Nathan G. Cava strode down the long
row of cars in his suit and tie, worrying that maybe Vinny Bing the Cadillac
King had been the wrong choice in a dealership. He could feel a punk salesman
tagging along, nipping at his ankles like a stray dog. And something was going
on in the main showroom. He hadn’t been inside yet, but he could see some sort
of commotion through the glass and sensed that there was a problem.
He
glanced back at the salesman – the mealymouthed man jabbering away on autopilot
– and regretted giving the idiot his name.
He had chosen Vinny Bing’s dealership because it was on the south side of town. Poor people lived here, and he hoped that he might get a better deal. He already knew which car he wanted. An SRX Crossover. Not as big as his beloved Hummer, but enough car to feel at home in. He particularly liked the size of the sunroof. The retractable glass extended from front to back, taking up most of the roof of the car. Cava thought it might come in handy for surveillance work. Still, he would be sorry to see the Hummer go. It was almost new, and he liked the way it drove. The fact that people got out of his way and left him an open road. Even those creeps in their BMWs.
Cava
continued his march down the aisle, ignoring the salesman. He knew the car he
wanted, but couldn’t decide on the color. In the best of all worlds he would
have chosen black. But for someone in his line of work, he thought that it
might be safer to go with something less stark. Something that would blend a
little better in the neighborhood. He had narrowed his choice down to two, and
as he continued walking, he spotted them parked side-by-side.
He
stopped and gave the two cars a long look, then turned to the salesman and
waved his hand in a call for immediate silence.
“What
color is that car?” he asked.
“Oh,
you’ve picked a good one, sir. That’s an SRX, and it’s priced just right. It’s
on sale today. If you buy it in the next hour you’ll save even more.”
“What
color is it?”
“We
call that one Light Platinum. And
it’s the best.”
Cava
pointed to the second car. “What color’s that one?”
“That’s
Radiant Bronze. You couldn’t make a
better choice, Mr. Cava. It’s the best.”
“How
can two cars be the best?”
“They’re
all the best. That’s all we sell here. Just name your price and I’ll run it by
Vinny – simple as that. Want the keys? Let’s test her out.”
Cava
turned and looked down at the salesman. He was dressed in a ratty suit and his
wrinkled shirt needed a hot iron.
“I
don’t want a test drive. I want the car and I want it in Radiant Bronze. Now go
get Vinny.”
“We
need to do this inside, Mr. Cava. We’ve got a deal room.”
Cava
paused a moment. He didn’t know what a deal
room was.
“I’m
okay with that,” he said finally. “But I don’t work with a translator. If you
want the deal, bring Vinny.”
“Okay,
okay. But don’t come in until I give you the signal.”
The
man winked at him, then cantered ahead and disappeared into the showroom. Cava
didn’t get it. But then, he hadn’t understood anything the man had been saying
for the past ten minutes.
He
started walking toward the showroom, worrying again. Thinking that maybe he
should head back to the Hummer and bolt. Take his chances that he wouldn’t get
stopped. The witness probably saw his face and knew that he drove a Hummer, but
that’s as far as it would go. No one had his plate numbers because he had taken
the precaution of lifting a temporary set from the C Lot over at LAX earlier
that night, then switched back.
He
could split right now and take his chances. But was it worth the risk?
He
held out his hands and realized that they were trembling. Not enough that
anyone would notice, but not rock steady either. Not kill steady. He heard the
salesman call out his name and looked up.
The
little guy was holding the showroom door open and waving at him. Cava guessed
that this was the signal.
He
took a deep breath and stepped through the door. Heard Ray Charles singing Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. Saw the
bright lights hanging from the ceiling, and a man moving in from the right with
a video camera. A second camera was pointed across the room at a man with a
grotesque smile slowly descending a staircase from the management offices on
the second floor.
Cava tried to keep cool and focus in
spite of the confusion. The man making his runway entrance down the stairs was
wearing some sort of weird costume. At first Cava thought that he might be
dressed up as Santa Claus or maybe even the Burger King. But after a while he
put the scene together with the cameras and music and decided that the bizarre
looking jerk was just Vinny Bing, the Cadillac King.
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