said. “I…” She took a deep breath, composing herself. “Richie, Richie Miller—he wasn’t the last one, but the one before that?—he was having some trouble keeping up.”
“He was old? Out of shape?”
“No, not at all. He was young. And cute. What I meant was he wasn’t up-to-date with fitness. He still thought we should do Richard Simmons tapes, and sit-ups the old-fashioned way. A sweetheart, really, everybody loved him, but…” She shook her head. “He had no idea what he was doing.”
“Why did Sissy hire him?”
“I can’t imagine. Except he was adorable. And friendly. Everybody liked him. The problem was that people kept getting injured, and he didn’t know how to deal with it. He eventually had to go.”
But Sissy hadn’t fired him, from what Del, the guy in the weight room, had said. “What happened?”
“Well, everybody thinks he took off, because one day he just didn’t show up for classes. What the residents don’t realize—and this is confidential, of course—is that Sissy gave him an ultimatum. He had to leave immediately or she’d sue him for every person who’d gotten hurt. She said she’d better never see his face again or he’d be sorry. So he left. No one’s heard from him since. It’s too bad, really.”
“Was it really all his fault people were getting hurt?”
“Of course not. But Sissy—well, people—needed to have someone to blame. Like I said, he wasn’t really qualified for the position, but he wasn’t a bad guy. Most of the people who got hurt were doing too much, and he wasn’t firm enough to rein them in. I wish…” She shook her head.
“What?”
“I wish I could have taught him a few things, but I wasn’t actually on staff until later. And even then…” She looked away. “Sissy makes it very clear I’m second best.”
Casey grimaced. She’d noticed Sissy was a little short with Laurie, but she’d hoped it was just the stress of hiring a new person. “So what about the next guy? Did he know what he was doing?”
Laurie went pink, and picked at her napkin. “Yes, he was…more equipped for dealing with the job.”
“Ooo,” Death said. “Equipped. I can guess what she means by that.”
Casey glared at Death, and turned a sympathetic eye toward Laurie. She’d obviously been burned by him one way or another.
Before Casey could ask anything else, the waitress set their plates in front of them and filled their water glasses. “Anything else you ladies need right now?”
Casey smiled up at her. “I think we’re good. Thank you.”
The waitress left, and Casey dug into her BLT, hoping she hadn’t set back her relationship with Laurie by asking too many questions.
Laurie picked up her sandwich, but held it above her plate without eating. “The last guy, his name was Brandon. Brandon Greer. He was…a lot more qualified than Richie. He had an actual personal training certificate, and an amazing résumé. He certainly knew what he was doing.”
In more ways than one, apparently.
“So what happened with him?”
Laurie set her sandwich down and rubbed her hands on her napkin. “He got a little too close to some of the women. Older ones. Widows. Turns out he was just a…just a con artist in disguise.”
“So Sissy fired him?”
Laurie nodded. “I—We never saw him again. Sissy told him to leave, and it was like he just vanished. He completely disappeared after he walked out the door. I mean, he’s nowhere.”
“Which means,” Death said, “that our dear Laurie here has looked for him.”
“I’m sorry,” Casey said. “It sounds like you miss him.”
Laurie’s head shot up. “I don’t. I don’t miss him. He was— I’m sorry, I have to go.”
“But—”
“Congratulations on the job. We’ll talk about water aerobics later, okay?” She grabbed her purse, threw a twenty onto the table, and hustled out the door.
“Well, that went well.” Death sat in Laurie’s chair and peered at her uneaten sandwich. “Wish I could eat this. You going to?”
“No, but I’ll take it back for her. She can eat it later, once she regains her appetite.” She took another bite of her own sandwich and chewed it slowly.
“Uh-oh,” Death said. “I see thinking going on.”
“I’m just wondering. You haven’t seen either of those guys, have you? Richie or Brandon?”
“You mean, like, are they dead? Not that I remember. And I would. Although Florida is one of my most frequent destinations. All the old people, you know. But my mind is like an especially efficient steel trap, and they’re not in it.”