Exceptional Merit (41 page)

Castillo stepped out of the shower and toweled himself off.  He wiped the mist from the mirror in a circular motion, creating a space large enough to see his reflection.  He hadn’t bothered to shave the last two days so he knew he had to this morning.  With no other option, he borrowed Sharon’s toothbrush.  Somehow he was pretty sure she wouldn
’t mind.  By the time he left the bathroom, Sharon had woken up.  She too, had to do a day tour this morning.  Castillo gave her a full kiss on the lips as they traded places in the bathroom.  Castillo was happy to see the morning newspaper had been delivered so early.  He looked at the front page of the paper.

Hero cop laid to rest

If the media only knew the truth
, he thought. 
Maybe they will, real soon
.  Castillo looked at the photos which accompanied the story.  He saw the thousands of fellow cops in dress uniform salute as Keegan's coffin was brought out from the church.  The picture directly below this was a picture of a frightened little girl clinging to her obviously distraught mother.  Castillo felt a sudden compassion for the Keegan family.  It wasn't an unusual compassion, it was one that he would feel for any slain officer's family but nevertheless, it did bother him.  They both got dressed and made plans to meet back Sharon's apartment after work and go out for dinner.

The ride had gone quickly from Sharon's apartment to his office in Brooklyn.  Castillo walked into the squad room and was told of the urgent message that Inspector Marsh had left for him.  He was told Marsh had been trying to call him all last night and even had a sector car from his resident precinct go by his house.  He walked over to his desk and picked up the note.

It was brief and right to the point.  It ordered him to go immediately to headquarters and report to the office of the Chief
of Detectives with the entire case file on James Keegan.  Castillo realized he didn't have the entire file with him.  The secret file he had been maintaining was still in his apartment.  He had not expected to be staying at Sharon's all weekend.  He would just bring the official file that he had been keeping.

Today would be the moment he had been waiting for.  He could show not only Inspector Marsh his true career potential but also the department's top detective, the Chief of Detective’s, himself.  He could both expose Keegan as well as break the case against him.  He would undoubtedly be praised for both.

Castillo thought carefully about all of the options afforded him.  He took a few moments before doing anything.  He then took out a pink complaint follow up out from his desk drawer and inserted it in to the typewriter still unsure what he was going to type.  His fingers lay motionless on the keyboard for another minute before he reached a decision.  Castillo punched away at the keys and proof read his work before making it a part of the Keegan file.

When Castillo arrived at Police Headquarters he inserted his identification card into a scanner at the turnstile.  His photo appeared on a screen in front of the officer assigned to guard the turnstile.  Castillo crossed through the turnstile and waited patiently for the next available elevator.  Castillo was daydreaming about how many times James Keegan had taken these very elevators when the sound of a bell broke his concentration.  The elevator door opened and Castillo pushed the button for the twelfth floor where the Chief of Detective's office was located.  Castillo entered the office where Inspector Marsh and the Chief of Detectives were awaiting his arrival.

“Where have you been Louie?  I've been trying to call you since yesterday.  I left half a dozen messages on your answering machine.”

“I'm sorry Cap, I was out all weekend and I uh, didn't sleep at home last night...”  He raised his eyebrows before continuing, “…or the night before.”

Under normal circumstances, Marsh would have at least cracked a smile at the inferences Castillo had made.  This was not a normal circumstance, however.  Marsh was less than pleased to have been summoned down to the Chief of Detective’s office with one of his men that he couldn’t find for two days before the meeting.  The Chief of Detectives had ordered they both be in his office first thing in the morning.  The fact that Marsh had been unable to get a hold of
Castillo had been frustrating.  If he had the chance to speak to Castillo before the meeting, he would at least have better insight as to what Castillo would say and he would not be blindsided by anything.  Nobody in the Detective Bureau wanted to look bad in front of their boss.  Marsh ignored Castillo's excuse and got to the heart of the meeting.  “Louie, the Chief wants to know everything about the case you have on Lieutenant Keegan.  Maybe it will lead to his murderer.”

Castillo studied the Chief.  He had never seen him in person before although he had seen him numerous times on television.  He wasn't nearly as tall as Castillo had perceived him to be from television.  He was only about five feet eight inches tall and couldn't weigh more than one hundred and sixty five pounds.  He had a gray mustache and a receding hairline that wasn't far from baldness.  His age of sixty was clearly shown through the wrinkles on his red face.  Father time had not been all that kind to Chief Lawrence Courtney.  The stress of almost forty years in the department showed.

Castillo offered up the Chief of Detectives the case folder without saying a word.  Perhaps he was at a loss for words or perhaps he hoped the case folder would answer any questions his boss might have so he wouldn’t have to.  Chief Courtney took the folder from Castillo and opened it.  He briefly scanned through it until he got to the final report.

It was the report, that unknown to the Chief, had been typed less than an hour ago.  The date on the report read March 15th, two days prior to Saint Patrick's Day.  Courtney read this report slowly and carefully.  It recommended the case be marked closed, unfounded, as there had been no substantial evidence to link James Keegan in any way to the Irish Republican Army or anyone associated with the same.  Courtney was happy with the results of the investigation.

He silently wondered if Castillo overlooked the fact that Keegan may have been killed for interfering with an attempted hit by the I.R.A.  It was too obvious for a seasoned detective to miss, unless of course, he chose to miss it.  Courtney really didn't want to know any more then he currently knew.  “Thank you detective.  We are trying to investigate every possible angle in this case.  We have a press conference scheduled for noon and I want to have as many answers as I can,” Chief Courtney explained, although any explanation on his part was unnecessary.  “You don't mind if I keep this file, do you, Detective Castillo?”

