Lassiter had attended many funerals, but he never expected to attend his own.
He wasn't attending in person, of course. His captor was fucked up, but they weren't stupid. There was a live video feed displayed on a computer in front of him - god knows where the camera was. They couldn't hear him. He had tried to shout about where he was when the feed had clicked on. Nobody took any notice. He contented himself with watching as people walked by his open casket. They were people he knew, people he didn't, all kinds showed up at the funeral for SBPD Head Detective. As he watched all these people pay their respects, his heart managed to ache more than his bruised and beaten body. Some hardly glanced at 'his' body, while others stood infront of him and muttered kind goodbyes. O'hara stood infront of the casket. Her shoulder were slumped down, her usual proud stance gone, sadness emanating from her form, even through the camera. Lassiter wanted nothing more than to tell her he wasn't dead, that he was here, and he needed to escape. Of course, she would never hear him.
Victoria was there to. Lassiter hated how surprised he was that she was there. It only to his fake death to make her feel anything but anger towards him. Chief Vick was there. Her goodbye was short. Respectful. The way Lassiter wanted. He didn't think people should have to grieve over him. Especially when he wasn't dead. Guster and Shawn were up next. Lassiter dearly hoped they had enough common decency to not make a scene at his own damn funeral. Shawn didn't seem to respect anyone. Lassiter doubted he would respect any dead man. Gus didn't stay long, but when Shawn approached th body, he stared down, his body looking defeated. Deflated. Dejected. All words that should never be used to describe Shawn Spencer. It must've been a trick of his tired brain, but Lassiter swore that as Gus pulled Shawn away from the body, he squinted directly at the hidden camera. Lassiter couldn't pay attention to anyone after that. It took seemingly forver for the line of people to be gone.
He listened to their speeches, all honorable, saying what a good man he was. Is, Lassiter reminds himself. He's still a good man. He felt almost numb by the end. It was surreal, like none of the could possibly, possibly be real. Eventually, the speeches were over and the people were leaving. They consoled eachother as they went, all grieving over a man who was still alive. The crowd became sparse until the only people left were the Psych team. Spencer sent Gus to the car, and walked over to the camera. He grabbed it, rusling noise coming through the feed, and stuffed it into his pocket. Lassiter dared to let himself feel the first spark of hope in a while.