Girl Undercover 4 & 5: Ariel & Financial Devil (6 page)

I extended my hand and smiled. “I’m Jamie Richards. Nice to meet you.”

She shook it and returned my smile, telling me it was so nice to meet me too. If she knew who I was already, she did a great job of covering it up. The way her demeanor had changed as she’d detected me in the cafeteria suggested that she did. I realized it was the first time I’d seen her smile in person, and it was even more pleasant than the couple of times I’d seen her talking on TV where she smiled a lot. She had tied back her thick, shoulder-length hair in a low ponytail and her olive skin was smooth like a young woman's. The brown eyes were set wide apart, her lips on the thin side and the narrow nose elegant. Overall, she had an appealing face and aura about her.

Since Ariel had already done a fitness evaluation on Janine and taken good notes, I didn’t need to do one of my own but could refer to hers. Janine and I walked down to the third floor where we would work out, doing small talk about how horrible it was that Ariel had been strangled. The senator seemed a lot more genuinely upset about the incident in person than she had over the phone, making it hard to believe that she had shaken Ariel like a ragdoll, not to mention potentially murdered her.

I stole a glance of the woman’s hands and noted that, while nicely manicured with red-painted nails, they were strong, almost manly. I could easily see them strangle Ariel with the cord the medical examiner had stated had been used in the police report. When I trained her, I would give her hands a closer examination, look for chafing and marks that might have resulted from a fight. As far as I could tell, there were no bruises or marks on her wrists and lower arms suggesting that Ariel had tried to defend herself, scratched and grabbed at the hands and arms of the person assaulting her. According to forensics in the police report, the person had attacked from behind. So far, the only suspect the police had was Ian, whom they had taken in for questioning a couple of days ago. Except for the fact that he was the last person who’d been with her, there had been nothing to tie him to the murder, so they had to let him go.

We reached the third floor. “How about we do a light jog out on the track to warm up?” I suggested and indicated the track that was visible through the big windows. “It’s so nice out.”

“Sounds like a great idea,” she replied, so we went out there.

Other trainers were out there, working out with clients. I spotted Jonah and gave him a brief nod. I had to be careful not to be too friendly with him as he kept coming on to me, apparently determined for me to go out with him if he only tried hard enough.

Janine and I started running slowly around the track. When we had completed two laps, we went back inside where I took her to the functional training area. There I put her on a mat and told her to lie sideways with her knees pulled up and then to swing her top arm in a half circle, a dynamic stretch to improve movement in the thoracic spine. She didn’t really need more movement in that area, but having her do this enabled me to get a great view of her palms, hands and wrists by helping her to perform the move. The skin on her lower arms was as smooth and blemish free as the one on her face and neck. Of course, this woman was no dummy. In order to avoid any marks, she could have used gloves with long sleeves when attacking Ariel. I told her to stand up next and we went over to a seated row machine where I had her sit down.

“Did you and Ariel start to train last month?” I asked her as she finished the first set of rows.

“Yes, we only trained together a few times,” she replied. “I really enjoyed working out with her.” She sighed and shook her head. “It’s so sad what happened to her. I really hope they find out who did that to her. It’s such a senseless act.”

“I know. It’s terrible.” I pointed to a nearby cable machine. “Let’s go over there and do a set of chest presses.”

We walked over to the chest press machine and I adjusted the weight stack on it according to the notes Ariel had made.

“Do you think it could have been a jealous boyfriend?” Janine asked as she got in position. “I read about the incident in the newspaper and the authorities seem to believe it was a crime of passion.”

“I really don’t know,” I replied. “But I don’t think so. She didn’t have a boyfriend as far as I know. That’s why I introduced her to my client. She told me she thought he was hot and I thought he might feel the same way about her.”

“And did he?” Janine looked at me so sharply suddenly that, for the first time, I could believe she was capable of killing another person.

“Sure, she is a very attractive woman. Most guys would like her.”

Janine began doing the chest presses, using the cables. “Do you think he might have strangled her?”

