Exceptional Merit (40 page)

“PRESENT ARMS!”
  The Emerald Society's Pipes and Drums Band began to play Taps.  The flag draped coffin of James Keegan was carried out of the church by the pallbearers made up of six sharply dressed officers from the department’s ceremonial unit.  Tears were rolling down the faces of many of the officers in attendance as the coffin was loaded into the hearse.

It was usually at this point of the funeral when fellow officers realized their own mortality.  They watch as the casket disappears inside the hearse and think that it could've been them who died, only because they were doing their job.  In a sense, it was them who lay there.  Every time a police officer is slain in the line of duty, a part of every police officer dies inside.  James Keegan had made the ultimate sacrifice, but sadly, each and every officer in attendance knew that Keegan would not be the last to do so.

The wind intensified momentarily as the sea of blue held its salute.  Keegan's family got back into the limousine as the thousands looked on.  Many thinking what would happen to their own family if God forbid, they were ever to be struck down.  The starting of the engines is heard through the dead silence.  Helicopters from the N.Y.P.D.’s Aviation unit fly overhead in a v-shaped formation with one helicopter missing from the pattern.  It’s known as the
missing man formation
.  Once the helicopters make their pass, the hearse and the limousine pull away.  They are flanked on each side by highway officers on motorcycles.  A dozen marked highway radio cars with their impressive lights trail the motorcade.  The sound of the bagpipes could be heard in the distance as the funeral comes to an end.  The crowd of police officers remains in the formation for a matter of minutes until the bagpipes could no longer be heard and the last of the motorcade had disappeared in the distance.

Many of the officers who had shown up on their own time will now catch up with old acquaintances they had met up with before the funeral began.  Many will go to the bars along Northern Boulevard or nearby Bell Boulevard and have a drink in memory of their colleague.  Others, who are scheduled to work later on in the day, will go to work this afternoon and put their own lives on the line for the good of the city in which they serve.

Once the funeral had broken up, numerous reporters from all over the city had chased down the Mayor and the Police Commissioner and asked for a comment.  This led to an impromptu press conference given by the Police Commissioner on the steps of the Douglaston church, where Keegan's service had been held.

The Commissioner was an overpowering figure.  He stood three inches better than six feet and had salt and pepper hair which gave him a certain amount of charm.  He was a thirty two year veteran of the New York City Police Department and unlike many before him, had the respect of the rank and file.  He was in his early fifties and extremely well spoken.

“Our city, as well as our country as a whole, has suffered a great loss,” the embattled Police Commissioner began.  “When James Keegan was
fallen to a bomb planted by a coward, not only did he lose his life but every citizen of the city he served suffered an insurmountable loss.  The men and women of the New York City Police Department will not rest until Lieutenant Keegan's murderer is brought to justice.”

A barrage of questions was
directed towards him.  He acknowledged a female reporter in the front row.

“Mr. Commissioner, do you have any leads?”

“We have a few leads we are following up on at this time,” he lied before acknowledging the next reporter.

“When do you expect arrests to be made?”

He was stoic in his answer.  “I wouldn't want to comment on anything that could jeopardize the investigation at this point.”

He would do his best to skirt the issue even though he knew the questions would be asked and people wanted answers.

The last question came from a veteran police reporter for the Times.  “Is there any connection between the assassination of Lieutenant Keegan and…”

The Police Commissioner promptly cut him off and ended the session as quickly as it had started.  “You're going to have to excuse me.  I didn't intend on giving a press conference right now.  I'll have an official statement which will answer many of your questions later today at Police Headquarters.  Have your questions ready then and I will do my best to answer them as long as they do not compromise the integrity of our investigation
.“

The Commissioner swiftly walked down the steps along with the Mayor of the City of New York. 
They got into a Black 1995 Jeep Grand Cherokee, whose door were being held open for them by members of the Mayor’s security detail, and quickly drove off.

The ride to the Long Island cemetery had taken only a little bit over a half hour.  Kate was impressed by the police escort of highway cars that the department had afforded.  She reflected on how beautiful the ceremony was and what a shame such a well organized and moving ceremony was only used on such a sad occasion as a funeral.  She remembered how Jim would tell her the two things the department does really well, were promotion ceremonies and funerals.  She had now been a part of both.

Kate sat silently in the back of the limousine with Kerry's head nestled in her chest
as she sat on her mother's lap.  Kate knew that Kerry didn't quite understand why she would never see her father again.  She looked over at the boys.  Kevin seemed to be in a solemn mood, while Timothy kept looking out of the back window, impressed by the lights on the police cars that trailed behind them.  Jim's mother was a strong woman; nevertheless, she had broken down into tears on the way to the gravesite.  Kevin held his grandmother by the hand to assure her everything was okay.  It was nice to see Kevin comfort his grandmother and it made Kate think how her eleven year old son would now be the man of the house.

The sun was shining brightly on the cemetery as the Keegan's got out of the limousine.  The grass was well manicured and in the coming months would be a vibrant green, Kate was certain.  Walking toward her husband’s grave, she was wrought with emotion.  She scanned some of the headstones as she passed.  One of them was for a five year old boy.  A teddy bear lay at the foot of the headstone. 
Life can be so unfair
.  There was a complete silence in the air, broken only by the closing of car doors.

Kate looked around and saw people throughout the cemetery
that had come to visit their respective loved ones.  There were a few families that Kate guessed were there on an anniversary or maybe their deceased, loved ones, birthday.  Many had flowers or stuffed animals they set down at their loved ones grave.  There was one man only a couple of rows from where her husband was about to be buried.  He wore a black overcoat and a wool cap.  Kate thought she would probably see the man here again sometime in the future since their loved ones would be buried so close to one another.

