Free Crime Seen by Victoria Laurie

along, Abs.’’ He laughed. ‘‘Here,’’ he said, and put my toothbrush in my hand. ‘‘Don’t want to send you off to the gym with morning breath.’’
    Fifteen minutes later Dutch had dropped me at my car, which had been left at the lot of the grocery store, and was headed back home to take a long hot shower and wake up properly. The clock on my dashboard read five forty-five a.m. and I groaned at it as I swung out of the parking lot and headed to the gym, which was only a few blocks away.
    I made it there in time to see Candice’s car coming down the street from the opposite direction. She parked next to me and hopped out. ‘‘Morning, Abs!’’ she said happily. ‘‘Glad to see you actually made it.’’
    ‘‘Is everyone cheerful in the morning?’’ I groused. ‘‘It’s still officially nighttime until the sun comes up, you know.’’
    Candice yanked on my ponytail while she held the door of the gym open for me. We made our way to the counter, where she signed in and presented the clerk with a coupon for a free guest pass. ‘‘We’ll get you a membership after we work out,’’ she said and led the way to the locker rooms.
    The gym was surprisingly crowded for so early in the morning. ‘‘Where did all these people come from?’’ I asked as I put my keys and sweatshirt in a locker.
    ‘‘Some people would rather work out before work than after,’’ she said. ‘‘Come on, let’s find a treadmill before they’re all taken.’’
    ‘‘I thought we were going to skip the cardio,’’ I complained, slightly panicked that Candice would find it amusing to see how long I could run before collapsing. Little did she know it’d be about ten minutes.
    ‘‘I’m going to have you walk at a brisk pace for twenty minutes to warm you up. I also want you to increase your protein intake for the next several days. You’ll be craving the carbs, but just try and resist and stick with the protein as much as you can.’’
    ‘‘Right. I’ll order the meat lovers pizza,’’ I said, stepping doubtfully on the treadmill. Candice punched several buttons and I started walking. The pace was fine, and within a few minutes, I could feel the blood flow waking me up.
    ‘‘You okay?’’ Candice panted from the treadmill next to me. She was running at a really good clip and I felt like an idiot just walking next to her.
    I held up my thumb and hit one of the buttons, which picked up my own pace a little. Candice smiled and gave me a thumbs-up back. ‘‘That’s the spirit,’’ she said and we finished our time in silence.
    Next we headed over to a row of benches. I sat down and looked up at her expectantly. She took off her light sweatshirt and my mouth dropped at the lean muscles running up her arms and shoulders. ‘‘Damn, girl!’’ I said to her. ‘‘You look like that chick from Terminator II !’’
    Candice smiled and flexed her bicep. ‘‘We’ll get you here in six weeks,’’ she said. ‘‘You wait, Abs. I’m going to turn you into the bionic woman. Now, we’re going to do butterfly exercises first,’’ she said as she selected two dumbbells from a rack in front of us, then made her way over to the bench next to me and lay back on it. ‘‘The motion looks like this,’’ she said as she raised the dumbbells directly above her, then moved each out to the side and down, then back up in one fluid motion.
    ‘‘Looks easy enough,’’ I said, and lay back on the bench while Candice selected two dumbbells for me and came over to place them in my upraised hands. ‘‘Go slow, Abs, and let me know if they’re too much weight.’’
    I tested the dumbbell in my left hand a little. It felt just right. ‘‘No sweat, Candice. This is fine.’’ My hands separated as my arms brought the weights out, but just when my right hand had reached about a quarter of the way down, a sharp pain tore across my chest. I dropped the dumbbell from my left hand, which tilted me off balance,