“Maybe. There was a mention of Finch being congratulated for ten years of service and for breaking up a credit card theft operation using stolen cards to order online merchandise. That was a couple of years ago. But the most curious link to Jonathan Finch was a suicide about six months ago.”

“A suicide?” Jesse opened his desk drawer and pulled out a pencil and legal pad. “Hold on. Let me write this down.”

“I can send you the article. It appeared in the Roanoke Times. Finch was identified as a Secret Service agent who discovered the body of CEO Dwayne Parker.”

“Should I know that name?”

“No. He evidently headed a tech company called KryptoFold Enterprises. It was a successful start-up that manufactured physical devices for securely storing the key to a virtual wallet.”

Jesse remembered what he’d seen in Finch’s room. “That fits. Jonathan had a book titled The Case for Cryptocurrency.”

“The article said Parker’s company rode the popular wave of cryptocurrency until Parker was accused of embezzling from his investors by moving funds into his personal cryptocurrency account. And you and I know without the private key, the coins in the wallet are unreachable.”

“Jonathan must have been on the case because of the cybercrime nature of the embezzlement.”

Tracy nodded. “My thoughts exactly. The Roanoke newspaper article reported the death and the initial determination of suicide, but once I had Dwayne Parker’s name, I was able to uncover more information from other sources. The newspaper also ran some follow-up stories. Evidently, the investigation was a joint operation with the fraud unit of the FBI. Jonathan was monitoring Parker’s physical whereabouts and learned the man had gone to his mountain retreat outside Roanoke. Jonathan drove over and surreptitiously spotted Parker loading luggage in his Land Rover. Although the government had held off making an arrest, hoping to capture either the suspected virtual wallet’s private key or Parker in the act of transferring coins, Jonathan feared the man was making a run for it. If he got out of the country, he could access his virtual wallet from anywhere in the world, and no one could stop him. So Jonathan called for backup and used his vehicle to block Parker’s narrow mountain driveway. Jonathan said Parker saw what he was doing and locked himself in the house. There was a gunshot, and when Jonathan broke in, he found Parker dead on the floor. Forensics determined it was suicide.”

“And the wallet?” Jesse asked.

“No mention anywhere. And Parker’s computer had been wiped clean.”

“How much money is supposed to be missing?”

“Twenty million dollars.”

Jesse whistled. “Wow. And, as far as anyone knows, it’s lost in cyberland?”

“Yes. Both the wallet’s address and the private key. The money may as well be on the dark side of the moon.”

Jesse heard the words ringing in his head. Tell Ethel the secret.

Chapter 16