“Uh, sure. I, um, I can do that.”
“Thank you, Marko. I look forward to hearing from you soon.”
Jack hung up, then punched in the number of the next person on the list.
Chapter 27
On Monday, Carlo “Pinkie” Ramirezwas sitting at his usual table at Casa Blanco, having lunch, when he spotted one of his lieutenants bringing over a middle-aged woman he’d never seen before.
“Who’s that?” he whispered to Miguel Montes, his friend and closest adviser, who sat next to him.
Miguel shrugged. “Beats me.”
When the duo reached them, Pinkie’s guy said, “Sorry to bother you, Mr. Ramirez and Mr. Montes. This is Señora Rios. She said you were expecting her.”
Pinkie and Miguel shared a confused look.
“Sorry, lady,” Pinkie said. “I don’t know you.”
“I-I-I’m a friend of your mother’s,” the woman said. “She told me I should talk to you.”
“My mother?”
The woman nodded. “Si,she said she’d let you know I was coming.”
“I don’t—”
He stopped himself, remembering the text his ninety-year-old mother had sent him that morning. Something cryptic about a friend in general, but he didn’t recall her saying thefriend would be coming to seehim. That was par for the course with his mom.
“Señora Rios was it?” he asked.
“Si.”
“My apologies. It slipped my mind. What did you want to talk about?”
For the next five minutes, she told him about her son, who was a “good boy” but was having a hard time getting on his feet. He’d apparently just been released from a four-month jail stint, which, according to her, had been because of a misunderstanding, and that he hadn’t done anything wrong.
The bottom line was her son needed a job, and she would be ever so thankful if Pinkie could help him out.
As the head of a thriving criminal organization, Pinkie seldom dealt with trivial requests like this. In fact, the only time he did was when his mother sent someone his way. No matter how many times he’d told her to stop, another person would always show up.
“Bernie has just had some bad luck,” his mother’s friend said. “But he’s a good—”
“Señora,” he said, wanting to stop her before she repeated the whole story again. “I understand the situation, and I’m sure we can provide some assistance.”
“Oh, Mr. Ramirez, thank you!” she said, her eyes filling with tears. “Thank you so much.”
“Tell your son to sit tight, and we’ll be in touch soon.” He glanced at the man who had brought her over. “Please show Señora Rios out, and make sure we have her contact information.”
“Yes, sir,” the lieutenant said. “This way, ma’am.”
As soon as they were out of earshot, Pinkie said, “Miguel.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll find him something,” Miguel said.
“Whatever it is, make sure someone keeps an eye on him. I have a feeling he’s going to be trouble.”
Pinkie returned his attention to his chile relleno, but before he could take another bite, he noticed Scotty Ochoa enter the dining area through the kitchen door. Pinkie motioned him over.
