by Ali Vali
“You really work for the government?” Boone asked.
“How about I ask my brother to kill your brother?” she asked, looking at the back of his head. “That might jog your memory as to where Johnny could be. If you can’t come up with something I can have him shoot you next, since he’s dying to use that rifle of yours like an old-time cowboy. Does that sound like a good plan to you?”
“Who the hell are you?” Timothy asked. Mano cranked the rifle, chambering a round. “Wait, wait, come on, wait,” Timothy yelled. “He left days ago and said if we’d keep our eye on the still, he’d give us a bigger share. If you know him, that don’t happen often, so it had to be important.”
“What’s the only thing that would make him forget money?” she asked, knowing how she would answer that question. Dallas would supersede money, freedom, and everything else.
“Nothing but looking for his kids,” Boone said, obviously taking her threats seriously. “They was taken a long time ago and it done broke his heart.”
“Taken?” she asked, standing and using her foot to roll him over to his back and making him scream when he landed on his hands. “Who would’ve taken his kids?”
“He never told us that,” Boone said. “But he never stopped lookin’.”
She squatted next to Timothy then and ran her finger down the jagged scar along the side of his face. When she got home she would have that rock of Dallas’s bronzed and release her from her nightmares of thinking she’d killed him, because she intended to do that soon.
“Sabana,” she said as the room got lighter from the rising sun, “could you sit on the front porch and keep an eye out for Johnny?”
“Timothy,” Remi said his name slowly, “how did you get this?” She ran her finger down his scar again.
He tried to pull away from her touch. “Bar fight, and you better git before Johnny gets back. He’s mean as a bear, and I don’t care if he owes you money or whatever you’re doing here, you’d better be gone.”
“A bar fight?” she asked, touching the thin-feeling skin again. “Are you sure about that? Did you tell him it was because you tried to rape his daughter and she knocked you stupid with a rock? Though she probably didn’t have to hit very hard for that. Or did you keep your mouth shut since he’s mean as a bear?”
“Who told you that?” He tried to pull himself into a sitting position, but the rope job Sabana had done pulled taut and he had to go back down. “No little slut’s going to get close enough to me to do that.”
“You’re a lying piece of shit, Timothy.” She studied him from his head down. Thinking of him touching Dallas made her want to start cutting off little pieces of him. “She hit you twice, so was it the first or the second that opened this little souvenir?”
“She tell you that?” he asked, looking away from her. “There’s no way you know that used-up little slit.”
She stood up so fast she almost fell over. “Remi,” Mano said. “Not yet.”
“I’ll give you one more chance,” she said, and put the tip of her knife in his ear. “You tell me the truth or I’ll pin you to the floor with this. Did she hit you that night?”
“I had my rights,” he said, stopping his squirming when she pushed the tip in farther, cutting his skin. “Johnny had taken my money, so it wasn’t like I was doing nothing wrong.”
“Was Boone in line to take a turn?” she asked, and he tried to twist around to look in Boone’s direction. “Not the time to shut your mouth, so don’t make me loosen your tongue.”
“Boone was gonna have to save his money to take his turn, and he ain’t too good doing that, so I had the whole night.” When the knife came out he let out a high-pitched squeal. “I don’t know why you’re so worried. Johnny took so many turns that girl must’ve been kinda worn out.”
“Do you want me to take care of it?” Mano said when she raised her hand and was about to plunge the knife into wherever it hit first.
“I want him to suffer,” she said, relaxing her hand and giving Mano his answer.
“Give me a minute and I’ll find what you’re looking for,” he told her, heading for the back door.
“Remi,” Sabana said, coming through the front. “You might want to take a look at this.”
The road to the house was about four miles from the main route out of Sparta, and it wasn’t paved. The cloud of dust being kicked up by whatever vehicle was driving up the road was like a doorbell to tell you there were visitors. She wouldn’t be able to determine who it was until they got out of the trees.
“Mano, gag the two morons,” she called back to him. “Good job, Sabana, but it’s time to go inside and get ready for our surprise party.”
“Who’s our guest of honor?”
She looked at a stump in the middle of the clearing in front of the house and figured out what to do with the three problems that stood between her and her family, because that’s what Dallas and Kristen were.
“Johnny Moores and his band of misfits.”
*
“Did you find out anything?” Emma asked her. Cain had gotten home and changed, throwing the clothes she’d been wearing down to her underwear into the fire Emma had started in the fireplace in their room. After a shower with Emma she’d had breakfast with the kids before they left for school.
“We need to find this guy,” she said, taking the copy of the picture the night desk clerk at the hotel had given them after Ramon had donated to her college fund. Jerome Rhodes looked American and had an English name, but he had a Mexican address in Cabo San Lucas, along with a Mexican passport, and he’d told the clerk when he checked in that he was in the jewelry business. “Find him and we find Gracelia. Find Gracelia and we find—”
“Juan, but that won’t be easy if he realizes you’re on to him. No one stands still if he knows someone’s chasing him.”
“At least we’ve got some idea where to start looking since I don’t think Gracelia and Juan are done with New Orleans. But if they are and try to stay low for a while, I have a clue where to start in Mexico. Carlos and his men might be interested in a trip to the tip of the Baja.”
