Exceptional Merit (21 page)

Once inside, he asked the hostess for a table near the window facing the Avenue.  He kept the doorway of McBride's under observation watching for Nora.  He hadn't even opened the menu when the waitress came over to take his order.  He ordered a well done cheeseburger and fries to go along with a diet cola.  After placing his order, he looked back down at his watch noting only a few minutes had passed.

The waitress returned with his soda a few moments later.  He took a sip as he continued monitoring the street for any signs of Nora.  He was determined not to miss her when she reported to work.  As much as Keegan had always liked and trusted Dan O'Brien, he would much rather contact the hit man through Nora if she would be able to help him.  He didn't want O'Brien to know he was looking for the man unless he had no other choice.  He wasn’t sure if Dan would agree with him about calling off the hit and felt it best to take the matter up with the hit man directly.  If he had to take an educated guess, he figured Dan would not be so easily dissuaded from aborting the plan.  O’Brien did not have as much at stake as he or the hit man did, he reasoned.  Keegan was nervously contemplating another meeting with the assassin when the waitress returned and broke his train of thought.

She placed his lunch down on the table in front of him.  “Can I get you a refill?”

He looked down at his half full glass before answering.  “No thank you.  What do you have on tap?”

After she took his order, she walked away and left Keegan alone with his thoughts.  He had to figure the best way to broach the topic.  He wasn't sure if he should try to reason with him or to use his position as a police officer to threaten the man.  He spent the better part of the next hour wrestling with his dilemma and the possible outcome.  It was almost time for Nora's shift to start and Keegan thought it would be best to settle the check.  He got the waitress's attention and motioned for her to bring it over.  Keegan had barely touched his food.   Most of his burger and about half of his fries went neglected.  He did
however; manage to polish off a couple of beers over the hour.

After paying his check, Keegan left the bar and crossed the street back to the same side of the street as McBride's.  He waited in the doorway of a store a few doors away.  Pedestrian and vehicular traffic filled the sidewalks and streets as was common in Manhattan.  Everyone in the city always seemed to be in a rush to get somewhere, Keegan noted.  There were people as far as the eye could see in every direction.  Yellow cabs stopped at every intersection discharging and picking up fares.  He hoped the other waitress was correct when she told him Nora usually starts her shift at two o'clock.  He also hoped he wouldn’t miss her in the masses of people when she did report to work.

Keegan was waiting patiently in the doorway when he saw the bus come to a stop across the street.  He watched as it pulled away from the curb.  Nora O'Donnell appeared from behind it, wearing a full length leather jacket, which in his opinion was much too heavy for the mild March afternoon.  She walked to the corner, along with about thirty other people, waiting for the light to change so she could safely walk across the busy Avenue.  Keegan made his way to the corner to greet her when she crossed.  When the light changed, Nora crossed the street and hadn’t noticed Keegan.  “Nora, can I speak with you for a moment?”

Keegan caught Nora off guard.  She stopped briefly to speak with him.  “What about?”

“Let me first explain who I am.”

Nora interrupted.  “I know who you are.  I wouldn’t have stopped if I didn’t know you.”  She gave a knowing smile.  “You're the cop that comes into the bar every few weeks or so
; Dan’s friend, right?”

Nora's response brought a smile to Keegan's face.  He was curious.  “How did you know that I'm a police officer?”

“Just because I'm a waitress in a bar, doesn't mean I'm stupid.  I have eyes and ears just like you.  You've been coming into the bar for as long as I've worked there and it's not really too hard to figure out.  You're not the only detective in town, ya know.”

She was teasing Keegan.

His face turned slightly red.  “I wasn't implying you were stupid, I was…”

Nora decided to let him off the hook.  She shoved him playfully on the shoulder.  ‘Relax, I'm only kidding.  What can I help you with?”

Keegan smiled back at her.  “Do you remember the last time I was there?  I was sitting at a table in the back room.  You were my waitress that night.  I was with a young guy you seemed to be pretty friendly with.”

The smile quickly disappeared from her face.  “Yeah.  What about him?”

Keegan sensed something amiss.  The smile quickly disappeared from Nora’s face and now she was the one turning red.  But it was more from anger than embarrassment.  “I was wondering if you knew where I could find him.  It’s important that I speak with him.”

“How should I know?” said Nora curtly.  “I thought you cops always knew where to find one and other.”

The mention of Sean Murphy seemed to have struck a nerve with the waitress.

Keegan was confused.  “Cops?  Did he tell you he was a cop?”

“No, but he did have a gun, so I figured…maybe…listen, I'm going to be late for work.  She began to abruptly walk away from Keegan without having finished her thought.

Keegan took after her.  “Please Nora.  It really is urgent I find him.”

Keegan knew from experience, that quite often when a police officer was asking for someone’s whereabouts, it was assumed they were in trouble with the law.  He would do his best to reassure her, this was not the case.  “He’s not in any kind of trouble.  I just need to speak with him.”

He thought about how many times he used that line to convince a family member or friend to betray someone they cared about and then he would arrest the person anyway.  It was a common ploy used by investigators to track a wanted person down.  The irony was not missed on him that this time, he was telling the truth.  He had no desire to arrest anyone.  He just needed to talk to him and convince him to call off the hit.

She stopped in her tracks, turned around and looked Keegan in the eyes.  “Look, I don't know where your friend is and to be honest, I don't give a shit.”

Keegan’s eyes met hers and he studied them as she spoke.  He had become adept at knowing when someone was lying to him or telling the truth.  He was disappointed in the realization that Nora spoke the truth.  He was sure of it.  The eyes never lie.

She continued.  “I can't help you.  If you really want to find him, ask Dan.  They seemed to be pretty tight.”

