Chapter 34

I didn’t get a chance to talk to Dad again until after work on Wednesday.

“Dad, I’ve been doing some investigation, and I’ve discovered why your department has so few workers. I don’t know what to do about it.”

“Really? I hope you haven’t been hacking into private information.”

“Oddly enough it was from public sources, but I’ve discovered that your boss is embezzling funds from fake workers in your department.”

“Are you certain of this?”

“Absolutely,” I said with complete conviction.

“Well I wanted to surprise you, but I talked to our lawyer, and the coin evaluations came back, and purchase offers came with them.”

“Really? How much?”

“The lowest was for 250,000, the highest was for 1.5 million.”

“Holy Shit!” I blurted.

Dad gave me a warning look down his nose, then smiled, “I said the same thing. So, I’m thinking I quit the awful job, and get to work remodeling this house.”

“I think we should talk to the lawyer about what I discovered.”

“Good, because we have an appointment with her Thursday.”

“That’s fantastic, so what was the total of the five coins?”

“Sorry, she said we had to come for a visit to find out.”

“Well, now I’m glad I made a special dessert to go with dinner.”

“Ooh, something new?”

“Ms Hernandez said she never got her mother’s panna cotta recipe, so I’ve been refining one for her.”

“What’s that?”

“Think of it as the original vanilla flavored jello pudding.”

“That sounds ok, but I’ve seen it on the menu at some fancy places.”

“It can be devilish to get right, especially with a certain amount of stiffness, wobble, and smoothness.”

“I get it, it’s one of those desserts that has multiple seemingly contrary qualities, that have to be balanced just right.”

“Plus, they need the exact right topping to go with,” I explained.

“So what’s for dinner?” he asked.

“An ancient meal served during the time of the Romans, but with modern refinement.”

“Spaghetti?”

“Even older, Hamburgers!”

They were very good, and during dinner I explained about the finely chopped meat put in rough buns and served from rolling carts in ancient Rome. He thought it was as hilarious as I did.

We then had a brief discussion about noodles, Marco Polo, and whether it was an import or simultaneous discovery, or possibly a shared import from an unknown land and inventor.

Dad also complimented me on my fine disassembly work of the old furnace. Later versions had been riveted together, and then much later welded. Ours had been one of the early models, and the steel plates were all bolted.

I couldn’t admit that it was two Mr Meeseeks working for two hours after school on his long days, while I did homework. I was milking the project because I knew he wouldn’t understand finishing it in a single day.

Thursday, I drove from school to the lawyers office, grabbing a snack from Azteca Amigos, and dropping off a panna cotta recipe, as well as a copy of the school paper for the ladies of the restaurant. I happily munched jalapeño poppers and sipped an ice cold ginger brew while I drove into town.

I waited in the parking lot for Dad to arrive, it was only about 15 minutes, and I was able to do some reading about the highly immoral Newt Gingrich. I was so involved in the book that I didn’t notice Dad had arrived until he tapped on the car window.

I put my books to the side, and grabbed the folder with the documents Adam had procured. We walked in together where a very respectful Mike ushered straight into a conference room where Michaela and a younger version of her waited for us.

“You must be Meredith,” I said, putting out my hand to shake hers, and taking a blitz into the introductions.

“Yes, and you must be Sam,” she greeted me warmly.

“Hello,” my Dad offered to the room.

“Pete, good to see you, this is my daughter Meredith.”

“Lovely to meet you, Meredith,” Dad greeted.

We sat across from them at the table, and Mike returned with drinks for us. Once he’d left the room, Meredith turned to the two of us.

“There’s been a little bit of a stir in a tiny corner of the Spanish coin market. To begin with, the appraisals.”

She pulled out two sheets of paper, and slid them across the table to us. I flipped mine over, and read the report. There were small photos of each coin, and a comparable coin, and what it last sold for. There were notes that each coin was in impeccable condition for it’s age, but because of unknown provenance, would likely only receive 90% at most of comparables.

Dad was frowning at his, because it was very different than what he had been told. He looked up, and she gave him a dazzling smile.

“Trusting one appraiser would be a poor choice. We choose this first individual because he could expertly document that the coins were real, not elaborate replicas. The second appraiser is also a collector, and his response included a purchase offer.”

She slid a second page over, one to each of us. The information, and format was much the same, but the conclusion was that these coins exceeded all known comparables in quality. That page was quickly followed by a proposal, offering more than the appraised value.

I added up numbers, 250, 290, 420, 1.1, 1.5, 3.56 million total. I glanced at dad, “3.56 million total.”