The question was, of course, rhetorical.  There wasn't a detective alive who would refuse such a request.  Castillo politely responded.  “All yours, sir.”

Chief Courtney, once again thanked both of the men for their time and concern before dismissing them from his office.  He got up from behind his desk and walked them to the door.  He gave them ample time to have gotten on the elevator.  Courtney then left his office with the case folder in hand.

Chief Courtney knocked on the door of the Police Commissioner.  Having been waiting for the knock, the Commissioner answered immediately, inviting him in.  Upon entering the office, he saw the Commissioner, the First Deputy Commissioner, the Chief of Internal Affairs and the Chief of Department talking things over.  He put the case folder down on top of the large, cherry wood desk that separated the men and pulled up a chair.

The Police Commissioner was anxious to know.  “What did this detective give you, Larry?”

“He closed the case out even before the parade and he seems confident that there was no connection between Keegan and the I.R.A.,” the Chief of Detectives explained, even though he didn't totally believe Castillo had closed out the case.

Both the Commissioner and the Chief of Department shook their head in approval.  “Good.”  The Commissioner looked around the room at his counsel.  “Does anybody see any other angle that can come back to haunt us?”

The top echelon of the department looked blankly at one another and shook their head from side to side.  Courtney was the only one to offer a verbal response.  “I think that detective was our only loose end.”

The Commissioner nodded his head ever so slightly and had the smug look of a poker player who just drew to an inside straight.  “Good.  Then it is settled.  We will go with our original plan.”

Deputy Inspector Marsh had no objection to Castillo's request to take the rest of the afternoon off.  Marsh had been somewhat surprised at the fact that Castillo had closed the case out.  He had seemed so consumed by the case when he first opened it, that he was sure Castillo wouldn't let it go until he caught Keegan dirty.  Marsh was greatly relieved when Castillo told his boss the investigation was closed out.  It seemed to be exactly what the Chief wanted to hear.  Marsh wondered momentarily if Castillo had really closed the case out or did he just do what he figured to be the right thing to do.  Either way, the results made them both look good.

Castillo had supplied Marsh with yet another surprise in the few short hours he had spent at work today.  Before taking the rest of the day off, he handed him a
U.F. 57
or a request for transfer.  Marsh had looked it over and asked Castillo if he was sure he knew what he was doing.  Most cops don't want anything to do with a guy from Internal Affairs if they transferred out to another command.

Castillo insisted he knew exactly what he was doing.  He wasn't going to let something that happened years ago ruin his career.  He had been buried in the Internal Affairs Bureau long enough and he was going to be a real detective once again.  Marsh had sensed the urgency in Castillo's explanation and signed the request for transfer with only one more question.  “Where do you want to go?  I think Chief Courtney would be happy to approve a transfer for you to any command you wanted.”

Castillo was smug but had to be careful not to overplay his hand.  “I think Chief Courtney knows a good detective when he sees one; a good, hard working…and
loyal
detective.”

Castillo was careful to emphasize loyal.  He let the comment about loyalty hang there, making sure it sunk in.  It was probably at least in the back of the Chief's mind that Castillo may know more than he let on and this would prove a fair way to thank him.  “I was thinking maybe the Joint Bank Robbery Task Force.  After all, any detail on this job that you get to work with the feds is a great detail.”

“I don't think that should be a problem.  The Task Force it is.”

It was at that point that Marsh realized that Castillo knew more than he was letting on but if the department was satisfied, then so was Marsh.  “I will personally call the Chief this afternoon and tell him of your request.”

“Thanks, boss.”

Castillo left for the day knowing his fortunes had changed for the better.

Louis Castillo had arrived at his apartment just before noon that day.  His life had new meaning.  His transfer was going to come through and he was going to make a name for himself
; a good name, not the name of a rat.  That was a promise he made to himself that he would keep.  He opened up his closet where his gun safe was.  It was a large safe and weighed over two hundred pounds.  It would certainly not be easy for a burglar to walk out with it should he ever get burglarized.

He carefully turned the combination and inserted the key.  He removed his briefcase which he kept locked inside, and opened it up.  He took out his secret file on James Keegan and examined all the documents, photos, and other evidence he’d acquired.  This would have easily been enough to get Keegan indicted, thought Castillo.  He took the file out into the backyard of his apartment.  Then he took one of the aluminum garbage cans from the side of the house and brought it too, into the backyard.  The garbage can was completely empty.

Castillo took a lighter out of his pocket and held the file over the garbage can.  He ignited the lighter and then set the flame to the corner of the file.  He watched as the flame grew larger.  When the flame became too intense for him to hold in his hand any longer, he dropped the entire file into the garbage can.  He stared down into the can and watched as the flames consumed what was to have been his greatest case.

He decided Keegan had lived the life of a hero for most of his life and he shall remain one in death.  There would be no sense in discrediting his memory.  That wouldn’t be fair to his family.  They had nothing to do with his criminal acts and there was no reason they should suffer for his ill doings.  Just like every other New Yorker, he had watched the news and saw little Kerry Keegan crying uncontrollably at her father’s funeral.  The picture on the front of all three local New York papers bared the image of a wailing little girl trying to be consoled by her mother.

Castillo had wanted Keegan brought to justice in the worst way.  Yet, today, he would be the bad guy if he exposed the man for what he was doing.  He would sully the man’s name and legacy, as well as likely steal away the lucrative line of duty pension his family would now receive.  Castillo’s eyes glazed over as he watched until the flames died out.  The case of his career had been consumed by the flames and reduced to a pile of ashes.  Castillo hung his head. 
Rest in peace James Keegan
.

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