The Malaka is Lying
Only the good die…
Finally, Jessie thought with anticipation, Eleni was coming into the club.
Watching Eleni walk with Theo around the packed dance floor, she plotted her plan of action.
Waiting until Theo peeled off, she saw that Eleni was alone watching the main bar.
Jessie tossed her metal-detecting wand to a passing security guard and beelined toward Eleni.
Watching out to see if Simo or Theo would intercept her, she headed straight for Eleni. As she approached, Eleni turned and smiled at her. It caught her so off guard that she nearly stopped in her tracks. She forced a smile as she approached Eleni.
“Yasou, Jessie.” Eleni smiled and reached out to hug her.
“Oh. Yasou, Eleni… uh, it’s nice to see you… again.” Jessie laughed, very surprised at Eleni showing any type of affection.
“Really?” Eleni grinned.
“Yes, really.”
“I hear Simo is trying to fend you off with whatever he can think of.”
Jessie mouth came open and she hung her head and nodded. “I don’t know what to do, Eleni. It’s worse than back in Athens. Simo and Marina were breaking up and now I heard he’s with someone. I mean, why wouldn’t he be?”
“But it still hurts, yes?”
Jessie nodded and watched Eleni let out a big sigh.
“It’s probably going to hurt worse when you find out who it is.”
Jessie felt her face pale and she worked to control her composure. “Do I really want to know?”
Eleni nodded. “I’m glad you caught up with me before you found out.”
“Oh, God, it’s not Halo, is it?”
Eleni shook her head and set her hand on Jessie’s arm for a moment. “You ready to hear it?”
Jessie could only nod and saw Eleni look up quickly, pointing discreetly behind her. She spun, expecting to see an angry Simo, but he wasn’t there. She followed where Eleni was pointing.
Turning back to Eleni, “Why are you pointing at Lilly Delmore?”
“That was Simo’s girlfriend. She still wants him… about as bad as you do.”
Jessie was stunned. She eyed the gorgeous, blonde, Grammy-winning singer. She was Simo’s lover? She felt her tears begin to roll down her cheeks. She quickly turned away, covering her face. She started to bolt, but Eleni’s hand gently stopped her.
Suddenly her face was down on Eleni’s shoulder, and Eleni was holding her as she sobbed. It took a few moments for the oddness of crying on Eleni’s shoulder to dawn on her. She began to pull away as Eleni held on and whispered into Jessie’s ear.
“Jessie, it’s ok. Simo doesn’t love Lilly… he can’t. I know you do not understand right now, but you need to stop being like a lovesick little girl. Hell, you’ve been trained to take on a small army single handedly.”
Jessie pulled away. “I’m not a little girl!” Eleni’s kind smile once more threw her off.
“Yes. Yes, you are.” She tapped over her heart. “In here. Think about the things you have done and said…”
Then it hit her. She had been acting like some lovesick, stupid mark she would target for a job. She nodded and Eleni let her go as she discreetly wiped her eyes.
“Simo won’t let himself love another woman. Do you understand?”
“No… not really. Why?”
Eleni sighed heavily. “Jessie, you have gone through so much in your young life… when you figure it out, then you will be closer to growing up… I don’t mean that as an insult.”
“Fine…” Jessie sighed. “I’m sorry, Eleni.”
“It’s ok.”
“It’s still going to be so hard…”
Eleni gently wiped some mascara off of Jessie’s cheek. “I will do what I can to help, you two are ideal for each other… but I won’t anger Simo or push him over the edge.”
“Thank you.” She nodded and watched Eleni smile kindly, turn, and leave her standing there.
Watching Eleni take up her station, she suddenly felt so stupid.
Simo having a previous girlfriend… a gorgeous, international pop-star singer girlfriend at that.
Suddenly she felt drained. Then she felt eyes on her.
She turned to see Lilly Delmore watching her much too closely.
Jessie quickly turned away and headed off to the employee restroom.
Jessie stared at herself in the mirror and began to shake her head at her reflection.
Turning away from the mirror, she headed to an empty stall and sat down hard on the cold toilet.
She shut the door and locked it. Staring at the freshly painted pink door, she realized what being here had in store for her.