The friends and family of James Keegan gathered around the open ground where Keegan's body would be laid to rest.  The gathering was much more intimate than the thousands that attended the funeral service outside the church.  There were about two dozen who had joined the funeral procession and came to the cemetery.  Father Palmero asked for the crowd's attention.  Keegan had always spoken highly of the priest, who he had known since a child.  Kate knew it would have meant so much to her husband for Father Palmero to preside over his funeral mass and gravesite prayer.  The priest was in his early sixties with snow white hair and a thin beard.  Looking in his light brown eyes, anyone could tell he was gentle man who lived the life in which he preached.

“My friends, we gather today to say goodbye to a man we all loved.  But this goodbye is not for an eternity.  We ask that God open his doors to James so that when we, ourselves, go to heaven, we can be reunited with him in Christ.”

Kate had started to listen to the priest's words but her mind began to wonder.  She looked around to see the many people that had shown up to say goodbye to her husband.  He had so many friends and was respected by everyone in the police department.  Captain Anderson stood off to the side with his wife, Judith.  Kate had met her many times at different functions and hoped they would forgive her for not going over to them to thank them for coming.  She figured they would understand.

Kate's daydreaming was broken when she realized that Father Palmero had stopped speaking.  Two of the uniformed police officers in white shirts, who had served as pallbearers, removed the flag of the United States from Keegan's coffin.  The sun’s glare caught one of the highly polished buttons of the officer’s dress uniform, causing Kate to monetarily squint, as he approached.  The officers carefully folded the flag into thirds and presented it to Kate.  She accepted the flag from them as they rendered her a sharp salute.

James Keegan's coffin was slowly lowered beneath the ground as the Keegan children looked on in horror.  Kevin and Timothy threw their arms around their mother's waist and began to cry.  Kate felt totally helpless that there was nothing she could do to ease her children's suffering.  After the coffin was below the ground, each of the mourners walked to the edge of the opening and dropped flowers down on top of it.

The mourners slowly left the gravesite, some of whom came over to Kate to extend their condolences once again.  After the entire crowd had left, Kate escorted her grieving children into the limousine which was still waiting to drive her back to her home.  She then returned to her husband's grave and said a silent prayer.  She crossed herself once she was done praying and looked down at the flower covered coffin.  She spoke softly through her tears.  “Good bye Jim.  I love you.”

She dabbed her tears away with her handkerchief.  Kate got back into the limousine and it was now her turn to let it all out.  She cried hysterically as her children hugged her tightly to comfort her.  The limousine drove off from the cemetery with the Keegan family grieving inside.  The body of Lieutenant James Patrick Keegan was now in its final resting place.

The man in the black overcoat watched as Kate Keegan said her goodbyes.  He felt her pain as she climbed back into the limousine.  He could hear her cries.  He waited for the limousine to be a safe distance away from the cemetery before walking over to the recently opened grave.

He removed his wool cap and made the sign of the cross before silently saying a prayer.  He reached under his overcoat and produced a small bouquet of flowers which he dropped into the open grave down onto Keegan's casket.  He watched them float down, silently landing next to the other flowers.  The man shook his head, wondering why things had to end up as they did.

There was a lump in Daniel O'Brien's throat as he watched the flowers land on the coffin of his long time friend.  O'Brien, like so many other men had not only respected Keegan, but he also admired him.  Losing a man like James Keegan wouldn't be easy for anybody.

O'Brien hated himself for what he had done, but he was nevertheless, a soldier in a war.  It wasn't up to a soldier to question his superior; it was up to a soldier to carry out an order.  Eamon Quinn's orders had been very specific.  O'Brien, a former master bomb maker for the I.R.A., planted the twenty pound car bomb under the hood of Keegan's Crown Victoria shortly after two thirty in the morning a few nights ago.  O'Brien shook his head again; this time with more purpose. 
Why couldn't ya just mind yer own God damned business Jim?  Why?

O'Brien knelt down beside the grave of James Keegan and silently wept.

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

Louis Castillo sat up in bed on the morning after James Keegan's funeral.  He couldn't believe the turn of events that had taken place over the past few days.  He looked at the clock on the night table and saw that it was six o'clock.  Having set the alarm for six fifteen, he decided to stay awake.  He felt awkward being in unfamiliar surroundings.  He had gotten a good night sleep.  The bed was more comfortable than his bed was.  He glanced to his right where Sharon was still sleeping.

Castillo gently caressed her hip through her panties which was the only clothing she was wearing.  He leaned over and gave her a kiss before getting up to take a shower.  The two of them had been spending a great deal of time together.  They had spent both of their days off together and had only been separated for a short period of time when Castillo went back to his own apartment grab a change of clothes.  Staying at Sharon's apartment had its advantages.  The travel to work was cut down by almost a half of an hour, which allowed Castillo to sleep that much longer.

As Castillo showered, he thought of what a dramatic change his world was going through.  He and Sharon were getting along wonderfully and he certainly didn't want this to end.  As far as his career, he wasn't sure what exactly to do about Keegan.  He figured he could keep an eye on Dan O'Brien and possibly arrest him for gun running but without any corroboration from anyone else, it would be difficult to prove.

No matter what he decided, he was going to put in a request for transfer to another detective squad.  Somewhere he could be a detective without anybody prejudging him for his past.  He hoped once he got transferred the label of a rat wouldn't follow.  After all, it has been so many years, people were bound to have forgotten or even lost track of him.  He wondered where he might go.  If he did open a case on O'Brien and solved it maybe he could even get into the Joint Terrorist Task Force. 
Wouldn't that be ironic?