Page 68 of Head Over Heels

"I don't have anywhere near that kind of cash." He laughs. "They won't work with you at all with his collection? They could make so much handling all this for you. Even if they only worked with the pieces that have a paper trail."

I shake my head. "Not with the coins. The other things, yes. But their process is slow, and I've only got about seven months left to come up with the cash or I lose the whole estate."

Joe comes up on my other side. "He had such an incredible collection," he says reverently. He sounds like a kid in a candy store. "What's in the drawers? Can we see?"

Florence comes up behind us, putting one arm around each of our shoulders. "Gloves, Joe. Same for your friends. Don't forget your manners,Guiseppe."She smacks him on the back of his head.

"Leave your feisty side for your girlfriend—when the rest of us are gone," he teases, pulling a pair of gloves out of his pocket.

I raise an eyebrow at Florence before I turn back to Joe. "Each drawer has separate collections, I think. From what I can tell, many are Greek and Roman. The Greek ones look older than the rest." I motion to Joe to open a drawer.

The other two men gather next to him, and I step back. "I don't care where these came from," Cole breathes, "this is incredible. Look! He has three gold Constantine Solidi. Basil the Second. Justinian the Second." He looks up at me. "This is only one drawer."

"A fraction," Keenan corrects him. "There has to be a hundred grand sitting right here."

"Two, at least," Cole says authoritatively.

The corner of my mouth curls up. "I'll sell it to you. The whole drawer for a hundred."

"Let me see what else you have before I agree to anything, Miss."

There are three shallow glass drawers across the span of the built-in system, and ten deep. They open each drawer, telling each other what they know of the contents. A set of Greek coins from before the Roman Empire when the Greeks were in southern Italy. Gold and silver from the Roman Empire itself. Medieval coins from France and Italy. There's no way anyone could track any of this stuff, whether it was stolen property or not.

"You've got quite the collection here, Miss Mueller," Joe says, his voice full of awe.

"It's Doctor to you," Florence tells him.

"Doctor." He nods thoughtfully. "I'd like to bring in Laurie Trujillo to look at the medieval coins, and Jed Webb is an expert in the older Greek and Roman coins."

"Anyone you think might be interested." I smile. I don't really care about getting their real value, as long as I get enough to cover the judgment. I need to think about what to do with all his money, because the more I find out about him, the less I want it. But I don't know the Vanderveens—they may be as bad or worse than my grandfather.

"I know a few people who might be interested in some of the Lincoln pennies—the ones struck on nickel and dime planchets. Not locally, but nationally. Maybe not inside your timeframe, but in the future." Cole clears his throat. "I'd like to make an offer on the Byzantine collection."

Florence puts her arm around my waist supportively.

"I'm listening," I say seriously, holding back a smile.

"The collection as it stands—this drawer," he points to the first one we opened, nearly an hour ago. "I'll give you a hundred grand. It's probably worth twice that, if you know the numismatic community and are willing to wait for the right buyer." He pauses for me to digest that. "I'd also be happy to work with you to get the best value for your collection in the future—once the judgment is finished and you aren't on a rushed timeframe."

Joe raises an eyebrow at Cole. "You'd be happy to do that, would you?" He turns to Florence. "It's a crap deal. You could get twice that with the right buyer." He looks at me. "He's trying to take advantage of your situation."

Cole laughs. "Chill, Joe. She scratches my back, I'll scratch hers. We both win. I'll take less than the Auction House or another big company would." He turns back to me. "We can talk about that once you get the estate settled. I'd be happy to help you out, though."

"I'll take the offer for the drawer. We can talk about the other after things are settled with the estate."

Keenan clears his throat. "This drawer," he points to the third on the left, "the medieval Italian coins—I'll give you a hundred grand for it. Like Cole said, it's probably worth about twice that if you take the time and resources to find the right buyers—"

"Without getting a grade on each of them, I'd put it closer to one-fifty," Cole jumps in.

"Offer stands," Keenan says. "That will get you close to what you need."

"I accept that as well." I nod happily.

"I'll have Hettie draw up the legal purchase agreements," Florence jumps in.Thank goodness, because I have no idea how this would all work."Can you make a list of the coins in each of those collections, please?" She looks at her brother.

He nods, his eye still on a gold coin on the wall.

"What are you going to buy?" she asks him.

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