Free Fat Cat Takes the Cake by Janet Cantrell

been doing your favorite thing, buying a pair of shoes.”
    â€œOnly one pair? I never buy just one.”
    â€œWell, I know, but I never buy two.”
    â€œRight. Okay, spill, what kind, what color? Where did you go?”
    â€œThey’re mostly white, with some blue—”
    â€œYou bought tennis shoes! You’re bragging about buying tennis shoes?”
    So Julie thought as much of her purchase as Anna must have, obviously. Chase still had to buy her wedding shoes, too. She hadn’t seen a thing she liked today. “Yes, I bought shoes for work. My other pair is falling apart. Now, what did you call me about?”
    â€œOoh, I have a scoop. I think. One of the other lawyers was talking to me in the break room about an older man who is in the process of getting his real estate license. I didn’t paymuch attention until he said the man is a high school principal, and has been forever.”
    â€œMr. Snelson?” Chase toed off her old sneakers and curled up in the corner of her leather couch—her one splurge when she’d been furnishing the apartment. After Quincy inspected the new bag with the shoebox inside, he joined her and got a head scratch for his efforts.
    â€œMr. Van Snelson! None other. Yes, he even knew his name. Our principal is going to quit his job as soon as he qualifies, evidently. My colleague knows the woman who teaches the class he’s taking. Mr. Snelson has told the teacher that he wants to keep it quiet until he’s ready to make the change.”
    â€œOh, so the teacher tells your lawyer friend, who tells you, who tells me. So much for keeping it quiet.”
    â€œHow does he think no one is going to find out? It’s not illegal to say who your students are. So far, though, that’s only four people.”
    â€œSo far. What a strange thing for him to do, don’t you think? Go into real estate?”
    â€œEh, I don’t know. He’s been at that school for ages, but I don’t think anyone ever liked him.”
    â€œYou’re not supposed to like the principal, are you?” Chase recalled, though, that she had adored her principal in grade school.
    â€œWhy not? If you’re not a troublemaker, there’s no reason you shouldn’t get along with him.”
    â€œYou and I certainly weren’t troublemakers, were we?”
    â€œWellll,” Julie drawled. “There was that time . . .”
    â€œOh yes, but we never got caught.”
    â€œWhat’s that horrible noise?”
    Chase had reached the bottom of her drink and had slurped. Quincy, annoyed at the racket, too, jumped down. “My drink.”
    â€œI also wanted to tell you that I was called into the police station at noon.”
    â€œHow did that go, Jules?”
    She took a deep breath, sounding shaky. “Not the funnest lunch hour I ever took. That Detective Olson is a grim guy.”
    â€œHe can be. What did he ask you about?”
    â€œLots, including the fact that my scarf was used to strangle Ron North. I remember Ron took it with him, but I get the idea he doesn’t believe me. I made the mistake of telling the detective it’s one of my favorites, so he wanted to know why I didn’t get it back. I couldn’t stand dealing with Ron, is why, but Olson is not buying it. He knows about the thing in high school, too. Someone must have told him.”
    Chase cringed, glad Julie couldn’t see her face.
    â€œBut I’ve been going over those pages you copied for me. I saw something I hadn’t noticed before.”
    Shaking her new shoes out of the box, Chase left it with the lid off so Quincy could jump in and out of it. He would probably do that for at least half an hour. “Wait, let me get my copy.” Chase spread the pages out on her kitchen table.
    â€œLook at the page with those weird names.”
    Chase pulled the sheet toward her.
    â€œSee it? The extra