Chapter 3: I hate funerals

I don’t want to ever lose a friend again. I don’t want to have my heart pulled out through my throat again. I don’t want to watch them die again. Please, God, is that too much to ask?

I feel so miserable. It’s not enough that I had to go say goodbye to Angel, I had to deal with all the drama, too.

Two jerks at a funeral

The funeral was at one o’clock. I guess they set these times so people can take a late lunch and still get back to work for most of the afternoon. I went into the office with Maizie after stopping for a cookie for her at Tovoni’s. Cinnamon was already at her desk, dressed in the same black dress she wore to Dag’s service. I was hardly in the door before she was up and hugging me. It had been so stressful lately we hadn’t really connected at the office. First, the mad dash halfway around the world, then Angel getting Brenda and Cinnamon into the condo, then Brenda and Angel going off the roof. I thought I’d healed when we took Dag’s ashes to Deception Point but then we still had to deal with Angel’s service.

Cinnamon and I talked for a long time after we got our eyes dry this morning. It was comforting to focus on business and get an employment agreement signed. She’d been working for me for three weeks and we’d only been in the office together a few hours. What a great job she did repairing and redecorating after those bastards trashed the place. At the same time, it seems sad that it’s almost like it was never Dag’s office. But, as long as we can keep from trying to date the same guy, Cinnamon and I will get along just fine. And I can afford to hire her. That’s what really amazes me.

We tried to eat lunch, but neither of us was all that hungry, so we dropped Maizie back at my apartment and went to the funeral home out in Kirkland. Why is it that I never thought about Angel having parents and siblings? My God! They were everywhere. And every one of them was six feet tall and blonde. Cinnamon and I slipped in and sat in the back after we paid our respects. It wasn’t long before Delta, Traci, and Jasmine joined us. Half a dozen of the other girls from the Condo showed up eventually. None of the men who went to the Condo showed up, of course, except Geoff. He said the other members of the committee were all attending Brenda’s funeral which had been set to coincide with Angel’s. Geoff figures his cover is pretty well blown now anyway, so he didn’t feel an obligation to join the execs.

Then Davy came in. He was pretty broken up. Those were real tears. I don’t know how they managed a relationship with Angel and Simon being an item, but he was definitely in mourning.

The preacher had just begun (apparently, Angel’s family belong to some ultra-fundamentalist church) when Simon walked in. I think I was the only one who noticed him for a minute because he stood right beside me looking at the front. He didn’t look that good, either.

WTF is he doing here when his wife is being buried in Madison Park?

Then Davy saw him. The guy came tearing down the aisle and tackled Simon—drove him all the way to the door of the chapel and started beating on him. Simon didn’t even raise a hand to protect himself. It was like he wanted someone to punish him and Davy was only too happy to be the one.

Geoff and a couple of others pulled them apart. Then Angel’s two brothers came down the aisle. I tell you: They are as fierce as Davy. One of them grabbed the ex-marine by his belt and collar and threw him out the front door of the chapel. The other got hold of Simon, who could barely stand, and gave him a shove toward the door as well.

“Stay out!” one of the brothers shouted at them.

They turned around and marched back up the aisle to sit beside their mother. I figured somebody better look after Simon, so I pulled out my cellphone to call 911. I saw Geoff standing outside with him and already had his phone out, so I just sat back down and watched the service.

It’s strange, but from that point on, I was so completely detached from what was going on that I couldn’t tell you word one that the preacher said. And he said a lot more than word one. By the time he was done talking, I’d forgotten why we were there. A choir sang and everyone in the chapel got up to file by the casket and greet the family. The casket was closed, thank God. I saw Angel’s dead body from fourteen stories up. She wouldn’t want anyone to see her that way.