Chapter 9: Stave's funeral
Jemma can’t stop thinking about the bizarre circumstances surrounding the fire and death that, according to Nikki, was due to a cult. From what she learnt in the academy it’s all ‘circumstantial’ evidence. Her mentor, Coops has barely looked at the file and whatever she thought of him personally he did have twenty years’ experience on the force. Besides every closed case is checked by other officers, superiors even, and they have had no problem with the conclusion of ‘unsuspicious circumstances’. But it’s too much to be labelled a coincidence, especially Nikki’s reaction- what did she know that made her think of a cult? She has lived in the area for years and knew plenty of things happening on the streets that the police would be oblivious too. Jemma needed to talk to her, possibly even get help from someone else on the force but that would have to wait, today was the Giokos funeral. She still felt uneasy snooping around a funeral, especially when she has met the parents and they were so lovely to her.
She thinks back to her visit to their humble home. How welcoming the stout elderly Mrs. Giokos had been, happy to revisit the details of her only son’s death, to answer Jemma's queries even though it brought her to tears. Mr. Giokos, who had been sitting quietly in another room was soon there consoling his wife. They continued to help her with her enquiries and were soon forcing some delicious biscuits onto her.
In fact after her visit she was going to stop investigating the case. They were simple, honest people; so sweet and helpful. It wasn’t until she met up with Nikki that her curiosity returned and she was soon making plans for the funeral.
She was almost at her stop, Croydon station. She saw plenty of simple red brick homes built decades ago, just like the Giokos’. A regular working class suburb she thinks as she gets off the train. According to the Gregorys the cemetery isn’t far. Doubt and guilt bubble back to the surface of her mind as she hails a cab; this is such a horrible thing to happen and I want to go and pry. But I have to get to the bottom of this and I’ve nowhere else to look, no other leads. I am a police officer after all, this is what we’re supposed to do, isn’t it?
She recites her plan again, for distraction as much as anything else. Lie low, observe from a distance. Of course she isn’t too sure what to look for really. Cult members probably don’t go to the funerals of ex-members, she thinks, they’d steer well clear of grieving families, wouldn’t they? She will find out soon enough, she’d made up her mind. This is her best lead and she’s going to follow it, leave no stone unturned…If she knew what to expect here, there wouldn’t be a case to solve, would there?
The cab pulls over and she reaches for her purse before pausing and directing the cabbie further along to a crowd of people. She pays and quickly exits, moving toward the crowd. She is immediately glad she chose a black dress and glasses, anything else would have been much less discreet. She moves as casually as she can to the back of the crowd. A glance across some teary, sobbing faces reminds her she has brought a silk handkerchief. She uses it to cover her face like many of the other women here. A perfect disguise she thinks, impressed with her foresight. The crowd moves forward. Jemma is careful to stay at the fringes, moving to the left. Everyone moves forward, probably paying their respects to Mr. & Mrs. Giokos, a scene she had best avoid.
She surveys the crowd again, nothing at all suspicious. Lots of olive skin and dark hair- no doubt relatives, a few 'more anglo' looking faces, mostly in their late twenties, probably Stavos’ friends.
‘What a shame. Such a fine young man’
Jemma is embraced by a bear of a man. He seems to be Greek, in his forties and judging by his dismay-
‘My cousin, was such a good boy. How could this happen to him. Itsa no right.’
An elderly woman comes up to them now, wailing into her hanky.
‘Yaya, please come here, you come cry with Jimmy and…what’s your name madam?’
‘Jemma, I- uh…’
‘Come here Yaya’
Shit this is TOO close, Jemma thinks as Jimmy includes Yaya in his embrace. What should she say?…a school friend- what if he went to an all boys’ school or Jimmy knows his school friends? An old girlfriend- would that do?… She had lost contact recently but when she heard the news she came to say goodbye. Can’t believe I hadn’t prepared for this she thinks to herself under Jimmy's bear-hug.
Jimmy and Yaya are having a family moment. So Jemma continues surveying the crowd while still part of the embrace, it isn’t working too well but she tries to focus on the crowd. Again she can’t see anything suspicious, she has moved closer to the centre of the crowd but between Jimmy, Yaya and her hanky she has ample cover.
Through the crowd she sees something that causes her to double-take. Her view is now obscured but she is sure she has just seen an Asian face. From what she recalled the Giokos’ weren’t overly fond of Stavos’ yoga or Asians;
'We want a quiet respectable home, you know? I can't believe this happened to our boy. Those bloody Asians. I told the boy it was no good but he no listen to me no more and looka where it get him.'
The face seemed young and heavy-set, he also seemed to be on the edge of the crowd and from Jemma's brief glimpse he appeared awkward. She excuses herself from Jimmy, who promises to talk later, for a better viewpoint. Her mind races, this could be the link to Chinatown, to the yoga school; to the cult.
‘I knew there was something weird about the fire, the death, all of this’ Jemma thinks to herself triumphantly.
