Exceptional Merit (22 page)

Kate was preparing pepper steak with rice for dinner when she heard Jim’s car pull into the driveway.  The kids were upstairs in their bedrooms, doing their homework.  Kate saw the bouquet of flowers in her husband’s hands out of the corner of her eye.  She stopped what she was doing, washed her hands and walked over to him.  Keegan presented the flowers and the card to her without uttering a word.

“What’s the occasion?” she asked as she accepted the flowers and opened the card.

Kate read the words that her husband had written to her and a warm feeling came over her.  It was nice to be appreciated and loved.  She had a loving smile on her face and their eyes met.  “I love you too, Jim.”

The two of them tightly embraced and shared a kiss until the sound of the kids scampering down the stairs broke them from each other.  She noticed that Jim held the embrace even after hearing the kids and did not seem to want to let go.

Returning to the kitchen, she got a vase from the bottom cabinet.  She filled it halfway up with water and removed the flowers from their cellophane wrapper and placed them in the vase.  She carefully arranged them until she felt they were just right.  Satisfied they were, she could now get back to preparing dinner.  She could hear Jim in the living room rough housing with the boys.  Kate always got nervous when Jim played so rough with the boys but then she decided boys will be boys, no matter how old they are.  Concerned Kerry would get caught in the middle of the boys wrestling; Kate called her into the kitchen.

Kerry skipped her way into the kitchen as Kate was taking down the dishes from a cabinet above the sink.  “Yes, mommy.”

“Can you be a good girl and set the table for mommy?”

Kate knew how much Kerry enjoyed helping her.  She was a typical little girl.

“Yes mommy, I can help.”

Kerry took the dishes from her mother and began to walk out of the kitchen when she saw the flowers on the counter.  “Oooh, mommy, where did you get the flowers?  They’re so pretty!”

“Daddy bought them for me sweetheart, aren’t the gorgeous?”

Kerry put the dishes down on the nook in the kitchen and went over to smell the flowers.  “You’re so lucky mommy.  I love flowers.”

There was a hint of jealousy in her voice.

“We can share them.  C’mon you promised to help me set the table.”

Kate’s redirection of her daughter was successful.  Kerry walked away from the flowers and once again picked up the dishes to go and set the table.  As she left the kitchen, her mother called out to her.  “Kerry, tell daddy to come in the kitchen for me.”

Once Kerry left the kitchen, Kate retrieved a small piece of cellophane from the trash and carefully selected one of each type of flower Jim had bought her as well as some greens and made a mini-bouquet out of them.  When Jim entered the kitchen and saw what Kate was up to, he immediately understood.  He accepted the new arrangement from Kate and called his daughter into the kitchen.

Kerry returned to the kitchen and informed her mother that the table was set.  She again focused her attention to the flowers.  “Daddy, those are so pretty.”

“Angel,” began Keegan.  “I have a surprise for you,” concealing his left hand behind his back.

“What is it daddy?”  Kerry loved a surprise as much as any four year old would.

Keegan took his hand out from behind his back and presented his daughter with her very own flowers.  Her eyes lit up and she bit her lower lip.  She looked at both of her parents as if asking permission to take them.  She gave her father a big hug and kiss.  “Thank you
daddy, you’re the best!”

Kerry sat through dinner with her flowers right next to her and even put them in a glass of water in her room before going to sleep that night.

Keegan grew slightly anxious as the night went on, waiting for his beeper to go off but it never did.  It was almost eleven when all of the kids had finally fallen asleep.  The Keegans checked on their children making sure they were all sleeping before settling into their own bedroom to renew the passion they had sparked earlier in the night.  Jim Keegan edged closer to his wife and gently pressed his lips against hers.  His thoughts entirely belonged to Kate right now.  Thoughts of the I.R.A., Dan O’Brien, Sean Murphy, Castillo, Internal Affairs all seemed to be forgotten, if only temporarily.  He thought of nothing more than how much he wanted to be with his wife. 

