Ginny Aiken - Priced to Move

What did I think I’d find?

I give Julie’s stuff one last look, and even after this additional perusal, find nothing. But that’s not the end of my escapade. You see, she catches me with my hand in the cookie jar.

“What are you doing?” she asks, her hand on her gun.

Yikes!

That steely voice throws a frost all over me. “Looking for a safety pin. I ripped my hem”—true enough—“and since you have kids, I figured you might have one stashed in here. It’s big enough for you to haul a bathtub wherever you go.” Her eyes, narrowed and dark with suspicion, don’t leave my face for a second. “I don’t have safety pins in my bag.”

“I figured that out.” I wave a plastic ducky-embellished pin. “But one of your diaper pins should do the trick. If you don’t mind, that is.”

Too late for my own good, the killer stare reminds me of the training Uncle Sam gave this woman. She was trained to obliterate the enemy. Right now, the enemy is me.

I flip over the hem of my black jacquard skirt, show her the small rip, and stick the sharp steel end right through that outrageously expensive fabric. Ouch!

The smile I plaster all over my mug is way too bright—as I can see in the mirror not five feet away. “Thanks, Julie. I don’t want the whole hem to come out before I have a chance to fix it. I love this suit, it’s new, and . . . well, you know how that goes.”

Although she smiles back, the smile doesn’t even begin to tickle her eyes. “I guess I do know.”

But knowing doesn’t do a thing for her suspicion, as those eyes blare back.

And that’s when Aunt Weeby prances in. Yes, she does have a foot in a cast. Yes, she’s a senior citizen. And yes, she does prance. Don’t ask me how. It’s a gift.

“There you are, sugarplum! I’ve been looking for you all over the place.”

“You found me, but now I have to head to the set. It’s almost time for my show. I’m really jazzed about it. Miss Mona just told me the parcel of tanzanites we ordered before we left for Myanmar arrived this morning. We agreed I should add them to today’s list.”

“Tanzanites?” Her sniff exudes disdain. “Those them lilac-colored stones I’ve seen at the mall?”

I slip my arm through hers and put as much space between Terminator Julie and me as fast as I can. “You know better’n that. The lavender stones at the mall are okay for those who like their gemstones washed out and with hardly any color. A real, top-gem quality tanzanite is navy blue with a secondary purple color and tertiary flashes of red . . .”

When we’ve put some distance between the gun-toting soldier and us, Aunt Weeby stops. “Well? What did you find out?”

“That nobody likes a snoop.”

“Pshaw! I’ll bet by tomorrow they’ve forgotten whatever it was you did to tweak their noses outta whack.”

“Don’t hold your breath. I thought Julie was going to line me up before her friendly neighborhood firing squad.”

She tsk-tsks. “You let Julie catch you going through a purse? Andrea! I told you to be subtle, sugarplum. What’d you go and do wrong?”

Why me? “She caught me scrabbling through her bag.”

Aunt Weeby’s eyes grow saucer-sized. “You went through

Julie’s purse? No wonder she has her panties all a-twisted. She wasn’t exactly who I would have suspected. Is there a reason you thought a decorated reservist woulda killed your ruby-selling friend?”

That’s not the first mistake in my long list of doozies.

“You could say I got carried away, all right? And, it’ll teach me to listen to your crazy ideas. There’s no one here who would kill Mr. Pak for his rubies . . .”

I let my voice trail off when I remember Danni’s red rock. Did she really get Miss Mona’s okay to take that stone? Did she really set up an employee paycheck payment plan? Is the stone Burmese?

Is she who Mr. Pak really came to see?

Before I dig myself a bigger hole than the one already swallowing me, I divert Aunt Weeby’s attention to the repulsive slime-green, lace-trimmed mini-boxers Danni’s trying to peddle on-screen.

“Whoo-ee!” Aunt Weeby says. “Who in her right mind would buy a pair a’ them things? Just looking makes me squirm.”

“Too much information, Aunt Weeby.”

She shrugs. “What are you doing next?”

“Not listen to you, that’s what I’m going to do.”

“I beg your pardon.”

“Yeah. I listened to your nutty idea last night, and all I got is a bunch of enemies. I want no more of that.”

“Then you’re giving up on finding who killed Mr. Pak.”

“No. I’m going to do what every other sane woman would do. I’m going to leave it in the capable hands of the police.

And the FBI, who must be involved since the corpse is a foreign national—”

“Don’t go forgetting Interpol, Miss Andie,” Chief Clark says from behind me.

I fight to keep from making a sound—that groan in my throat might incriminate innocent me in his eyes. I pray, then take a deep breath. Finally, I face him and the silent detective who seems to follow him everywhere he goes. “What brings you here, sir? Do you have any new information on Mr. Pak’s death?”

He drags his hat off his head. “I was hoping you would tell me something I could really sink my teeth into.”

The way his eyes glom on me, I know I’m in trouble. Again.

How can this man think I had anything to do with the murder? My alibi’s tighter than Tupperware. “I’m sorry, Chief Clark. I know nothing more about the death than what I already told you.”

“You seem to know a whole lot about the agencies investigating this case.”

“I doubt there’s an American who doesn’t know about the FBI.”

The chief’s shadow stares at me through narrowed eyes. Chief Clark scratches his head. “You have yourself a point there. And I do have me a scrap of information for you. Them X-rays were negative.”

“X-rays? Who did you X-ray? And why? What did the films not show?”

His gaze flew to Aunt Weeby. “You didn’t tell her like I asked you to, Miz Weeby? I told you to check with her before I went ahead with it.”

Aunt Weeby dismisses his question with a wave. “I couldn’t get ahold a’ her. Where she was out there in that Mo-go Valley place she didn’t have cell phone service. Plus I didn’t want to throw a monkey wrench at your investigation and slow you down, so I figured it’d be okay for me to say yes to you. You don’t mind one bit, now do you, Andie?”

“What—”

“So I had no permission.”

Aunt Weeby tilts her chin. “She left me in charge.”

Are they actually speaking about Miss Mona, then?

Chief Clark shakes his head. “I’m not rightly sure that works as real consent.”

“Now don’t you go giving me no never mind, Donald Clark. I knew what I was doing, and probably better than Andie here does. Didn’t I tell you I’ve become an expert in the field? If I say it’s okay to X-ray, then it’s okay to X-ray.”

An idea sneaks into my head. A ridiculous idea. Still, it involves Aunt Weeby, so maybe it’s not all that ridiculous. “Did you have Chief Clark X-ray Rio?”

Her smile nearly wraps around her head. “Why, sure, sugarplum! We needed to know if your Mr. Pak fed the poor little guy some a’ them illegal rubies.”

Rubies in Rio’s gut is not an appetizing thought. Especially in view of where they would’ve ended up. But I’m not ready to go down a path that might lead to some answers. Not yet. And not in front of Chief Clark and his shadow.

“Illegal?” I tell Aunt Weeby. “I’ve never known Mr. Pak to break the law. He’s always had documents of authentication for the stones he sells. Did you find anything in the bird?” “Not at that time,” Chief Clark says, a dot of red on each cheekbone. “But there’s no way of knowing what’s gone all the way through before I got to him.”