When Lisa saw Ethel and Jesse emerge from Rebecca Tyson’s house, she made a U-turn and headed away. She didn’t want to risk being spotted. She wished Douglas Gray weren’t still involved and wondered again if he was on assignment or tailing Ethel for his own purposes. She had to admit he’d been impressive in his surveillance.

Lisa picked up her phone and speed-dialed Hauser’s private number.

He answered immediately. “Anything happening?”

“They’re at the sister’s in Fredericksburg, where Mrs. Finch and her son are staying. I still think they’re just running errands for them.”

“What about Douglas Gray?”

“He’s pulled off,” she lied. The last thing she wanted was for Hauser to tie her up tailing Douglas. “So, I can hang here or return to DC.”

“Come on in,” Hauser said. “I’ll send you the names of the agents on Trevor Norwood’s team. See what you can dig up on them.”

“Surreptitiously?”

“Do you have to ask?” Hauser was clearly annoyed.

“No, sir. I’ll get on it as soon as I can.”

He disconnected without another word. Lisa suspected her lack of success was cooling his interest in the case. That was good if it kept him off her back for the remainder of the day.

***

“He said he was bringing them to me?” Cory Bradshaw’s voice rose to a near-shout.

Ethel moved the phone away from her ear. “Yes. Susan’s sister made a positive ID and said O’Hara got a call that he claimed was from you.”

“This is bad. Really bad.”

“So, this is news to you?”

The near-shout rose to a crescendo. “Of course it’s news to me. Does the sister know anything else? What was he driving? Did she see which direction he took?”

“She didn’t see anything. It had started to rain, so she lent them umbrellas. Davie was in his portable wheelchair. The car was down the block. She really didn’t see it, because she closed the door as soon as they started down the walk.”

“O’Hara must think Susan knows something. Whatever he was looking for in the house. And I’m going to have someone’s head for changing that schedule.”

“Probably he innocently offered to swap for the shift,” Ethel said. “You hadn’t put any restrictions on Norwood’s team, had you?”

“No. And that’s my mistake.”

“Jesse raised a question about the counterfeit money you found with Norwood. Were any of the hundreds real?”

“No. That’s why I’m nearly certain Norwood was murdered. Killed in cold blood.”

“What are you going to do?” Ethel asked.