Flowers for Her Grave

Chapter Seventeen

The women had not only set up their own steps, but Casey’s as well. This class didn’t seem to be afraid of her. In fact, the crowd was even bigger than the last time, with mostly retirement-age women filling the rows. These were the ones who had met her in the hallway the day before, the fat leader defiantly stating that Andrea was probably killed by Cubans. Or the Mafia. Or the Cuban Mafia. The women gazed at her now with no sign of timidity, but with intensity, as if they were trying to read her soul. She thanked them for setting up her step, plugged in some music, and got things going without saying anything beyond the necessary. She turned her back to them and watched in the mirrored wall as they put their minds to exercise instead of scandal.

Sissy was absent. She had attended this class on Casey’s first day, but Casey imagined she had a lot to prepare, with Andrea’s family coming, and all. She’d be going over paperwork, and talking with the police, and who knew what all legal matters the Flamingo was liable for. Casey didn’t want to even think about that.

But as Casey moved and encouraged and sweated, her brain was moving even faster about other things, such as her own predicament, and what had just happened in her office.

Why in the world would Binns come to her for information about people she barely knew? Did Binns really believe that first impressions stuff? Or was that just an excuse to study Casey at closer range? She obviously didn’t believe Casey was who she said she was. Why else would she have asked those pointed questions about her past? Just the implications of what that could mean made Casey stumble on her step. She righted herself, and forced herself to concentrate on what she was doing.

For a few minutes.

Maybe she should just leave. Throw away Daisy Gray and start over. She hated to do it, for a lot of reasons, but maybe it was the best option.

No.

If she took off now she’d not only have the Ohio cops after her, but the Florida ones, too. At least the Florida ones said they didn’t suspect her. And she wasn’t behind bars yet. She pounded the step as she jumped. Could nothing be easy? Did she not deserve even one week of peace?

Another thought struck her. Was there any way they’d be able to connect her fingerprints from the locker room with the murder of that thug in Ohio? Or her DNA? Oh, God, she hoped not. She couldn’t imagine it, but it was within the realm of possibility. She’d bled during that street fight, and knew she’d touched the car that had been sitting there. Had the forensic team been so thorough that her information was just sitting there in storage, waiting for them to connect the dots?

The music changed, and she realized it was time to cool down. She sent the women to their mats for a few minutes of abs work. The women grunted and groaned, and some simply collapsed onto their backs, completely done in.

“This is terrible,” one woman moaned. “Brandon never worked us this hard.”

Another one giggled. “Sure he did. And he worked some of us just as hard in other ways, too.”

A smattering of laughter flew through room. One woman stopped her sit-ups and rested on an elbow, looking across the sea of bodies. “Bernie could tell us about that, couldn’t you, Bern?”

Bernie, who apparently was the smallish, darkly-tanned, heavily dyed woman on the far left side of the room, didn’t answer, but closed her eyes and counted out loud as she crunched.

“Bernie knows more about Brandon’s work out sessions that any of the rest of us.” It was the smarmy woman talking now, the big one who had led the group yesterday in the hallway, her eyes flashing with eagerness at the excitement of it all. “I believe some of those sessions were held in Bernie’s condo, rather than here in the aerobics room. Weren’t they, Bernie?”

The poor woman’s dark tan was now a dark red, whether from embarrassment or exercise, or a combination of both, Casey wasn’t sure. Her breath was coming in gulps.

“Okay, ladies.” Casey clapped her hands. “A little more stretching, then you’re good to go.”

After the last deep breath holding their arms upward, the women broke formation. Bernie shot out of the room so fast Death made a show of dodging her, arms flailing.

“So, is there anything new about the investigation?”

Nasty Woman, again, peering eagerly at Casey.

Casey turned off the stereo and set her mic in its cubby. “What’s your name?”

“Vonnie.”

“Well, Vonnie, I’m not part of the investigation, so I wouldn’t know.”

Vonnie’s eyes narrowed. “I saw the cops taking you back to your office.”

“To talk. And when I say, ‘talk,’ that doesn’t mean they’re the ones doing the talking.”

Vonnie’s eyes lit up. “So you’re a suspect? Or they think you know something? Maybe you know something but don’t realize it.”

“I don’t. Know anything, that is.” That’s all Casey needed. To have someone coming after her because this stupid woman thought she knew more than she should. “So what happened with Bernie and Brandon?”

Vonnie tittered. “It was embarrassing, really. I mean, she’s so old. And she went after him like he’d actually want her.”

“But he did spend time with her?”

“Oh, sure. Brandon wasn’t one to turn down a willing woman.”

“Were there others?”

Vonnie guffawed this time. “Others? How about a dozen others? Brandon wasn’t exactly a one-woman man, although he somehow made them all think he was.”

Apparently Vonnie wasn’t one of them. Not that Casey could blame Brandon. Even a crook would want to stay away from this old windbag.

“Do you know who any of the others were?”

“A few.” She looked at Casey slyly. “Why do you want to know?”

Why did she want to know? It couldn’t have had anything to do with Andrea’s death, could it? Unless Brandon and Andrea had hooked up. But she couldn’t see it. Del had said Brandon went after the needy types. Andrea didn’t strike Casey at all as “needy.”

“Never mind. I don’t.”

“Uh-huh. You just watch you don’t go seducing the men here, now. Although who you’d want to go after, I sure wouldn’t know. They’re either too young, too old, or too gay. And not necessarily just one of those, either.”

Casey opened her mouth to object, then saw that Vonnie was smiling. “Right. I’ll do my best to keep my hands to myself.”

