Maddie Cochere - Two Sisters and a Journalist 01 - Murder Under Construction by Maddie Cochere Page B

sweating.”
    I reluctantly stood on the machine. It faced the row of treadmills. Pepper started a slow walk on her machine, but she had a huge grin on her face as she watched me position the belt slightly under my butt. I flipped the switch and every bit of flab on my body started jiggling at the same time. It was a more violent shaking than I expected, and I wished my bra gave me additional support. Pepper started giggling uncontrollably.
    One of the three women on the treadmills stared at us and rolled her eyes. I didn’t know if she was rolling her eyes at me and my jiggling, or at Pepper and her laughing, or both. I restrained myself from saying something snarky to the woman and readjusted the belt across the biggest part of my butt. I leaned back again and allowed the machine to jiggle me from head to toe. I couldn’t imagine it was doing anything substantial, but it felt good in a strange way.
    “Ok. I’m jiggling,” I said. “How long do you think I should do this?”
    “More than sixty seconds,” Pepper said and upped the speed on her treadmill. “Just keep jiggling.”
    After five minutes, my butt felt numb. The trainer reached in from behind me and flipped the switch to turn the machine off. The tingling sensation continued in my butt, and my legs felt rubbery.
    “Hi ladies. I’m Suzy. Is this your first time here?”
    We acknowledged we were newbies and introduced ourselves.
    She placed her hand on the belt machine and said with a grin, “You won’t be using this one. It’s here to show what women used to have to endure as compared to the technology we have today.”
    Swell. Pepper had talked me into using an obsolete machine that did nothing other than allow everyone to laugh at me. I refused to show my embarrassment and said, “I kind of liked it.”
    Pepper guffawed.
    Suzy led the way to the new Platform Vibration Fitness machines. She demonstrated their use and left us alone to try them out while she helped another customer on the shaking table.
    I started by simply standing in the center of the platform. The shaking wasn’t nearly as intense as the heavy-duty belt machine, but I could immediately see how maintaining balance and doing some simple exercises on the platform would work muscles.
    Pepper started right off with some squats. “Wow, these machines are great. This is so easy.”
    “It’s better than I thought it would be,” I admitted. “I’m willing to give it a try. At least for a month.”
    Pepper tried most of the moves Suzy had shown us. When she sat down on the shaking platform, she bolted right back up. Her eyes were wide as she said, “That should be illegal.”
    I tried several more exercises on the platform before moving to a treadmill. I wanted to take a brisk walk before calling it quits for the evening. On our way out, Suzy gave each of us a welcome kit that included brochures about the equipment and suggestions for healthy eating.
    Pepper pulled out from behind the hospital and immediately drove to Chummy Burgers.
    I was floored. “What are you doing? We just worked out. You aren’t really going to get food are you?”
    “I’m dying of thirst. I need something to drink. And a French fry. I need some carbs to replace the ones I just used. You do know, don’t you, that Michael Phelps used to eat twelve thousand calories a day when he trained for the Olympics?”
    “He did not. That was a rumor.”
    “Well, he ate a lot. You have to eat after you work out. You have to fuel the fat burning.”
    I didn’t believe her. “Pepper, you’re killing me here.”
    She leaned her head out the window to yell into the speaker, “I want two chocolate shakes and two French fries.”
    “What are you doing tomorrow?” I asked her.
    “Nothing. Probably some laundry. Why?”
    “I want to go to some hair salons and look for whoever might have done Ruby’s nails.”
    “I can go, but I’ll have to bring Kelly along. Keith will be at a friend’s house for the day, and I