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But over the past few years I’d started to wonder if that ht be my fate, too Those friends of o to law school, get the degree, then opt for JAG Which I’d done But I’d been beginning to wonder if they’d forgotten about me

Now here was an opportunity

Sent by them

What did I have to lose?

Most likelyto strap me to a desk for at least the next et about the fact that a friend died and the other person fired first

“Am I off the hook for Sue Weiler?”

She nodded “I had a talk with the sheriff No charges will be filed”

I was impressed “The sheriff himself?”

“I saw no reason to start any lower”

That wasStephanie Nelle She was a person who could h, I only saw her as a way tofor me back at Mayport

“Okay,” I said “You did me a favor I’ll do you one”

My second in twenty-four hours

And nothing was ever the same

CHAPTER THREE

I slid into a booth across from Stephanie Nelle We’d left the jail and driven east in a rental car out Atlantic Boulevard toward the naval station, bypassing the road for the base and ending up in Neptune Beach Pa the curious sort that I am, I’d learned that the na resident built a train stop next to his home and christened it Neptune He’d been told that if he built a station the train would be required to stop, which would eli two miles to Mayport every day in order to catch a ride to work into Jacksonville

Suy

It worked

Now Neptune Beach was a lovely seaside community lined with brick-paved streets and lots of artsy shops and crowded bars and restaurants A happening place year-round, but especially from Memorial to Labor Day

The Sun Dog Diner was one of my favorites It had the metallic, tinny look of an old-tiatory slick vinyl and shiny linoleuhbor, the kind of place where if they hadn’t seen you lately they’d pour you a free drink, offer a seat, and chat awhile It sat on the , across from another of my favorite places, The Bookmark, a local independent haunt Its owners, Rona and Buford Brinlee, had become friends I loved books, and always had Eventually they would becoinning

“Have you ever heard of a 1933 Double Eagle?” Stephanie asked

I shook my head

“It’s the rarest coin in the world Ninety percent gold, ten percent copper Millions of Double Eagles were struck froold pieces, and they’re still prevalent in the coindifferent happened 445,500 Double Eagles were struck that year, but none of those were ever issued to the public FDR banned the private holding of gold in April 1933 Since the coins had already been produced when that happened, they were simply held at the Philadelphia mint and eventually melted down”

A waitress sauntered over

“What’s good to eat?” Stephanie asked me

“The meat loaf is top-notch”

“Then we’ll have two,” she told the server “I’ll drink water”

“Iced tea for me”

I could tell Stephanie Nelle was coe

The young girl left

Out through the front atched as people walked in and out of The Bookmark I could already see her probleed to escape the smelter?”

“That’s been atime”

I listened as she explained how the 1933 Double Eagles had evolved into the Holy Grail of numismatists Only two of the coins were intentionally kept back at the iven to the Smithsonian They should have been the only two in existence anywhere