Vonnie laughed out loud. “You do that.” She gathered up her towel and water bottle. “And if you’re still wondering about Brandon’s women…you might want to check out some of the employees, as well as the residents. Seems they weren’t immune from his charms, as they’d like you to believe. Bye, now!”

Casey watched her go with a mixture of curiosity and revulsion. Vonnie was a mean gossip, but a spewing fount of information, as well.

“Sometimes I wish I could take them when I want to,” Death said, “instead of waiting for Ms. Big up there to decide.”

“Yeah, well, that one would be kind of heavy, if her soul matches her form.”

“Nah. Once they’re gone, they weigh as much as a butterfly. I carried that huge guy from The Princess Bride without any trouble at all.”

“André the Giant?”

“That’s him. He was a wrestler, wasn’t he? Ginormous. But enough about dead people. Clock’s ticking. Next client’s up in three minutes.”

Casey rolled her neck. “They do keep me hopping, don’t they?”

“It’s what you wanted, remember?”

She remembered. She’d been afraid she wouldn’t have enough to keep her brain occupied, otherwise. She hadn’t been counting on one of her new neighbors getting killed her first night on the job.

Her next client was waiting by the water cooler, bouncing on the balls of his feet and glancing around the room at the others already working out. He had to be at least eighty years old, and exuded more energy than Casey’s entire last class. He wore short, tight gym shorts and a tank top, exposing more of his skinny limbs than was necessarily attractive, and his head was entirely bald except for one patch of thin gray hair on the very top. Casey loved him immediately.

“You must be Marcus.”

He grabbed her hand and shook it vigorously. “Just so you know, I’m on a very strict exercise regime.”

“Really? Why don’t you hop on the treadmill and tell me all about it.”

“Oh, it won’t take that long. You see, I started a running program just yesterday, and I’ve only missed one day so far.” He cackled merrily, and slapped his thigh. “Got that off late night TV.”

Casey laughed and guided him toward the cardio equipment, glancing toward the free weights, in case the tall woman was back. She wasn’t.

“Oh, he’s a laugh and a half, this one,” Death said from the next treadmill over, where the speed was on the lowest possible setting.

“Well,” Casey said to Marcus, “let’s see if we can’t get you on a better schedule.”

“You betcha.” Marcus literally hopped on, as Casey had suggested, and turned the speed up to high.

Casey quickly adjusted it. “Let’s start out nice and easy, get you warmed up, okay? Now, what kind of exercise have you been doing lately? For real,” she added, as she spied the twinkle in his eye.

His shoulders slumped, and he leaned way over toward her, gripping the arms on the machine. “I haven’t actually been doing any. But there’s a cute lady, see, and I need to do something to get her attention.”

“Ah. Someone here?”

He glanced around fervently. “Not in this room, thank goodness. But she lives in my building. The Palm. I love her. She’d been seeing someone else for a while, but I think she’s free now. Free for me.”

“Okay. Let’s see what we can do to get you ready for her.”

Marcus giggled, and pushed his speed button again. Again, Casey reached over and turned it down. “Any kind of exercise you specifically like? Other than sex,” she said, when his eyes sparkled dangerously.

“Woman, you’re taking all the fun out of it.” But he was grinning as he said it.

Casey laughed. “Okay, come on, Marcus, let’s go.” She got him off the treadmill and over to the machines, where she herded him from place to place, dodging jokes and slaps on the back as he told them. At the end of the half hour, when she placed him on the treadmill, she was exhausted, but entertained. “So when are you going to ask this woman out?”

“Oh, not for a bit. She’s really busy these days, you see, with the murder and all.”

“Really? Why is that?”

“Because she’s in charge.”

“Of what? The investigation?” Marcus couldn’t be in love with Detective Binns. She was way more than even he could handle. Besides, she didn’t live in the Palm.

“No, silly. Our apartment complex.”

“You’re in love with Sissy?”

Marcus jumped, and smacked his hand over her mouth. “Quiet, now. Don’t need to go broadcasting my intentions to the entire world.”

“But…” All kinds of objections came to Casey’s mind, the main one being that Sissy was entirely too young for Marcus, and putting the two together would be almost too much giddiness to bear.

“Oh, come now,” Death said. “You’re really going to tell me that this cute, little old man doesn’t have what it takes to please Sissy? He’s got more going for him than most people I’ve seen.”

Death was right. “Sorry, Marcus. I’ll be quiet. And she’s a lovely woman. Very…colorful.”

Marcus sighed, his eyes drifting toward something in the unseen distance. “She lights up my world.”

“But…who was she seeing before? Someone here?”

Marcus’ face darkened. “She would never tell me. She was very secretive, and every time I’d ask she’d just say he was wonderful, and he made her feel like a woman, but that their relationship had to be kept a secret so the others wouldn’t get jealous.” He thumped his chest. “I could make her feel like a woman. I’d make her feel so much like a woman she wouldn’t know what to do with herself.”

“I believe you could.” Casey looked at Death, wondering if their minds were again working in tandem. “This other guy, do you know anything else about him?”

Marcus frowned. “He was young. Too young for her. She liked to brag about it.”

Casey had been afraid of that. “Okay, Marcus, enough about him. From what you say, that’s all over. Now we’ll get you in shape to take her on.”

He smiled. “That’s what I like to hear.”

“Now keep the speed down for today, you hear me? I’ll be checking.”

He sighed dramatically. “Yes, ma’am.”

Casey got him settled, then went to the door to wait for her next client.

And to wonder just how many people knew that Sissy had been one of Brandon’s adoring harem.