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contemptuous when lesbianism was mentioned.
    “No. I’m going to finish here now.”
    Darcy smiled again, even more uncertainly, though I’d been as civil as I was able. He couldn’t seem to believe that any woman wouldn’t want to date; specifically, date him. But after a moment of waiting for me to take back my dismissal, he stalked over to the Roman chair, his narrow lips pressed together firmly in anger.
    As I moved the pin to one hundred twenty pounds, once again I wondered whom Del might have asked to spot for him. Del would have trusted anyone in the room. Even Janet and I were just about strong enough to help him with some of the lower (but still formidable) weights that Del used for his bodybuilding. Janet was nearly as strong as I in the chest and arms, and had an edge on me in the legs since she taught two aerobics classes a day in addition to working at the Kids’ Clubs, which provided community-sponsored after-school care for kids.
    After I finished my calf workout, I drifted over to Janet, who was doing abdominal crunches. Sweat had darkened her short brown hair to a black fringe around her square little face.
    “One hundred ten,” she gasped, as I stood over her. I nodded, and waited.
    “One twenty-five,” she said after a moment, relaxing in a heap. Her eyes shut.
    “Janet,” I said, after a respectful moment of silence.
    “Umm?”
    “Del ever ask you to spot for him?”
    Janet’s brown eyes flew open. They fixed on my face with some amusement. “Him? He didn’t think a woman could carry her own groceries, much less spot for him.”
    “He’d seen female bodybuilders at those competitions. For that matter, he’d watched us work out many a morning.”
    Janet made a rude noise. “Yeah, but we’re freaks to him,” she said, resentment in her voice. “Well, we were,” she amended, more neutrally. “He judged all women by that Lindy he went with, and Lindy couldn’t cut a ham without an electric knife.”
    I laughed.
    Janet looked up at me with some surprise. “That’s good to hear, you laughing. You don’t do that too much,” she observed.
    I shrugged.
    “Now that you’re over here,” she said, sitting up and patting her face with her towel, “I’ve been wanting to ask you something.”
    I sat on the closest bench and waited.
    “Are you and Marshall a locked-in thing?”
    I’d been expecting Janet to ask me to spot her, or to go over the fine points of the latest kata we’d learned in karate class.
    Everyone wanted to know about my love life today.
    I kind of liked Janet, so answering her would be harder than answering Darcy. Saying no meant Marshall was open game for any woman who wanted a shot at him; I was abdicating all claim to him. Saying yes committed me to Marshall for the foreseeable future.
    “No,” I said, and went to do my last set.
    On her way to the changing room, Janet stopped. “Are you mad at me?” she asked.
    I was a little surprised. “No,” I said.
    But I was really surprised when Janet laughed.
    “Oh, Lily,” she said, shaking her head from side to side. “You’re so weird.” She said that as if being “weird” was a cute little personality quirk of mine, like insisting my panties match my shoes or always wearing green on Mondays.
    I left Body Time, vaguely dissatisfied with my workout session. I’d had my first personal conversation with Darcy Orchard, and I hoped it would be my last. I had confirmed that Janet Shook lusted after Marshall Sedaka; not exactly stop-the-press news. I had confirmed that Del almost certainly wouldn’t have asked a woman to spot for him. And I’d found out that Raphael felt he was getting a cold reception at a business he’d paid to patronize.
    As I drove home, I tried to trace the reason for my dissatisfaction. Why did I think I should have gotten more out of the morning than a good workout? After all, it was as little my business what had happened in Body Time the night Del died as it was Janet’s business