Ginny Aiken - Priced to Move

I don’t mention that I really want to look around, check out what’s up in Myanmar. For real. Mr. Pak’s problems must have started back there. And I want to wipe that suspicious look from the chief’s face. It doesn’t bode well for my future around here.

What can I say? I suppose if I’m really pushed, I can’t say I blame the chief for trying to make a connection. Not only did I find the dead man, but I’m also the only one who knew him.

The chief doesn’t look half as thrilled with my prospects as I am. “I gotta say, I don’t cotton to this trip of yours. If I had my druthers, I’d lock you up. But you’re Miz Weeby’s niece, you work for Miss Mona, and I’d have a hard time arresting you.”

His stubbornness and that silent pal of his are really getting to me. “You also have those million viewers to deal with. Max is right”—did I just give him credit?—“I have an ironclad alibi.” I gotta grin at my TV cop line.

“Donald, dear,” Aunt Weeby says, “go on home or the station or the donut shop, you take your pick. Andie’s innocent.

And you know it. I know you’re hankering to have yourself a big ol’ case to break, but you’re not going to break it right on Andie’s back. Go do your job. Find yourself some real clues.

Catch us a real killer. We’re going to My . . . Mia . . .” She waves in defeat. “We’re going to that ruby place.”

“We?” I ask. “I don’t see where there’s a ‘you’ in the ‘we’ here.”

“Oh, indeed,” Miss Mona says. “ We’re going to Burma. But I’m afraid you’re going to have to miss this trip, Livvy. You can’t be going with that cast—”

“You’re not leaving me behind, Mona Latimer!” Aunt Weeby’s frown scares even me.

Miss Mona counters with a bulldog look of her own. “You aren’t up to travel of this sort. You’ll go on our next trip. Besides. Who else am I going to trust to keep things going here at the network while I’m gone?”

Aunt Weeby running the network? Watch out, world!

But I’m going to Burma, the Mogok Valley, the home of the most incredible, perfect rubies on earth. Oh yeah. Life is good—sometimes.

If the first weeks of working for Miss Mona made me feel like the proverbial gerbil on the exercise wheel, then I can’t even begin to describe the next twelve days. We work our way through mountains of forms to apply for visas; we become pincushions for the multiple vaccine shots; we pack, unpack, then pack again, uncertain what we’ll really need; and then I’m forced to spend hours upon hours with Danni, because Danni of the super-duper panties becomes a happy camper when she learns she’ll be doing the gem and jewelry shows during my Myanmar odyssey. So I have to prepare her. All of that leaves me feeling like a wrung-out washrag.

You see, Miss Mona and I aren’t the only ones heading out for an unbelievable adventure.

Oh no. We have to travel with a complete entourage. Of course Miss Mona and I are going, but so is a behind-the-scenes delegation from S.T.U.D. A camerawoman, Allison from makeup, and a couple of others I don’t really know too well, all head out for Burma with us.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Our Ken doll comes too. But you’d figured that out already. Hadn’t you? You knew I wasn’t going to get to ditch him.

I just pray he doesn’t cause an international incident and get us all locked up in some gross Burmese jail.

9 00

After a three-hour delay, Thai Airlines finally calls our flight for boarding. I wrestle my carry-on roller suitcase into the overhead bin, slip my laptop under the seat in front of mine, and drop into my window seat. Again, excitement ripples right through me.

I’m going to Burma. I’m going to the Mogok Valley. For real.

There’s still that little corner of my mind, though, that true doubting Thomas. So to prove that I’m not dreaming or hallucinating, I pinch myself.

“Ouch!”

“What’d you do that for?” Max asks as he slips his laptop under the seat in front of the one next to mine.

No way! “ You’re sitting here?”

“Looks that way.” He flashes me his devastating grin.

Don’t look, Andie. He’s a gem-dunce, remember?

He adds, “Miss Mona made all the reservations. I’m sure she gave you your boarding pass just as she gave me mine.” Is there any justice? Hours and hours hog-tied by a seat belt next to Max the Magnificent. Groan. I’m really going to have to do something about the Max situation. Hoping against hope, I ask him a very simple question.

“Do you know anything about rubies?”

“I know they’re red.”

Do I laugh or do I cry? I decide not to go there, so I try another question. “Have you ever seen a real, live ruby?”

“My mother has one. My father gave it to her for an anniversary or something. It’s pretty red.”

“If you say that one more time, I’m going to scream.”

“Are you going to tell me orange is the new red?”

“Are you going to quit with the spessartite stuff?”

“I’m still not so sure you weren’t pulling a fast one on me and the viewers.”

“I would never do that. I’m no fraud, I don’t lie, and besides, I’m a Christian. I answer to God for what I say and do. Trust me, I don’t want to do something so stupid as to fake people out. God’s not likely to let it slide if I do. I’ve learned the hard way that nothing’s worth getting on the wrong side of God’s blessing.”

He tips his head to the side. “Interesting way of seeing ethics.”

“I didn’t say anything earthshaking.”

“Okay. You’re right, I guess.” He clicks his seat belt on, then gives me another of his killer smiles. “Tell me about rubies, since you don’t think I know enough about them.”

“Are you making fun of me?”

“No. It’s like I’d love to tell you all about the perfect golf club.”

Boooring. “That’s okay. I don’t have a burning desire to know about golf.”

“Too bad.”

No way. “You asked me to tell you, and I’m going to tell you. Rubies are corundum, the red variety. All the other colors of corundum are known as sapphire—”

“Are you kidding me? First the goofy garnets, then the dirty diamonds, and now you’re telling me that rubies equal sapphires? Are you sure you know what you’re talking about?” I clench my jaw. At the rate I’m going, my dentist is going to retire to his own private South Pacific island off my cracked teeth. “Yes, I’m sure I know what I’m talking about. I have a BS in geology, and a certificate from the Gemological Institute of America that tells all who care to know that I’m a master gemologist.”

“You’re pretty proud of your pedigree.”

“Aren’t you?”

He shrugs. “I have a BS in meteorology, and I played football for the Buckeyes.”

“For the who?”

He gapes. “You don’t know who the Buckeyes are?”

“I wouldn’t have asked if I knew.”

“Ohio State has one of the best records in college football history.”

That’s his pedigree? Football?

Okey-dokey. “I . . . see.” Better get back to business. “Anyway, I do know gemstones. And rubies and sapphires, both, are corundum, the second-hardest natural mineral known to science. The hardness of corundum comes in part from the strong and short oxygen-aluminum bonds. These bonds pull the oxygen and aluminum atoms close, and that makes the crystal not only hard but also very dense, even though it’s a mineral made up of two relatively light elements—”

I quit. He’s asleep. So much for wanting to know about rubies.

When the flight attendant comes around with earphones for the movie, I figure I might as well watch whatever they’re offering. Hopefully it won’t be football. Or golf.