She forces herself to move slowly through the crowd, trying not to stare in the suspect's direction- but she has sunnies on, relax, calm down she tells herself. She can see him again, he is a big guy, probably early twenties, beside him is an older male, also Asian with a beard and a taut figure an unusual match to his fifty year old features. She loses them behind the crowd again. There seems to be others in their group as well but she can only view them partially from behind.
Jemma remains where she is, out of view as she contemplates her next move. A girl in their group turns slightly and Jemma carefully moves through the crowd to her right for a better view.
‘Is it... No, it’s Nikki!’
Jemma ducks on impulse, I can’t believe it she thinks as she returns to her regular stance as casually as possible, she doesn’t check if the nearby crowd has noticed her unusual movements, she is transfixed on Nikki. She is fairly certain that it is her friend about fifty metres away in the crowd. Although she has now turned out of Jemma’s view the young policewoman can clearly see the angled facial features and profile and it resembles those of the young woman she recently had a coffee with.
She decides to remain still so as to not draw more attention to herself after her previous awkward movements. The group remains either out of sight or facing away from her but she notices the attention they are getting. Some funeral guests stare in their direction maliciously occasionally gesturing and whispering amongst themselves. The site of Stave’s death is well known and the two Asian faces are not welcome by many mourners at this Greek funeral.
Jemma catches another glimpse of the girl and she is certain it’s Nikki. She has her arm around a tall, well-built guy with dark hair. It must be her boyfriend, Billy who she spoke of regularly and fondly when they had met.
'How does all of this fit together? Are Nikki and her boyfriend somehow involved in a mysterious cult too? How much do they know about the death, or murder? And who are the two Asians with them?' Jemma's mind races over what she has just seen.
'This is all too crazy and me being here is too risky, I can’t let Nikki see me.'
Jemma begins to move out of the crowd as the hearse approaches. Everyone moves forward and strains for a better view, while it makes her passage more difficult it provides a perfect distraction as she exits.
As Yachi watches the pallbearers move the casket from the hearse and through the crowd he thinks of all the destruction he has seen in his time and here he is, it's happening again. Like many of his students S
tave was like the child he had never had. He thought back to Julie. The only time he had ever come close to a family, their wonderful time together. The unease that crept up on him, their different expectations from life. It was a horrible realisation, that his life was so tightly entwined to duty, to the memory of those before him, to the astra. There was little room for anything else, certainly not a wife. He could not place that before his wife- without that devotion he could take no wife. It would not be fair on any involved.
So he broke it off. He had tried to explain but he still recalled the look in her eyes during the conversation, she did not accept what he was telling her, that it was over. And who could blame her, he spoke of commitment and astral realms in the same sentence, of obligations to unseen colleagues the other side of the world. She knew nothing of any of this and saw it as an obscure excuse that had little to do with her world and what they had shared together. Like him she knew their relationship was meaningful and was held dearly by them both but unfortunately for Yachi this was the problem and the reason it couldn't continue.
Initially Julie continued to see him, she couldn’t understand the extent of his dedication. Part of the attraction was probably his mysterious ways. But they were of two different worlds- worlds that could not meld as one. Slowly it became evident to her as the time he spent in the astra grew and grew. With his aid she could also plane but her talent never developed enough for her to plane solo, without him. In time, she grew bored of it and soon became jealous of his infatuation, then she became despondent as she realised that what he warned her of was coming true. He has not seen nor heard of her since.
He looks over to Jason & Peta, Billy & Nikki, he is happy to see them having more fortune coupling than he had. He also sees the boys talking, I wonder how Jason goes talking to Billy, hopefully he can convince him to assist us once more. Before Billy's hurried departure from the guardians at their network room he and Jason spoke every other day but since Jason had not spoken or seen his old friend. Maybe he had been to abrupt with him that day, Yachi thinks, so much was happening at the time that he had not actually noticed for some time. Hopefully Jason can patch things up, the guardians need all the help we can get and Billy is a capable planar particularly in the cyber-realm. Although, Yachi thinks as he looks around his sombre setting, he does remind me a little of Stave and look how that ended.
‘G’day mate’ Jason greets Billy as Nikki and Peta begin to talk about their outfits. Jason and Peta still held hands and he could tell that she liked it, he couldn't stop the grin from spreading across his face. She had grabbed his hand and kept holding it in front of all these people, despite the fact they were in different conversations and, he noted with a glance toward her, they faced away from each other and needed their arms to be outstretched.
‘Hey’ is Billy's brief response. Jason had dealt with Billy behaving like this countless times before but rarely had it be so important that he help his friend move past his bad mood and do so quickly. While Jason had been having the time of his life over the past week re-uniting with Peta, for Billy, Yachi and the guardians the last week had been miserable.
‘So what’s the deal? Have your arms been broken? Can’t use the phone?’ he replied to his friend, continuing to grin.
‘Something like that’
‘Geez, they seemed to have healed pretty quickly- What’s your secret?’
‘Lay off. I was gonna call but when I felt like it. I wouldn’t have been much company anyway’
‘So Nikki told me, I dunno what was worse your form or her begging me to do something. Poor girl, she mustn’t realise you’re not worth worrying about’
Billy lets out of a laugh almost in spite of himself. Jason was working through his tough guy demeanour in a few moments. That was probably why I didn’t want to see him Billy thought, while others had tried to cheer him up they hadn’t come close whereas Jason took a few minutes and he was laughing.
