“Unless a handful of classes a decade ago count, then yes.”
“I remember my first time. I felt like they were trying to make me bend like a pretzel when I was more of a stale baguette. But now look at me. I can’t imagine life without my weekly yoga.” The woman twisted herself into exactly what she’d just described—a pretzel.
How did one get that flexible? Was it just yoga? Part of it had to be genetics, right? One class a week surely wouldn’t get Polly into those positions.
“I’m Nancy, by the way.”
Polly’s gaze shot back to the woman’s face.Thiswas Nancy.Thiswas the woman she’d come here to talk to! And the heavens and Earth had aligned to sit her beside the lady.
The next ten minutes were torture. Not because of the yoga—that was all stretching and actually felt good. But because she had to impatiently wait to talk to Nancy.
Questions skittered through Polly’s brain, all involving Jenna.
The second the lady at the front ended the session, Polly turned to the woman beside her. “Sorry, I forgot to introduce myself, I’m Polly.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Polly. Did you enjoy the class?”
“I did. I think I might come back again. I’m inspired.”
The woman grinned. “That’s great. What inspired you to come to this session?”
She cleared her throat, choosing her next words carefully. “Actually, it was Jenna.”
Nancy paused. “You knew Jenna?”
“She was a customer of mine. She used to talk about how much she loved this class, so I wanted to finally try it. In her memory.” A small white lie.
“You own Bloom?” Nancy’s mouth tilted down. “Jenna was always telling me to go. She would rave about your coffee. She was my best friend.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“Thank you. I still can’t believe she’s gone.”
“When was the last time you spoke to her?”
“Well, if you count texting, then…that morning.”
The fine hairs on Polly’s arms stood on end. “Did she say anything? Sorry, I don’t mean to pry, I just…I saw her that morning. She was really pale when she left Bloom, and I…I haven’t been able to get it out of my head.”
Nancy swallowed as she rolled up her mat. “Actually, it was strange. She texted that she was going to be late to work. I work at her pharmacy. She’sneverlate for work.”
“Do you know where she went?”
“I could barely make sense of her messages. She said there was something important she needed to look into, and she was just running up the hill. I had no idea what hill she was talking about and when I asked, she never texted back. Then she was found in the river.”
The hill? The Connoway mansion was on a hill. And there’d been a photo of it on that phone.AndPolly had specifically mentioned it to Maggie that morning.
“I thought she was meeting…”
Polly forced her attention back to Nancy. “You thought she was meeting who?”
“These last few months, I got the feeling she was seeing someone. Although she always denied it.”
“What made you think that?”
“She was on her phone more than usual. Disappeared straight after work without telling me where she was going and wore a bit more makeup.”
“Did you tell Ward?”
