Page 157 of Family Affair

“Fair enough,” Dan conceded. “Where, then, did you get it?”

There was nothing to gain by withholding this information from the Sheffields. “At La Vedova, Dan. You could’ve seen it too, if you paid attention. Rosaknew it was an illegal deal when she had accepted it from Ward Williamson, and she got very afraid of keeping it after his death. She planted it among my works. And then she called the police on me.”

Alex laughed softly. “The police had a good reason to search your house, after all. How much?”

Coco smiled a thin, calculated smile. “I am willing to give the Pollock drawing to you for free, in exchange for some answers.”

Alex poured himself more straight vodka. “What in blue blazes do you want to know, woman?” His black eyes bored into her, and Coco became uneasy.

“I want to know,” she said, rallying, zeroing in on Alex, her intended target, “why aren't you protecting Cade?”

“There’s nothing we can do for Cade,” Alex responded on everyone’s behalf, showing just a glimpse of temper. “He chose to come to Atlanta and meddle in something that wasn’t his concern. No one asked him to.” Alex’s eyes bored into her.

“This is where you’re wrong,” Coco countered. “Ward Williamson forced him to come to Atlanta. He began blackmailing y’all with the Pollock with the sole purpose of luring Cade out of his hiding.”

Rick laughed harshly, oblivious to Alex’s brief expression of surprise. “Ward didn’t give Cade the time of day. He tried to use this Pollock to get back at me. That’s the story. It was idiotic of him to keep the damned picture, but what do I know.”

“You know very little, apparently,” Coco smiled a mean little smile. “Your wife Maureen kept the drawing all those years. She was the one who asked Ward Williamson to sell it for her, and put these recent events in motion.”

Outrage that filled their booth was palpable.

“You’re lying, dirty bitch!” Dan’s flying spittle had a fair amount of vodka in it. “Mother isn’t here to slap you for your smear campaign. But I am.”

Coco ignored the threat and the insult. She expected their filthy language would only get worse now. “Maureen confessed to Cade not long before she died.”

Rick’s color rose. “This is a lie. Cade lied to you as surely as he killed Ward. He isn’t in jail for nothing.”

“I see you’ve made him expendable, Mr. Sheffield.” Despite her resolve to stay cool, this family was beginning to wind her up. “Just like you made Frank expendable all those years ago.”

“Shut up, you know nothing! Frank was invaluable to us, but he didn’t even try to fight! We, Cade and I, went out of our way to mount a defense for him, but he refused help. Refused! He was weak! And he died a senseless, weak death.” Rick’s ruddy complexion deepened to an alarming hue.

“That’s the hitch with Frank, Mr. Sheffield,” Coco countered very softly. “He didn’t exactly die… ”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Rick asked, arrested.

Alex went very still.

Dan erupted next to her. “What the fuck? Father, the bitch is batshit crazy!”

Coco looked at him. “Stop calling me bitch, Dan. I don’t like it.”

Alex rose then, slowly edging closer. “This is one hell of a story. Are you into writing fiction, by any chance? Very dramatic. But not one iota of proof to back your words.” Alex’s voice remained even and well modulated, but his eyes acquired a dangerous gleam.

“I know.” Coco’s attention was now fully focused on Alex. “The only tangible proof was Frank’s fingerprintsinhis old arrest files.The digital prints are gone, scrubbed clean. The paper copies were also taken out, andWard Williamson had them. Until recently.”

“What the hell?” Rick, having detected a new dynamic between Alex and Coco that excluded the others in the booth, was trying to understand the drift of their discussion. It was obvious from his body language that Rick had no clue about Cade. No clue…

“That’s why he came to Atlanta.” Coco kept Alex firmly in her sights. “Ward jerked his chain one time too many with the Pollock drawing, and he’s had enough. He didn’t come for the drawing. He came to get his old name back.”

Alex’s face looked flushed in the uneven soft light, his eyes were pools of malevolent darkness. “It was a bluff. He never meant to go through with it. Remember the Stevie Stark case? Ain’t no statute of limitations for murder.”

“Ah, but there is a caveat.” Coco turned to Ross. “Tell him. All of them.”

Ross lifted his head, his face a mask of anguish and regret. “Frank didn’t kill Stevie Stark. Cade did. The real Cade, I mean.”

“The real Cade? What the fuck, Ross? Alex?” Rick gazed wildly around looking ashen, desperately in denial to accept what he no doubt by now understood. “Speak plainly!”

“Cade’s dead, Father,” Ross said with sadness. “Has been for a long time.”