Chapter 26 Aqua Jogging

 It was a somber group of women who gathered at the pool Monday morning for aqua jogging, one week after Pearl was found dead in the hot tub. Yesterday Louise had voiced the question I’d refused to consider. Was one of these women—my neighbors—capable of murder?

The police had removed the crime scene tape from the pool area. No visible reminders of the incident were left. Steam rose from the newly-sanitized hot tub, where Romy knelt beside the blurbling water to check the temperature. I couldn’t imagine that anyone would ever want to use it again.

Tiare, in a royal blue swimsuit with a thigh-length skirt, wore diamond stud earrings and a blue turban to hide her hair. Violet was dressed in a snakeskin-print one-piece. Large gold hoops hung from her ears, pink lipstick and Prada sunglasses completed the look. Mae had on her black Hydroskin outfit, with booties and webbed gloves that made her appear amphibian. Francesca wore men’s board shorts and a long-sleeved rash guard. Kaulana attempted to hide her figure under leggings and an oversized tee shirt. Once again, no one seemed to think the white panties Sylvie sported over her black one-piece were noteworthy. Esther, in a brightly flowered swimsuit, gave me a quick smile. No one else acknowledged my presence.

There was little conversation as Coralee handed out aqua jogging belts. I took one, thanked her, and snapped it around my waist. I got in line behind Francesca as everyone made their way single-file down the steps and into the pool.

It was a slow process. When my feet finally touched the water I let out a little yelp. I hadn’t expected it to be this icy. I forged ahead, but when the water reached my waist it, the cold literally took my breath away. I froze.

The women who were already in the pool shot me withering looks. Behind me, Tiare cleared her throat, clearly not entertained by my wimpiness. I was holding up the line.

“Two rows of four!” Coralee called out like a drill sergeant. “Come on, ladies, let’s move it!”

I bit back another squeal and pushed forward into the water.

Tiare, Violet, Mae, and Francesca formed a row across the pool, facing Coralee. Kaulana, Mae, Sylvie, and Esther splashed through the water to make a second row behind them. There wasn’t room for another body in either row. Nothing for me to do but move behind them and make a third row of one.

“Mornin’, Lillian,” Esther said quietly as I paddled past her.

“Good morning, Esther,” I said with a grateful smile.

“Okay, ladies!” Coralee shouted, much louder than necessary. “We’re going to warm up by jogging in place—let’s go!”

I was in water so deep my feet didn’t touch the bottom of the pool. Still, I jogged, suspended by my flotation belt.

Romy stood near the edge of the pool where he could oversee us, a large cup of coffee in hand, his typical impatient scowl across his face.

As Coralee led us through jumping jacks, lunges, and a variety of kicks, I warmed up enough to stop shivering. “One, two, three, four! Kick! Kick! Kick!

Above the vigorous splashing and Coralee’s demanding shouts, a long, roiling belch rang out.

Coralee fell quiet. All heads turned in Romy’s direction, where the noise had come from.

“What was that?” Coralee asked him.

Romy raised his coffee cup. “Starbucks,” he said without apology.

Tiare said, “Sounded more like Portuguese bean soup to me.”

Laughter broke out among the women and the  mood was lifted.

Coralee called out, “Come on, we gotta keep it moving, ladies! Deep water now for cross country skiing!”

The women made small talk as we paddled to the deep end of the pool and gathered in a loose circle. Romy moved closer.

I noticed Kaulana was still in the shallow end, clinging to the side of the pool. “Aren’t you coming, Kaulana?” I called to her.

She gave me a sweet smile but didn’t reply.

“She can’t wear her hearing aids in the pool,” Violet said.

Sylvie said, “She’s deaf as a post without ’em.”

“She’s afraid of deep water,” Mae added.

Coralee consulted her white plastic sports watch. “We’ll do one minute slow, one minute medium, one minute fast. Starting … now!”

I did my best to imitate her slow, steady tin-soldier-like motions under the water. This was definitely a full-body workout and I suspected I’d be sore tomorrow.

“That’s right, Lilith,” Coralee said.  “Straight arms and legs, just like you’re cross country skiing.”

Had she just called me Lilith? I looked at the others to see if anyone noticed. Tiare and Violet wore smirks.

“Big strides, everyone!” Coralee went on as if nothing had happened. Surely I’d misheard her, with all the splashing. She checked her watch. “Okay, let’s take it up a notch! Medium!”

After what felt like much more than a minute, Coralee peeked her watch again. “Now double-time! For one minute … go!”

My strength was flagging, but no one else seemed be having a hard time of it. I pushed on, not wanting to be the weakest among them.

“Help me!” Kaulana screamed. She thrashed on the water’s surface, a look of sheer panic on her face. That end of the pool was barely three feet deep, but Kaulana’s legs had floated up. Her arms flailed. “I’m drowning!”

“Kaulana needs help!” I yelled to no one in particular.

Romy, our self-appointed lifeguard, sauntered in  Kaulana’s direction. The rest of us paddled as hard and fast as we could toward the shallow end.

Romy got there first. He stood at the edge of the pool and bent over the water. “Kaulana. Put. Your. Feet. Down.” He said each word deliberately. He clearly had no plan to get in the water to rescue her.

Kaulana thrashed, her shouts for help growing more shrill.

“She’s deaf!” I yelled to Romy as I paddled with all my might toward Kaulana.

Romy took his eyes off Kaulana long enough to give me a no-kidding look.

My arms burned. It felt as if I was moving in slow motion through the water. “Hold on, Kaulana! Don’t panic. We’re coming.”

I was the first to reached Kaulana. I grabbed her from behind, under the arms, and moved her the short distance to the side of the pool.

Still floating on her back, her hand made contact with the concrete. Once she began to calm, I tried to push her legs down. Her fat was so buoyant I could do nothing toward getting her in an upright position.

Coralee was the next to reach Kaulana, followed closely by Francesca. Between the three of us, we managed to get Kaulana upright, her legs beneath her, her feet firmly on the bottom of the pool. One by one the others arrived, each of them comforting and calming her.

Romy’s face was expressionless, his Starbucks cup still gripped in one hand. He made no move to assist. In her panic Kaulana could’ve easily flipped face-down in the water and drowned before we reached her, while Romy stood by and watched. Granted she’d been in water shallow enough to stand in—but all of us knew all too well that was no guarantee against drowning.

I remembered Esther’s advice about playing along. Romy was in need of a good telling off, but it was best left to one of the long-time residents to put him in his place. The last thing I needed was to get on the wrong side of the resident manager.