Cheryl Coombs, who ran the cosmetic counter at Cost-Mart, had another goal in mind. She’d lost weight recently, and now she was attempting to tighten and tone up. Her daughter, Amber, was also in the class. Hannah wasn’t sure if it was a mother-daughter project, or Cheryl just wanted to keep an eye on Amber to make sure she didn’t run off to meet her boyfriend, Richie Maschler, before school started.

Vonnie Blair, Doc Knight’s secretary, was a perfect size five. She wasn’t interested in losing weight or toning up her muscles. Vonnie was interested in Roger, their fitness coach.

Gail Hansen, on the other hand, was a forty-year-old woman with a purpose. Always buxom, even as a young teenager, she was now engaged in a pitched battle to keep certain parts of her anatomy from engaging in a downhill race toward her waist.

Immelda Giese, Father Coultas’s housekeeper, had admitted to Andrea that she was there for the company. Father was so busy he didn’t have much time to talk, and Immelda was a gregarious person. She wore a solid black sweat suit as a concession to her employer’s occupation, and talked to her neighbor, Babs Dubinski, during the entire class.

Babs readily admitted that she was there to lose weight, no ifs, ands, or buts about it. She said she needed to keep up with her grandchildren and she couldn’t play softball in the park with them if she didn’t get in shape.

The last two members of the class were Loretta Richardson and Trudi Schuman. They were practically inseparable. They’d been best friends in high school, settled in houses across the street from each other when they were married, and helped to raise each other’s children. Trudi had three boys, and Loretta had three girls, but so far the kids hadn’t gotten together in any meaningful way. They’d opened a store together right across the street from Hal and Rose’s Cafe. It was called Trudi’s Fabrics because Trudi’s husband had put up most of the money. Loretta needed to tone up more than Trudi, but they drove out to class together, showered and dressed for work when it was over, went into town to have breakfast at the cafe, and then opened the shop at nine.

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.”