“No,” Cory Bradshaw agreed. “Not until we determine what’s going on. Who else is with you?”

“I’m housing an FBI agent and another of your men. Both of them are out of town. And I have an AU student. He found the body. He’s my double-first-cousin-twice-removed. I can handle him.”

“I don’t know what that relationship means, but do you know what he’ll tell the police?”

“I’ve coached him. You can get his full story later.” Ethel paused at the top of the stairs to catch her breath, feeling a little dizzy from the sudden exertion. Then she moved down the hall toward the back bedroom. “I’m going to search Finch’s things while the police are still outside. If I find anything that we need to evaluate first, will you have my back with the Arlington police?”

“Yes. And I’ll contact the police chief and tell him this is federal jurisdiction.”

“And federal forensics,” Ethel urged. “Get a mobile crime lab here ASAP. I think they’ll find blood from the shooter on the inside panel of the door with the damaged window.” She stopped at the closed door to Finch’s room. “I’ll be in touch.”

“Thanks, Ethel. You’re still on your game.”

“More than a game, Cory. Jonathan Finch was a nice man. And if you don’t catch who killed him, I will.”

She disconnected, leaving the director of the Secret Service with no doubt that Ethel Fiona Crestwater meant what she said.

Ethel noticed that the sirens had ceased. The police and EMTs must have been in place. They would first assess the situation, establish a perimeter, reroute traffic, and then talk to Jesse. There was a good chance the process wouldn’t involve her until a homicide detective arrived. The uniformed officers would have their hands full just securing the scene.

Again, she clutched the fabric of her nightgown and turned the doorknob with the tips of her covered fingernails to preserve prints. The room’s overhead light was on. Finch had been in Richmond with his family and wouldn’t have left the bulb burning all weekend. Either someone else had been in the room or Finch had come up and then returned to his car. He had a key but would have used the back door and stairway so as not to disturb her or Jesse.

Ethel first looked for anything out of place. The single bed was made so tightly a drill sergeant could have bounced a quarter off the taut blanket. On the nightstand lay a book titled The Case for Cryptocurrency with a torn piece of an envelope marking a spot about two-thirds of the way through the pages.