Page 67

"I don't mind being here for you, you know," I say, softening my tone. "Marin's not at my place. I gave her the weekend off."

Her eyebrows pop up in surprise. "You can't do that, Florence. She needs her paycheck as much as the rest of us do!"

I chuckle. "She's getting paid, Josie. I expect her to stay sober during the times she normally works, on the off-chance I really need her for something. I used to feel guilty calling her after I gave her an evening off, but now I do it every great once in a while. It makes her feel more like she's earning her paycheck."

She steps into my personal space. "I'm sorry I talk about her all the time. I wish I could stop thinking about her."

"I know." I pull her into a hug. "It's just too much for me right now," I whisper into her ear. I pull away from her. "I'll let you know when my brother can come look at the coins."

28

Josie

"No, I haven't decided what to do about it yet," I tell Tilly.

"Knock knock," Florence pokes her head in the door. "I brought Mr. Money Bags and two of his friends."

"Don't promise her anything, Florence," her brother says. The resemblance is remarkable. "We need to see what he has."

"Whatshehas," she corrects her brother. "The coins don't belong to him anymore. He's dead."

I greet her brother. "I'm Josie. You must be Joe."

"Delighted." He gives me a huge grin. "So you're the mystery woman Florence has been hiding."

I laugh. "I'm not sure she was hiding me, but yes. That would be me."

"My kids told me it's all over the internet that you're getting married." He eyes me with curiosity.

"Not yet, bro." Florence puts a stop to that. "I explained all that to you. Leave it alone. Introduce your friends. I haven't met them yet."

"Cole Robbins." Joe motions toward the taller blonde man in the nice suit, then motions toward the younger Hispanic man. "Keenan Acevedo. My sister Florence, and her girlfriend Josie. Josie is Karl Schneider's granddaughter. She inherited his coin collection."

"I'm sure Joe already mentioned this already, but I want to be upfront with you." I reach out to give each of the gentlemen a firm handshake. "A portion of my grandfather's coin collection—we think—was looted during the war. None of it is traceable, to my understanding. The Auction House is working with me on some other items, but they're not interested in dealing with the coins. Not with me, at any rate."

Joe nods. "I already explained that. They're aware of the situation."

Cole butts in. "That, and we all knew your grandfather. The man was a right old bastard. He would swindle anyone out of a quarter if he could." He frowns. "No offense, Miss. I'm sorry for your loss."

"Thanks." I laugh, strangely glad to hear him confirm my suspicions. "But I hadn't seen him for thirty years. I didn't even know he was still alive until the lawyer sent me his will."

"That's a pleasant windfall to drop into your lap," the other man—Keenan—chuckles.

"Nah." I shake my head. "It's been a huge pain. There's a judgment against the property and I need to come up with a quarter million to claim the rest of it."

Joe looks at Florence. "You didn't tell me that part, sis."

"She doesn't want my money to bail her out." We don't need to add the potential complications of our contract. "She'd rather legit sell some of it."

He nods. "While I understand the Auction House not wanting to touch his coins—his looting and history was not a secret—that stain won't follow the items once they're in someone else's hands."

"Even assuming we give you twice what the Auction House would have, as soon as we sign the sale," Keenan adds, "the value will be twice again as much."

"Win-win for all of us, then." I smile. "He has a special room for the coins. Follow me."

Upstairs, I usher them into the coin room. Cole steps behind me, studying the five coins on the wall encased in their own frames."Holy fuckeroni.That's a real NGC-rated 1943-D Lincoln Copper Penny."

I nod. "He has the papers for this one. It was appraised a few years ago for a million and a half."