was assaulted, and died. Andrea Parker. No one else was hurt, and no one else is in the hospital.”
“But that friend of hers isn’t here. Krystal. And we haven’t seen Sissy. And you were at the hospital.”
The mixture of eagerness and curiosity on the woman’s face made Casey’s stomach turn. This woman wasn’t so much worried about safety as she was about landing a juicy scandal. “Krystal and Sissy are probably both still in bed. It was a late night. All of us were at the hospital, but just because of Andrea. None of the rest of us were with her when it happened.”
She said all that as fact, but she didn’t really know that, did she? Krystal had said she’d left Andrea alone, but what if she hadn’t? What if she was there when the person broke in? What if she’d had something to do with it?
Casey shook her head. That was just stupid. Krystal wouldn’t have hurt her friend. And the cameras would have caught two people on tape in the hallway if she’d been there, instead of just the one blurred image. Unless that one person was Krystal.
Casey wasn’t seeing it.
The women were asking her something else now, the gossipy woman’s fingernails again digging into Casey’s arm. Casey shrugged off the woman’s hand when she realized what they were asking.
“Of course I didn’t do it,” Casey said. “And the cops know that.”
“But how do they know?” the fat woman said, her chins flapping. “They don’t know everything. You could be working for…for the mafia.”
“What? And Andrea was connected to them?”
“You never know anymore, with all these Cubans coming over, and illegal aliens, and communists—”
“Andrea wasn’t Cuban.”
“But she could’ve known some Cubans.”
“Everybody in this part of Florida knows Cubans.” Casey took a deep breath, praying she wouldn’t kill this woman without being aware of what she was doing in her sleep-deprived state. “I don’t know when classes will resume, ladies. We’ll be in touch, okay?”
“All classes are canceled for today.” Maria Mendez, the administrative assistant, strode toward the door with a sign. It said simply, “All classes canceled,” along with the date. “As soon as the police are finished with the room we can get back to our regular schedule. Probably tomorrow.”
“But I need my workout,” the pudgy woman said.
“So go run around the block. Or maybe walk. You’ve got legs.”
Casey was surprised at the tone of Maria’s voice, but the women responded to the sound of authority, and stopped asking questions. They sniffled and fidgeted, gradually moving away.
“You okay?” Casey asked Maria when the women were out of earshot.
“What do you think?” Maria’s eyes looked just the slightest bit wild, and her usually perfect hair was lopsided. “It was my key. My key was used to get to Andrea. How will I ever be okay?”
“If it hadn’t been yours, they would’ve found another. It’s not your fault.”
“Easy for you to say.” She hiccupped, then closed her eyes briefly. “I’m sorry. I know you found her. That wouldn’t have been easy at all.”
“No. It wasn’t.”
“And half the residents think you did it.”
“I know. Do you think so?”
Maria shrugged. “How do I know? You could be anybody. A killer. A thief. Or even a woman who was in the wrong place at a very wrong time. The cops say it wasn’t you.”
“Do you believe them?”
“When do I ever believe cops?”
With that, she turned and walked away.
When she was gone, Casey realized there was still one person left in the hallway. Laurie, the other fitness teacher, sat with her back against the wall, knees pulled up to her chest. Her face was white, and she stared at the carpet.
Casey squatted next to her. “Laurie?”
She took a shuddering breath. “So Andrea’s really dead.”
“Yes.”
Laurie’s mouth worked, and she turned her head to look back down the hallway. “Do they know who did it? Did she tell the cops?”
“No, she didn’t.” She’d used her last breaths to tell them Casey hadn’t done it. While Casey was grateful for that, she wished Andrea would have named her assailant. But perhaps she didn’t because she didn’t know who it was. Had she even seen the face of her killer? Or had she been surprised? Or was her brain too addled by that point to even remember what had happened? She’d told Casey she wasn’t able to run. Was that because she was in the confined area of the shower, or because she’d been hit so hard she was unable to move? When Casey had found