Gold and gemstones? Dominic fished in his pocket for his keys. Back when he’d gotten his driver’s license, he’d found a strange coin on the floor of his father’s plane hangar. His dad had told him it wasn’t even worth a dollar, but rather than toss it out, he’d made the coin into a keychain. Staring down at the surface of the currency now, he saw the words South Africa along the side. “I have an old coin from South Africa. I found it years ago. My dad mentioned it wasn’t worth much. I haven’t really thought about it since.”
“That’s very interesting. Can you send me a picture of it?” Raine asked.
“Yeah.” He glanced at Kendra as he used his phone to take a picture of the coin. Then he asked, “What’s your phone number?”
Kendra rattled off the digits. He entered them into his new phone and sent the image.
“I have it.” Raine sounded distracted. “Dom, do you know if your dad has more of these coins?”
“I doubt it. I’ve never seen any, and I cleaned out his stuff about a year after his death.” Dom hadn’t wanted to go through his father’s personal items, but in the end, he’d wanted to at least donate his clothing and other items to those in need. “I would have found them.”
“You’re sure about that?” Raine pressed.
“Why are you asking?” Kendra frowned. “Is that a rare coin or something?”
“Or something,” Raine agreed. “I’m not the expert on South African cartels, but this appears to be a Krugerrand coin.”
He stared at Kendra, his thoughts whirling. “I don’t know what that means.”
“They’re currency that was circulated in South Africa for years, then were banned,” Raine explained. “I’m not sure why, but they don’t make them anymore. And those that are floating around out in the world are now considered extremely valuable.”
“How valuable?” Kendra asked.
“This coin alone could be worth up to four thousand dollars.”
What? Four grand? For one stinking coin? Dom stared at his key ring. “Why would my father tell me this was worthless?”
“I don’t have a good answer for that,” Raine said with a sigh. “I’m trying to understand why he’d only have one coin.”
He was still struggling to comprehend how one coin could be worth so much money. “Do you think he had others? Like a stash he’d taken when he’d relocated to Montana?”
“If you haven’t found any, then I’d think this is the only one he had.” Raine paused, then added, “Unless he had some with him when the plane went down.”
Dom had to admit that was a possibility. And if that was the case, those Krugerrand coins were likely gone for good. “The wreckage of the plane was never found.”
“Except for the tail piece my sister Jess discovered,” Kendra interjected. “We’ve searched the area around there but never found anything else. Granted, we didn’t have a lot of time to spend looking for more, between doing all of our SAR missions.”
Dom glanced out the window at the snow-blanketed ground. There was no way to mount a search now. Maybe in the spring? But that was months away, and besides, finding more coins wasn’t nearly as important as finding and arresting the gunman who kept popping up to shoot at them.
“I know it’s been busy,” Raine said. “Just something to think about in the future.”
“Yeah, but the Krugerrand can’t be the reason I’ve been targeted by gunfire.” Dom scowled. “Nobody knows I have this.”
“True,” Raine agreed. “I’m wondering, though, if the reason your father was killed was because Volter thought he’d stolen Krugerrand from him.”
“Anything is possible,” Kendra said. “I’d like to know how Gunther’s people found Gary in Billings. And if he wanted the coins back, why hire Stuart Ramsey to kill Dom’s father? Especially taking down his plane. If the guy did have more coins, he’d likely keep them close at hand.”
“Those are all good questions, and I wish I had answers for you.” Raine sounded apologetic. “You may need to meet with Andrew Levy to learn more.”
Meeting with Marshal Levy went against the grain, but Dom wasn’t sure there was a way to avoid it. “I’m irked that Levy didn’t mention the cartel was in South Africa.”
“He may have kept information back to encourage a meeting,” Raine pointed out. “Although I would have thought he’d understand that honesty would offer a better advantage than deceit.”
“Raine, can you help by continuing to dig into Gunther Volter, Theo Le Ruiz, and the Randover Royals?” Kendra asked. “We can do that, too, but you might have more luck with accessing information known by the marshals.”
“I’ll do my best,” Raine promised. “But you guys need to be careful. If the gunman tracking you is from the Randover Royal cartel, they’re extremely dangerous.”
“Thanks, Raine.” Dom still wasn’t sure why these guys were coming after him. Unless Stuart Ramsey’s confession had spurred things along. Maybe Kendra was right in that Gunther Volter’s people assumed Ramsey had said more than he should have.
