Staff Sergeant Sullivan was getting desperate. Costello was breathing down his neck and demanding his money's worth, with barely veiled threats, for all the help and cash that he had received over the past five years since applying to the Massachusetts State Police Academy. Yet he was still no nearer to finding the informant. Maybe the informant was not in the Personnel Database, at least not under the gang names that he had been given. It was possible that an alias was being used as a security aid. Or maybe there was a problem with the names. There were just too many possibilities to consider.
Getting Surveillance to tail Captain Queenan was a desperate step. If Queenan found out it could lead to trouble, particularly from Dignum who Sullivan suspected was looking for trouble. But what were his options ?
Think. Could he pressure Captain Ellerby to back him ? Maybe, but he would need to count on Ellerby's favour if anything screwed up. Was he going about this the wrong way ? Maybe he could still make use of Costello's information and look from the other end, the criminal records. Difficult to get hold of discreetly, as he was not supposed to be investigating them, but it was possible with a little inventiveness.
That lunch time, as soon as Sullivan saw Billy's record it was staring him in the face. A former police cadet ! Obviously Costello had checked up on this, but, with some inventiveness and a good enough offer, unless .. how much of this might be a con ? Sullivan looked through the details again and spotted something he had overlooked, Billy's exact full name. There was something wrong. Back in his office after rechecking the contents of Costello's letter, Sullivan realised his "error", Costegan Jnr, not Costegan. Along with some discrete typing of various rank options into the computer and a minute later the password demand came up. Bingo. He switched his phone's sim card and texted Costello with "Costegan is an undercover cop".