Legacy and Redemption (33 page)

Galvin stood up from the chair and placed a hand on Castillo’s shoulder. “Louie, we’re going to let you get some rest. Don’t hesitate to call me if you need anything. They’ll be a uniform guarding your room around the clock until you’re released. Doctor Levine said you should be home in another day or so.”

Galvin turned towards Keegan, “C’mon, Tim, Let’s go.”

As Keegan began to follow, Castillo raised his voice a bit louder than he had since awaking from the coma. “No, Keegan, don’t leave. I want to speak with you.” Without delay Castillo put a hand to his throat. He took another sip of water in an attempt to soothe it.

Keegan looked at Galvin; the confusion on Keegan’s face was evident. Galvin shrugged his shoulders. “Go ahead. I’ll wait outside.” Galvin closed the door behind him as he left.

“Have a seat, Tim.”

He did and pulled the chair in close to the bed making sure Castillo didn’t have to strain his voice again. “Yeah, Louie, what is it?”

Castillo thought it out carefully before he answered. “Tim, I’m not telling you this because you saved my life. It’s important that you understand that.” He paused, waiting for Keegan to acknowledge, but he never did. “Tim, do you understand that?”

“Yeah, Louie, I understand…tell me what?”

“I’ve given you a hard time since we first met. It had nothing to do with you. You’re a good cop—hell you’re a great cop,” he corrected himself.

Keegan shrugged it off. “Don’t worry about that, Louie. Just get healthy.”

Castillo became a bit flustered and his head started to throb again. He closed his eyes and took a shallow breath, trying to avoid putting more pressure on his aching ribs. “Listen, Tim, I told you to be your own man. I told you to stop living in your father’s shadow, and I didn’t say it in a very nice way. There’s something that I need to tell you.”

Castillo could see the concern come over Keegan as he hung on Castillo’s words. Keegan responded very cautiously, obviously trying to figure out where the conversation was headed. “Okay, Louie.”

“I told you that I crossed paths with your dad many years ago. I knew him a little bit better than I led on to you. I know the type of cop that he was and I know the type of person that he was. We didn’t see eye to eye, but as far as his policing skills…he was a good cop.”

Castillo stared the son of James Keegan in the eyes; they were full of concern and rightfully so. “I also know the type of cop that you’re becoming and the type of person that you are. What I want you to know…what you
need
to know for your own peace of mind is that you’re already a better cop than your father ever was.”

Keegan remained silent—possibly even in shock and didn’t respond.

Castillo did. “Did you hear what I said, Tim?” Castillo looked to the sky and as much as it pained him to do, he lifted his right hand to the sky, braving the pain from his ribs. “My hand to God, Tim; you’re a better cop than your dad ever was.”

Kate Keegan sat on the blue folding chairs set up in the rear of One Police Plaza in lower Manhattan. On either side of her, were her thirty-one year old son, Kevin, and her twenty-four year old daughter, Kerry. It was a very bittersweet day for the fifty-six year old widow of hero NYPD Lieutenant, James Keegan.

There was a soft June breeze just as there had been the last time she sat in these very seats, nearly twenty years ago, to receive the posthumous NYPD Medal of Honor on her late husband’s behalf. The sun was beating down hard on the crowd. The temperatures were in the mid eighties; a bit on the warm side for early in June in New York City. While Kate was oblivious to the heat, many seated around her were sipping on water bottles or using their program as a fan to combat the warm air. She nervously straightened her black knee length skirt as she pretended to listen to the introduction of the dais.

Kate Keegan was proud of her son, just as she had been proud of her husband. As it turned out, they were both heroes to the NYPD as well as the nation. Kate had managed to keep two of her children from pursuing careers in law enforcement, but Timothy would not be dissuaded. Having had her husband murdered in the line of duty, it was a mother’s worst nightmare that her son would follow in his father’s footsteps. The nightmare nearly became unimaginably worse last November when Timothy had nearly been killed by the same group of terrorists who had assassinated her late husband.

Kate watched as Timothy walked up to the stage. He glanced in her direction, and she did her best to manufacture the most sincere smile that she could. In truth, her heart was racing. Kate reached out to both sides, taking a hand from Kevin and Kerry for support. She held them tightly as Timothy Keegan was awarded the NYPD Department Medal of Honor; the most prestigious medal that the NYPD has to offer. The medal was awarded very sparingly and when it was awarded, it was often posthumously, as it had been with her husband.

Kate swallowed hard as her middle child was first congratulated by the Police Commissioner and then the Mayor of New York City. She had severely mixed emotions. On one hand, she was beaming with pride on the man that Timothy had become. She was proud of his accomplishments in such a short period of time in the New York City Police Department. On the other hand—and probably more important to her —she wished that he had chosen a different career; any other career. But he hadn’t; he was NYPD to the core…just like his father.

