Legacy and Redemption (21 page)

Santoro continued to nod his head approvingly then leaned in again to Castillo. His eyes slowly morphed into a pair of dark slits. “But you had better make sure that Keegan doesn’t dig too deep or so help me detective, you will lose your pension…and this conversation never happened. Is that understood?”

It was…all too clearly.

Louis Castillo enjoyed the unseasonably mild weather as he walked along Union Turnpike not far from his home. He needed nothing more than his navy blue hooded sweatshirt as the temperature was in the mid sixties; quite rare for late November in New York City. A near forty degree shift in temperature over the last two days seemed apropos to Castillo. He went from a somber mood prior to his meeting with Commissioner Santoro, to one of hope. Having the PC give him time to stall Keegan was more than he could ask for, and a task that Castillo felt he was up to.

Castillo momentarily paused to watch a group of pre teen boys playing football on a grass field along the main thoroughfare. After watching a handful of plays and a long pass for touchdown, Castillo continued on his journey home. The fallen leaves crunched under his feet as he walked. He once again thought about the mild weather. The fallen leaves; orange, brown, and yellow were conflicting with the buds on some trees and bushes that seemed ready to open. Castillo laughed to himself as once again the weather forecast had been wrong. It seemed more like a spring day than a pre winter one. Less than a week ago, the forecast for the day was calling for mid-winter temperatures. The forecasts couldn’t have been more wrong.

I should have been a weather forecaster. There’s a job with zero accountability.

He took a mental note of how good his leg actually felt as he walked. He drew in a deep breath. The fresh, early morning air was rejuvenating. He wasn’t sure if it was the mild weather, relief of having put the terrorist threat behind him, or a combination of both. No matter what the reason, he felt better physically—and mentally—than he had in some time.

Castillo turned onto his block carrying a bag of groceries from the supermarket. He walked along his tree lined street until he reached his home. Castillo swept some fallen leaves from his walkway with his foot as he approached the front door of his modest Tudor home. Before even opening the door, the smell of the roasting turkey became apparent.

Castillo was quickly greeted by his daughter once inside. While seated on the couch, she temporarily removed her headphones long enough to ask, “Did you remember to get the cranberry sauce, dad?”

“Of course, Jess. I wouldn’t dare forget your cranberry sauce…even if you are the only one who likes it.”

“That’s not true, grandma likes them too.”

After conceding the point to his daughter, “Where’s mom?”

“She’s upstairs, cleaning the bathroom.” With that, she replaced the headphones over her ears.

Castillo made his way into the kitchen. He set the groceries down on the beige countertop. As he put the assorted vegetables into the refrigerator, he grabbed a paper towel and cleaned a smudge on the stainless steel fridge. After doing so, he realized that it was probably unnecessary as over the next couple of hours the entire family would be cleaning the house from top to bottom before their guests arrived for Thanksgiving dinner.

Castillo noted the time, 11:45. Satisfied that the house was in good shape, he put the television on in the family room and called upstairs for Sharon and Jessica to come down. He heard the vacuum cleaner shut off and then the footsteps. Each member of the Castillo household sat in their usual seats on the ivory colored leather sectional and started at the fifty-two inch, high definition television, mounted on the wall.

Castillo turned up the volume as they watched the end of the Thanksgiving Day Parade. This had been a tradition in the Castillo household for as long as they were married. It was a tradition that Sharon’s family had always done and Castillo had embraced, adopting it as theirs as well. They sat in silence watching as Santa Claus passed by, waving at the parade goers. And with that, the official start of the Christmas season began.

Once the parade had ended, Castillo muted the television and turned the remote towards the home stereo system where an assortment of Christmas music waited. As Nat King Cole’s
The Christmas Song
echoed through the room, Sharon and Jessica returned upstairs, while Castillo turned the muted television to the NFL pregame show. The Dallas Cowboys and the Philadelphia Eagles were set to square off in about a half hours time.

