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falsely smiling guards, those hard men in civilian clothes who looked so much like the men in army clothes back in Guatemala. All she could do was smuggle the little Sister’s letters out and mail them, and use her own address on Columbus Avenue for the convent’s replies. But even that little bit helped; it was worth it, to see how the child’s eyes lit up.
    And how they lit up this time! With a great joyous smile on her face, the little Sister extended the letter to Enriqueta, pointing at it with her other hand: Here, read it yourself!
    Occasionally this happened, the little Sister wanting to share some message from the convent, and though it was a difficult trial Enriqueta always agreed and did her best. She could read, though English was more of a strain than Spanish, and it was necessary to hold the piece of paper so close to her face it almost touched her nose. Still, though it took awhile, she did at last manage to make sense of the following:
    Dear Sister Mary Grace,
    Wonderful news! God has seen fit to put us in the way of being helpful to a man who has just the skills needed to effect your rescue. He is a burglar by profession, which means he has studied the art of going in or out of difficult or locked places. (He came to us through our roof!)
    Before we cast the first stone, my dear, we should remember St. Dismas, crucified with Our Lord, a common criminal who repented at the very end. “This day you shall be with Me in Paradise,” Our Lord promised him. So it was St. Dismas, the thief, who was Our Lord’s chosen companion on his first momentous journey back to His Heavenly Father after his earthly travail, not one of the Apostles or Disciples, a fact we would do well to remember.
    In any event, it is our hope, and our constant prayer to the Almighty, that this association with us and rescue of your own self may be the beginning of the path of reclamation for this latter-day Dismas, whose name is John. Even now he is studying the best way to reach you and bring you out of your imprisonment. If you happen to have any advice or suggestions you might want us to pass along to John, concerning the physical details of your incarceration, I am sure he would be most pleased.
    Praying for your early release, long life to the Pope, forgiveness of the souls in Purgatory and the conversion of Godless Russia, I remain, as ever,
    Mother Mary Forcible
Silent Sisterhood of St. Filumena
    Enriqueta’s immediate instinctive doubt of men named John—or men named anything else, for that matter—she kept carefully to herself. This letter had made the little Sister, at least for this moment, happy; what did it matter if at some later time John turned out to be false or incompetent? Enriqueta enclosed her skepticism in her heart, where it could do no harm. “Say!” she said, returning the little Sister’s letter and her elated smile, “that sounds pretty hokay!”

9
    When May got home from the library, Dortmunder was in the living room, sitting on the sofa, poking at a lot of Polaroid prints on the coffee table with the end of his cane. He didn’t look cheerful. “How’s it going?” she asked.
    â€œCould be worse,” he said.
    Well, that was encouraging. “How?” she asked.
    â€œI could have gone down that fire escape with O’Hara.”
    â€œNo, I meant saving the girl.”
    â€œSo did I.”
    â€œWell.” May dropped her purse and a shopping bag of Xerox copies onto a chair. “You want coffee?”
    â€œNo, thanks. When Andy gets here, I’ll have a beer.”
    â€œWell, I need coffee,” she said. “That library, there’s weirder people there than in the subway.” Shaking her head, she went on out to the kitchen.
    Today was the fifth day of Dortmunder’s research into the girl-rescuing operation, and May’s day off from the Bohack, so she’d spent it up at the Mid-Manhattan Public Library, in