Exceptional Merit (13 page)

Laura Reed, who was eager to help, jumped in.  “I remember the job and he did have a gym bag but all he had in there was a newspaper.  I looked through it pretty good because that's where the gun was supposed to be.  We stopped looking because he identified himself as a cop.  He had a real enough looking shield and I.D. card too.”

Williams gave his partner a slight kick under the table telling her to shut her mouth.  She turned red almost instantly and could feel her face go flush.  She wondered why Ken had shut her up and if she said something she shouldn't have.  Castillo sensed Reed’s embarrassment and tried to put her at ease. “There's no reason to be embarrassed.  This guy, from what I gather, has a stolen Lieutenant's shield and a pretty real looking I.D. card as well.  He could've fooled anybody.  What else can you tell me about this guy?”

Castillo studied the officer’s facial expressions for a clue as to whether or not they believed his story.  He was confident Reed did but a bit skeptical on Williams.

Williams slapped his knee.  “Oh man!”  He pointed at Castillo.  “You know what.  Now that you mention it, Laura and I handled a robbery on Vestry Street a couple of weeks ago where the guy impersonated a cop.  The perp was a male white in that robbery.  Was that robbery part of your pattern?”

Castillo tried not to look too excited.  It was his good fortune that the radio car team had handled a similar robbery to the pattern he had fabricated.  “Yes.  That was the first one he did,” replied Castillo.  “It's really extremely important if you can remember anything about him.  What name did he give you or where did he say he worked?  Anything at all?”

Williams jumped in before his partner could answer and hoped she would follow his lead.  “I can't for the life of me remember the name he gave us.  Can you Laura?”  He gave her a gentle nudge under the table.

“No I really can't.”

“Do either of you remember where he said he worked?  It could be very important in the case.”  Castillo grew frustrated.

Reed shook her head.  “I can't remember.”

“Neither can I, sorry,” Williams added.

“Well I'm sure you must've put the information in your memo books.  Can you see if you have anything that may help my case in there?”

Both officers
perused their memo books even though they knew they didn't have any information about the job other than the job itself and the disposition.  Williams looked over at his partner’s memo book and again down at his own.  He looked up at Castillo.  “Sorry we only have the job in there, not any of the details.”

Castillo’s frustration became visible.  His face began to redden.  “Don't you know you're supposed to put details of all of the jobs that you handle in your memo books?”

Williams, indifferent to Castillo’s anger shot back.  ‘"Whoa, your starting to sound more like a member of the rat squad all of the sudden.  So what are you going to do, write me up for improper memo book entries?  You better get a boss in here for that,
Detective
.”

Castillo realized he did exactly what he was trying to avoid; sound like an I.A.B. cop instead of a robbery detective.  He was, however, upset because if they would've made memo book entries in their books or been able to remember his name, they would have been able to corroborate his story when he finally nailed Keegan.  Even if they didn’t want to testify, or said on the stand they couldn’t recall any details, their memo books are legal documents and could be used as such, in a court of law.

Castillo had to think of something quick to cover his tracks.  “I'm sorry for snapping.  It's just that I know you're supposed to do a
Stop Question and Frisk
report when you stop someone on the street and if you had done it, it could have helped me to nail this scumbag before he hurts somebody.”

Williams wasn’t convinced by Castillo’s story and continued to stonewall him.  “I'm really sorry.  I thought he was a cop so I didn't bother to make the report out.  Is there anything else we can help you with?”

“There is just one other thing I wanted to ask you.  What was he doing under the hood of the car when you guys first pulled up?”

“He was tightening a loose alternator belt as far as I could tell.”

“Officer Reed is there anything you can add?”

Reed was a bit confused but followed along.  “No.  I'm afraid not.”

Castillo handed them each a business card and asked them to give him a call if they remembered anything else.  He watched the two officers as they left his office.  He was very upset the officers were unable to assist in his investigation.  At least they bought his story, thought Castillo, in case he had to talk to them again.  If nothing else, they would corroborate that someone, who they identified as a cop, was at the location on the night in question.

Castillo looked down at his watch, it was almost noon.  He would go to meal for an hour, wait for his paycheck to arrive at three, and go home.  Tonight would be the first time in almost a month that he wouldn't be following Keegan home.  Keegan hadn’t been to the bar for almost a month now and it seemed unlikely he’d go tonight since he was only working until four.

Being in Internal Affairs, it was very easy to obtain Keegan's work schedule.  Every detective squad in the department had to fax over a copy of their personnel’s schedule a week in advance.  He looked down at it and saw Keegan was working a four to twelve tomorrow.  It seemed much more likely for Keegan to go to the bar after a four to midnight, than it would be after a day tour.  Castillo would do a six p.m. until two a.m. tomorrow night and follow Keegan home to see if he stops off somewhere along the way.

The officers thanked their lawyer, who, as it turned out was not necessary, and headed back to their command.  “Would you mind filling me in on what was going on in there?  I don't remember handling any robbery where the perp identified himself as a cop.”

Williams nodded his head, slightly annoyed.  “That's because we didn't handle anything like that.  I made it up to see if Castillo was legit or if he was a rat.  Guess what…he's a rat!”

“How can you be so sure?”

“C'mon, Laura, use common sense.  He fell for my trap about the fake job saying it was part of his pattern.  When we get back to the command let’s look at the current robbery patterns.  If there is a police impersonation one that matches that lieutenant’s description, lunch is on me.  He asked us what he was doing under the hood of the car.  How would he know that when we arrived on the scene, the guy was under the hood of the car unless he had been watching the guy…and us?  And finally, that guy is no mutt.  We both recognized him as that lieutenant from the Terrorist Task force.”

