Four and a half hours later, he pulled up to the Valley State Prison in Chowchilla with only half an hour to spare.

His sister, Joanie, was two years younger than him. Her father had been one of a long list of drug dealers his mother had slept with-another mystery man who supposedly had ties to organized crime.

He stepped into the visiting room and faced his sister across the security divider, forcing a smile on his face at his sister's sullen appearance. She was of mixed blood, part Asian, although she also had no clue who her father was.

She shuffled to the counter across the divide from him and picked up the phone receiver. "What d'ya want?"

"Just checking up on my baby sister," Cade drawled lazily, not giving her any indication of how anxious he was inside.

"You springing me from this joint?"

"Maybe. But you gotta tell me who you took the bets for."

"Can't." She snorted.

"They treating you okay in here?" He raised his eyebrows and glanced around.

"Sure, I'll be out on parole in a few months."

"Still ... you got enough spending money?"

She narrowed her eyes and flared her nostrils, leaning forward. "What do you want?"

"Can't I visit with my baby sister?" He folded his arms and cradled the phone receiver between his shoulder and ear. "You know, Mom's in rehab again."

Joanie's mouth gaped and she slapped her hand on the counter. "What's wrong with her? Why can't she keep clean?"

"This time it wasn't her fault."

"Of course it's never her fault." Joanie sneered. "She's a master at putting the blame elsewhere."

"True, but she overdosed. Almost died. If I hadn't gotten there. I put her in rehab again."

"What?" His sister shook her head. "Nuh uh, I don't believe you. Mom's street smart. She knows exactly how much to dose herself with. She's always said to go a little lower than she'd like to. Besides, the stuff on the street's s.h.i.t these days. Nothing like the so-called good ol' days, according to her."

"Apparently someone wanted to give her a real high like the good ol' days. You ever hear of packets marked 'HEA?'"

"What the h.e.l.l is that? I've heard of 'DOA,' but what's it supposed to mean, happily ever after?"

"Whatever it was, it almost killed her. According to the police, it's expensive stuff." Cade watched his sister carefully.

She flinched and blew out a breath. Yep. She definitely had suspicions. For some reason, the kingpins behind her money laundering scheme wanted to get rid of his mother.

"I can't believe it." Joanie threw her hand up and wiped her hair back. "Do you think Mom's safe at the rehab facility?"

He pursed his lips and shook his head. "It might be a glitzy place by the beach, but you know how lax security is. If we don't find out who's behind this, they could try again."

"d.i.c.k." His sister's lip sneered. "I mean, what a bunch of d.i.c.ks."

"Oh, really? Are you telling me d.i.c.k Davis is behind this?"

His sister's eyes widened, and she covered her mouth, shaking her head. Without answering him, she hung up the phone receiver and turned away from the booth.

Chapter Twenty-Two.

Andie and Sylvia preened in front of the dressing room mirror at Ronaldo's grandmother, Amanda Silver's estate. It was hard to believe that after everything that happened, Andie was going to a party in Beverly Hills held at a luxurious house where the mirrors were trimmed with gold and marble covered every surface.

"We look like real twins, don't we?" Sylvia put her arm around Andie and snapped a selfie.

"Only in the abstract sense." Andie fluffed her teased hair. "More like yin and yang."

"Yep, light and dark." Sylvia twirled in her black lace dress while holding it up against Andie's white lace dress. "Ready to jump out of the cake?"

"Sure, as long as there are breathing holes, and I don't get frosting all over my hair."

"Don't worry," Sylvia said. "It's a fake cake, and we'll have fans under our feet to blow out the confetti. Ronaldo always wants to make a grand entrance, and this year he chose me and you. I get Ronaldo, and you get his twin."

"Who's his twin, by the way?" Andie asked. "What do you mean by 'get?'"

"Oh, nothing, just hang onto his arm and be his date for the evening."

"Good, I guess." Andie's stomach squirmed at the thought. Had she and Cade had the "talk" yet about dating others or exclusivity? She wasn't sure, but if it were him with a model hanging off his arm, she would definitely not be okay with it.

"Cade's not going to be jealous, is he?" Sylvia asked.

Andie swallowed a lump. "No, he's not coming to the party. He went somewhere and said he won't be back until late."

"Anyway, with you being an actress, he'd better get used to seeing you with other men." Sylvia retouched her lipstick. "It comes with the territory."

Gag. And to think she'd been so jealous when Declan had other women hanging onto him, except he'd slept with them. Andie had no plans to sleep with any man besides Cade. Guess a little hanging on didn't count.

