Page 44

Florence nods. "Good. Thank you." She turns to me. "Can you give me a few minutes? I need to make a phone call."

My phone rings in my back pocket, and she laughs. "You get that while I try to contain some fires."

I glance at the screen before answering. It's the coin expert, less than two hours after he left my grandfather's penthouse. "This is Dr. Mueller." I step into the other room.

"Doctor. It's Dieter Engelmann. I—" He clears his throat. "I wanted to give you an update on one of your coins."

"Already?"That was fast.

"Your grandfather had many valuable pieces.Youhave many valuable pieces," he emphasizes. "What was your grandfather's name again, if I may ask?"

I frown. "Karl Schneider," I tell him. "Is that important?"

"How old was he?" Dieter asks.

"Is this relevant?" I ask. I glance around, realizing I'm in a huge library, before returning my attention to the call.

"Bear with me, Doctor."

"Okay. He turned one hundred last year. He was born in 1923 in Germany. He immigrated after the war."

He makes a noise of affirmation. "With the coins I saw today, you have at least half a million dollars." He hesitates. "However, there's a problem with one of the coins."

"A problem?" I repeat.

"The coin on the wall—the one front and center—"

"The one you saw first," I supply. He acted almost nervous with it.

"Yes. It's stolen property. There will be legal implications along with it."

I sit down in one of the reading chairs and sigh. "What does that mean?"

"I cannot give you legal counsel. I haven't contacted our legal team. Yet," he adds after a pause.

"Whatcanyou tell me then, Mr. Engelmann?" I'm not in the mood for games.

He clears his throat. "You have a twenty-dollar Saint-Gaudens gold double eagle from 1933." He drops the information like a nuke—one that doesn't land.

"Care to elaborate on what that means?" I ask drily.

"Yes, ma'am." He takes an audibly deep breath. "When these were minted, they were never released into circulation. They were minted before President Roosevelt ordered gold coins to be melted down in 1933. All but a handful were destroyed by the mint."

That's interesting. "So if it's rare, it should be worth something then, right?"

"Because they were never released into circulation, they legally belong to the federal government."

"Oh." I scratch my head. "How did my grandfather get it, then?"

"He was an upstanding member of the local numismatic and philatelic communities," he says. "You knew him better than I did. I've heard of him, but never dealt with him directly."

Thewhatcommunities?I stand up.

"I haven't seen him since I was four years old. I didn't even know he was still alive." I start pacing. "If it belongs to the federal government, then I can give it back to them."

"Ultimately, it will end up in their possession," he affirms. "There's one other case similar to yours. Let me tell you a story."

Ten minutes later, Florence sticks her head into the library. "Josie? Is everything okay?"