After Billy had gone, Madelyn was stricken with anxiety. She knew Billy was a crook, but she also knew that he was a good person, trapped, and in real danger.
The packet contained another big envelope labelled "Evidence - Costello's recent bank record payments", and a smaller envelope. The small envelope was covered with detailed delivery instructions.
"Maddy, this letter and the bank statements are evidence that must ONLY be given to Staff Sergeant Dignum. If I am alive, I may need his help to get or stay out of jail. There is police corruption which is why you must deliver it straight to him. If anything has happened to him (he should have contacted me) go as high as you can - Captain's Ellerby or Lazall."
As explanation, say the information in the letter and the bank statements will help expose Costello's police mole, and that I really worked for Captain Queenan, not for Costello.
Shaken, she read the enclosed letter, and had to think. She slept badly, and arrived at work an hour early. She accessed the database for Dignam's home number but got no reply. She contacted Captain Ellerby and asked about Dignum. She was told that he was away on indefinite sick leave. Shaken, she began to relate to Ellerby what she knew.
For Ellerby, this was one of these days before the day had even started. He was just finishing breakfast when the precinct's resident shrink called him. What she had said to him had shaken him. Costello had got us by the balls, and in particular himself, since by booting out Dignum they had no undercover support. He had no interest in employing crooks and so no understanding of undercover operations and procedures. Now this could be catching up on them. The letter had said :
"Costello is going crazy trying to identify me. He has given His mole the means to deduce the passwords needed to break into Queenan's undercover personnel database. Rather than trust to the phone, I asked Queenan to see me about this and every precaution was taken to avoid a tail. Yet they knew where we where. The police tail is the key. Whoever set that tail after Queenan, or stopped it intervening, is Costello's mole. You should have contacted me, so I can only assume Queenan's phone has been lost. I do not know what to do, other than try to sit it out and hope that the mole does not find me - unless Costello gets me killed - he's going psycho. As I have no next of kin use my back pay and any other monies owed me for a police or orphan's charity and say to my cousin Sean "sorry that I lied about not being a cop" as I had to involve him in a petty crooked scheme in order to get Costelo's attention."
He asked Dr Madden if that was all, and she hesitantly said no. The signature was not written in italics like a signature, more like a code "WMCostiganJnr".
He said he would do what he could, gave her his mobile number, and left for work in a hurry. He went to Queenan's office and accessed Queenan's database. Sure enough, the "signature" was a password. Besides the basic criminal record, it stated that Billy was on an assignment to penetrate and break Costello's gang, and Billy was entitled to a huge reward on successful completion of the assignment. For full personnel data consult the main Police Employment Records. Consult the main Police Employment Records - oh shit! Ellerby went to his office and accessed Billy's Police Employment Record without any hitch. Ellerby was old school, pre computer, and it never occurred to him to try to change Billy's password. Anyway, he would have worried about knock-on effects, since only he would know what the new password was.
Ellerby contacted Lazall, and while not mentioning Billy's name, he stressed the urgency of the situation. There was little they could do except remain alert - trying to protect Billy by arresting him could be counter productive and take far too long. However, maybe they could turn The Mole's tricks back on The Mole. Ellerby went to Surveillance Ops. and demanded details of the tail which had been put on Captain Queenan. Rather loudly, he revealed why the tail had served Costello's purposes and that their main undercover asset was at stake because the database was insecure. Given how much gossiping went on, the revelation would spread and might give the mole pause for thought. Despite not believing that Sullivan was the mole, he ordered a phone tap to be put on Sullivan as he was now suspect number one. Due to the pressure of work Ellerby then forgot the matter.
The night when they were following Costello's drug operation, Sullivan had to reveal that he was running Billy. Ellerby felt that this revelation vindicated Sullivan. Even so, he was not a Captain for nothing, and Sullivan's account felt odd, so the phone tap was not removed. However, as Costello's death was cause for celebration and Billy was not included among the dead or captured, Ellerby forgot about the matter.
Several days later, it was a shock when Dr Madden phoned him. The account was garbled but Ellerby swung into action. Operations, who were about to contact Ellerby regarding the conversation Billy had just had with Sullivan, was ordered to arrest Sullivan for corruption and take Detective Costigan into protective custody. Unfortunately, even though they had the trace on Sullivan's phone, by the time the arrest team reached the scene of the shoot-out it was too late. Ellerby ordered the team to ignore Sullivan for now (give him some rope thought Ellerby), and aid the victims. Ellerby stressed that everything possible and impossible should be done to save them; it proved a very good idea.
Though Barrigan proved definitely dead, both Brown and Billy were another matter. Brown had lost a lot of blood but no critical organs were severely damaged. In the hospital Brown responded to heart stimulation and went into intensive life support; the only problem was expected to be brain damage. Billy was more difficult. Although Billy had lost less blood and responded to heart stimulation, a head shot is difficult to recover from, if ever. Fortunately, the site of the head shot was to a less critical area. Ellerby visited Billy the next day and was told that it could be months before Billy was lucid, if ever. Fake burials had to be arranged, something that Sullivan was happy to crow over.
After the funeral, Ellerby told both Dr Madden and Sean, in confidence, that Billy was alive, just. A month later Billy recovered consciousness. After two month's he was recognising Dr Madden and Shaun, but nothing else. Brown had given a statement but it was garbled and of little value, if anything it corroborated Sullivan's story. For the sake of secrecy, Brown was later moved to work for another precinct. Of cause, the recordings from the tap on Sullivan's phone told another story, and a search done by the neighbouring precincts was underway to find Billy's document stash. After six months Billy was moved to a sanatorium. Dr Madden visited the sanatorium at weekends, along with their new-born son; whose blond hair showed his parentage. By this time the stash had been found, a bright detective having widened the search to South Boston locations related to Billy's late father. The stash, labelled "POLICE EVIDENCE", was well hidden in a lock up garage that had once been leased by Billy's father and then re-leased by Billy. Unfortunately the stash yielded little of value regarding police corruption, just political and business corruption. Billy had copied the CD that he had used to flush Sullivan out, but Sullivan proved to be a Master of Excuses when it was revealed. Sullivan also had support from powerful friends that he never knew he had and looked ready to become Captain (somewhere), unless Dignam removed him first. Dignum, always a head case after having been an undercover agent for Queenan, kept having dreams about executing Sullivan, and was ordered to see a shrink on a regular basis if he was to make Captain.
A year later Billy left the sanatorium. Not fully recovered, but able to work again and with plenty of money. While the Police Training Academy wanted to make use of Billy's services, it was only on a part-time basis to help with a course on undercover operations. Billy considered moving to California, were a minder was needed for a CBI consultant called Patrick Jane. There was also an interesting opening under Captain Renard in the Portland, Oregon, city police force, assisting Detective Nick Burckhardt and his partner. However, an intriguing message had reached Billy from a place called Storybrooke, nearby in Maine. So Billy and his little family decided to go there and have a weeks sightseeing at the place. If there was work to be had there, Billy would still be close by if he was needed to testify against Sullivan.