Castillo reflected on the many lives he and his partners had saved. There were people at the parade and at the football game who had no idea how close they came to having their lives in imminent peril.

Thank God those were averted; as well as the attacks in California, Chicago, and Minnesota.

*

The parade had gone off without a hitch, just as Sergeant Galvin had promised. It was not only an enjoyable detail to work, but they were being dismissed early enough to have Thanksgiving dinner with their families. Keegan backed the white and blue van into the parking lot of the Six-Seven precinct before two o’clock. Before anyone of his officers had the chance to get out, Galvin turned around. “Guys, have a great dinner with your families. I’ll see you all tomorrow.”

“You too, Sarge,” was said almost collectively.

The rookies went in different directions. Some hurried to the locker room, others took their time. Andre Williams didn’t even bother to head to the locker room. He went directly to the parking lot in full uniform. Keegan figured he must have really wanted to get home quickly.

Keegan, Cathy Quinn, and Sergeant Galvin walked into the precinct together. Quinn addressed the question that many of the other cops shared. “Do you think anybody realizes what could have happened today if it wasn’t for you guys?”

Galvin shook his head. “Some do, Cathy. Most don’t, and probably never will. Now that the parade is over and there have been no terrorist attacks, I’d bet the government will release a statement saying that it thwarted an attack, but the citizens were never in any danger.”

Quinn seemed to take offense to this. “Well, that’s bullshit! If it wasn’t for the two of you…”

Galvin interrupted her. “Cathy, you have to realize how the game is played. We are on the frontlines and every now and then we become involved in something a lot bigger than us. We pass it along to the top brass…or in this case Washington DC. They’ll spin it however it needs to be spun.” He put a hand on her shoulder. “Don’t let it get to you. The sooner you see how things are really done, the better off you’ll be on this job.”

She nodded although not convincingly as he continued. “Go home and be with your families now. You two
are
going home to your families, aren’t you?” he asked with a grin.

Keegan felt his face go a bit flush at the insinuation. He thought back to the look on Galvin’s face when Cathy walked out of his bathroom in nothing more than a towel. Still, he had to be a good sport about the good natured ribbing. “Yeah, Sarge, we’re going home to our families. I’m going to Cathy’s house, and she’s going to mine.”

Galvin laughed. “Enjoy your Thanksgiving, and I’ll see you guys tomorrow evening.”

Galvin approached the desk to sign out as the two cops said their goodbyes and parted ways for their respective locker rooms.

Keegan had barely started to get changed when he heard an unfamiliar voice calling from the doorway of the locker room. “Keeeegaaan?”

Keegan walked towards the stairwell where a uniformed cop called out to him. The cop worked the four to midnight tour, although Keegan couldn’t remember his name. “Sergeant Galvin told me to come down here to get you. He said to make sure you see him before you leave.”

“Okay, thanks.”

Keegan closed his locker and walked back upstairs. He was still in full uniform sans his gunbelt. He approached the desk, where Galvin was on the phone.

Galvin clearly noticed Keegan approaching, hung up the phone, and handed Keegan a piece of paper. Keegan read it:

Notification to appear

Police Officer Timothy Keegan

Office of the Police Commissioner

Friday November 28, 0900 hours

He stared at the notification for a lot longer than it took to read, trying to figure out the implications. “What’s this about, Sarge?”

Galvin shook his head and offered Keegan another piece of paper. “I don’t know Tim, but I have one too.”

Keegan’s heart beat a little faster. His mind began to race. “Why would we have to go see the PC? Did we do something wrong? Maybe we shouldn’t have told anybody about the terrorist plot at the parade.”

Galvin didn’t seem nearly as nervous. “I don’t think that’s it, but whatever it is, you can bet your life that it does have something to do with all of this and the incident last week where that guy tried to kill us…or at least you.”

