoon. I’ve already laid some ground with Paul Falcon to take a package of fifty for two hundred fifty thousand, so you can work that possibility as one of your first sales.”
    “I’ll wow him,” she promised.
    Bryce looked over at Sharon. “The two photographers you like to work with on the auction catalogs—I’ll make it worth their while to come to the shop and work for you for the next couple of months. You’re the best I’ve got for presentation, so how to display the coins—in the store, the catalog, on the website—is going to fall to you. I’m raising you to double on all overtime plus a percent commission on these coins. Anything I can do to free up your time—hire a housekeeper, keep your husband out of your way—just let me know.”
    She smiled and nodded. “Thanks, Bryce.”
    Bryce looked at the man he trusted most with the business. “Devon, grading the coins and getting them into inventory will be on you and your staff. Let’s batch them through in groups of twenty-five, with at least an hour break between groups. I need careful work as much as I need fast work.”
    “We can handle it, boss.”
    “I’m counting on it. I want you and Kim to go over the coin prices and bring me a list with your recommendations. I’ll make the final decision on what price we’ll bring them to market.”
    He glanced around the table. “Devon grades the coins and gets them into inventory, Sharon photographs, Kim sells. And while you all are doing that—” he paused, enjoying the moment—“I’m going to find us the cash to buy more coins from the same estate.”
    He sampled the sausage puff pastry while his speechless staff stopped eating. Jackie wouldn’t appreciate plates coming back with food untasted.
    “There’s more?” Devon asked for all of them.
    Bryce reached for his coffee. “I’m told there is.”
    He’d been working the numbers in his head most of the morning. “Devon, I’d like to take everything we have in present inventory down in price to our cost plus eight percent. It will move inventory, raise cash, and give us much-needed vault and display space. But that’s going to put enormous strain on thewebsite business for processing orders, packaging, and shipping coins. I need you to go back through the employment records, look at those we have employed on a temporary basis to help at auctions, at coin shows, select those who are careful, who work well with minimal supervision, and staff us up to handle it. As soon as you have enough staff on hand to provide quality service, take down the prices.”
    “I can think of several possibilities without even pulling the files.”
    “They’ll be temp positions, but at least four months of steady work.” Bryce considered the problems he had identified. “Depending on the pace of sales, managing the vault space is going to be one of the squeeze points. We’re fine for the first five hundred coins, but it’s the group after this one that starts to get interesting. So for now, Devon, I’m going to take back on my plate all purchase decisions on new inventory.”
    “I’ve got no problem with that, boss. I imagine cash flow is going to be interesting for a while too.”
    Bryce nodded. “I broke my piggy bank this morning and told my banker I was putting another slug of personal cash into the