Short Story Mystery

If the Shoe Fits

by

Susan Page Davis

Part 3

“I’m sorry ma’am,” the officer said. “You say there was a crime, but we don’t have reasonable suspicion. The man claims he saw you slumped over in your car and stopped to ask if you were all right.”

“I saw him in the garage,” Faye said stiffly. It was hard to breathe.

“Yes, ma’am. A shoe with a foot in it. Don’t you think that’s a little farfetched?”

“No, I don’t. If he’d just clobbered a person and shoved them into the trunk—all that was showing was that foot, and he was stuffing it in when I saw him. You didn’t let him go, did you?”

The officer sighed. “No, ma’am, but it’s dark in there. He might have been stowing his tennis shoes when you saw him.”

Faye straightened and met his skeptical gaze. “No. Listen to me, Officer. I retired a month ago from the Swifter Shoe factory. The shoe I saw was our model 9-Z, top of the line. I was close enough to see the special, heavy duty grommets in the 9-Z. I’m telling you, that shoe wasn’t empty.”

The officer eyed her speculatively. “All right. That makes you a credible witness in my book.” He yelled to another officer, “Marv? Pop the trunk on that Lincoln.”

“With pleasure.”

They waited, and Faye felt suddenly unsure. How humiliating was this going to be if she were wrong?

The patrolman who opened the trunk called, “Jack? The shoe’s in here.”

“And?”

“She’s right—it ain’t empty. You want me to call homicide?”

Faye exhaled as the officer’s eyes met hers. “That’s affirmative. I’ll take a full statement from our star witness.”

The End

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