sniffled some more, and tears leaked out from under her squeezed-shut eyes.
“Thank you, Doctor,” Casey said.
He gave a little bow and went back through the doors.
“Come on, Sissy, let’s get you back in a chair.” Casey led her to her seat, and Sissy balled her hands into fists. “Oh, I should never have—” She stopped and pressed her hand over her mouth.
“What?” Casey didn’t like the sound of whatever it was.
Sissy shook her head. “I can’t…I’m liable.”
“For what?”
Sissy hiccupped, and glanced at the cops. She lowered her voice. “The fitness floor hours are five AM to midnight. Andrea called me a couple weeks ago to ask if she could use the aerobics room during the night. She hadn’t been sleeping well, and found yoga and meditation helpful. Krystal had been joining her lately, too. I wouldn’t have allowed Krystal to use it on her own, of course, but the two of them seemed to enjoy doing that together. I didn’t see the…the harm in it. Andrea has never caused a problem. Oh, what have I done?”
The cops looked over as Sissy wailed, and Casey held up her hand to say she had it under control.
“Sensitive, isn’t she?” Death wore a surgeon’s scrubs now, and was filing a fingernail. The nametag on the breast pocket said Dr. Kevorkian. “So the two of them were in a restricted area, after hours. Hadn’t you just told their entire class not to put themselves in dangerous situations?”
“But they were together,” Casey said. “Not alone. And within the building it shouldn’t have been dangerous. Even if it had been only one of them.”
“On the phone just now Krystal said she went up to bed ahead of Andrea,” Sissy said. “Andrea wanted to do a little more of her yoga before going up.”
Casey glanced at Death. “So she didn’t take my advice.”
Sissy wailed again, and squeezed Casey’s thigh, her fingernails poking through Casey’s warm-ups.
Krystal burst into the waiting room, and the cops immediately stood at attention. The male one for obvious man reasons, and the female for even more obvious woman ones. Her hand crept to her baton, and Casey hoped she’d get her jealousy under control before something bad happened.
Death whistled. “Ain’t she something?”
Even this late at night, having been dragged out of bed, Krystal looked good. She wore a tank top and shorts, no make-up, and flip-flops. Her hair was mussed, and her face still had sleep lines, but that just gave her the seductive bedroom look her kind of woman can get away with.
“Where is she?” Krystal said.
“Oh, Krystal!” Sissy pulled herself from Casey’s arm and flung herself at Krystal. “It’s so awful. She just got out of surgery, but she’s still asleep, and they think she might die.”
Krystal looked at Casey over Sissy’s shoulder, her eyes wide, arms stiff at her sides.
“The doctor said they’ll know more by morning,” Casey said.
Krystal’s eyes closed briefly, then focused on Casey again. “How did you get here? Sissy’s car? Can you take her home?”
“I’d be glad to, except I can’t leave until I speak to the detective who’s checking out the fitness floor.”
Krystal paled. “So it really was there. I should never have left her.” She pushed Sissy away and turned to the cops. “Can one of you take Sissy home?”
“I’m fine,” Sissy said. “Really.” And then she burst into a fresh round of tears.
The cops looked at each other, and the female one shrugged. “I’ll take her. It’ll make things easier. Come on, ma’am. Let’s go.” She took Sissy’s elbow and guided her out of the waiting room, Sissy calling over her shoulder to “take care of Andrea,” and to “let her know when anything happened.”
Krystal stood in the middle of the room, arms hanging limply by her sides, her face haggard. “What happened?”
“We don’t know.”
“But you…you found her?”
“I went down to exercise. I couldn’t sleep.”
Krystal’s face crumpled, but she quickly got it under control. “Andrea couldn’t, either.”
“That’s what Sissy told me. Any idea why Andrea couldn’t sleep for the last couple weeks?”
Krystal shook her head, but didn’t say anything.
“She’s not going to tell you,” Death said. “She’s known you, what? Twenty hours?”
Death was right, of course. Krystal had no reason to trust her.
“Do you know…” Krystal said. “Was she assaulted? I mean, sexually?”
Casey thought back. Neither she nor Sissy had asked. “The doctor didn’t say anything. I’m hoping that means she wasn’t.”
Krystal let out a breath. “At least there’s that.”