Chapter 77

The hall erupted. The auctioneer's voice rang through the villa, "Bidder 888 has pledged to take the tanzanite no matter how high the price goes! Let's give him a round of applause!" The clapping rolled over the crowd like thunder. The auction hit a full sprint, and whispers spilled into open chatter. "You've got to be kidding me! No matter how high the price goes? We haven't seen it in ages!" "Yeah! The last time was a year ago for that massive piece. The bidding went insane until a mystery buyer signaled he'd take it at any price, and it closed at 12 million dollars!" "Three years ago, the same thing happened with a painting. A mystery buyer made that gesture, and it went for seven million dollars!" "And before that, at Cynorth, a modern masterpiece fetched seven million dollars when a mystery buyer gave the same gesture!" Someone finally asked what everyone else was thinking, "What does that gesture actually mean?" A guest leaned closer and explained, "That means Howard's pr