A lump settled in the back of Keegan’s throat at the thought. A week later, and it was still quite unnerving that he had been the target of a suicide bomber. What if there were others out there who still wanted him dead?

“I guess we’ll have to wait and see tomorrow, Tim.”

Then Keegan had an idea. “Maybe there’s someone who I can call that may know.” Keegan took out his wallet and retrieved a business card. He then dialed the cell phone number of Louis Castillo.

*

It was midway through the third quarter, when Castillo’s thoughts were interrupted. Sharon called from upstairs. “Louie, your cell phone is ringing.”

Castillo glanced at the screen to see a score of ten to seven, and he realized that he had no idea how either team had scored. “I’m coming, Sharon. Answer it for me.”

Castillo reached the staircase with Sharon already halfway down holding the phone out to him. “Who is it?”

Sharon shrugged her shoulders, “He said to tell you it was Tim calling.”

As Sharon Castillo handed her husband the phone, curiosity got the better of her and she listened to her husband’s side of the conversation from the top of the staircase.

“I assure you that it’s nothing bad.”

After a brief pause, “Santoro summoned me into his office already. He’s probably going to remind you to keep your mouth shut about this case and once again tell you that it’s a matter of national security. Nothing more than that…and certainly nothing bad...I promise.”

Castillo’s face slowly reddened. “No, Tim! That’s not something that you can ask the Police Commissioner about! Remember who he is and remember—hero of the day or not—you’re still nothing more than a cop.”

It was obvious to Sharon that her husband was beginning to breath a bit more deliberate as he continued, “Yeah, Happy Thanksgiving to you too, Tim.”

Castillo hung up after what was less than a three minute phone call yet all of the stress which had left his body had returned. He could feel the angst building up. He walked up the stairs and looked at Sharon in disbelief. “Do you know who that was?”

She shrugged her shoulders. “Tim?”

“Yeah, it was Tim…as in Timothy Keegan.”

Castillo could see from Sharon’s eyes that she now understood. “James Keegan’s son?”

“One in the same.”

“What did he want?” The concern was evident in her voice.

He began to pace the floor. “He called under the pretence of wondering why Commissioner Santoro had summoned him to headquarters tomorrow morning, but then he went on about how since he was already there and in good graces right now because of how everything turned out, that he would ask
Santoro
about reopening his father’s murder case.”

“Oh my God. That’s not good!”

“Tell me about it. I think I convinced him for now not to bring it to Santoro’s attention. I promised Santoro that I’d keep Keegan under control, but this kid is hell bent on putting his nose where he shouldn’t.”

Castillo shook his head as he reflected on the past. “Do you know the irony here, Sharon?” He continued as the question had been rhetorical. The decision to cover up his father’s murder was mine and mine alone. They all knew that I was lying, but went along with it. But we had different reasons for maintaining our lies. They were all politicians once they got that high up in the department. Had the truth come out, they would all have lost their jobs and the NYPD would have had a huge scandal on its hands. That’s why
they
lied.”

Castillo walked past his wife to the bedroom and flopped down on the bed feeling defeated. “I lied because even though I hated James Keegan and what he was doing, he’d been murdered. If I came out and told the truth, his family would have forfeited all of his pension and benefits. I didn’t think it would be right to make them pay for his sins. In essence, I lied to protect a seven or eight year old Timothy Keegan and the rest of his family. The quirk of fate is that the very same child I protected, is going to be the once to cost me
my
pension.”

Before Sharon could even offer her comfort the doorbell rang. Jessica called out from the living room. “Grandma and grandpa are here.”

Castillo looked up at his wife and put his best game face on. “Happy Thanksgiving love; let’s go greet your parents.”

Castillo offered his hand which Sharon accepted, and they walked back downstairs to the living room. Castillo’s eyes softened and he put on a big smile. As Jessica finished giving her grandparents a kiss, Castillo welcomed his in-laws. “Hey Jack…Rose, great to see you. How was the traffic?”