***************************

Castillo sat at his desk at the office of Internal Affairs.  He opened the bottom right draw on the metal desk, sat back in his chair and rested his right foot atop the open drawer.  He ran his hand through his hair while contemplating what to do next.  After a brief moment
, he drew himself closer to his desk and laid the photos from the bar across his desk.  With his right elbow on the table, he rested his chin on his fist, scanning the photos below.

He focused in on the photos he had taken of the man in the bar with Keegan.  He was particularly interested in the tattoo on his forearm and decided to play a hunch.  Based on his own observations of the man, he figured he was not from the United States, but instead from Ireland
, more specifically, Northern Ireland.  He also decided if he was right about Keegan, this guy must have some sort of ties to the I.R.A.  Castillo was outraged at the blatant disrespect Keegan had shown him last week.  He wanted to take down Keegan more now than ever.  He realized he had to be careful and not to let it become personal.  Making a case personal leads to shortcuts and that is when mistakes are inevitably made.

More than Keegan however, he was upset at himself for having blown his cover.  He thought how if he were out in the field in an organized crime detail or narcotics instead of I.A.B., blowing his cover could have cost him his life.  He had to be more careful in the future.  In the mean time, he hoped he hadn't completely screwed up the case on Keegan.  He also reminded himself that when he finally placed handcuffs on the rouge lieutenant, he would have the last laugh.

Castillo needed to regroup.  He needed to gather his thoughts and come up with a new plan of action.  His mind kept on drifting back to how his cover was blown.  He decided it couldn't have been anything he had done.  The only bad move he made as far as he could see was to sit in the bar alone and keep Keegan under observation.  He should have blended in better with the crowd.  He should've brought a female detective with him to make it look like just another couple out for a night on the town.  Even that one minor mistake didn't account for how Keegan knew his name, however.

This ate away at Castillo.  He must have been tipped off, determined Castillo.  Who would do such a thing?  Who would even know about his investigation?  Castillo was racking his brain.  He was the only one working on the
case; it started as nothing more than a hunch.  It’s pretty clear right now that his hunch was correct but he hadn’t told a soul about it for fear of looking stupid; except for one person.

The only person in the world he could remember telling about his hunch was his boss, Deputy Inspector Marsh. 
Of course
!  Castillo pounded his fist against his desk.  From the moment Castillo had brought the investigation up to Marsh, he was against it.  Castillo theorized Keegan and Marsh must know each other from somewhere on the job.  Maybe they worked together in precinct house years ago or maybe they had a friend in common.  Marsh must have been the one to tip him off.

God
damn it!
  Castillo was livid at this notion and decided not even his commanding officer would stand in the way of his investigation on Keegan.  Castillo now realized he was truly on his own.  He had no partner to confide in and clearly he could not even count on his boss.  He wondered if Marsh had run this up the chain of command and the top brass would also be watching and impeding his investigation.  He decided Keegan would be locked up no matter what the repercussions.  He didn’t care if he, himself, was brought up on charges for disobeying an order, or for not keeping his supervisor’s informed of his investigation.  It didn’t matter; he was determined to see justice served.  Castillo felt himself, once again, becoming personally involved.  He would salvage this case, no matter what the cost.

Castillo knew what he had to do.  He decided when he had a substantial amount of evidence on Keegan, instead of reporting it to Marsh, as was the proper
protocol; he would directly present his case to the District Attorney's office for a Grand Jury hearing.  It would make the department look bad and they would come after him for doing it, but he didn’t care.  The repercussions could be severe.  He would cross that bridge when he came to it.

On the other hand, he figured breaking a case like this one, would be front page news and the department would not dare chastise the detective who broke the case.  If he played his cards just right and got a couple of well timed breaks in the case, he could have the department by the balls and maybe even get a promotion to Detective Second Grade.  A smirk came across his face contemplating this scenario as a possible outcome of the investigation.

