“We went to Richmond. Ethel wanted to check on Jonathan’s wife. I didn’t want her driving alone.” He thought how ludicrous that sounded given she’d been “driving” at 4,000 feet, and he would have been no help whatsoever.

“How is Susan?” Lisa asked.

“As well as can be expected. Detective Mancini said Jonathan’s name was being released today, and Ethel wanted to be there till her sister arrived from Fredericksburg.”

“To stay with her?”

“Actually, Mrs. Finch and Davie are going to stay with her sister. That way they can avoid the press.”

Lisa nodded her approval. “Admirable of Ethel, but I hope the trip wasn’t too much too soon for you.”

“I am a little tired and a little sore.”

“Any developments on who attacked you?” Douglas asked.

“No.”

“Let the man rest,” Lisa said. “And you know the counterfeit money was lifted from your agency, so there’s the pool of suspects, your own people.”

Douglas scowled and his voice dropped to an intense growl. “One of my people, Jonathan Finch, was the man shot dead. I might be new to the service, but I know enough that this murder will not stand, even if Director Bradshaw pulled the trigger himself.”

Jesse left them to make their peace. Both were correct. Solving Finch’s murder would be all-consuming, but the likely suspects were inside the agency. With Mancini’s discovery of the stolen Malibu and the CCTV footage, the conspiracy had to involve three people, and one of them would surely have slipped up somehow.

He closed his bedroom door, set his laptop on his desk, and began transferring the contents of his internal drive to his own Time Machine backup.

His phone buzzed. WhatsApp notified him of a new text from Tracy.

have researched the KryptoFold model you found. serves to manage both private keys and virtual wallets. BAD NEWS. requires two stage process to access. fingerprint is read like on iPhone and sends a ten digit code to your computer. enter code at prompt and then KryptoFold directly applies private key. you can bypass both stages if enter private key manually. good luck. talk later?

Jesse stared at the text for a moment and then replied:

THX talk tomorrow.

He picked up the KryptoFold. The texture of the black surface changed at one end. Here was where the print would be read. If Jesse could create an exact clone of Finch’s computer, then the ten-digit code generated by the device should appear as a message. But that stage would be unattainable without first unlocking the device with a fingerprint—the fingerprint of a dead man.

Chapter 23

Ethel turned on the computer atop the small desk in her bedroom. An email had arrived from Frank Mancini with a zip file attached. She noticed he’d sent it from his personal address and realized he was counting on her to keep the materials to herself.