@Wes-Owens
Here is the procedure, which is 100% reliable for me:
Ctrl+F, enter search terms, FIND ALL IN CURRENT DOCUMENT
Find Dialog closes. Search Results dialog is shown
Hitting F7 will toggle between the Search Results and Editor having focus
If Search Results has focus, it will have blue title bar
If editor has focus, you will be able to type in editor
If Search Results has focus, hitting ESC will close it
See this animated screen grab:
3ca2bc47-53e2-4871-b24b-80793ab27d1a-SearchResultsF7-ESC.gif
edit: even if I have the setting that @Terry-R mentioned checkmarked: I see the Search Dialog after hitting the FIND ALL IN CURRENT DOCUMENT button, I still see that the Search Results window is given focus when I do (see the blue title bar for that panel):
f034944b-732d-455c-a662-8c445c4d0573-image.png
And when the Search Results have focus, the SINGLE KEY ESC is sufficient to close the panel.