“Yes. And Jesse’s phone was in Douglas Gray’s. For all I knew both Lisa and Douglas could have been bad. Last night, while Lisa and Douglas were having wine with me, Jesse raided their car keys and planted the phones.”

“We tracked Gray back to Fredericksburg,” Curt said. “I believe he’s watching the house of Mrs. Finch’s sister.”

“His only play is to wait for Susan and Davie to return.” Ethel turned to Pete. “Any ID on the pilot?”

“I got two digits of the tail number as he flew off with his own tail tucked between his legs.”

“I’ve given the numbers to Rudy Hauser,” Mancini said. “It’s a long shot, but it might be enough to ID the plane’s owner.”

“You’ve talked to Rudy?” Ethel asked.

“He and Cory both. Each has a corrupt dead agent so they’re inbound.”

“Helicopter?”

“Yes.”

Ethel tried to get up, but Mancini motioned for her to stay seated. “And they’ll probably insist on using the chopper to transport you to the nearest medical facility.”

Ethel waved her hand dismissively. “Don’t be silly. I’m a little winded, that’s all.”

Mancini shrugged. “Then you can begin explaining what happened here.”

“A bluff is what happened here. This confederacy of thieves, Draper, Norwood, and O’Hara had planned the counterfeit-money-for-Bitcoin scam. Maybe they’d done it before. Lisa admitted she had money offshore. I think Jonathan Finch got suspicious and set a trap to flush them out.”

Mancini looked skeptical and glanced at Jesse.

“Her room was next to Jonathan’s,” Jesse chimed in. “He could have overheard her talking.”

“Okay,” Mancini said. “I get that, and Draper knocking you out to retrieve the counterfeit money, but why didn’t it end there?”

“Because of the Parker embezzlement,” Ethel said. “Twenty million dollars had been hidden somewhere. Lisa knew about it because she worked the investigation. She also knew Jonathan had been first on the scene when Parker committed suicide. When Jonathan made an offer of Bitcoin for cash, she became convinced that he had Parker’s money.”

“And went after the family?” Mancini asked.

Ethel pointed to the door. “You were just outside, weren’t you? Didn’t you hear her admit that?”

“Yes, I’d parked far enough away to not be heard on the approach. Lisa shot O’Hara before I could get here. When you told Lisa, ‘Wait, hear me out,’ I interpreted that as a signal to me as I’d seen you glance my way.”

“I wanted you to hear the confession. You know what happened after that.”

Mancini walked over to Jesse and the laptop. Data was still being loaded from the external drive.

“So, this is your bluff?”