“I told O’Hara I had the wallets and keys on an external drive. They would release the boy first, and Jesse would stay with him, ready to speed away if things went south. Then Susan and I were to be let go when they got the hard drive and laptop. In truth, the only data was a clone of Jesse’s computer, but it bought us time.”

“But they must have searched you. And when they found they’d been duped…”

“They didn’t search the right place.” Ethel nodded to Jesse.

He lifted the bag from the floor and set it on an adjacent desk. Mancini was surprised but decided he must have overlooked it during the initial chaos. Jesse pulled out the large LEGO SUV model.

Ethel enjoyed seeing the three men’s puzzled expressions. “Jesse was to come to the door and ask for this to keep Davie amused. I would carry it to him.” She nodded to Jesse. “Demonstrate.”

Jesse picked up the model and walked to the door. With his body shielding his hands, he broke the model apart, wheeled around, and leveled Ethel’s revolver at Mancini. Instinctively, Curt and Pete moved away.

“Jesse,” Ethel scolded. “Point that at the floor. We don’t need to add an Arlington detective to our collection of dead law enforcement officers.”

Mancini laughed. “Ethel, you expect us to buy that story?”

“I expect the public to buy the story. And I don’t think either Rudy or Cory will see any benefit in contradicting it. Not unless they want to needlessly besmirch Jonathan Finch, his wife, and their son with unproven and unprovable allegations. His three killers have been brought to justice. You three brought them to justice. That’s the story I plan on telling.”

Mancini said nothing. He looked at the LEGO pieces, the gun, the running computer, and hard drive.

Pete Varner and Curt Foster stepped closer to the detective.

“That dog will hunt,” Pete said.

“Yeah,” Curt added. “Why would anyone want to hear anything more?”

Mancini chuckled. “Why indeed?”

The whop, whop sound of a chopper filled the air.

“Here come the big boys.” Ethel pushed off the chair, took one step, and collapsed.

Chapter 36

Courtesy of FBI Director Rudy Hauser, Jesse sat in a secluded waiting room at the Inova Trauma Center—Fairfax, in Falls Church, Virginia. Hauser had sent Ethel and him to the Level 1 facility via the chopper with a promise to handle the logistics of transporting Susan Finch and Davie home. Jesse knew both Hauser and Bradshaw were torn between being with Ethel and personally attending to the crime scene. Neither wanted the other to take charge, and each wanted to control the narrative of corruption in their respective agency. So staying at the scene won out.