He stood up from behind his desk.  His leg was aching something awful.  The inclement March weather was no help.  Castillo wondered if he would carry this ailment with him until he goes to his grave.  It was incredible the amount of pain a bullet wound could cause even so many years later.  The pain always seemed most severe on rainy days such as this one.  All Castillo could do was to grin and bear it.

He limped over to the metallic green file cabinet and opened the top drawer.  He had to give a hard pull as the top drawer always sticks due to some dents near the top. 
God forbid the department springs for some new file cabinets.  These friggin things are at least twenty years old
.  He flipped through then case folders which were filled alphabetically by the case detective’s last name.  Once he found his case folders, he pulled the file on Lieutenant James Keegan.  He knew he could no longer leave the file lying around the office or even in the file cabinet if Marsh was going to tip Keegan off.  He put the file in his personal brief case to take home with him every night.

As Castillo locked his briefcase, he could see Frank Balentine walk into the squad room out of the corner of his eye.  Castillo got up to greet his long time friend and the two of them shook hands.  Balentine wore a gray, pin striped
suit, which flattered his six foot plus frame.  He was a handsome man whose cleft chin added charisma to his already charming demeanor.  Balentine wore his dark hair parted to the left never having a hair out of place.  Castillo was always quick to tease his friend that he would make the perfect politician.  He was a good speaker, a good looker, and a good liar.  Balentine was amused by his friend’s taunts, especially because he knew he was guilty on all counts.

Balentine handed Castillo a manila envelope with the word CLASSIFIED printed across the flap.  In the upper corner of the envelope, Castillo read the words PHOTOS DO NOT BEND.  Castillo was excited with the hopes that the contents of the envelope may help in his investigation.  Castillo briefly glanced at the envelope without opening it.  He could feel by its weight, there was a substantial amount of information in it.  “Aren't you going to open it?” inquired Balentine.

Castillo looked around for Inspector Marsh before responding to his friend's question.  “Yeah, I'm going to open it but not here.  Let's go out to lunch like we planned on, I'll open it later.”

Castillo didn't want to seem too excited but the truth is that he was extremely impatient.  He also didn't want Marsh to walk in on him as he examined the envelopes contents, fearing he might again clue Keegan into what was happening.  Castillo hoped to deflect the conversation away from the photos and his investigation.  “So where are we going to go for lunch anyway?”

“I've wanted to try this new Italian restaurant down town.  I've heard it’s real good.  Best veal in the city, I’m told.”

“Then Italian it is.”

The men left the office of the New York City Police Department’s Internal Affairs Bureau.  They got into the brand new, 1995 Ford Crown Victoria that Balentine was assigned to by the F.B.I.  “Nice car,” Castillo commented.  “It must be nice to work for the Feds.  The best car in I.A.’s fleet, not assigned to a boss, is a 92 Caprice with almost seventy thousand miles on it.”

“Well you should've listened to me back in college when I tried to get you to join the Bureau instead of the Police Department,” lectured Balentine, as he drove the Crown Victoria over the Brooklyn Bridge into Manhattan.

Castillo stared at Police Headquarters at the foot of the bridge.  He chuckled to himself as he thought of the buildings comical nickname of the
puzzle palace
.  A nickname no doubt, some wisecracking cop came up with and it just stuck.  The traffic was mild for Manhattan and only ten minutes later they had parked the car and entered the restaurant.  Castillo made sure he brought the envelope in with him, not wanting to take a chance of anything happening to it.

The restaurant was in the Little Italy section of Manhattan.  It was a quaint little restaurant that offered sidewalk seating in the summer months.  Castillo had never been here before.  He observed the back wall to be completely mirrored, giving the impression it was bigger than it actually was.  The other walls were beige, a couple of shades lighter than the table clothes and linens.  Castillo recognized a weatherman from a local news station seated at the table closest to the bar in the far left corner.  The wall lamps were on the dim side.  Not too dim though, Castillo decided.  He hated going to restaurants that had the lighting so dim that you struggled to read the menu.