minutes before I start shooting my TV commercial.”
“Okay, sounds good.” Ah, a TV commercial. At least that explained the outfit. It was strange to think this John Wayne wannabe ran with an international drug cartel crowd. He looked so fat and stupid. Guess you couldn’t judge a drug dealer by his cover….
We walked outside, past a menagerie of animals that were, as Rocky explained, props for the commercial. I never really got why car dealers thought llamas and elephants and fifty thousand helium-filled balloons would help them sell cars, but who was I to judge? I couldn’t have sold life rafts to Titanic passengers.
We reached a good spot to do the interview (far, far away from the zoo animals) and Jamie set up his tripod. I realized my hands were shaking like crazy and shoved them behind my back. No reason to get nervous now. Okay, so there was a very big reason to get nervous, but I refused. Besides, what could happen? He had no idea why we were really here. How could he?
Jamie signaled he was ready and I started with a warm-up question.
“So, tell me a little bit about this dealership, Mr. Rodriguez.”
He grinned a toothy grin. “Well, little lady, my grandpa started this dealership back in 1954 …” He launched into a long speech about the history of Pacific Coast Cars and how he had single-handedly made it into the successful dealership it was today. He was so long-winded I felt like asking him for a hit of his drugs just to stay awake.
“Okay, thanks,” I interrupted when he paused for breath. “I think we’ve got what we needed.”
He looked surprised. “Really? But I didn’t tell you about all the great deals we offer our customers. Like how if you come in right now, we’ll give you a free toaster.”
Wow. How generous. “I’ll be sure to squeeze that into the piece,” I assured him.
“And when is this going to be on the TV?” he asked. Oh shoot, I forgot he might be wondering about an airdate. “I’m not sure,” I bluffed. “A couple weeks, maybe. I’ll be sure and let you know.”
“Great. ‘Cause I want to get my whole family to watch it. Just don’t wait too long. My grandpa—the dealership’s founder—is ninety-five years old and has a bad heart. Could go any day now. But when he heard I was going to win an award, he said to me, ‘Boy, you give me a reason to hang on to living. To see my life’s work honored by a major TV station like News Nine.’”
I stole a guilty look at Jamie, who raised his eyebrows back. While I had no qualms about exposing a guy involved in dealing drugs, I didn’t like thinking I’d be making an elderly gentleman keel over in shock, his whole life’s pride and joy crumbling during his last few breaths. Still, what else could I do?
“We’ll make sure to get it on the air soon,” I forced myself to assure Rocky. “For Grandpa.”
“Well, that’s great.” He shot me another toothy grin. “If we’re finished then, I’ve got to get over to the llama. These commercials don’t shoot themselves, you know.”
“No problem. Thanks for doing the interview. Do you mind if we go around and shoot some video of the dealership?”
“Go right ahead. Just make us look good, you hear?” Score! I resisted the urge to high-five Jamie as Rocky walked away and left us unescorted. Time for our real assignment to begin.
“Okay, let’s pretend we’re looking for stuff to shoot,” I said in a low voice. “And we’ll start hunting for that Mercedes.”
“Sounds like a plan.” Jamie hoisted the camera off the tripod and onto his shoulder. “There’s got to be an employee lot where the cars that aren’t for sale are parked.”
“Cool. Let’s go walk around the back.”
Casually, as if we really were there to shoot San Diego’s best car dealership, we sauntered around the parking lot. Jamie made it look as if he were shooting various cars and signs on the way. A couple customers gave us curious glances, but were surrounded by eager salesmen, arms full of toasters before they could think to ask us what we were up to.
We reached the back of the lot, closed in by a wire gate. The padlock had been left hanging unclipped and we could easily open the door. I looked around, nervously wondering if anyone was watching.
“What do you think?” I whispered. “Go for it.”
Before my normally cautious nature could