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down.
    Not that he was even considering tracking her down.
    Hell no!
    He was a cop, dammit. He was trained to listen and remember even the smallest of details. If he had to, he could close his
     eyes and give a sketch artist a perfect description of Kate Anderson in two seconds flat. Right down to the sexy Cindy Crawford
     type beauty mark on her left cheek.
    Forgetaboutit already!
    The woman was history.
    Keep it that way.
    When his apartment building came into view, Tony let out a frustrated sigh and looked down at his watch. It was only nine-thirty.
     He was restless, to say the least. Just not restless enough to head off to one of his regular haunts and look up some of his
     buddies for a few games of pool and a couple of beers.
    No, maybe he would head over to the Red Bull for a few beers, Tony decided. It would sure beat going home to an empty apartment,
     where he had nothing else to think about but pretty
engaged
green-eyed blondes.
    He briefly even thought about turning around and heading back to the restaurant to talk some sense into his mother, but the
     sound of squealing tires turning the corner slowed his pace. When he saw the yellow chopped low-ride cruiser slow to a stop
     in front of his building, the muscle in his jaw twitched instinctively.
    Tony knew the car.
    He also knew the driver and his cronies.
    A bad bunch of punks in anybody's book. If any of them lived to see their twenty-first birthdays, Tony suspected they'd probably
     do their celebrating somewhere behind bars.
    He picked up his pace again.
    He swore when he saw Joey Caborelli open the front door of the building and head down the steps.
    Joey was a good kid, barely sixteen. The son of one of his tenants, Rose Caborelli, a struggling single mom nurse who worked
     the night shift. Joey was good kid headed for a bad ending if those punks were reeling him in.
    Without a second thought, Tony put his fingers to his lips. His loud whistle jerked Joey's head in his direction. When the
     kid saw Tony walking toward him, he quickly waved the car away.
    The driver peeled rubber, then slowed down defiantly. Tony stared the jeering faces down as the car eased past him. One of
     the punks in the backseat spat out the window and called him a foul name. They all laughed before the driver peeled rubber
     again, then roared off into the night.
    Tony glanced back toward the building.
    Joey was still standing on the sidewalk.
    He was dressed like the young punks who had just driven away—sleeveless tank top, baggy jeans worn low on his hips, a do-rag
     tied around his head to hold down a matted mess of dreadlocks. Despite the surly smirk on his lips, Tony suspected Joey's
     desire to become a gang member was nothing more than a need to belong.
    The kid's staying behind had been his first clue.
    His actions told Tony that the last thing the boy wanted was the resident cop mentioning something about his choice of friends
     to his mother later on.
    “Friends of yours?” Tony asked, when he walked up and stopped beside the kid.
    “Nah,” Joey said, avoiding his gaze. “Never saw them before.”
    “They're a bad bunch, Joey,” Tony said.
    Joey still wouldn't look at him. He kicked at the concrete with the toe of his unlaced tennis shoe, instead.
    I'm wasting my breath.
    Tony had one of two choices, and he knew it.
    He could continue to give Joey a long lecture that would go straight in one ear and right out the other. Or, he could go one
     step further and make an impact on the kid that would hopefully last him a lifetime.
    Tony reached out and put his arm around the kid's shoulder, then began dragging Joey with him off the curb and across the
     street. He was pleased when he felt Joey tremble slightly.
    Fear was an excellent motivator.
    Before the night was over, Tony intended to scare the living crap out of Joey Caborelli.
    They stopped in front of the shiny new black GTO coupe that Tony hadn't been able to resist ordering the minute he saw the
     car featured