The press was all over the case. The shooting of five unarmed black teenagers who were honor students with no criminal backgrounds made national news. All of the major networks and cable news stations provided hour by hour coverage including the body cam footage and cellphone videos provided by the numerous bystanders who had witnessed the horrific events that day.
Attempts were made to interview the only survivor, Marcus "Mark" Mitchell, but the young man was too traumatized to speak with the press. Dignitaries and the more famous clergymen throughout the country came to Chicago and spoke out vociferously against law enforcement officers who who were using black men as target practice, to quote the lawyer who was representing the five families of the young men.
The four funerals were held together at one of the mega churches on the south side of Chicago because it was believed the individual churches of the four young men would not be able to accommodate the anticipated crowds. That belief turned out to be correct. The mega church was packed to overflow capacity as mourners came from all parts of the city and neighboring states to pay their final respects.
Voight and the Intelligence Unit attended but kept a low profile by sitting in the back row of the balcony since they assumed —- correctly — that Chicago policemen would not be especially welcome. Elena and Mark sat up front with the families and held hands throughout the service. It was obvious they were holding on to each other now for emotional support because they knew Midian, Byron, Brad, and Leonard in a way that no one else could ever understand.
Voight noticed how stoic Elena was throughout the service, whereas Mark was a wreck. He found it difficult to maintain his composure and broke down several times during the services. Elena kept her arm around him and appeared to be the only one who could help Mark keep it together. Even his parents were unable to console him.
Voight also saw the the anguish and unimaginable grief etched on the faces of all of the parents. He would never forget the look in their eyes. He knew that look all too well. He felt their pain having lost his son, Justin, just a few years earlier. He also knew their pain would never go away; they would just learn to live with it. He wished he could impart some words of advice on how to cope with their never ending grief, but he knew there were none. It would go on and on until one day death would mercifully release them from their emotional prison.
Right after the funerals outside the church, Voight saw Midian's older brother, Matthew, whom he had briefly met that evening when he picked up Elena in Lake Geneva. He walked up to him to express his condolences although halfway expecting to be rebuffed by the young man. However, much to his surprise Matthew was gracious and even introduced him to his parents as Elena's legal guardian, not mentioning his title of sergeant. Through their grief they still managed to be gracious with Voight and thanked him for coming. They knew that Elena's legal guardian was a Chicago policeman since Midian had spoken to them often about the amazing Sergeant Voight.
The families had managed to have the boys buried next to one another at Oakwood Cemetery whose most famous resident was the former and first African-American mayor of Chicago, Harold Washington. They knew the boys would want to be together in death as they had always been in life.
At the cemetery during the interment ceremony Mark was so distraught that Elena took him to the car where they remained during the rest of the graveside services. A repast was held at the church following the interment, and Voight and the team were prepared to go, but neither Elena nor Mark wanted to attend. They had had enough and just wanted to go to their respective homes.
As for the two police officers who were involved with the deaths, Voight was right on the money with his predictions. Officer Murphy was terminated from the police department for killing Midian, and the State's Attorney's Office charged him with first degree murder and involuntary manslaughter. The legal experts predicted that he would probably be convicted of the lesser offense of involuntary manslaughter since there was no evidence that he willfully with malice aforethought intended to kill the young men. Also as predicted the other patrolman, Ewing, was not fired or charged with a criminal offense inasmuch as he was acting in self-defense when he shot the other boys who were at that point attacking him and Officer Murphy.
Demonstrations were held throughout the country in protest of the shootings and over what was perceived to be lenient treatment of the two officers. The videos and body cam footage were aired nonstop on the networks and cable news stations, so the entire country was aware of the dialogue between Midian and Officer Murphy which led to the deadly sequence of events.
All five families filed civil lawsuits against the Chicago Police Department and the City of Chicago which totaled over 100 million dollars in requested damages.
The city was in chaos, and the country was coming apart at the seams.
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There were several changes in the Voight household. Elena turned 17 for one thing. Also she and Mark graduated from high school although they refused to attend the graduation ceremony because their friends would not be there. Voight, Trudy, Atwater, and the team wanted to at least take her out to dinner to celebrate that milestone, but she didn't want to do that either. She just wanted to let the day pass without fanfare, so Voight did not press the issue and left it alone. He was disappointed though as they all were.