“No. The cops took him in for questioning since he was the last person she was seen with. But they had to let him go. Except for him having no alibi for after they left the restaurant together, there’s absolutely nothing to suggest he had a reason to kill her. Apparently, the people at the restaurant corroborated his claim that they’d had a very nice dinner together.”

The senator finished her set of chest presses and we went back to the seated row machine.

“Does she have any enemies?” Janine asked as she took a seat on the machine.

“I’m not sure,” I replied and adjusted the weight stack that someone had changed. “I didn’t know her very well to be honest.”

The senator looked at me and gave me a small, enigmatic smile. “I’m sure it’ll turn out someone she rubbed the wrong way killed her. That’s usually the way it goes in life.”

***

I was still thinking about the weird smile the senator had given me long after we were done with the session. At the time, it had sent a chill through my spine it had been so devoid of any warmth, so very different from the general aura of conviviality the woman had radiated. She simply
must
have something to do with Ariel’s death. I believed this so strongly I had decided to give the NYPD an anonymous tip.

Using one of the phones at Nikkei, I called the Crimestoppers’ hotline and left a short message, telling them to check Senator Janine Eastwood for the murder of Ariel Rafaeli.

Surely, by the time we had our next session, Janine would have lots of fascinating information to tell me about the NYPD. If my gut was correct, maybe I wouldn’t even have to train her again as she would have been arrested.

However, until this actually happened, to save time, I should try to find out if there were other potential suspects. Given the general lack of sadness over Ariel’s murder among the club’s employees, it sure was possible that she’d rubbed people the wrong way in much the same manner she used to do. The indifference to her death was truly astounding, not to mention sad. There had been more upset faces among the staff when one of the trainers, a cocky young male from Puerto Rico, had been found beaten to death with dumbbells after once rubbing Felipe Cardoza the wrong way. That trainer hadn’t been particularly popular either. I would begin by asking around among the trainers at the club—the new ones, not the old. Several of them knew Ariel better than me. At least the current version of Ariel. Being on a floor shift was the ideal time to talk to people.

Spotting a couple of the trainers, two gorgeous, skinny blondes, working out together on the fifth floor, I walked up to them. One of them—Christie—turned toward me, in the middle of doing lunges.

“Hey, Jamie, how’s it going?” she said, giving me one of her trademark high wattage smiles.

“I’m good,” I said and returned her smile. “You guys are working out hard!”

“Not as hard as you,” the other blonde—Nicki—said. She was stepping up and down a bench, her doll pretty face flushed while her high ponytail bounced with each step.

“Ha, yeah, that might be true,” I replied and grinned mischievously. “I’m kind of a masochist…”

Christie giggled. “Ah, that explains it.”

“It’s terrible what happened to Ariel, isn’t it?” I asked, arranging my face into a more serious expression. “I can’t believe why anyone would ever want to do such a thing to her.”

Christie gazed at me calmly, no longer smiling either. “I can.”

“Me too,” Nicki said and picked up a pair of dumbbells from a weight rack nearby. “I know it sounds terrible, but she was not a very nice person. I’m sure she had quite a few enemies.”

I made myself look surprised. “Really? I thought she was kinda nice.”

“Yeah, I saw that the two of you worked out together one day,” Christie said. She rolled her strikingly blue eyes in a cynical manner. “She must have wanted something from you.”

“I don’t think so,” I said. “I know she came off as cold and was pretty unfriendly, but when you got to know her, she was actually quite sweet.”

“Really?” Nicki said, looking incredulous. “That’s hard to believe. Then again, she never tried to become friends with anyone. She always kept to herself. But the few times I did interact with her, she was never very nice. She couldn’t even make herself say hi when we rode the elevator together.” She huffed with disgust.

“She was probably just in her own world,” I said. “I mean, if she was not a nice person, how could she have so many clients?”

Nicki shrugged shapely shoulders. “Not sure. I think she was nice to them since they paid her. Plus, she was a very, very good trainer. That counts for a lot.”

