But it didn’t unravel. The curled paper turned out to be looped with the ends taped together in a half twist. Actually a Möbius strip with the phenomenon of technically having only one side. If the surface was traced by a finger or pencil, one never came to the strip’s end but rather traversed both sides as if they were one. Jesse held it up for Ethel to see. In a child’s block script, someone had scrawled a message in red crayon. It wasn’t numbers or special characters. Simply all cap letters. “DAVIES SECRET.”

“That’s touching.” Jesse gave it to Ethel. “The boy saw his dad put his secret in the model of his SUV, and so he put his pretend secret in his room in the model house.”

Ethel studied the handwriting. “That’s the logical explanation.”

Jesse set the LEGO house back on the shelf.

Ethel handed him the note. “Better put this inside and replace the roof. Otherwise, someone could see the hollow interior and discover the other hiding place.”

“But I thought you were going to offer to straighten up the house so that we can legitimately find these things?”

“Not till we talk to Davie. A change in plans. His secret is now our secret. We need to be in Fredericksburg, and we’re an hour away.”

***

Douglas Gray wondered why Ethel and Jesse had come to the house. Jesse had told him and Lisa that the mother and boy were staying at her sister’s with agent protection. What did they hope to find here that everyone else had missed? More important, what did Director Bradshaw expect them to find? Was a confrontation imminent? He dialed the private number he’d been given.

***

Lisa saw Ethel and Jesse return through the carport. She grabbed her binoculars for a closer look and determined they were carrying the same items they’d originally taken out of the car. There were no toys for the boy, no changes of clothes, no toiletries—the kinds of things you would think a displaced family would want. Lisa had no way of knowing whether they’d left anything in the house or whether they’d picked up something small that fit in what they already carried. Something that explained why Jesse had his computer backpack with him. If the actions were part of Ethel’s unofficial investigation, then there was a reason for each stop they’d made that morning. Where they went next could clarify everything.

Time to call Director Rudy Hauser.

No hello. Only an abrupt “Where are you?”

“At Finch’s house. I think they’re running errands. First, the funeral home and then their home.”

“I thought they were in Fredericksburg.”