Her thoughts reluctantly drifted to what Eleni had accused her of…
Eleni was right, she needed to grow up. Simo was her first and only love…
what she felt for Dimitri the mobster, years ago, was just a schoolgirl crush…
which nearly ended her. To work around Simo, she would have either have to run or be like Job in the Bible… have a ton of patience.
Simo watched Jessie come out of the employee break area and head back to her station at VIP.
He turned to Lilly watching her and let out a big sigh.
From a distance, he noticed the music on the dance floor suddenly stopped and all the screens shut down.
His hackles were up and his earpiece came alive with chatter.
As he depressed his button to speak, the screens all showed a local news lady looking sad as a red ‘breaking news’ ticker ran below her.
Then the DJ’s voice rose over the din of the mumbling and confused crowd.
“Ladies and gentlemen… I have horrible news to report. Reports are coming in that apparently Halo Raines has died in an airplane accident…”
Simo suddenly felt overcome with grief. He saw Theo rushing up to him, his face, too, showing shock and grief. Together with the club’s three hundred patrons, they watched and listened in silence as the newscaster’s emotional voice came over Aurae’s speakers.
“…apparently Halo Raines’s aircraft suffered severe damage from lightning and was forced to land in the Pacific Ocean south of American Samoa, where she was scheduled to begin filming her new movie…”
Theo sighed.
Simo squeezed his friend’s shoulder as they continued to listen.
“Authorities have temporarily suspended the search due to a nearby category five typhoon threatening Fiji…” The newscaster looked off camera and nodded as if someone were speaking to her, then returned to reading her teleprompter.
“We have preliminary reports of three survivors… Producer Joel Miller, Jenny Jones, and Sarah Vasquez… Miss Jones apparently was rushed to Auckland, New Zealand due to a life-threatening head injury… Mr. Miller has confirmed to the New Zealand navy that indeed there are no other survivors… OH! Oh, my… this just in. Mr. Miller indicated in an interview with New Zealand media that an actor named Xander Kostinos allegedly struck Halo Raines and prevented her from leaving the sinking plane… a—a fight ensued with Mr. Kostinos, the Captain, and passengers which caused them all to apparently drown with the sinking plane. Apparently, Mr. Kostinos recently replaced Johnny Stone…”
Simo and Theo turned to each other; Simo was about to speak when the picture on the screen switched to Joel Miller’s pale face caught in mid-interview. Then the feed began.
“…I tried to paddle back. I kept yelling at them to hurry… what? Yes, I had to get JJ off the plane to safety… she had a really bad head injury. It’s why I was in the raft.
When the plane was going down, I feared for JJ and Sarah, so I had to paddle away.
I—I did see another raft… but I didn’t see anyone get in…
then, then the waves were getting massive.
The captain told me to head east away from the storm…
what? Yes, this was before we crashed. Xander?
That ass… that jerk! He—he caused an incident after the captain told us we were crash landing.
He—he totally lost it! I had to step in and restrain him!
Before we landed, he promised he would behave…
what? The captain put me in charge as the co-pilot had a heart attack and died at the controls…
Why? Because I am the producer and in charge of the project and the plane…
No, the plane was a charter from Virgo Airlines.
No, not a public flight. So back to this Xander…
jerk. He killed Halo! He was responsible for her not getting into the raft!
I saw him punch her… he—he wanted her for himself…
yes! I saw the fu… jerk hit her and pull her back into the plane!
Voice recorder? The wonderful people of the New Zealand navy told me that the plane sunk near the Tonga Trench…
it is something like 20,000 feet down. The captain of the navy ship told me they will never be able to get it…
if they can even find the plane. The pinger thingy wasn’t working… ”
Simo had enough and turned to Theo. “Fucking malaka is lying…”
Theo nodded and replied in Greek. “Joel a hero? Never happen.”
“I bet Johnny Stone is dead, too…”
“Seems all too convenient…” Theo sighed. “Halo dead… I can’t believe it.”
“I know… it’s always the good ones, as they say.”
“Colonel Kominos's son… I don’t want to believe what Joel said he did…”
In a low grumble, Simo replied, “I don’t believe the little bitch. Xander Kostinos was much taller and more athletic than Joel…”
“Hey, how do you know this?”
“I did some checking…”
“Of course you did,” Theo said with an arched eyebrow.
Simo held up his finger and pulled out his phone. “Ari… texted.”
Theo nodded. “I’ll watch things down here.”