“Holy shit, you're right Ken. I had forgotten about that.”

“Castillo, the rat bastard, must be working some sort of a case on the Lieutenant and he thought we might be able to unwittingly help him.  He seemed very concerned about the gym bag.  What was really in it?”

“I told Castillo the truth, a newspaper.  What was the Lieutenant's name anyway, I can't seem to remember.”

“Off hand, I can't remember either, but I'll find out.  What should we get for lunch?  I'm starving.”

Williams and Reed got back to their precinct after one o'clock.  After checking in with the Desk Sergeant, they went into the Anti-Crime office where the Stop and Frisk log is maintained.  Williams browsed through the reports until he got to the one he had filled out on January 15th.  It was on the West Side Highway and Hubert Street.  The name of the person stopped was James Keegan.  “I thought you told Castillo you didn't do a
Stop, Question and Frisk
report on him?”

Williams looked up at his partner.  He was smug.  “Gee, did I forget to tell that rat that I made the
UF250
out?  I feel horrible.”

Williams picked up the telephone and dialed the number for the interdepartmental telephone directory.  “Good afternoon, could I please have the number to the Joint Terrorist Task Force?”

He jotted the number down on a piece of paper and hung up the phone.

Reed seemed suspicious of her partner’s actions.  “What are you doing now?”

“I'm giving Keegan a head’s up.  He should know he’s being watched.”

“Maybe you shouldn't do that.  If they have a case on him, he could be involved with something bad.”

“Laura, I can't believe you're talking like this.  That man is not just a hero to the department.  He is a hero to the nation.  Castillo is just some
cheese eater
, trying to make a name for himself.  And what better way to do it than by digging up dirt on a member of the service who is that well known and highly regarded.  He probably envisions himself as a modern day Serpico or some shit like that.  Fuck Castillo!  He's probably thinks Keegan is messing with the prostitutes like you originally said or something equally ridiculous.”

Laura Reed considered her partner’s theory.  “I guess you're right.”

The telephone rang in Keegan's office.  He was hoping it was Kate so he could tell her he wasn't going to be home right away tonight.  Keegan answered the phone.  “Joint Terrorist Task Force, Lieutenant Keegan speaking, can I help you?”

“Lieutenant Keegan, this is a friend,” began the voice.  “'I just want you to know there's a rat named Castillo watching you.  He is a detective in I.A.B.  He was watching you over by pier twenty six last month.  Watch your back, Lieu.”

The line then went dead.

“Thank you,” Keegan mumbled under his breath as he hung up the receiver.

He felt a sudden queasiness come over his stomach. 
Who was this Castillo and how much could he possibly know?
  If Castillo was watching him down by the pier what could he have seen?  The only way Castillo could have him, is if he impounded the car.  Keegan broke out in a cold sweat when contemplating the thought that Castillo could possibly have the car.  Then he reasoned to himself that if Castillo did have the car, Dan would have let him know that something went wrong.  For the first time since his involvement with the Irish Republican Army, Keegan had a genuine fear that he could lose his job, his freedom and his family.  For the rest of the day, Keegan was unable to concentrate on work.

He flipped through the pages of the newspaper not reading any of the articles until one article caught his attention.

I.R.A. Bomb Kills Five; Gunman Kills Two Others in Belfast Bar

The story, which was reported by the Associated Press, went on to detail how a masked gunman walked into a bar in a Protestant section of Belfast and opened fire with a machine gun killing two Protestant men.  The men were said to have ties with the outlawed Ulster Volunteer Force.  After the bar had been evacuated and police arrived on the scene to conduct their investigation, a powerful car bomb was detonated killing an additional five people and injuring thirteen others.  Two of those killed, reported the story, were police officers.  Reading about fellow police officers dying struck a nerve with Keegan.  He wondered if there would ever be peace in the land of his ancestors.  He also wondered for the first time, if what he was doing was in any way helping to attain peace or just adding fuel to an already out of control fire.

Either way, tonight was the last Thursday in February. He wasn't too concerned by this fact.  Over all the years he had gone to McBride's, O'Brien had never asked him to do anything two months in a row.  Keegan figured his work was done until about April or May at the earliest.  Maybe they wouldn’t even call on him again for six or seven months.  He found some comfort in the thought that he wouldn't have to do anything for a while.  This way, if Castillo was watching him, he wouldn't be doing anything wrong, and by the time his services were needed again, Castillo will have lost all interest in James Keegan.

“Hello,” Kate Keegan answered as she picked up the telephone on the third ring.

“Hi sweetie it's me,” Keegan began; knowing what he had to tell her was going to upset her.

“Oh, hi Jim.  What time will you be home?”

“Well that's why I'm calling hon.”

“Jim, don't tell me
you’re stuck with overtime.  I told you our friends were coming over to play cards tonight.  We’ve had these plans for weeks.”

“I know Kate, I'm sorry.  We just got a lead on a big case and we have to stake out a warehouse in Queens,” Keegan
lied.  “I'll make it up to you, I promise. We'll go out to dinner Saturday night, just the two of us.  I'll ask my mother to watch the kids.”

“Jim, can't you get out of the stakeout tonight?  I don't want to go to dinner Saturday, I want you home tonight.  I thought I was done making excuses for why you have to break plans with our family and friends all of the time.”

“Please Kate; don't give me a hard time.  If it was my choice I'd be on my way home right now.  You know that.”

That was the truth.  After all of the recent events, the last thing Keegan wanted to do was to associate with Dan O'Brien and the I.R.A.  He would be extra careful tonight to make sure he is not being followed.

“Okay hon. Just be careful. I love you.”

“I love you too Kate.”  He hung up the telephone.