*

Louie and Sharon Castillo sat five rows behind the Keegan family. They had met before the ceremony had begun and offered the Keegan family words of praise regarding Tim Keegan. Louis Castillo wore blue Dockers and a white short-sleeve shirt; the top two buttons were open. For the first time in nearly three decades, Louis Castillo was at Police Headquarters without having a firearm strapped to his side.

Sharon, also unarmed, wore a Florida style sun dress. Although the sun was strong, her tan was noticeably darker than those who still lived in New York. Sharon grabbed a hair tie from her hand bag which had been set down on the floor in front of her. She corralled her hair and captured it in a pony tail as the ceremony went on.

She turned and leaned into her husband. In a voice just above a whisper, “So, do you miss New York, or the NYPD?”

Louie responded without missing a beat. “Nope” he flexed his leg. “My leg hasn’t hurt nearly as much since we moved to Florida.”

He turned to face her when an offensive ray of sun reflected off the windows of police headquarters. He momentarily shielded his eyes before retrieving the pair of sunglasses which he had secured on the second open buttonhole of his shirt. After putting on the sunglasses, he continued. “It’s weird being back here. I figured once we moved out of state, that I’d never see this building again.”

Sharon agreed. “You and me both; but you had to come to see Keegan get his medal for saving your life.”

“Yeah, I definitely owed him that.” He looked at Sharon shaking his head. “Can you imagine a cop being awarded the Department Medal of Honor and the Medal of Valor in the same Medal Day ceremony…and to receive them as a rookie is just unfathomable. Think about it, I bet you can’t even name another cop that you know who’s been awarded those two medals over the course of their entire careers, let alone in the same ceremony.”

Sharon would further the point, “According to the article in the newspaper, a rookie has never been awarded the Department Medal of Honor prior to today. The press is really eating up the whole hero cop angle. I saw the newspaper this morning. They had an article comparing Tim to his father. It was on page three; it got a full page! The article was titled;
Legacy and Redemption
; the story of a father and son’s heroic battle against terrorism
.”

Kate further went into the details of the article, which went on to say how the younger Keegan followed in his dad’s footsteps taking on the terrorists who ultimately ended his father’s life.

Looking at his wife, “Well you and I both know that James Keegan was not the man the public believes him to have been. Tim on the other hand—only time will tell if he becomes a great cop or not, but he certainly has an amazing start.”

Collectively, they watched as Keegan stepped down from the stage after receiving the Department Medal of Honor and then recued on line with the twelve other men about to receive the Department Medal of Valor. Sharon put a hand on Louie’s knee. “Do you know what the most amazing thing here is?”

He shook his head.

“This was the ultimate pay it forward.”

Castillo contemplated what Sharon said, waiting for her to qualify the statement. She did. “Twenty years ago, you had almost blown the whistle on James Keegan. You didn’t because you didn’t want to hurt his family. I remember how you struggled with the decision, but ultimately you said that you couldn’t make Keegan’s family pay for the sins of their now deceased father.”

Castillo nodded. “That was exactly my thought process back then and I know I made the right decision as I sit here today.”

“Right, but don’t you see, if you
had
went forward and James Keegan’s name became sullied, his family loses his pension and chances are Tim would’ve never became a cop. If Tim had never become a cop, there are two scenarios that play out—both of which are catastrophic.”

Castillo listened and followed along with his wife’s speculation. “Either, we never detect the sleeper cell and thousands are killed, or if we did, and made it to the same point in time on New Year’s Eve morning, you would have been shot down and killed. There would have been no Tim Keegan to kill Ahmed Hatif and to stop him from shooting you dead.”

Castillo considered all that Sharon had said, and while he felt there were too many variables at large to definitively say what would have happened, she certainly did have a point. Castillo drew his attention away from the conversation as he heard the name of Timothy J. Keegan announced to receive the Department Medal of Valor. Castillo made eye contact from the distance with Keegan and offered an approving nod which Keegan returned.

*

Police Commissioner Ray Santoro was overseeing his second Medal Day ceremony as the New York City Police Commissioner. His first year and a half in office had at times been stressful, but in total, it had been overwhelmingly rewarding. He’d led the city in the fight against crime and continued to watch the crime statistics driven down. He was proud of the way he was handling every aspect of the department. He even had a fairly good approval rating from both the rank and file, and the public—a rare, if not nearly impossible task to achieve.

When the name of Timothy J. Keegan was announced for the second time of the day, Santoro reflected on the decision he’d had to make regarding Keegan. Santoro had no regrets having put his faith in the now retired Detective First Grade Louis Castillo. Castillo had managed to quell an overly ambitious rookie who was seeking truth when it was in his own best interests not to.

Keegan approached and bent slightly at the waist in front of Santoro. Santoro took the dark blue ribbon which secured the medal in both hands and gently laid it on top of the first medal which Keegan had been awarded only moments earlier. Keegan straightened up and shook first Santoro’s hand and then the Mayor’s.