“Who was in the box?” Emma asked, shivering as she slathered her toast with grape jelly and peanut butter. “And what did you do with it?”
“I plan to put it where they found the other five. No sense not letting the Feds take out our trash since it’s really not ours. The guy in there was Rodolfo’s manager in Biloxi.” She watched, smiling at what seemed to be an inch of toppings on Emma’s bread.
“Annabel Hicks will want to see the security tapes, and I doubt you want her to see you taking the former manager for a ride.”
“I don’t see that as a problem,” she said, scratching the stitches again. The cut along her temple was starting to heal, she guessed, and it was driving her crazy. “I have Katlin and her team looking for this Jerome guy.”
“It’s hard to believe that Juan’s back and we haven’t heard from him,” Emma said, drinking tomato juice and making Cain shiver now. The combination was a dead give-away to Emma’s condition, if anyone didn’t already know. “He’s like a deranged Chihuahua that thinks he’s a Doberman pinscher with a side of bloodhound.”
“He’s headed for the pound. It’s only a matter of time, and I’ve already made arrangements to have him put down.”
“Try and keep your weekend clean since I was able to reschedule Hayden’s party.”
“I’ll make sure to keep to your calendar, baby.” She stood, laughing and wanting to get back to the office so she could set a meeting of the families and a few others who could put out the kind of net that would eventually catch something. “Make me happy and stay inside today, please.”
Emma smiled as she put down her empty glass. “What’s in it for me?”
“What do you want?” she asked, loving Emma’s revved-up sexuality.
“I’ll think of something that involves little clothing and heavy whipping cream,” Emma said, laughing as she put her hands in Cai
n’s shirt. “Last night wasn’t enough time for us.”
“My date last night wasn’t that concerned about your calendar,” she said, laughing harder when Emma hit a ticklish spot.
“Cain,” Carmen said, lowering her eyes as Emma rebuttoned Cain’s shirt. “Mr. Delarosa is here and would like to see you.”
“Did he bring the succubus with him?” Emma asked sweetly.
“He is with a man.”
“Could you let him into the sunroom, Carmen? Thank you.”
“I’ll leave you to it if you promise you’ll mention the touchy-feely Marisol Delarosa,” Emma said, pulling her lapels together.
“I promise, but I have a feeling he’ll bring her up before I do since little Marisol came without permission and got in over her head. She told him about it, but a man like Hector gets to be the big cheese in his business only because of his heightened sense of paranoia. She told him, but he didn’t believe her.” She walked Emma to the stairs and pressed their foreheads together when Emma went up two steps. “Today’s about damage control.”
“As long as it’s not daddy trying to get his little girl what she wants, and from the way she was touching you, I think I know what she wants.”
“You’re sexy when you’re jealous,” she said, kissing the tip of Emma’s nose. “You hold the papers on me, lass, not to worry.”
“I’m not worried about you, sweet pea, but I won’t vouch for the Delarosas, since they all seem to have a crush on you,” Emma said before she started up the stairs again, blowing her a kiss from the landing.
“Cain,” Hector said when she stepped in, holding up his demitasse cup in salute. “Your housekeeper is a wonder at the espresso machine.”
“I’m sure plenty of places in town make good coffee, Hector, so what can I do for you?”
“You make it sound like we’re not friends, and that hurts me.” He put his cup down and stared at a spot behind her that she assumed was now filled with Lou’s large, quiet presence. “And you act like we’re not friends.”
“I’m sure your man there,” she pointed to the guy sitting in the corner staring out the window but knew better than to think he wasn’t paying attention, “has at least two guns on him. The fact that I didn’t strip-search him at the door means we’re acquaintances, but friendship is still questionable, and should your companion decide to be unfriendly and move his hand anywhere near his jacket, I don’t have time to explain the consequences.”
“Tomas is harmless, or I imagine no less harmless than the mountain standing behind you, but that isn’t what I came to talk about.” He drained his cup with his pinkie finger in the air and set his cup down, leaving his hands hanging between his legs. “Marisol told me she went to see you in the hospital.”
“Interesting child, your daughter,” she said, leaving it at that to see how he’d interpret what she meant.
He shrugged and laughed. “What can I tell you? My wife and I have children, but only one isn’t interested in sitting by the pool tanning for a living and celebrating a hard day’s work in the clubs at night. Marisol wants to be my successor, so she’s constantly trying to learn the business.”
“And do you think I’m your business?” she asked, her phone buzzing in a message from Muriel.
“More like I’m interested in doing business with you, Cain, but to think you would be my business would be foolish on my part.” He moved closer and made a show at grimacing at the condition of her face. “Work with me and I don’t believe the Feds will have the cojones to do this.”
“Why, so it’ll be the DEA picking me up and beating the shit out of me? No thanks,” she said, losing patience with his refusal to take no for an answer. “Our businesses have nothing in common, so there’s no reason for us to be an obstacle to one another, but I’m running out of ways to tell you there’s no reason I’ll cross the street because I’m interested in doing business with you.”
“Money is always the best reason, and I can make plenty for you.”