Also Elena and Mark were making preparations for early admission to college. She was going to the University of Chicago in the fall, and Mark was going to DePaul University in Chicago. The question with Mark though was would he be up to going because emotionally he was deteriorating before everyone's eyes. While Elena was also traumatized by the tragedy, she was functioning, mostly because she was focusing her thoughts and energies on Mark and his growing instability. His parents sent him to a psychiatrist who diagnosed him with post traumatic stress disorder, acute situational depression, and survivors guilt. But after two sessions Mark refused to go back because he said all the doctor wanted to do was prescribe medication.
Mark's parents were growing desperate to help their son cope with his trauma but did not know what to do and grew more frantic with each passing day. They couldn't reach him. They tried to talk to him but he didn't want to talk about it. As it turned out, Elena was the only person he talked to or reached out to because of their shared loss. They talked everyday, several times a day.
Voight was concerned that Elena's only focus during that time was Mark. She had no interest in doing anything except talking to him, either in person or on the phone.
"Kitten, I appreciate that you want to be there for your friend," he said one day. "But you have to get back to living your own life. I've noticed that you haven't even touched the piano since everything happened. Not once."
She looked at Voight across the table as they were eating dinner. "I'm glad you brought that up," she said softly. "I'm done with the piano. In fact, you can sell it. Even though it's ten years old, it's still in mint condition and should fetch a pretty good price. And you can keep the money. I don't care."
Voight put down his fork and stared at her. "You gotta be kidding me. You love that piano. Mike bought it for you when you were what, five, six?"
"Seven."
"I'm not going to sell it, Elena. These are your emotions talking right now. You'll feel differently in time. But no, I'm not selling it. No way."
She shrugged her shoulders. "Suit yourself. But it's just going to take up space and gather dust. And for the record, I'm not going to feel differently. I'm as certain about this as I have ever been about anything. I'm not going to change my mind."
"Look, Elena. . ."
She raised her hand to stop him. "Sell it, don't sell it. That's your call. But believe me when I tell you I will never touch that thing again. I already threw out my sheet music."
"You did what? When?"
"About a month ago. I was just waiting for the right time to tell you. I probably should mention that Mark smashed his cello with an axe in his garage the day after the funeral and burned the pieces in the fireplace."
"He did what??"
"Obviously I can't do that with a baby grand piano, but if I could I would. Now can we drop the subject? Please."
Voight pushed his plate away and rested his head on his hands. Elena got up and cleared the table since it was obvious they were both finished eating. When she was done washing the dishes and cleaning up the kitchen she told him she was going upstairs to her bedroom to relax.
When she walked past him Voight grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her onto his lap and held her, wrapping his arms around her and holding her in a tight embrace.
"Kitten, I'm losing you. You're slipping away from me day by day, and I don't know what to do to stop it. Please don't shut me out. You're helping Mark, and that's great. I get it. That's what friends are for. But you need help, too. Let me help you." He laid his head on her chest. "Please let me in."
She rested her head on his and kissed it tenderly.
"I love you, Hank."
He looked at her, tears in his eyes. She had never seen him cry. She didn't think he was even capable of crying.
"Do you, Elena? Do you really love me?"
"Of course I do. Always."
"Then don't shut me out. I want to take care of you like I always have. Just let me help you carry this burden."
She looked deeply into his eyes and stroked his cheek.
"Take me upstairs," she whispered. "Take me to bed."
His eyes widened in surprise as he looked at her with a puzzled expression. They had not made love since that terrible day. He had slept in her bed every night — insisted on it as a matter of fact — because he needed to be near her, but he sensed that she didn't want to have sex. He had held her. He had caressed her. He had kissed her. She had even fallen asleep in his arms every night. But he had respected the invisible sexual barrier she had erected.
"Kitten, are you sure?"
"Yes, I'm sure. I need you inside me."
He stood up with her in his arms and carried the young woman upstairs to her bedroom. He gently laid her on the bed and slowly began undressing her as she watched him. Once she was completely naked he undressed, never taking his eyes off of her, and laid on top of her. He started kissing her, tenderly at first, but soon his kisses became more passionate and hungry. The pent-up desire in him was now being unleashed, and he could no longer contain himself. It was the happiest he had been in months.
That night they made love for hours. He couldn't get enough of her.
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