Steve and Veronica rushed to meet Fiona and the four kids. Once they understood what had happened, they were both severely shaken.
It's worth noting that Steve's reaction seemed even more intense than Veronica's.
"Monica is going to be fine," Veronica said, quickly trying to comfort Fiona. Even though they hadn't talked much in days because of work, they had been friends for a long time, and Veronica wasn't going to let that stop her from offering support.
Fiona's mind was a mess, and her face was full of pain. She just nodded.
Tony looked at Steve, hesitated for a moment, and decided not to say anything more. He silently moved away to busy himself with the other police officers.
Such was the sadness of the perpetual admirer.
A few moments later, the ambulance arrived. Several EMTs jumped out and immediately began checking on Roberta and Monica.
Roberta was dead.
Monica was still breathing.
In short order, the emergency personnel lifted Monica onto the ambulance stretcher.
Seeing this, Debbie, her face streaming with tears, tried to follow.
"We'll go together," Fiona said.
"Do you need me to go with you?" Veronica asked when she heard Fiona.
Fiona thought for a moment and shook her head. "No, you have to work tomorrow."
Veronica paused. "Okay. Call me if you need anything."
Fiona nodded.
Soon, Fiona and Debbie were in the ambulance, while Lip, Ian, and Carl got into Steve's car. The two vehicles sped toward the hospital.
Veronica stood there, watching for a moment, unable to grasp why something like this had happened. "Tony, what the heck is going on?"
Tony was busy, and hearing the question, he just shook his head. "We don't know yet. This is the second homicide tonight. Another woman was killed on another street. It's possible the same shooter did both."
Veronica was startled. "Someone else was shot and killed?"
"Yeah, an African American woman," Tony replied.
Hearing that, Veronica was shocked again and instinctively looked at Roberta's body on the ground.
Roberta was also African American!
And so am I!
Veronica was gripped by a sudden fear. "Could someone be targeting and killing Black people?"
Tony actually harbored that suspicion but knew it was something you absolutely couldn't say casually. "We don't know the exact situation yet, Veronica. It's getting late. You and your friend should go home quickly. The shooter might still be nearby. Lock your doors and don't come back out."
Veronica wasn't stupid; she immediately understood the implication in his words, took a sharp breath, and felt fear and anger churn in her gut.
"Thank you," Veronica said, shaking slightly. Afraid to stay any longer, she quickly thanked him, turned to say goodbye to Veronica's friend, Vivian, and hurried home. "Vivian, you should go home too. Damn, it's way too dangerous here."
Vivian had run over with Veronica but hadn't said anything until now. Hearing Veronica, she smiled without a trace of concern. "I'll go hang out at your place for a while. Once Kevin gets back, I'll head home."
Veronica considered it. "That's probably a good idea. We'll be safer together."
"Yep."
The two didn't talk anymore and quickly walked toward Veronica's house.
As they walked, Veronica pulled out her phone and called Kevin, explaining the situation and telling him to get home right away.
Kevin was completely stunned by the news. "Holy shit! I'm coming right now! You guys lock all the doors and windows!!"
He hung up the phone.
Kevin didn't dare waste a second. He didn't care that the bar still had customers; he quickly told Kermit to watch the place, grabbed his coat, and rushed out of The Alibi to head home.
---
Outside the Gallagher house, the Medical Examiner's van had just arrived.
Tony scratched his head helplessly.
Two major crimes in such a short amount of time, two dead and one wounded...
The weapon in both cases was a submachine gun, making it highly likely the same shooter...
And both of the deceased were Black...
This was going to be a huge mess!
Who knew how crazy the South Side was about to get!
---
In fact, Tony's worries were completely justified.
After all, the issue of racism has always existed in America and has never truly disappeared.
Sure enough, media outlets started getting the news.
News vans, though late to the scene, eventually started showing up.
Before long, both the scene outside the Gallagher house and the scene outside the Kamalas' house were swarming with reporters and onlookers.
[Breaking News: Two Homicides Tonight in the South Side of Chicago! Both Victims Are African American!!!]
Immediately, as expected, several Black journalists seized the opportunity to deliver incredibly emotional reports to the camera. Following that, they habitually spoke about the struggles of the Black community, stirring up emotions among Black viewers.
Honestly, that approach was pretty gross.
So, some white reporters weren't going to back down.
Some of the white reporters outside the Kamalas' house didn't hesitate to exploit the fact that Kamalas had adopted over a dozen children and was running a sweatshop, making a huge story out of it.
[Mrs. Kamalas' murder is truly unfortunate, and I offer my deepest sympathy, but... we absolutely cannot ignore the fact that Mrs. Kamalas was exploiting and oppressing these poor children!!!]
[It's unimaginable! Over a dozen children locked in a basement and forced to do manual labor!!! This actually happened!!]
[Viewers, can you even believe it?] Some white reporters were even more aggressive, completely ignoring the murder of Mrs. Kamalas and focusing entirely on the children. [Now, please open your eyes and look at these children, listen to what they have to say...]
The white reporters outside the Gallagher house were a bit unlucky. Since they couldn't exploit a sweatshop angle, they could only focus their fire on stating that Roberta wasn't the only person involved; a white person, Monica, was also wounded...
And then, in short order, as the Kamalas' sweatshop story broke, and more importantly, as those children stood in front of the cameras recounting how Mrs. Kamalas had abused them...
Most of the reporters outside the Gallagher house didn't stick around. They jumped into their vans and quickly sped toward the Kamalas' house.
Tonight, the South Side of Chicago, and maybe even the entire city, was about to go wild.
---
Dexter didn't know any of this yet. Following his previous routine, he disposed of the motorcycle and his clothes in a remote, desolate area, and then set off on foot.
At this moment, Dexter had just gotten on the elevated train.
It was seriously cold out late at night.
Fortunately, he was still buzzing with excitement, and that excitement helped drive away some of the chill.
'This should be enough to take a break for a while,' he thought with a smile, rubbing his hands together as he found a seat. He then quietly tallied his merit points.
Taking out Kamalas earned 7,986 merit points.
Taking out Roberta earned 2,568 merit points.
Shooting Monica earned 897 merit points.
Plus the 498 remaining merit points from before.
Heh heh.
11,949 merit points!