Cream Puff Murder (Hannah Swensen, #11)(27)

Andrea glanced at her watch. It was the new high-impact resistant, waterproof, easy-read dial watch she’d bought for the express purpose of exercising. “He’s almost ten minutes late,” she announced.

“Maybe he’s not coming,” Loretta said in what Hannah thought was a hopeful tone. It was no secret that Loretta didn’t enjoy exercising.

“He’ll be here,” Immelda said. “Roger has a real sense of duty. He’d call to notify someone if he couldn’t come in.”

Vonnie looked worried. “I hope he’s all right. The roads were slippery this morning.”

“He’ll be fine,” Andrea reassured her. “He drives a Range Rover, and Bill says they’re the safest vehicle on the road.”

Babs Dubinski gave a little laugh. “That’s because Bill wants one. Marvin was in the dealership looking at a used one for Shirley and the kids, and Bill was there pricing the new models.”

Hannah glanced at Andrea. From her surprised expression it seemed that Bill hadn’t mentioned a word about wanting a new Range Rover.

“Somebody’s coming!” Vonnie said, glancing toward the door.

Hannah listened to the sound of footsteps. Someone was coming down the hall. Then the door to their exercise classroom opened, and Ronni Ward stepped in.

“Sorry about that,” she said, throwing her coat over the handlebars of a stationary bike and stepping up on the platform the instructors used so that the whole class could see and copy their movements.

“Where’s Roger?” Andrea recovered enough to ask.

“He’s in the hospital getting a cast on his arm. He was in an accident last night.”

Suddenly things clicked for Hannah. Mike had mentioned an accident involving Ronni’s ex-fiancé, Wade. And in class yesterday, Roger had told them that he taught fitness classes a couple of evenings a week at a gym in Elk River. He must have been talking about Wade’s gym, and that meant Roger was the injured passenger in Wade’s car.

“Let’s get started,” Ronni said, giving them all a perky smile that Hannah immediately labeled as phony. “I’ll be taking over this class for the next two months, and we’ll be doing things my way. I know Roger was pretty easygoing with you, but my goal is to get results.” She glanced around the room, and her gaze landed on Vonnie. “What are you doing here? You don’t need to lose weight.”

“I just wanted to shape up a little,” Vonnie said, and a blush rose to her cheeks.

Ronni referred to her clipboard. “You’re enrolled in three of Roger’s classes, and you have private sessions with him twice a week. I think I know what you’re after, but take it from me, you don’t stand a chance. Roger likes them a lot younger and a lot prettier.

“And here we have…” Ronni referred to her clipboard again. “Babs. You’re over fifty, aren’t you, Babs?”

“Well…yes.”

“Don’t you think Babs is pretty childish for somebody who’s got grown kids?”

Babs looked flustered. “I don’t know. I never thought about it. I’ve been Babs all my life.”

“It looks like you’ve been heavy all your life, too. Let’s get a few pounds off that stomach of yours. It looks like you’re hiding a ten pound rump roast under your shirt.”

Ronni referred to her clipboard again. “And here’s Immelda, the nun.”

“I’m not a nun. I’m the housekeeper for Father Coultas.”

“Nice of him to give you his black sweats. Maybe if you lose some weight and dress like a woman, you can be more than just his housekeeper.”

Ronni turned away, not a bit concerned about the expression of outrage on Immelda’s face, and zeroed in on Gail Hansen. “You’re getting pretty top heavy there, Gail,” she said. “If somebody shoved you forward, you’d bounce.

“And there’s the quilting ladies,” Ronni went on. “Didn’t Roger tell you that you’ll never lose weight if you go to Hal and Rose’s after class for pancakes and eggs with a side of sausage?”

Hannah glanced around the room. Those who hadn’t been bitten by Ronni’s sharp criticism looked nervous wondering if they’d be next. It was time to put a stop to this before someone really got hurt. Ronni turned to face Andrea, but before she could open her mouth, Hannah stepped in.

“Are you going to lead us through our exercises, or just insult us?” she asked.

“The cookie lady steps up to the plate!” Ronni gave a little laugh. “I wondered how long it would take for somebody to talk back. Get mad, ladies. Get mad and do something to improve your image. If I noticed how bad you look, so does everybody else. Now watch me, and let’s do some bends and stretches.”

Hannah bent and stretched with the rest of the class, and as she did, she watched her classmates. Vonnie was blinking back tears, Immelda still looked outraged, Gail was clearly humiliated, Trudi and Loretta were just beginning to get over their embarrassment, and Babs had her fists clenched so hard, the knuckles she undoubtedly wanted to slam into Ronni’s face were turning white.

“How to win friends and influence people,” Hannah said in an undertone to Andrea. “If she treats all her classes this way, I’m surprised someone hasn’t decked her.”