Cain had only seen Rhodes that day on the levee, and her mistake had been thinking Carlos would snap him up when he took Gracelia Luis. If Rhodes survived, he was the last link to Juan and his mother. With that side of the Luis family gone, Rhodes must’ve taken over. Someone else trying to make his mark from what Gracelia lost would have a lot of ground to make up.

“What did he want?” Cain asked.

“Same thing Kalina did. He said he’s getting ready to move major product into the country from Mexico and needed safe transport to a few places. The list he mentioned would make him viable in pretty much the whole country.” Colin put his glass down and rubbed his hands up and down his thighs. “I told him to fuck off, so don’t get mad. I would’ve ended it like I had with Kalina, respectfully, but this guy’s a prick.”

“I need you to tell me exactly what he said.” If Rhodes perpetuated the hatred that side of the Luis family had for hers, this was going to be yet another problem.

“I got a call from his man, Pablo Castillo. I never heard of the guy, but he told me Hector Delarosa gave his boss my name. That wasn’t something I believed, so I flew down and met with him. I wanted to know if this was going to be a problem for you.”

“Where was he?” Cain asked. “And did you talk about Hector aside from him telling you that’s who recommended you?”

“He’s got one of those big places in the Quarter, and he tried to sound sympathetic to Hector’s problems. He said he was picking up the slack until Hector recovered.” Colin stared at the ceiling as if that would help him remember better. “That’s all he said, but he insisted Hector was the one who recommended me.”

“Who the hell is this guy?” Katlin asked.

“That’s a good question, and one we should ask Hector. If they’ve met, then all the stuff he told Colin makes sense. If he didn’t and that was his in, we need to figure out why he lied, and if he’s the one who hit Hector’s crops.” Cain didn’t like mysteries, especially when they were so close to home. “Let’s start with someone who should know.” She picked up the phone and asked to speak to Carlos.

“Cain,” Carlos said, sounding happy to hear from her again so soon. “Gracias to you and Emma for the baby gift. You must meet my son.”

“Congratulations again, and thanks for taking the call. I have Colin with me, and he has an interesting story. Is Paloma with you?”

“She feed the baby.”

“I’ll have Remi tell you, if that’s okay?”

“Sí, if you think interesting, I want to know.”