The Penitent One (Boston Crime Thriller Book 3), Brian Shea [best non fiction books of all time .TXT] 📗

manner in which he delivered it. Cool and calm, somehow containing the rage bubbling just beneath the surface. The Iceman.

In little more than twenty-four hours with his new boss, Kelly felt that he’d made an unusually poor first impression. First, showing up at the O'Toole murder scene reeking of Sutherland’s retirement party while nursing a vicious hangover. Then upping his game the following day by being on-scene at a blown-up house after following little more than a hunch while managing not to keep Halstead informed after being explicitly told to do so.

"This may be my fault," Gray interjected, his voice crackling like that of a lifelong smoker.

Halstead turned his attention to the agent.

"Kelly was telling me a little bit about Walsh's gang and said he had some intel on one of their guys who runs the muscle. He mentioned if we expect a retaliatory reaction from Walsh, he’s a good guy to watch. So that's what we did. We went over to the bar where we found his car. He took off and we gave a loose follow. We didn't want to waste your time until we had more to offer."

Halstead then looked over at Kelly.

"It's Bobby McDonough from the neighborhood. We grew up together. And yeah, I had a feeling if we kept an eye on him, we might get lucky.”

Halstead pointed to the smoldering house in the backdrop. “You call this getting lucky? I’d hate to see what bad luck looks like to you.”

Kelly ignored the comment. “We thought we might get a lead on our perp. Walsh's people are more connected than the police. They have a better network of intelligence. The rules don’t apply to them.”

“And you figured what?”

“I don't know.” Kelly shrugged. “But I figure if you whack one of Walsh’s guys, there's going to be some type of retaliation. And who better to follow than his number one enforcer?"

"Why wasn't I privy to this?"

"Like Agent Gray was saying, we wanted to have something to show when we let you know.”

“If he was driving out here and it turned out to be nothing, it would've been a waste of your time and a bigger waste of ours. I'm not in the habit of wasting my supervisor's time." Gray stepped in front of Kelly and folded his arms as if defending him from a schoolyard bully.

Kelly was thoroughly impressed. The FBI agent who'd spent barely a week with them back in November had just taken up for him. He was glad to have him on the team. In that moment and the moments inside the inferno, Gray had proven he was a brother in blue, regardless of the team they played for.

Halstead looked back at Kelly. "This won't happen again, you understand me? I won't be kept out of the loop. I'll be the judge of whether something is or isn't worth my time."

"Fair enough," Kelly responded.

"With that unpleasantness out of the way, I guess you best get started," Halstead said.

"Get started with what?" Kelly was confused. Maybe he was referring to the mountain of paperwork that would no doubt be associated with this debacle. He thought about McDonough, who’d left by ambulance nearly two hours ago. He wanted to check on his friend and be by his side if and when he woke, but he knew that would have to wait. There was something Halstead needed done.

"What do you need us to do, Sarge?"

"Work the scene."

Kelly looked at Gray, who seemed just as baffled.

"Well, you caught it, you bought it. Agawam doesn't want this case, and since you're saying this house may be linked to our guy, I’m making it our scene to work.” Halstead stepped closer and spoke more quietly. “This may be the best chance we have of getting any inkling as to who this Penitent One is. Don’t screw it up.”

“We won’t,” Kelly and Gray said in near unison.

“Agawam PD will remain on scene and hold the perimeter, but you guys are going in. We'll forward them a copy of our report later.”

"When's tech going to get here?" Kelly asked.

"I notified them as soon as you called me. They should be here shortly."

Then, to his surprise, Kelly saw a pitch-black Suburban with heavily tinted windows pull to a stop outside the crime scene tape and sea of fire trucks and cruisers maintaining the wide perimeter of the scene.

Superintendent Acevedo stepped out of the passenger side and stood by the vehicle.

Halstead looked at the investigative unit’s commanding officer and then back at Kelly. "You better make this count. You better get me something on this one, you understand me, Detective Kelly?"

Kelly nodded.

Halstead began walking away, then looked back and said, "I'm stepping up for you on this one, Kelly. Better make it worth my while."

Halstead had proven himself correct when he said he stood up for his guys, even after being kept out of the loop. Pretty ballsy. As the new supervisor of their squad, running interference with the top brass took some intestinal fortitude.

With Halstead running his interference, Kelly turned his attention to Gray. "Hey, you didn't have to do that—putting yourself out there like that to protect me."

"Look, I was pushing the envelope just as much as you, I think more so toward the end.” Gray rubbed the cold from his arms. “You know how long I've been looking for this guy? Do you know how many people have failed before me? This is the FBI's white whale. And I want to be the fisherman who hauls it in."

Kelly realized Gray's drive didn't only stem from a need for justice but also for the accolades that came with serving it. And in a case like this, Sterling Gray would be a legend within the Bureau. Maybe he saw this case as his ticket to the next level, or a way out of some crappy unit? Or maybe he just enjoyed the sheer rush of bringing down somebody that everybody else had failed in doing.

Either way, Kelly realized at that moment that