The Mysteries of Lionel
Just as Reese and Finch had their secrets so did Lionel Fusco. Fusco cultivated an image that fitted his short, fat appearance – amiable, not over bright, but a good enough cop (which is not always the same as a good man). The higher-ups in his official and unofficial jobs tended to ignore him until he was needed which suited Lionel fine.
This policy had enabled him to survive 9 years in the HR organisation and escape unscathed when it crumbled. Sure there were rumours in the precinct (even after he brought in Simmons) but nothing concrete and he had plenty of leverage if he was ever facing jail time. HR's tentacles had spread far and touched many who had profited from the association and Lionel had assiduously recorded such business dealings as insurance just in case. He was a dead man if it ever became known (there were still active and pending court cases about HR) but, if he wanted a low risk job he wouldn't be in the NYPD.
When he began, reluctantly, to work with Reese and Finch he had started documenting those activities too, again for insurance. What if Reese and Finch were killed – where did that leave Lionel Fusco? What would the people behind Finch do? Maybe they'd want to "tidy up" Fusco too. The identity of Finch's backers intrigued him – they were obviously numerous and well-placed judging by the quality of the information about people about to get into trouble. He had picked up on words like "number" and "machine" which he realised were short-hand for the people they helped and the shadowy organisation that Finch and Reese represented.
Fusco began to discreetly contact areas outside New York, either through retired cops or those who had transferred to other departments, and also took an interest in out-of-town officers who visited the precinct. In all cases he tried to find out whether other cities had a "man in the suit" or similar urban legend and he had already identified a Washington DC based team (although not its members) when he and Reese made contact with Durban, Pierce, and Harper Rose. They hadn't reacted when he innocently asked about others "like us" so he was pretty sure that they didn't know about the Chicago, LA, Phoenix, or Miami operations.
When Thornhill contacted him he knew that "they" had noticed his activities and prepared for the worst but, surprisingly, no one appeared in person to warn him to stop digging or to shut him up permanently. Indeed Thornhill had seemed impressed by his efforts and started to give him jobs to do, jobs that he wasn't to mention to the others. Agreeably Thornhill actually paid for his services, which is more than Reese or Finch ever did, and his son's college fund was in a very healthy state. Early on he'd marked Root as reporting directly to the "machine", maybe Thornhill too or one of his colleagues. He said nothing but he'd catch Root eyeing him speculatively sometimes. She was unpredictable and no stranger to violence, a bad combination that Fusco preferred to avoid, so he generally played the bumbling Keystone Cop around her.
Sporadically he would come into contact with Carl Elias's people, who apparently also dealt with Thornhill, generally to pick up a package and deliver it elsewhere in New York. This made him very nervous as Elias was bound to be under surveillance by federal or other agencies and he did not want to be linked to the Mob in any way, not after HR. Elias and his right-hand man, Anthony, would not hesitate to make him disappear if they knew, or even suspected, that he was keeping notes.
When Reese, Finch, and Shaw suddenly surfaced as different people with actual, real-life jobs (he'd show Wonder Boy what real detective work was like!) he smelt trouble. He'd seen gang wars before and it definitely looked like Thornhill and his associates were under attack from another organisation. Contact with Thornhill became erratic, confirming to Fusco that his attention was on bigger issues.
When Reese told him about the "machine" that really was a machine he was careful to conceal what he had already guessed or found out. He was quietly pleased that many of his hunches turned out to be true. He found that he was unexpectedly upset when Root, Reese, Finch, and even Elias were removed from the picture. He knew Finch was alive (somewhere) but it wasn't the same. However Shaw was still about, he would arrange a meet-up and they could plan what to do next. Thornhill (he preferred to think of it as human even if it wasn't) had already asked about suitable replacements, which he thought was a bit too soon (he guessed this machine did not do respect for the dead, at least not yet).
He considered resigning (could you resign from a job like his?) but that would leave Shaw on her own. Bear was smart but not a great conversationalist and Shaw was bound to get into trouble without a restraining hand (although he didn't think anyone could actually, physically restrain her). Besides he was unmarried and Lee was off to college soon, better to have something to keep him busy otherwise… Well, he'd done the Bourbon on breakfast cereal thing before.
Yes, he'd stay around for a bit.