Page 146 of Family Affair

Chapter 33

Maureen Sheffield didn’t just die.

It had taken several days before the authorities released her body for the burial after an extensive autopsy to rule out foul play.

Coco wondered how much it cost the family, both in money and connections, to cover up the real reason of her death and issue a statement declaring anaccidentaloverdose of sleeping aid medications.

In the one brief meeting they had had in those melancholic, mournful days, Cade shared the harrowing details.

Maureen’s body had still been hot to the touch when her husband found her lying on the floor of their bedroom, some thirty minutes after her heart had stopped beating, cramped into a fetal position, elbows and knees drawn tight against her stomach, her lean face frozen in a mask of agony and pain.

Her death wasn’t quick and her passing wasn’t peaceful. That was what three hundred pills taken at once did to a body.

“Her secrets killed her,” Cade had said to Coco. “She kept too many. They grew and multiplied like cancer. Once you lie, once you make that one choice, you’re done in for. You have no other options but to keep lying. Guess it got too heavy a burden.” He had sounded contemplative, as if reflecting on a deeper meaning of life.

“I’m so sorry. So very, very sorry.” Coco had hugged herself because he wouldn’t come close enough to touch. “I don’t know what to say… Did she seem any different to you just a few days ago?”

“No. The same.” He laughed harshly. “Although she did say that I was strong, which I found strange. I always thought she was the strong one. Was I wrong about her, like she was wrong about me? I don’t know, will never know.”

Cade had retreated deep within himself and that awful, expressionless look had descended on his face. Staring in the distance, he had murmured, “Do you think this is what’s in store for me? Death by secrets?”

Now, sitting in the very last row in church that had seen the tragedy and tears of the Sheffield family before, Coco observed how the latest drama of their life unfolded. The church was packed, and, squished between strangers, she blended in with the crowd that arrived to pay last respects to the woman who had held a prominent place in the local society.

Hymns were sung. Words were spoken. The new preacher conducted the service as was the custom.

Coco didn’t come to pay her respects to Maureen as she had barely known Cade’s mother personally. She was sitting here for him.

The family members occupied the very front of the church, far from where she found a spot. She saw Cade turn when she walked in as if he had sensed her arrival. He looked at her once across the vast crowded expanse of the nave and never turned her way again, but he didn’t have to. He knew she was sitting here, hurting for him and mourning his mother where he couldn’t.

The service was drawing to an end when Coco could bear it no longer. She stood up and carefully picked her way outside. Attending funerals was no one’s idea of a great time, and it had an extremely depressing effect on her.

Glad to be in the sunshine, she walked briskly around the corner, her heels clicking on the pavement in an urgent retreat.

“Leaving already, Ms. Milroy?”

She bumped into a round, dark clad figure and jerked to an abrupt stop. Her gaze came level with the kind eyes of Detective Smirnoff. Squinting against the bright sun, Coco immediately wished she had left even sooner.

“Hello, Detective. Enjoy your day.” She made an attempt to go around him, but he wouldn’t budge.

Looking down his nose at her, he harrumphed. “Surprised to see you here, Ms. Milroy, but maybe I shouldn’t be. You came to offer the Sheffield family your condolences, I presume?”

“Of course, why else?”

“I noticed you never approached any of them inside the church.”

So he had been watching. Coco was rapidly realizing she wouldn't be able to shake him off without talking to him first.

“I’m not part of the family,” she explained, “but I felt it appropriate to come. I am acquainted with the sons, after all.”

There, she talked to him.

But when she tried again to pass him by, Smirnoff subtly moved with her, physically blocking her path with his substantial bulk.

Coco pursed her lips and pointedly looked at him, letting him know that she was in on his tactics and annoyed by them.

Her indignation was lost on the detective. His benign mien remained benign.

“Distressing. Maureen Sheffield’s death, I mean.”