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"I have a law  degree,' Felt  said, 'and  I was  leaning toward the  intersection  of  business  and  government,  but  the  war intervened.  In  wartime  our country  becomes,  temporarily,  a military dictatorship  with all hands  on deck. So as  with your coal miners here my own work dried up too."

"Your education was not criminal law?"

"Well, make no  mistake,  I  was immersed  in  criminal law  at Quantico. But the crimes that  draw my attention don't happen in towns like Headwater. I want to go after spies."

The waitress came to take their  order. She took the menus but left the two silver half-dollar coins that had been on the table when the men were seated.

"The people who ate at this  table before us were  from the Red Wing of the Church," Roddy said confidently.

"How do you know?"

He gestured at the  two coins. "Those half-dollars. 1942. The mint mark  should be  D for  Denver, but they'll  both be  O be- cause the die was worn and nobody caught it in time.

Mark Felt looked at both coins and saw Roddy's  guess was true. "How strange. But what's the connection to the Red Wing?"

"There's a fellow I know here who runs a  pawn shop, he brought these to  my attention.  Normally a  mint mark  of O  would make these collectible.  This fellow  found out  the Denver  Mint had struck about a hundred of  these flawed fifty-cent pieces before their quality  control spotted the  problem and halted  the run. But there are many more than  a hundred of them circulating here in Headwater.  Everywhere you go  in Headwater you'll  see them, always  from the  Red Wing,  usually retirees  living on  social security,  this old  fellow gets  a tube  for his  radio at  the hardware store and leaves a  half-dollar, that old lady gets her hair done and leaves some more."

"Do you think somebody in Headwater is counterfeiting coins?"

"If they are, Agent  Felt, I  really don't  see how  they would profit by it. If you melt  a silver half-dollar down all you get is a half-dollar's worth of raw silver bullion.

"But Pawn Shop Guy says  the little O  under 'In God  We Trust' makes it collectible."