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.”