The group turned to see a young lady, short, perky - in any other outfit she would have been considered quite sexy, but with the long formal dress she wore, the effect was somewhat muted. A gentleman was at her side.

"Yeah, half the time I saw her, she was complaining about the abuse you were dealing out at home. I'll be honest, I sometimes thought that she was going overboard about it, but when I saw you take a swing at her that night, well, that said it all for me."

Sylvia's husband said, "I don't know what you're talking about..."

"Sure and you don't! You were too busy knocking her around! Who do you think called down Security and had you taken away?"

Sylvia's husband began to squint at her as Katie asked her, "How did you know Sylvia?" She had that feeling that she was opening a proverbial can of worms with that question.

"Oh," she replied. "I work as a bartender at Excalibur - I'm Bekki. And you?"

"Katie McClure, and this is her manager, Mark David Addisen."

"Ah, I've heard a lot about him. You, I don't know," Bekki chuckled. "Don't worry," she said as she leaned over and touched his sleeve, "all good things. Very professional. Very direct."

Mark David nodded and said, "I will take that as the compliment that she would have meant it to be."

"So, tell me about Sylvia," said Katie.

"She was a dear", Bekki said. "She came in every night to eat and talk about any old thing. She told me that she felt very comfortable there - certainly more so than at home. She told me about what her goals had been, especially before she got married, and what had happened since then. From what she said, I think her boss here," she said, pointing at Mark David, "probably gave her the best chance to succeed that she could have had, from what she told me. It's just sad thinking that I was probably the last friend she saw before she died."

The group was beginning to draw the attention of a number of mourners around them, finding the topic of conversation unusual indeed.By this point, Sylvia's husband was rolling his eyes, mumbling about how women shouldn't have aspirations, and threatened quietly to have Bekki removed from the funeral home.

"Not as long as I have something to say in the matter," said the gentleman beside Bekki. He was quite tall, thin but still well-built, bald-headed and wearing a goatee. Were it not for the quiet demeanor he carried, the effect could have been called demonic. As it was, he carried the air of gentleness, yet of quiet determination.

"So you knew her, as well," said Mark David, possibly the only person in the room tall enough to look directly into the gentleman's eyes.

"Ay, I did," he said. "I was one of the people that took this guy out of Excalibur that night, and I'll defend my right to be here now. I probably have more right to be here than he does. I daresay that I knew her personality more than he, her pains even more than Bekki did, the depth of her emotions, too. She was one of those people that when I looked into her eyes, I could see all the to her soul. It will be hard to take this loss for me..." He closed his eyes briefly. "I will remember the last time I held her in our bed, we said that beyond what we had to bear, we had each other. And then this happened. This is a love that will not be forgotten."

Bekki had a look of knowingness on her face, that this was no surprise to her. Katie was getting used to surprises at this point, and as always, Mark David remained inscrutable. But Sylvia's husband was visibly fuming. To find out that his wife had not only been disobedient but unfaithful to him was too much. He lunged at the gentleman without any sense of direction, and the gentleman responded by grabbing his arms, disabling him. "I took you out that night," he said calmly, "I'll defend myself and my own. Do you understand?"