When Jesse returned, Ethel told him to place the bag under the desk. “Let me do the talking. The bones of the story are that when Susan didn’t know what they wanted, I received a text threatening to kill Susan and Davie. That message and the subsequent messages are all on my phone. I decided not to run the risk of involving the FBI or Secret Service because I didn’t know whom to trust. And we have two dead conspirators, one from each agency, to prove my instincts were correct. We’ll see where things go from there. Now give me my phone. I need to see if I’ve had any word from Rudy and Cory.”

She powered on her phone. Two text messages chimed. Both began the same way—

CALL ME!!!

FBI Director Hauser’s continued—

Learned O’Hara and Draper had been living together in Philly. Will contact Cory.

Secret Service Director Bradshaw’s text was essentially the same—

Gossip is O’Hara’s girlfriend was FBI agent. Possibly Lisa Draper. Will alert Rudy.

Ethel showed the messages to Jesse. “That’s good news,” she said. “Neither of them is shielding their agents, which leads me to believe both Rudy and Cory are in the clear, as far as being involved.”

“You really didn’t think one of them was guilty, did you?”

Ethel took a deep breath. “I’d like to say no. I can’t see it for the counterfeit currency scam, but twenty million dollars? My father was betrayed for a lot less.”

Rapid footsteps clicked on the concrete floor. Detective Mancini came through the door followed by Curt Foster and Pete Varner. The two octogenarian pilots wore identical leather flight jackets. They broke into a run when they saw Ethel in the chair surrounded by guns and bodies.

“Jesus, woman,” Pete exclaimed. “Is there no end to your stupidity? Detective Mancini said you tackled an armed FBI agent half your age.”

“My stupidity? You two flyboys were hotdogging in a cloud cover. What the hell did you think you were doing?”

Rather than tower over Ethel, Curt knelt beside her chair. “When you sent us the coordinates to text to the detective, I thought they sounded familiar. I make it a point to know every potential landing site in the region in case I’ve got to make an emergency landing. Those coordinates meant someone was either coming in or leaving by air. Turned out to be an old Beechcraft B55 Baron. Pretty good range on that puppy. Headed out of the country, they might have made Bermuda. Might have. Let’s just say Pete and I got here in time to play hell with his landing approach.”

Pete laughed. “Shaved him so close he’ll have to change his underwear. And we found Lisa’s car parked behind this hangar. She got here before you. My phone was under the seat.”

“That’s how you tracked her?” Mancini asked Ethel.