He briefly described his efforts to inspect the vent. “But there’s also the possibility he kept that drive in Richmond, either in his office or home. If the laptop was his personal one, then odds are any backup would be at home.”

Ethel returned to his side. “Let me think about it. Don’t mention that possibility just yet. If it exists, I’d like to see the data before turning it over to anyone.”

“Do you not trust Cory Bradshaw?”

“Oh, I trust him. I trust him to protect his agency. We might be approaching a divergence of priorities.”

“How so?”

“He’ll keep things under wraps as long as he can. He’ll be after justice but on his own terms. Finding who attacked you is not his priority. But it is mine. Someone attacked my family again, and I’m not going to let that go unchallenged.”

“Has someone attacked your family before?”

Ethel placed her small, wrinkled hand on Jesse’s chest. “Your mother never told you?”

“Told me what?”

“My father was murdered. I was the one who tracked down his killer.”

Chapter 14

Jesse stared at the opening in the privacy curtain through which Ethel had disappeared. He’d wanted to ask her about her father and the search for his killer, but she’d immediately left in search of a physician.

Lying there alone, Jesse tried to tuck the loose hospital gown under his hips. Whoever designed the butt-exposing humiliations should be forced to wear one on the DC Metro at rush hour. He tried to roll onto his side. The exertion generated a deep ache in his left shoulder. During his tumble, he must have smacked against the edge of a step. He wondered what other aches and pains awaited him.

He was still squirming to regain a modicum of modesty when the curtain split and a female nurse and a male orderly entered.

“Mr. Cooper,” the nurse said, “we’re here to transport you for your CT scan.”

Jesse gave up and let gravity arrange the gown. “Fine. When the woman who’s with me returns, could someone tell her where I’ve gone?”

The nurse glanced at the orderly. Both smiled.

“Oh, your grandmother knows,” the woman said. “She cornered your attending physician.”

Grandmother? Jesse conceded it was a far easier explanation than double-first-cousin-twice-removed.

“She’s a pistol,” the orderly added. “I’d want her in my corner. I heard her tell the doc that no one short of a chain saw injury is jumping ahead of you.”

The nurse laughed. “So, hold on to your gown, Mr. Cooper. We’re going to get you up to the imaging suite as fast as this bed will roll.”