Her eyes dropped.  Keegan recognized that Nora had somehow been betrayed by the man.  He thanked her for her time.  She then, once again, turned her back on him and entered the bar without uttering another word.

Keegan remained motionless on Third Avenue watching Nora disappear inside the bar.  He debated in his mind as to what his next course of action should be.  Nora was clearly unable or unwilling to help him.  It looked like he would have to fall back to his last resort, after all.  He would have to solicit the help of Dan O'Brien if he had any chance at all of locating the hit man.  Keegan paced the sidewalk, deliberating if he should go in right now and talk to O'Brien or wait and see if the hit man shows up at the bar later tonight.  He thought back to what Nora had said, ‘
that they were tight’
, and wondered if she was trying to tell him that the man had been frequenting the bar.  Keegan decided O'Brien would find out about his impending showdown either way, so he would take the direct approach. 
Maybe not totally direct, though.

He took a deep breath before entering the bar.  The crowd had thinned out over the last couple of hours.  He saw Dan O'Brien standing behind the bar with only a handful of patrons to concern himself with.  He surveyed the bar.  He was hoping, although it would be a longshot that the man he sought might be in there right now.  It would have been nice to find him without involving O'Brien.  As he expected, the man wasn't there and he was left with no alternative than to speak with the bartender.

He didn't notice Nora walking up from behind him.  She grabbed him gently by the upper arm and he turned around to face her.  She felt the need to explain herself to the police officer.  “Listen, I just wanted to apologize for coming off so rudely before.  I had a bad experience with the guy you're looking for and I assumed you were a friend of his because I saw you sitting with him.”  She paused before continuing, “So, you're not a friend of his then?”

He shook his head.  “No. I'm not.”

Nora pondered the implications.  “Well in that case, he's been in here on a semi-regular basis after ten until about one or two.”

“Thank you Nora.  I really appreciate it.”

Keegan looked up at O'Brien.  He was pretty sure O'Brien hadn't noticed him and he wanted to slip out before he did.  “I owe you one.  I'll be back later.  Please don’t mention I was asking about him.”

Keegan started to head toward the door when he heard a familiar voice call out to him.

“James Keegan, you weren't going to come into this bar twice in one day and not say hello to me either time, now were ya?”

Keegan turned to see Dan O’Brien pouring a draft from the tap. 
Why couldn't Nora have told me this outside the bar so I could've avoided this?
 

There was no way to avoid him at this point.  “Of course not Dan, I was just going to hang my coat up on the coat rack in the front.”

It was a horrible excuse.  One he was pretty sure O’Brien would not believe.  In all the years he's been coming here, he had always put his coat on the back of the bar stool, never on the coat rack.  He then reasoned to himself, that a bad answer is better than no answer at all.  Keegan took off his coat, hung it on the rack and returned to his usual bar stool.  There was a pint of Guinness waiting for him on the bar.

“So Jim, was I wrong about you?  Do you have a little something going on the side with Nora after all?”

The bar man was trying the feel Keegan out and studied his face for a reaction.  Keegan glanced in Nora’s direction and watched her wait on a table.  He hadn’t noticed the black mini-skirt she was wearing until now.  Keegan decided she looked as good as ever today.  He then looked back at O’Brien with a devilish smirk on his face.

“I wish I could say I did, but unfortunately I don’t.”

“Well if not Nora, then do what do I owe this unexpected surprise to?” probed O’Brien.

Keegan thought carefully before answering.  There was no reason to deny the truth and he was sure O’Brien must have figured things out anyway.  “I need to talk to Murphy.”

O’Brien became concerned even though he had expected as much.  “Murphy, is it?  Now what might you need to speak to him for?  He’s a busy fella, you know.”

“I don’t want to seem rude Dan, but it’s really something I want to discuss with him.”

Keegan swallowed about half of his drink in one swift motion.

“I see, Jim.  I don’t have any way of reaching out to him, ya know.  He does come in here at night a wee bit but there’s no guarantee when and if he comes in.”

“Dan, it’s of the utmost importance that I speak with his as soon as possible.  If he comes in here tonight or tomorrow or whenever page me right away.  Please.”

Keegan sounded very businesslike.  O’Brien figured there was no harm in trying one more time.  “Are you sure there’s nothing that I can help you with, Jim?”

“I’m sure.  Just do me the favor and make sure you get in contact with me as soon as you see him, okay Dan?”

O’Brien agreed.  “Will do, Jim.  Will do.”

Keegan got up from the bar stool, picked up the rest of his Guinness and drank it down.  “Thanks Dan.”

He walked to the front of the bar to retrieve his coat, waving goodbye to Nora as he passed.  Keegan put his coat on and left the bar.  He felt relieved to at least get this far but he knew he was a long way off from accomplishing what he ultimately had to.  Ironically, he left McBride’s at about the same time he would’ve left work.  Since he would get home around the same time he wouldn’t have to tell Kate any more lies, at least for the time being.

The traffic on the Long Island Expressway was uncommonly heavy.  Keegan fought traffic for the better part of two hours before he finally arrived at his exit.  As heavy as the traffic had been, it didn’t bother him.  He lost track of time on the ride home.  His mind was preoccupied on stopping the assassination.  When he got off the exit ramp, he realized the time and how long it had taken to get home.  He then saw the card he bought for Kate earlier in the day on the passenger seat of the Crown Victoria.  He put it there when he first got into the car but he would’ve probably forgotten it if he hadn’t just seen it.

Keegan decided to stop off on the way home and pick up some flowers to go along with the card.  He bought a mix of mini carnations, lilacs and roses which he was sure would be greatly appreciated by Kate.  He sat in the flower shop’s parking lot to fill out the card.  He opened it up and stared at it for about two minutes, before finally writing inside of it.  He simply addressed it to ‘the love of my life’ and wrote how much she meant to him.  He then sealed the envelope and headed home.