Simo began heading up to his office. On the way there he passed Jessie and Eleni, who both were entranced with watching the sad news on the big screens. Jessie looking more sad than Eleni…
Simo closed his door and dialed Ari.
‘Have you heard?’ came Ari’s sorrowful voice.
“I did. I am sad for her father and mother. How are they?”
‘Jillian is in denial and Ronson is in bad shape. They are flying out tomorrow.’
“Please give them my condolences.”
‘There is something else… Johnny Stone.’
“He dead too? Too convenient…”
‘Simo… Johnny Stone is in jail on American Samoa.’
“What?”
‘Apparently Johnny tried to sexually assault Halo during filming of a rape scene… they had already started filming…”
“What the FUCK?” Simo shouted in sudden rage. “I’ll KILL that fucker!”
‘SIMO! Listen! According to reports, Halo nearly killed Johnny as she fought him off. Johnny’s list of injuries is extensive. Her security pulled her off him, took over, and nearly finished him off. My reports indicate that she was shaken and very, very angry…’
“Is that why Xander Kostinos was on the plane?”
‘Yes. Halo had fired Johnny and hired Xander in his place... as I believe she originally intended. She and part of the production crew met Xander Kostinos in Brisbane, Australia.’
“I don’t believe Joel’s bullshit on the news…”
‘Neither do I, my friend. I was counting on speaking with Johnny personally, but now that prospect is on hold. I am astounded that Joel turned his back on Johnny…’
“What?”
“Joel did nothing whatsoever to assist Johnny legally or otherwise. My contacts report that Joel refused to take Johnny’s call from the hospital or jail.’
“Why hasn’t the media run with this?”
“Joel’s production crew managed to get the authorities to keep it under wraps. Most likely fearing that Joel will yank the production from American Samoa, where they desperately need the jobs. The only thing the media got was that Johnny was injured on the set and was replaced by Xander Kostinos.’
“Joel is spinning things his way…”
“Yes. I wager that you will hear from Joel as soon as he returns…”
Simo’s dark eyebrows narrowed. “I would like to talk to the little bitch… If he gets into trouble, I bet Joel’s father will step in.”
“You can count on that like the sun coming up every morning.”
Simo sighed, thinking that he will have even more shit to deal with now.
“Simo, if Johnny or Joel Miller had anything at all to do with Elara’s disappearance, I want to make absolutely sure that we can document everything; dot every damned ‘I’ and cross every ‘T’ and give the District Attorneys an utter airtight case.”
“You don’t want either of them dead?” Simo heard Ari’s voice turn cold as ice as he replied.
“Prison for someone like Joel or Johnny is a harder death sentence… understand?”
“Yes. If there is anything I can do to help Jillian and Ronson…”
“You can count on that. I’ll be in touch.”
Simo set his phone down on his desk and looked out the window overlooking the dance floor.
The music had started back up but the dance floor was empty.
The feeling of sadness wafting up from the club floor was palpable.
Halo Raines had a way of affecting people.
If they only knew how alone and broken-hearted she really was…
sadly, maybe Halo will become this generation’s Marilyn Monroe.
He sighed, sat down, pulled out his earpiece, and poured himself a shot of Ouzo. He downed the shot as Theo came into the office.
“It’s very quiet down there… like everyone lost a family member.”
“I feel it.” Simo muttered.
Theo took a seat in front of Simo’s desk and poured himself a shot of Ouzo.
Simo gave Theo the highlights of his conversation with Ari and poured them each another shot.
“JJ had a fiancé…” Theo sighed.
“Had?”
“He was on the aircraft with Halo…”
“Bad thing for her.”
“Yes.”
Simo eyed his best friend, “What?”
“Just… just a bad thing for her like you said.”
Simo signaled his understanding with a single nod.
Theo put his finger up to his ear and looked up at Simo.
“Eleni says that Lilly has left and Lilly says hello to you.”
“Lilly spoke with Eleni?”
“Yes.”
“Maybe she gets the hint now…”
“HA! No. Women are devious!” Theo smirked.
Simo chuckled. “Yeah. I keep forgetting.”
“That is something you don’t dare ever forget, my friend!” Theo grinned.
Simo grinned back and poured them each another shot of Ouzo. Simo handed Theo his shot glass and held up his own. “To Halo. May she find peace.”
“To Halo,” Theo replied.