Chapter 61
APRIL
If you judge it by how many tears were shed by his widow, David Dever’s funeral was a somber affair.
No one knew they were crocodile tears.
We held the funeral at St. Monica’s Catholic Church in Santa Monica.
David wasn’t very religious, but he had been baptized, and when I talked to his parents, his mother said his family would prefer it to be a religious funeral, so I reached out to St. Monica’s.
Since David was a lapsed Catholic, it took some convincing, but the church finally agreed to hold it.
I thought I’d performed brilliantly, considering everything that was on the line.
All of David’s friends and relatives were there, along with the two detectives who were investigating the case.
They’d told me there were numerous examples of murderers attending the funerals of the people they’d murdered, so they’d like to be there just in case. I gave them my blessing.
I went out of my way to greet every person that I knew. Some of them, mostly David’s friends, didn’t have the best impression of me, but I did everything in my power to get them on my side. And I succeeded as far as I could tell.
I delivered the eulogy and left everyone in tears, especially near the end when I told the crowd that David and I had recently decided we were going to try to have our first baby.
As I looked out upon the audience, there weren’t many dry eyes in the church.
I did notice someone who wasn’t crying, however. Margie Hoya. She had given me a hug when she arrived, but had been pretty standoffish the rest of the time. In fact, standoffish was a pretty good way to describe her since David’s death. She was my best friend, and I expected more out of her.
There was a reason I hated to consider—that she feared that I was somehow involved. Could you blame her? It wasn’t that long ago that I’d told her how I really felt about David as we sucked down a lung dart outside of the Auld Fella bar.
That felt like a long time ago. It was the reason Eddie came by my coffee shop, and my life changed forever. In reality, it had only been about a month. If that. How many conjugal visits did Eddie and I have? Three? Four? I couldn’t even remember at this point.
Eddie did not attend the funeral. There was a small part of me that worried he’d be the ultimate dumbass and come pay respects to the man he killed, but thankfully, there was no sight of him.
David’s mother approached me as the funeral was ending, and asked me when David and I were going to tell her and her husband about potentially having a baby.
“We decided we weren’t going to tell anyone until I officially got pregnant,” I said. “With so many couples having difficulty getting pregnant these days, we didn’t want to jump the gun until we were sure.”
“Had you discussed baby names yet?”
“No, we hadn’t gotten that far.”
Her eyes were red and puffy, and it looked like she was about to cry again.
“I’m sure he would have told you before anyone else, though,” I said, showing a momentary slice of humanity.
She leaned in and hugged me.
We had a reception back at our house, which wasn’t really big enough to host the event, but I managed as best I could.
See, David, we should have moved into a bigger house. We could have accommodated your funeral better.
I cracked myself up sometimes.
Detectives Abbott and Wright also attended the reception.
They were definitely April-friendly at this point. In the backs of their minds, they probably still considered me a potential suspect, but they had literally nothing to pin on me. I’d also played the grieving wife to a tee.
As the reception was dying down, Margie approached me.
“I haven’t seen you much today,” I said.
“You’ve got a lot on your plate. I decided to give you some space.”
I didn’t fully believe her. “Thanks.”
“Can we get lunch this week?” she asked.
“Sure. How about Monday?”
“That would work. I’ll reach out tomorrow night. Once again, I’m sorry for the loss you endured, April.”
It was an impersonal thing to say to your best friend, but the last thing I wanted to do was call her on it. There were still twenty people or so at the reception, and I’d handled the day magnificently. I didn’t need to end the day with an argument.
“Thanks, Margie. You’ve been there since the beginning.”
“I sure have. I know everything about you.”
I didn’t take the bait. “I’ll call you tomorrow night, and we’ll set up a time.”
I gave her a parting hug.
Just like at the funeral, David’s mother was the last person I spoke to as the reception ended. She was dressed in all black and had surely received more supportive words than anybody else besides me.
“You’ve handled this day with class, April. Thank you. It was a proper send-off for my son.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Devers.”
“You’re welcome. We’d like to have dinner with you soon. Would that be okay?”
“Of course. Why don’t I reach out next week?”
“That would be great. Thanks, April. For everything.”
She started crying, and I grabbed her and gave her another hug. Two women in black, crying. One crying real tears. The other one being me.
The reception ended a few minutes later. Once everyone was gone, I took my dress off, kicked my feet up, and poured myself a cocktail.
It had been a long day, and I fucking deserved it.