and get back to their world of banking, which is all they talked about when they chose to open their mouths. And which reminded Casey that Andrea had worked at a bank, along with Krystal, and who knew how many other Flamingo residents. Casey wasn’t convinced she wanted to open a bank account, since she would probably be headed out of town as soon as the investigation closed, but it might be interesting to see where Andrea had worked, and who she worked with.
She stuck the second client on the treadmill for his twenty-minute workout and ran down to the office, hoping Maria would be in. She wasn’t, but Sissy spied Casey from her office door. “Can I help you with something, Daisy? Didn’t she find you?”
“Who?”
“Detective Binns. I sent her up to the weight room.”
“Must have just missed her. I’ll go back up in a minute. But I’m wondering where the key might be for the desk in the training room. The lower drawer is locked, and I’d like to use it.”
“It’s not in the top desk drawer?”
“I looked everywhere in the office, and I can’t find it.”
Sissy frowned. “I haven’t seen it. When Maria gets back I’ll ask her, okay?”
“Thanks.” Casey ran back up the stairs and found Detective Binns waiting by the water cooler. Unfortunately, Officer Gomez was also with her, making Casey’s insides turn to jelly. Casey told herself not to be ridiculous, and greeted them. “What can I do for you? I already stopped by and signed my statement.”
“Yes, thank you.” Binns smiled. “You got a few minutes?”
Casey glanced at the clock. “Let me tell my client, and we can head back to my office.”
Casey gave her guy a few last instructions, then led Binns and Gomez out of the weight room. “You’ll have to go in that way,” Casey said to Gomez, pointing at the Men’s locker room door. “Don’t want to surprise anybody who might be changing in the ladies room.”
Gomez blushed lightly. “Yes, ma’am.”
Binns followed Casey through the other way, and met Gomez at the second office door.
“You getting settled in here, then?” Binns asked, looking around the room. She pulled up a seat, and Casey sat in her desk chair. Gomez leaned against the examination table, notebook out and ready. Casey couldn’t help but notice that he looked like he spent his fair share of time in the gym, the way his shirt stretched across his chest.
“Actually,” Casey said, trying to focus, “I’ve hardly hung out in here. I’m not planning on getting too comfortable.”
“Yes, we heard about the petition. But from what Mrs. Williams says, it’s not gathering a whole lot of support.”
“We’ll see. But I can’t imagine you really came to talk about that.”
“No.” Binns crossed her legs and sat back, like she was getting ready to stay a while. “I want your impressions of some of the people here.”
“Mine? I hardly know them.”
“Exactly. Sometimes first impressions are better than long acquaintance when it comes to figuring out a crime.”
Casey didn’t like it. Who was she to be talking about these people? What could two day’s interaction really tell her? The last thing she wanted was to send the cops after an innocent person who just happened to give Casey the wrong impression. Actually, no. The last thing she wanted was for Andrea’s killer to get away with it. She’d have to help. “Okay, I can try, I guess. Who are you interested in?”
“Let’s go ahead and start with Ms. Patterson.”
“Who?”
“Krystal, Andrea’s friend.”
“Oh. Well, you know her basic thing. She’s all about reeling in the men.”
“We figured that out pretty quickly.”
Gomez made a quiet sound of disgust.
“But now I think about it,” Casey said, “I can’t help but assume it’s not all real.”
“She’s had surgery?”
“No, I don’t mean that. I have no idea if her body’s all real or not. I mean the whole sex goddess persona. She and Andrea were friends. Good friends, from the little I saw. They were very easy with each other, and Andrea wasn’t afraid to scold Krystal when she made suggestive comments.”
“Why would that make you think the sex thing is an act?”
“Not entirely an act. I mean…” She had a sudden vision of Krystal and Dylan stumbling into her office the night before. “Krystal and Andrea joked about it. It just felt like…like Krystal didn’t take it very seriously. And the two of them did speak some about work, and how they felt the women were still kept under the men’s thumbs