Chapter TWENTY-FOUR: The Blank Cards

A couple of days after she had been elected sheriff, Emma found herself in one big case. It was one that needed all her work, so she can stop the separation of Ava and Nicholas Zimmer. These twins had come to everyone's attention when they had been shoplifting from Mr Clark's shop. Emma soon found that they were orphans and vowed desperately to find their father – their only living relative left – before Regina had her way and sent them to be split up in Boston. That's way Emma had gone to see Mr Gold and Professor Smith in the pawn shop; to see if they can help her find the mysterious father.

When Emma had just entered the pawn shop, Mr Gold was by his counter, polishing what seemed to be an old golden lamp, one that could have housed a genie, and Professor Smith was by a shelf of old books. When the doorbell jingled, Mr Gold looked up. "Emma. How lovely to see you. I'm flattered you'd take time off your busy schedule for us. What could we do for you, Sheriff?"

Emma went up to the counter, taking out a compass she had been carrying for the twins. "I'm looking for information on this old compass," she said, handing Mr Gold the compass. "Any idea where it could have come from?"

Mr Gold had a very thorough look at it. "Well, well. Look at the detail. You know, this is crystal. This jewelled setting… In despite the rather unfortunate shape it's in, this is actually a very unusual piece. The person who owned this obviously had great taste."

Professor Smith overheard and went over to the counter too, and took it from Mr Gold, and he too, examined it.

"And where would someone like that buy it?"

"Right here, in this very shop, of course," Professor Smith piped up. "Something this fancy always comes from here."

"You guys know him?" Emma asked.

"Indeed," Mr Gold said. "A piece like this is difficult to forget."

"Do you happen to remember who bought it?"

"Even though we are good with names," Professor Smith said, walking over to small filing cabinet, "but even we need to write out records and reports of who buys what." He opened it up and flicked through til he found a small index card. "Here we are," he said, handing it to Mr Gold.

"What's your price?" Emma asked.

"Forgiveness," Mr Gold said.

"How about tolerance?"

"Well, that's a start," Mr Gold took a brief look at the card, which had nothing written on it. "The compass was purchased by a Mr Michael Tillman."

"Anything else?"

"These cards generally have names on them. But …" Professor Smith said, "…that's all what one would need. Once you know someone's name, you can find out all about them."

Emma smiled at both then turned to leave the shop. "Good luck with your investigation," she heard Mr Gold say to her, as she left the building.