Standing just under the carport’s roof, she shouted something, and Jesse hurried from the driver’s seat, ran around the front of the car in the rain and opened the passenger door. Ethel dashed from her shelter, dumped her load on the passenger seat, and then went to the driver’s side and got behind the wheel. Jesse rearranged things so he could sit down, and for the next few minutes the two of them seemed to be busying themselves with whatever Ethel had brought from the house.

When the Infiniti’s headlights and wipers came on, Douglas started his Honda. The chase was on.

Chapter 33

Davie left the portable wheelchair and squeezed into a desk chair with his mother. He looked down at his hands and murmured a never-ending loop of words. It took Susan a few minutes to realize he was repeating “Miss Crestwater, come together, Miss Crestwater, come together…” It was like a mantra and seemed to calm him.

“What’s he saying?” Ed O’Hara sat on the edge of the desk beside the open laptop. His arms were folded across his chest and the pistol returned to its holster.

“A name.”

“Whose?”

“Ethel Crestwater. Heard of her?”

“Yeah. She’s supposedly a legend around the FBI.”

“She is. And she’s coming after you for killing my husband.”

“I never killed him. I never killed anyone.”

“Then who did?”

O’Hara looked at the boy locked away with his repetitive mumbling. “He’s been taken care of, if it’s justice you want.”

“I want you to let us go.”

O’Hara nodded his agreement. “And I’d like nothing more. Now it depends upon your Ethel Crestwater. If she does the right thing, no one gets hurt. I fly away, and you’ll never see me again.”

“And what’s the right thing?”

“Return the money your husband stole. Ethel got a copy of his laptop somehow and knows the way in. She gives us that, and everybody wins.”

“My husband’s not a thief.”

O’Hara shrugged. “Believe what you want. But you’d better believe Ethel Crestwater will come through for you.” He looked at Davie again. “What’s wrong with your boy?”

Susan bristled. “There’s nothing wrong with him. He’s sweet, gentle, and kind. That’s all you need to know.”

“Okay. Let’s all just relax. A few more hours and this will be over.”

Over. The word was anything but reassuring.

***

Jesse put the hard drive, the KryptoFold, and the strip of paper with the handwritten long sequence of numbers and characters for the smaller wallet into Ethel’s bag.

“You told Tracy not to contact you?” Ethel asked.

“Yes. She should have returned the ten thousand to the wallet we control and is waiting for further instructions. It’s close to seven in London, and she’s staying up and logged in all night if necessary.”