‘So you’re done playing primadonna? You know Yachi and I could use your help?’ Jason asks his friend.
‘So now he wants my help does he? I thought we weren’t good enough.’ Billy replies.
‘Some serious shit’s happened, Billy. You remember Lai, the speaker of the high council? He may well die, another of the Guardians already has. They were attacked in the new realm, many of the guardians have probably left…while most of the high council are tending to their leader. Only Yachi, Dean, Ana, Mruyadgi, Peta and I remain. We really need your help?’
There are a few moments of silence while Jason sees if his friend wants to say anything but he continues before the pause lasts to long.
‘So what do you say? You remember what it was like don’t you? The bizarre alien world, so much possibility. The buzz of weightlessness combined with the sensation of movement, of speed. Flying past, over and through all those robots. You expect me to believe you’re gonna deny all that for a tantrum?
‘Oh alright. Of course I’m not. I’ll come back but what about Yachi?’
‘Don’t worry about him. He wanted to burst over here and apologise immediately but I persuaded him to let me butter you up first…’ Jason answers with a smirk as he motions over towards their teacher who was moving through the crowd. Jason sees Nikki give him a smile behind Billy.
Nikki is happy to see Billy talking to Jason again but she doesn't give it much thought. She is busy listening to Peta, who is apologizing but seems distracted, she hasn't been able to catch up like they had planned last week. Nikki is suspicious particularly as Peta regularly glances toward Jason and Billy. Were they making sure she wasn't mentioning anything about their astral cult? Nikki thought as she watched Peta all but ignore her through the conversation. Did the cult know that Billy had already told her a little about the astra? Probably not… But what would they do if they did find out? Look at what they had done to this Greek guy, Stavos. . She was glad she had invited herself to this funeral, if Billy was suspicious he hadn't shown her. She told him she wanted to research for a film idea about Greeks, luckily he hadn't asked too many more questions, she surely would've been found out if he had. There wasn't much that being an aspiring movie director couldn't explain. She wondered if Peta, who had only been seeing Jason for the past week or so had to 'force' herself onto the guest list like Nikki? Though Peta, like most people probably didn't want to go to a stranger's funeral. Or did she know this Stave guy through the astral planing cult? Peta hadn't told her much of interest yet, asking if she knew Stave could uncover something related to the astral cult they were all caught up in,
'Did you know Stave, Peta?'
'Barely, I think we had met once'
'Well, that's once more than me and here I am at his funeral! I feel terrible not to mention awkward.'
Peta gives a smile in response. Nikki looked over at the boys, they seemed to have patched up their differences. She was pleased to see this, she had always liked Jas. While some of Billy's friends were arrogant wankers, Jason was friendly, modest and easy-going, she had always liked that he was Billy's best friend though with all this suspicious cult activity Nikki was no longer certain that Jason was all he appeared to be.
'So what's been keeping you so busy?' Nikki asks Peta.
'University mostly, assignments and projects the past few weeks and I've got a few more before exams start...' Peta responds uneasily before going into various technical details which are lost on Nikki.
Meanwhile, Yachi has made his way through the crowd to find Stave's parents, he had not been looking forward to this. Did they even know what he looked like? No doubt they have heard something from the police, and he is hardly inconspicuous here. He really should have approached them earlier but things have been so hectic since the fire and Stave’s death. Even now there are a million unfinished items buzzing round his head. He takes a deep breath and approaches them.
‘Hello, Mr and Mrs Giokos. I am Yachi, Stave’s yoga teacher. Unfortunately it was at my class that this horrible incident occurred, I wish I co
uld offer you more than my most heartfelt sympathy’
They both stare dumbfounded. Yachi isn’t sure what they are thinking. Blame? Hatred? Or just shock that this piece of the puzzle is now before them. He isn’t sure how to react and feels more and more awkward.
‘If I, uh, can be of any assistance in any way you have my full attention... I-I only wish I could have avoided the whole tragedy and, and spared you this nightmare' he sputters.
‘I will let you be with those nearest you, again I’m truly sorry’ he says with relief and shame as he leaves.
It seems so ludicrous, to be meditating oblivious to the approaching danger but what more can he say, further details or the truth will only complicate matters Alienating the parents further and they certainly wouldn't be treated seriously by the police who would probably start asking a lot more questions, no this was definitely not a good idea for anyone. He returns to his friends, hopefully Jason and Billy have some good news for him.
Yachi sees them now and speaks to Billy as soon as he is within earshot, ‘Billy I must apologise…’
‘Not at all, I’m as much to blame as anyone. How were Stave’s parents?’
‘As well as one could hope, this is a horrible thing. We must not let Stave’s death be for nought….There are many more challenges to be met and dangers to be faced however if we are to keep the powers of this new realm from misuse we must continue but we could really use your help, Billy?’
‘Definitely, I’m back in’