“I make enough, and I’m not stupid enough to think I’m pure, but I find drugs distasteful and they’re becoming the main reason the streets are smeared in blood. That’s because no one seems to ever win the battle of who’s the biggest dog in the kennel. So the police make it difficult for anyone to do business, whether it has to do with drugs or not. What’s the big interest in the Big Easy, anyway?”
“Florida and California have more weapons in what your government calls the war on drugs,” he said, pulling out a cigar and rolling it between his fingers.
“Not inside, if you don’t mind.”
“I didn’t take you for that much of a prude.”
She stretched her fingers out so she wouldn’t seem threatening before she curled it into a fist and smashed his face. “My children don’t need to be exposed to that and my wife is expecting. If you have that big a jones to light the damn thing, then you’re free to leave.”
He put his cigar away and dusted his hands as if to say, “You win.” “Here, though, the DEA and the local police haven’t caught up to the level of men and surveillance equipment. Combine that with the miles of waterways to move it in and the back roads to get it out, and more than me will come here trying to set up a big operation.”
“New Orleans isn’t that backwoods, Hector.”
He laughed stopping when she didn’t join in. “I’m not bringing my shipments down Canal Street downtown, if that’s what you mean, but you’ve driven through the small communities within a hundred miles of here. You can find ways to float it in and plenty of volunteers to move it.”
“Then I wish you the best of luck, because you have it all figured out.”
“I’m offering you an opportunity to make good money and not get your hands dirty if you find my field so offensive. I need only your contacts in city hall and the police department.”
She glanced back at Lou and laughed. “That’s all? Would you like me to throw in the mayor’s number and my lucky penny?”
“Don’t disrespect Mr. Delarosa in front of me,” Tomas said, keeping his hands on his lap.
“Thin skin will get you burned in this climate,” she said, her humor gone. “I called you once for information I needed.”
“And I gave it to you gladly, expecting only a little in return,” he said, contradicting what he’d said up to now that his help had been free. “I merely wanted you to take my offer serious enough to think about it.”
“I’m going to repay it right now,” she said, telling them what had happened to Rodolfo and who’d done it. “We’ve never met, but Gracelia sounds insane and she’s likely to put that crazy son of hers in power. If that happens, I hope you realize it won’t be in only my best interest that Juan and the rest of his family are eliminated.”
“Gracelia is in town?”
“She is with Juan and a man named Jerome Rhodes. Ring any bells?” she asked, and heard Lou talking softly with someone behind him, probably Muriel, though she couldn’t make out what they were saying.
“Who is this Jerome Rhodes?” Hector asked, but acted more interested in what was happening behind her. “I’ve never heard of him.”
“Then perhaps there’s something we can work on together after all. I want Gracelia because then I can find Juan Luis. Get that for me and I’ll consider introducing you to some friends downtown who might make your job easier.”
“You say you find our business distasteful, but I heard that you and Remi Jatibon are partnered with Vinny Carlotti already.” He sat back as if he had suddenly decided to spend the afternoon. “And that’s who you’re willing to share your contacts and connections with.”
“Vincent Carlotti and my father worked mutual endeavors together for years, so I’ve known his son Vinny all my life. Ramon and Remi Jatibon and I have a few things together because while they’re newer to the city and first-generation Americans, I’ve known them all my life too.” She stood and buttoned her jacket. “In my world you arrived today, Hector, that’s how much
I know about you and your motives. Since we know so little about each other I should tell you that I don’t respond well to threats, and I’m set in my ways.”
“Does that mean there is no room in your old network of friends?”
“It means you should learn to pace yourself and ease yourself in. Learn the city and its players and you’ll have more success.”
He laughed but stayed seated. “I’m a man of action.”
“Then you will find very little success here,” she said, glancing back at Lou, who quickly moved closer. “When my family came from Ireland years ago they did like most did at the time in the same situation and stayed up north, but eventually the entire family found themselves here.”
“Who cares about your history?” Tomas asked sarcastically, but stopped short when Hector glared at him.
“We have thrived here because this ancient place is as fond of tradition as we are,” she said, continuing as if Tomas wasn’t there. “Your people have done a good research job if they’ve told you the lay of the land, but don’t forget to learn the people as well. You might find a lot of volunteers, as you say, willing to make money if you throw it out fast enough, but for every one of them there are ten along those bayous who’ll gut you before you know you’re cut. Cram yourself in by force and you might last a year, but then you’ll find yourself at the bottom of one of those bayous being used for alligator bait.”
“Moving speech, Cain, but force is what got me here.”
“That’s because you come from a place where you had all the guns and all the power. Like I said, this isn’t backwoods and we don’t all need your money to get us through the hard times. Push here and don’t be surprised if you get pushed back.”
“Is that a threat?” Hector asked, now rising to his feet.
“I believe I’ve already said that I won’t get in your way if you leave me and mine alone. We can live in peace, if you understand that. I was just giving you some advice. I’m not the only one making my way here.”
Hector snapped his fingers at Tomas and the man jumped up from his seat. “You may not think so, but we will be friends, Cain, because we are a lot alike, and because you will not allow me to become too powerful if my way is right.”