"Okay, time to climb into the cake." Sylvia pushed the cap back on her lipstick. "You better pee, because Ronaldo likes to wait until all the guests are present before making his big splash."

Cade sat at the cafeteria of the rehab facility with his mother. She was looking better and had regained some of her coloring. He'd let her eat a few bites before questioning her.

"I feel so useless here," his mother said. "I miss Bret. Why didn't you bring him?"

"He's with Andie's mom tonight."

"It's so unfair. Why do you have me stuck here?"

"Your life is in danger." Cade tapped his fingers on the table. "I want to know what your relationship to d.i.c.k Davis is."

"What?" His mother coughed on a piece of macaroni. She wheezed and spit it out. "Who've you been speaking with?"

"I think he's behind the heroin gifts."

"But why? He doesn't even know me." She rolled her eyes and wiped her lips with a napkin.

"Apparently, Joanie thinks he does." Cade stretched the truth.

The skin on his mother's face tightened over her high cheekbones as she gave him a stony glare. "Joanie knows nothing."

"Maybe you're the one who's in the dark. You know of any reason why he wants to kill you? He mentioned he could put you in jail for embezzlement. Have you ever worked for him before?"

"Never. Why would the owner of the LA Flash have any dealings with me?"

"I agree. Except he's rich enough to buy the drugs."

"Oh, come off it, any guy on your team is rich enough to buy me drugs. Then there's your friend, Ronaldo, don't tell me he isn't rich enough. Or Rob, or even Andie with her movie deal. Those packets weren't that expensive. If anything, they laced it with fentanyl. That was my mistake, thinking it was pure white."

"You're blowing smoke, Mom. Throwing me off the trail."

She grabbed his forearm. "Stop digging around. Isn't there a party you're missing? Go, enjoy yourself and leave me alone."

"Party? Who told you about the party?"

"No one. Absolutely no one." She crossed her arms and turned her face away from Cade, signaling the conversation was over.

Cade ticked off the suspects, making a list. d.i.c.k, Ronaldo, Rob, Roxanne, Declan, Todd Irvin, Devon Davis, Carmine Carmona. Each of these people seemed to have something against him and had behaved irrationally.

He wrote possible motives next to their names. His mother knew something and was a threat to someone. He only had to dig deeper.

d.i.c.k the cover up with his baby. Why me? Wants me to take the fall for Devon?

Ronaldo the screwy movie deal. Why did he bring Andie into it? Then mix her up with Declan?

Rob not been responsive as an agent should. Why would he insist I'm damaged goods? Who is he protecting? Todd or Devon?

Roxanne the entire baby thing. What's in it for her? Why pick me to be the baby daddy?

Declan does he really want Andie back? How would he benefit if my mother was out of the way?

Todd he wants the starting job. Does he have a separate deal with d.i.c.k?

Devon did he throw away the Super Bowl? If so, who did he help? His father or his rich mother?

Carmine purposely kicked my hand. Friend of Todd.

He scratched his head, but the answer wouldn't come. Maybe his mother's bank account could shed some light. He woke up his laptop and browsed to her online account. He'd already been through it and was unable to tell where she was getting the money. He clicked through her statements and looked through the checks she wrote. Most of them were for utilities, electricity, water, credit card. One of the checks had a memo line written, transfer to savings. He clicked on the back side of the check for the account number.

It was at a completely different bank. No wonder he hadn't found anything. Cade copied the account number and went to the second bank's website. He tried the same pa.s.sword and it worked.

Pay dirt. She had almost half a million dollars balance, but the transactions in and out were larger. He scrolled through the trail of money entering and departing the account, but most of them were wired in-anonymous. Dang it.

Large sums of money departed her account. Who was she paying? Again, there was no trail. Cade noted the dates and amounts. Gradually, a pattern emerged.

October and November of last year. That would be either before or when Roxanne got pregnant, since Bret was born early August.

February of this year. Right after he lost the Super Bowl.

June of this year. When Ronaldo and he discussed the King David concept to get Andie to come to California.

A week ago. Right before someone sent her heroin.

But, why would his mother pay off someone to hit her?

Or was the money for Andie's movie contract? Her so-called promotion to playing Michal? Or could it be for Declan?

The last transfer was two days ago, while his mother was already in rehab.

She couldn't have initiated this. There were no computers and cell phones, no electronic devices allowed for the patients.

Who was controlling this account?

Cade rubbed his eyes and shut his laptop. Who could he trust?

He'd already run into a brick wall with Rob and d.i.c.k. They were too strong to shake. His mother and sister also held firm. The only other weak link was Roxanne.

He texted her, Rox, can we meet up somewhere?