Page 131 of Family Affair

“Shame, shame. Ward died, imagine that. Shame. Well, we must go on. Tell your mother hello from me, Frank. Such a nice lady, your mother, so beautiful. Although she has aged a lot lately. Shame.”

Coco didn’t relax until they were safely inside her small car. She cleared the neighborhood at the top speed, escaping the shadows of the aged oaks that no longer looked pretty but sinister, like an enchanted forest whose gnarled branches hid ugly truths and conserved insanity.

“And Smirnoff and Willis choose to believe this guy’s testimony?”

Cade didn’t reply right away.

“Yes,” he finally said.

“That’s ridiculous. His facts change by the minute. He saw me, he didn’t see me, he recognized the killer, he didn’t know your name… His own mind plays tricks on him.”

“You want to know who he pointed out at?”

“Who?”

“Frank.”

“What?” She gaped at him.

“Yeah. And mind you, Frank is twenty-three in the picture.”

“Great. What a credible witness.”

She didn’t think he’d comment, but he did. “Like you said before, Willis isn’t an idiot.”

“Cade, I think you should tell me more.”

He looked out of the window. “Willis wants to find out who really killed Ward. Smirnoff, on the other hand, wants someone, anyone, behind bars so he can retire with a sterling record. They have their power struggle going on, which is part of the story.”

Coco thought about it. “Does it mean Willis allows that you aren’t the killer?”

“He allows it,” Cade said with dark humor.

“But if he believes you didn’t do it, why harass you? Why drag me into this mess to compromise your alibi?”

“He can’t openly go against the grain, or they’ll take him off the case. Smirnoff outranks him, he tells Jack what to do. He has to go through the motions. And, of course, he doesn't trust me that completely.”

“But?”

“But he can do his own sleuthing.”

“And he uses you?”

“We use each other. But yes, he helps my case in exchange for information.”

It came to her. “That’s how you knew about my home search!”

“Yes, he’d warned me it was coming.”

“And then he put me through the wringer with his interrogation.”

Cade sighed. “Just doing his job. Like I said, his trust is tentative.”

Coco strongly objected to Willis’s tactics, but decided not to pursue the issue with Cade. “What information does he want from you?”

“About Ward. Frank. The Pollock drawing. My family. The history of it, the players. I know a lot, I was there. Jack believes… ” Cade stopped, started over. “Jack believes that Ward’s murder has everything to do with the Pollock’s drawing reappearance. Ward had had the Pollock, according to the pictures of it on his phone, so someone from my family took action against him.”

“Is that what you believe?” she asked slowly.