EPILOGUE

At close to 10pm, the stairs leading back down to the main level and the underground parking garage were widely deserted. It was a time when most detectives were home with their families, enjoying dinner and a few hours of uninterrupted sleep; most, in this case, excluding the staff at Homicide.

Feeling every sore muscle in his body protest the plethora of steps on their way down, Mike sighed quietly, still brooding about the unceremonious end to their case even though he knew nothing could be done about the outcome tonight.

Days on end filled with angst, very little of forensic evidence, pressure from the Brass and the Osorro case had worn on his last nerves, using up what energy and patience he still had a lot faster than he cared to admit.

Like a shooting star, both cases and the emotional turmoil associated with them had disappeared into thin air…just like that; from one minute to the next.

It had caused Mike to feel like he was free-falling into a deep, dark hole for the longest time; the conflicting feelings that had so suddenly appeared after their cases practically solved themselves were still clouding his mind, making him uneasy, his thoughts circling around some moral high ground or silver lining that was entirely beyond his grasp.

In the end, he just felt empty and depleted, the wind under his wings having vanished as fast as it came.

And he had to get used to that, Mike told himself, cases didn't always turn out the way the liked, he knew that better than anybody else.

But still.

Steve had fallen in step right behind him, conquering the stairs on auto-pilot, tired green eyes searching the vacant hallway for answers.

Albert and Ricky seemed equally distraught, their shoulders sagging, their minds undoubtedly coming to terms with the fact that the cover-up was over now and that Reverend Joe's body would have to be buried in a grave of its own, something both Mike and Steve promised they'd help with even before they left the bullpen for the night.

The only noise coming from the downtrodden group was Linus, who clearly didn't enjoy hopping down the assortment of stairs but seemed too stubborn or proud to be carried.

A racoon of all things, Mike thought, a vermin Steve had used to blackmail a witness to come out of the bushes.

God, he already loathed writing that report.

He took his attention off Linus when he heard the door to the main level open, signaling some traffic headed their way. The group of four merged to the right of the stairwell, preparing to make room.

As they turned the corner, Mike felt his heart sink when a visibly upset Father Tenpenny was making his way up toward the Homicide bullpen, huffing in anger at the extra time it took versus using the elevator.

Pretending invisibility wouldn't work this evening so he straightened out and swallowed his pride for the vocal onslaught that was about to reach him seven steps out.

With Ricky and Albert first, it took the priest a few seconds to realize that his target was already within sight, and Mike could see his eyes narrow to tight slots as they travelled along the group, finally ending up on him.

"Lieutenant…I believe you and I need to have a word…", the Catholic priest hissed slightly out of breath, torn between wanting to appear professional in front of the homeless men and yet quickly losing the battle to control his anger.

Letting the hostile words sit out there for a moment, Mike cleared his throat, suddenly not feeling too motivated to explain his actions tonight- at least not until Father Tenpenny had had a good nights' rest to sleep off that undue anger.

"We didn't break any rules…", the Lieutenant explained evenly, feeling Steve take a step toward him, offering protection the only way he knew, "It just so happened that charity and police work mixed on that one for a few brief…moments."

"Is that the line of cheap press talk you are going to give the one hundred-and-fifty homeless men who feel betrayed, who think they were just rounded up like cattle under the guise of goodwill, then chased through town by the cops in order to solve a case? Because that's what it looked like to the rest of us."

Drawing in a deep breath to give himself time for a fitting reply, Mike crossed his arms over his chest, unwilling to enter such a conversation in the middle of a godforsaken stairwell. Much to his surprise, Ricky cleared his throat, speaking up before he got a chance.

"The Lieutenant is right, Father. This was just a misunderstanding. Albert and I made a bad judgement call when it came to a case these two detectives worked on. We just happened to walk in on their charity event and when they tried to talk to us, we ran. We made ourselves look like dangerous suspects so I don't blame them for calling in support. It was a poor choice on our part and ruined your event, but they shouldn't be chastised for it. Albert and I caused all that commotion."

The unusual support from sides of the homeless population startled the priest and he glanced back and forth between Mike and Ricky, looking for any signs of lying that weren't there.

Licking his lips nervously, he tried to say something, then fell quiet again, then opened his mouth yet again, completely oblivious to Linus down below untying the laces of his black dress shoes.

"You're not just telling me that because these two…these two policemen blackmailed you into lying, son?"

"No, absolutely not, Father. You have my word. I swear by it.", Albert chimed in and shook his head vehemently, a gesture that seemed to finally make it through the stubborn priest's defenses,

"I guess…I guess that…that makes this whole fiasco a giant…misunderstanding, doesn't it…?", he then muttered skeptically, "But we will still…well, we will still need to let the others know why all those police cars showed up. Everybody was very…shaken up from the event. That's not a precedence I want to set for these types of charity events."

With a wily grin, Mike reached forward to pat the Catholic priest's bony shoulder, ready to move on and call it a day.

"We couldn't agree more, Father Tenpenny. And I think, since you are such a valuable liaison between the church and the local homeless population, you would be the best man for the job. Who knows, with your…eloquence and charismatic ways, you might even get some of the…the lost sheep to join your church. Have a good night now. God Bless."