“No way. If we skip, she’s won. And I won’t give her the satisfaction. Just get our drinks and go relax by the pool. I’ll join you as soon as I finish.”

Hannah headed off at a fast clip before her sister changed her mind and thought of other exercises that she should do. Since no one was manning the counter at the Snack Shack, the large area with a fountain in the center surrounded by scores of round tables for eating, drinking and socializing, she fed quarters into a vending machine to get a bottle of zero-carb, zero-calorie strawberry-flavored water for Andrea and a bottle of zero-carb, zero-calorie peach-flavored water for herself. Then she headed down the red-carpeted hallway to the Aqua Therapy room.

The scent of chlorine rolled out to greet her as Hannah opened the door to the area containing the pool and the Jacuzzi. There was the stale odor of sweat in the air, and despite the antiperspirant she’d slathered on earlier, Hannah suspected that she might be contributing to the aroma. Whatever the cause, it was certain that the plug-in room fresheners, specifically designed to mask unpleasant odors, failed to triumph over the potent mix.

The pool looked inviting, with wooden deck chairs arranged in patterns at the shallow end and potted trees dotting the periphery. Hannah removed her shoes and socks and took a seat on the concrete lip of the pool so that she could dangle her feet in the water. They were sore after her trek on the motorized belt of the Walk to Nowhere machine. The pool heater had just kicked in. The pool wouldn’t reach the proper temperature until Aqua Therapy classes started at noon, but that didn’t matter to Hannah. The cold felt good. She opened her bottle of water, took a sip, and sat there feeling righteous about finishing her workout.

Her drink was slightly fizzy, and it tasted a little like peach. Hannah supposed that was all one could ask of a product that was less than a dollar fifty and had no carbohydrates or calories. She sat there for at least five minutes, trying to figure out how the manufacturer could make something taste like peach without actually using peach, but then she realized that her toes had stopped tingling and were numb from the cold.

It was time to warm up. Hannah grabbed her towel and headed to the Jacuzzi to thaw her icy feet, but the first thing she saw when she climbed up the steps to enter the latticework gazebo was something that stopped her cold. There was a red-colored smear on the floor that looked a lot like blood.