As Keegan walked off stage to a round of applause and cheers, which seemed notably louder than the others, Santoro moved on with the ceremony. Out of the corner of his eye, Santoro saw a red haired officer, in uniform, throw her eyes around Keegan and give him a big hug and kiss as he stepped off the stage. Santoro had a warm feeling inside.

In Santoro’s estimation, Medal Day was one of the, if not,
the
best day of the year for the NYPD. There were no politics played, no backstabbing or lies, just honoring the most deserving heroes that the NYPD has to offer.

As he continued to go through the motions of the ceremony, Santoro further contemplated the Tim Keegan angle. The press couldn’t get enough of it. The comparison between the two Keegans was well overwritten in his opinion, but Santoro didn’t mind that in the slightest. It was working out to his advantage. Tim Keegan had almost become the face of the NYPD and the timing couldn’t have been any better. The story knocked not only the entire stop and frisk controversy off the front pages, but it also overshadowed an incident which had been painted by the media as police brutality.

Santoro had decided to play up Tim Keegan’s heroics for as long as he could ride them. Reports had been leaked to the press linking the killing of Sheykh Muhammad Hajjar to information which Tim Keegan had obtained. While it was the truth, the leak had ruffled some feathers in Washington. Santoro, however, didn’t really care about Washington; New York was the city where he was the Police Commissioner. Of course, he wasn’t foolish either. He would deny having leaked the reports until the day he died.

As the ceremony came to a close, it was tradition for the award recipients to have pictures taken of them and their families with the Police Commissioner. Santoro, bound by convention, would play his part. In truth, however, there was only one family whose picture Santoro would be sure to be seen with.

*

Tim Keegan stepped off the stage and was greeted by Cathy Quinn throwing her arms around him and giving him a kiss. She had taken him off guard and he staggered slightly as he reached to keep his hat on his head. Between receiving two medals at medal day in front of his family, having Cathy by his side, and being compared to his father, everything in the world was right with Tim Keegan.

Keegan could see the pride in Cathy’s eyes as she abducted him long enough for her mother to take a picture of the two of them before Keegan would have to return to his seat. Quinn stood to his left, throwing her right arm around his waist and her left hand flat on his chest—directly above his shield. The one and a half karat, diamond engagement ring would be palpable to anyone viewing the photo.

Keegan found his place among the chairs and patiently waited for the ceremony to conclude. He turned around seeking out his family, Louie and his wife, and fellow Medal of Honor recipient, Sergeant Tom Galvin. With each set of eyes he met, a warm smile was returned.

Once the ceremony had concluded, Keegan sought out his family and got on line to have his picture taken with them and Commissioner Santoro. He received accolades and pats on the back from his brother officers as well as family and friends. As wonderful as the feeling was, Keegan knew this would not be the highlight of his day. That would come around three pm in the confines of the sixty-seventh police precinct in East Flatbush, Brooklyn. Keegan thought it ironic that he actually shared the same schedule today as did the Police Commissioner and Mayor.

When it was finally Keegan’s turn, the press requested a number of photos which at the behest of Santoro were granted. Keegan posed with his family, Cathy Quinn, Tom Galvin, Louis Castillo, the Mayor, and finally Santoro himself. Keegan was blinded from the amount of flashbulbs which had gone off in front of him over the course of five minutes.

When asked for a comment by the press, Keegan had played the role of humble as well as could be expected. “I really don’t consider myself a hero in any way. Not a man or women who puts on the uniform of the NYPD and pins a shield to their chest would have done anything differently than I did.”

Once Keegan had made his statement, Commissioner Santoro hijacked the impromptu press conference much to Keegan’s relief. As Santoro continued to schmooze the press, Keegan and his family seized the opportunity to slip away. Tim Keegan walked alongside his mother and Kerry with his brother Kevin, and Cathy trailing the formation. They talked quietly when Keegan saw the Castillo’s talking with Tom Galvin slightly ahead of them. He excused himself and picked up the pace. Keegan caught up to Louis and Sharon Castillo and placed a hand on Louie’s shoulder. They turned to meet him.

Keegan smiled looking at each of them one at a time. “Hey Louie…Mrs. Castillo, it’s great to see you guys. I’m so happy that you were able to make it.”

“Don’t be so formal, Tim; call me Sharon.”

Louis Castillo jumped in to the conversation. “We wouldn’t have missed it for the world, Tim. If it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t be alive.” He stuck out his hand and Keegan accepted. “Congratulations, Tim,” as they pressed the flesh.

The conversation would be short lived as Commissioner Santoro walked by. He put a fatherly arm around Keegan’s shoulder. “I’m on my way to the
Six-Seven
, Tim. I’ll see you and your family there.”