慙et抯 start by greeting the dawn,?says Cathbad.
慉re you saying that these women died because of slimming??says Nelson. He says the word like it抯 the most outlandish activity known to humankind.
慖抦 saying it抯 a link,?says Judy patiently. 慖抦 been checking, and Samantha Wilson, Avril Flowers and Karen Head all attended Lean Zone meetings. Maggie O扚lynn too, Avril抯 friend who died. Samantha and Karen were even in the same group.?
慙ean Zone,?says Nelson. 慣hat rings a bell.?
慏oes it??says Judy, surprised. She can抰 imagine that Michelle has ever attended a weight loss group in her life.
慖t might be worth checking,?says Nelson. 慖t抯 the first definite connection, any road.?
慖抳e got numbers for the consultants who run the meetings,?says Judy. She looks at her notes. 慗acquie Maitland and Barb Blakeborough. I抣l give them a ring later. At the very least they抣l give us some more background information.?
慣hat抣l be something,?says Nelson. 慖 suppose we抮e no nearer to tracing the person whose prints were on Avril抯 bedroom door??
慛o,?says Judy. 慣here抯 no CCTV that we can find, and Tanya didn抰 get anything from the door-to-door.?
There抯 a brief silence during which Judy抯 phone pings. She glances at it and laughs. 慙ook!?She shows the picture to Nelson. 慍athbad抯 taken a screen shot of his yoga session.?Ruth and Kate are in their garden, both in the lunging pose Judy recognises as warrior one. From the other side of the fence another woman is joining in, laughing as she raises her hands above her head.
Judy thought that Nelson would laugh too but he says, rather dourly, 慣hat bloody next-door neighbour gets in on everything.?
How does Nelson know about Ruth抯 next-door neighbour? thinks Judy. She looks more closely at the picture and, from somewhere, comes a tiny twinge of recognition. And disquiet.
Chapter 21
That tiny chord of ?memory? unease? ?continues to play in Judy抯 head as she returns to the empty incident room to telephone Jacquie Maitland and Barb Blakeborough. Both women have, very conveniently, included their mobile phone numbers on the Facebook page about group meetings.
慖s this a convenient time??says Judy.
慖t抯 fine,?says Jacquie, who has a pleasant, slightly husky, voice. 慖t抯 not as if I抦 doing anything else.?
慖s Lean Zone still going on in lockdown??
慦ell, we obviously can抰 have meetings,?says Jacquie. 慦e抳e offered online meetings or Zoom but who wants to be weighed in a Zoom meeting??
慖s that what happens??asks Judy.
慪es,?says Jacquie. 慪ou get weighed at the start of the meeting. Some women ?some members ?go home after that but most stay for my talk.?She laughs. 慖 can抰 think why because I always say the same thing.?
慉s I said in my text,?says Judy, 慖抎 like to ask you about Samantha Wilson and Karen Head. I believe they both used to come to your group??
慖抳e looked through my records,?says Jacquie. 慘aren only came to a few meetings in early 2019. Samantha was a regular. I was really sorry when I heard what happened to her.?
She sounds sorry too. Judy also thinks she detects an intake of smoke. Has Jacquie replaced eating with smoking?
慦hen did you last see Samantha??asks Judy.
慖 think it was the week before . . . it happened. She came to the meeting as usual. She抎 maintained that week, but she didn抰 seem too down about it.?
慚aintained??
慡tayed the same weight. That happens sometimes. It抯 dispiriting but it抯 not as bad as gaining.?
Nothing抯 as bad as that, she seems to imply.
慦as Samantha friendly with anyone else in the group??