All Through The Night

15

Lenny Centino had managed to stay out of prison by not being too greedy. The deliveries he made of drugs were small-time and infrequent, so except for having attracted the unwanted attention of Detective Joe Tracy, he was never high on the hit list of any police officer. Also he never actually sold drugs, he just delivered them, which, if he were caught, carried a lighter sentence. The drugs had been paid for in advance, so he never handled the money either. He had earned a reputation among both dealers and users of being dependable, and of never dipping into the goods, so he was in demand.

Still, because he liked to limit his involvement with the always dangerous drug trade, Lenny worked off and on for a reputable liquor store. Making deliveries for them, he was able to scope out people’s apartments. He was a gifted burglar-he always made his hit when he was sure people were out, and he never bothered with anything but jewelry and money.

His earlier, very satisfactory career of robbing poor boxes and votive candle offering boxes had ended with his theft at St. Clement’s. The church’s silent alarm and his unwitting kidnapping of Star had made him realize that he was getting too close to the edge. Now even the smaller churches were getting smart enough to put in silent alarms.

That was why it was with confidence in his own ability to survive that he let his contacts know that he was back in the city and once again available. Over a couple of beers on Monday afternoon he had bragged about what he’d been doing since September, helping to run a scam for a fake computer company. What Lenny did not know was that an undercover cop had infiltrated the group he was boasting to, and when the cop had filed his report at the precinct, Detective Tracy had picked up on it and now had Lenny under surveillance, which included a wiretap. What the police did not know was that Lenny feared just such a situation and had an exit planned. He had a stash of money from the last job, along with a fake identity and a hideout all arranged in Mexico. But since his return to New York, Lenny had added another element to the exit scenario. It was obvious that Aunt Lilly was dying. He was genuinely fond of Star, and she always had been an asset to his operation. She was also his good-luck charm, so he had decided that if he ever had to get out of the country, he’d take her with him.

And as he often told himself, “I am her daddy, and it wouldn’t be right to abandon her.”

Unspoken, but perhaps even more pertinent, was Lenny’s awareness that a man traveling with a little girl would be unlikely to appear to anyone to be a crook on the run.