Exceptional Merit Read Free

Boden?”  He asked the question, but really didn’t want to hear the answer.
    “Yeah, that's right.  Oh…you knew him, didn’t you?”  Vito made the connection.
    He did.  Keegan stared blankly at the dead judge's face, unable to recognize the man he had spent a week testifying in front of.  He reflected how he and his men had made the headlines after the arrest of three Middle-Eastern radicals who had planned to bomb the Brooklyn Federal Court house in retaliation for the arrests and convictions of their fellow countrymen in connection with the World Trade Center bombing the previous year.  He thought of how well the trial had gone and what excellent police work his men had done. They’d seized over three hundred pounds of explosives and won the convictions of the three men.  The jury had convicted on all counts after only two days of jury deliberations.  Keegan then realized that it was later today that the three men were to be sentenced.  Each, were presumably to receive life sentences, handed down by Judge Boden himself.
    Keegan had admired Judge Boden during the trial.  He was a real law and order man whose own morals were not swayed by the death threats he had received during the trial.  Why did he refuse to let me give him round the clock protection, like I’d offered?   Keegan grew angry.  In his mind, he remembered Boden standing behind the bench in his black robe, a sharp contrast to his snowy white hair.  He looked down at the slain judge, unable to tell that his hair had once been white—let alone recognize any feature about his now disfigured face. 
    “Yeah, I knew him.  He was a good man,” Keegan said, his solemn voice barely audible.
    “I'm sorry, Jimmy,” Vito said softly.  It was the only thing that came to Vito's mind to say before he continued.  “Anyway, it was only about five minutes later when one of the guys on patrol grabbed the perp.”
    “Are you telling me there's been a collar in the case!?”
    Keegan greeted this notion with mixed emotions.  He was happy an arrest had been made so quickly, but also disappointed he would not be the one to bring this animal to justice.  Keegan, like many other detectives was proud and confident about the job he did.  He enjoyed being a detective and was quite good at it.  He had led the six-seven detective squad in arrests and in clearance rate for each of his six years assigned there.  As the whip of the Brooklyn South Homicide Squad, he motivated his men and in many cases did the footwork with them, closing out homicides at a rate the department had never seen before.  He continued to be a rising star in the department.  He had certainly closed out his fair share of high profile cases.  But this one had the potential to be the highest profile case to date, next to the courthouse bombing, of course.  Oh well, at least we got the scumbag , he thought, trying to convince himself he was happy that he didn't have to work the case.
     
    The two men arrived at the Northern Boulevard stationhouse shortly after five a.m.  Lt. Vito led the way up the stairs to the interrogation room, where a precinct detective was interviewing the suspect along with a member from the F.B.I.'s Eastern District office.  Also seated quietly in the squad room, was a young police officer, who didn't appear to be much more than twenty years old.  He must be the arresting officer , decided Keegan.
    The interrogation room in this precinct was generally the same as it was in every stationhouse throughout the city.  It was a ten by twelve foot room with large cinderblock styled bricks painted a dull yellow.  The walls were filthy from years of neglect.  There was even some dried blood on the wall.  A reminder that police work can sometimes be violent.  The room was windowless except for the one way mirror that is used by victims to view police line ups.  A large wooden desk was near the wall where an iron bar used to handcuff prisoners to, was