“It sure does,” I replied. “Do you know if she had any enemies here? Maybe we can help the police catch her killer. That would be the right thing to do even if she wasn’t the nicest person in the world, right?”

“Other than being unpleasant, I can’t think of anyone who was her actual enemy,” Christie said.

“Not me either,” Nicki said. “That’s what I told the cops who were here yesterday asking about it.”

“They were here yesterday?” I asked. “Must have been when I was outside during my break. I didn’t see any cops.” Any time I could reinforce the fact that I was not a detective myself, I’d do it. Acting like I’d think cops in uniforms would investigate a murder, not plain-clothes detectives, would do the trick beautifully.

“They were dressed in suits,” Nicki confirmed. “They were here around one. Were you on your break then?”

“Yeah,” I said truthfully as, in fact, I had been on break then. I looked at Christie. “Did you speak to the cops too?”

“No, I was training someone. I think they only spoke to some of the trainers and members. And management.”

“They weren’t here that long,” Nicki said. “Maybe she pissed off one of her clients. I could see her doing something like that.”

Christie nodded emphatically. “Yeah, me too.”

“Did you tell the cops that?” I asked Nicki.

“No, because I only thought of it just now.” She looked uncertain. “Should I call them and tell them?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “Maybe.”

“I’m sure they already have a list of all her clients,” Christie inserted.

I had to agree with her; if I was the detective assigned Ariel’s case, I would definitely check with all her clients to find out if there had been any tension there. But who knew with the NYPD? So far, I wasn’t very impressed with what I had seen in the police reports.

Nicki shrugged. “I guess so.”

“I never saw her having any arguments with her clients,” I lied as I had seen her have at least one with Janine, but I wanted to see what Christie and Nicki had to say about it.

“I don’t think so either…” Christie began. But before she could continue, her eyes widened. “No, wait, she
did
. She had a fight with a male client just when I was hired at the club. And he got kicked out.”

“That must have been before my time,” Nicki said.

I looked at Christie. “What exactly happened?”

“She accused him of stalking her,” she explained. “And I think she had proof that he actually did…” She nodded to herself. “Yes, she did. He seemed pretty psycho. He came up to her and yelled nasty things when she was training someone and had to be escorted out of the club. It was crazy.”

“How long ago was that?” I asked.

“Maybe a year ago. I can totally see him wanting to kill her as furious as he was.”

“She never mentioned him doing something else to her after he was kicked out?” I asked her.

Christie smiled. “I have absolutely no idea. Remember, it wasn’t like she ever talked much to anyone. If anyone would know about it, it would be Rolf.”

“Right.” I shook my head. “Well, I got to know her a little bit. I feel so bad for her. No one deserves to be killed like that.”

“That’s true,” Nicki said. She bent forward and began doing pushups on the floor. It seemed at least she was done with this conversation and wanted to get on with her workout.

“Well, I should get going,” I said. “Weights are waiting to be re-racked and towels to be picked up and thrown into the laundry basket,” I added with sarcasm. “See you girls later.”

I waved and walked down to the fourth floor. On my way I did pick up a few dirty towels people had just left on machines or dumped directly on the floor. But instead of walking toward the cardio area where there were always plenty of members I could chitchat with, I headed toward Rolf’s office. I wanted to see what he had to say about Ariel’s murder.

Before entering, I peeked through the glass door to his office to see if he was in there alone. He was, so I entered. He looked up from the computer screen and gave me a hurried smile.

“Hello, Jamie, what can I do for you?”

“I just wanted to come by and say how sorry I am for what happened to Ariel. It’s terrible! I
so
hope they’ll catch the person who did it. I heard on the news that they have yet to arrest someone. I’m so relieved my client was cleared or I would have felt so guilty.”

Rolf’s bold brown eyes gleamed with an emotion I couldn’t determine. “That was your client she went out with?”

“Yeah, I introduced them since Ariel thought he was really hot. The feeling was mutual, so he asked her out.”

Rolf nodded. “I see.”

I exhaled. “Yeah, thank God they let him go. Do you think that guy she had thrown out from the club last year did it? The one who stalked her?”