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Now she just thought it was a nice place to sit down and take a rest. After all, she wasn’t climbing down a rope into a dark cavern or getting pushed over a cliff, tied up in a car. True, the agent was asking her all kinds of questions, but he didn’t have any type of surgical instruments on him at all. And on top of that, he was kind of cute.
Besides, answering his questions was nothing more than relaxing. Because she simply had to tell him the truth. How hard was that?
“Where did the coins come from?” he asked.
“Günter Grunwald’s boat. He had them hidden there.”
“Why did he do that?”
“Because he didn’t want anyone to know that he had them. Because he stole them from his brothers. Because they stole gold from the Federal Reserve and made the coins from that. But I’m sure Günter’s telling you all about this.”
“Is he?”
“Come on,” Riley said. “Knock it off. You know that as well as I do.”
Günter and Dr. Bauerfeind had met up with Riley and Emerson when they were being escorted out of the cathedral. Günter and Bauerfeind had to talk their way into the paddy wagon. Eventually they convinced the Secret Service that they were a part of this madness. Now they were somewhere in this building on L Street being questioned. It was one big happy family.
“Dr. Bauerfeind will be able to tell you the origin of the gold in the coins,” she told him. “Much of it will be from the Deutsche Bundesbank in Frankfurt, Germany, by way of the United States Federal Reserve.”
“How did you get into the cathedral? The Secret Service had it cordoned off.”
“We brought the coins into the church before the Secret Service arrived. Emerson did a favor for Archbishop Aberrai a couple years ago, and the archbishop returned the favor by letting us into the church. Now it’s my turn,” Riley said. “What’s your first name? Where’d you grow up? Who’s your favorite Batman?”
“I’m not the one being questioned here.”
“Am I under arrest?”
“No.” He blew out a sigh. “I hate when they have me interrogate people with law degrees.”
“So?”
“Jordan. Atlanta. Kevin Conroy in Batman: The Animated Series,” he said.
“I agree, isn’t he the best?” Riley stood and stretched. “I’d like to go home now. I’ve told you everything you need to know.”
“By your own confession, you broke into the Federal Reserve vault in New York, you trespassed onto restricted Air Force property in Nevada, and you disrupted a Roman Catholic liturgy in Washington, D.C. And there’s more. Do you want me to go on?”
“Not necessary. There were circumstances. You’re dealing with the biggest gold theft in the history of forever. And everybody knows about it. It was on television. You can’t make us disappear, because too many people saw us. People are going to have to know the truth. You cannot just make this go away. And if all that isn’t enough, I’m pretty sure I saw Bill O’Reilly in the audience at the church.”
—
Riley sat opposite Myra at the kitchen table. When Emerson’s father had been in residence, the table had been used by household staff. When Myra took over, the table became the heart of the house. The only time the large formal dining room table was used was when the iguana climbed up and tried to eat the candles.
“They made it all go away,” Riley said to Myra. “Poof! Swept under the carpet.”
“Have another cookie,” Myra said, pushing the brown bear cookie jar over to Riley. “You accomplished what you set out to do. Em got to see his gold. And no one’s trying to kill you anymore. It’s all good.”
“I suppose that’s true. Although Emerson’s gold now has Bertram Grunwald’s face on it. At least Blane-Grunwald was able to gather it all together for Emerson to see.”
“I imagine they’ll melt it down and Bertie’s face will go away,” Myra said.
“Eventually. Fortunately Dr. Bauerfeind’s technique was able to determine ownership of most of the gold.”
“So everybody will get their gold back.”
“I’ve been told that the process of discreetly reshaping and removing the gold from Nellis Air Force Base and transporting it back to the Federal Reserve v
ault in New York will take several years to complete. But yes, everyone should ultimately get their gold back.”
