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It took me a moment to realize she was referring to me. And I was just about to launch into a very vocal protest when I caught Brutus’s eye. ‘Don’t ruin this, Max,’ his expression said. ‘Just play along. Nice and easy.’

Grudgingly I buried a few choice comments about fat shaming.

“So did you happen to see what happened out there?” Brutus asked, now that the ice was broken and he’d officially been installed as an honorary duck.

“You mean the slaying? Yes, I did happen to see what happened,” said the duck, much to my surprise and not inconsiderable excitement.

“So?” asked Dooley, who couldn’t contain his glee. “Who did it?”

“Who did what?” asked the duck, looking Dooley up and down. She must have liked what she saw, for she smiled. Then again, nobody could ever accuse scrawny Dooley of eating more than his fill.

“Who murdered the girl?” I asked.

Her smile vanished.“Please tell the fat one to be more precise,” she said, much to Brutus’s glee, for he was trying in vain to suppress a giggle.

“A girl was murdered just now,” I said icily. “Her name was Dany Cooper. You said you saw what happened. So who was it? Who killed her?” I must have allowed some of my not inconsiderable resentment to suffuse my words, for she visibly stiffened.

“Duck Burt, perhaps you could tell your fat friend that ducks don’t respond well to mockery.”

“Mockery?” I cried, flapping my paws. “I’m not mocking you.”

“You are, sir,” said the duck haughtily. “I find your tone offensive.”

I clamped my jaws shut. I was starting to dislike this duck.

Brutus said,“Please forgive Max. He hasn’t had his breakfast this morning and he gets grumpy. So what can you tell us about the girl being murdered? Did you see the killer?”

The duck pursed her beak.“I did. I didn’t get a good look at his face, but it was definitely a human male. He was wearing a yellow parka and sunglasses and a Knicks cap. Then again, you know what it’s like. All humans look the same to us.”

I could have told her this was not the case, but I wasn’t talking to this duck again.

“Anything else you can tell us?” asked Duck Burt.

The duck smiled a sweet smile.“I like your technique. All that splashing around? How did you know it would stir up so many of those delicious snails, slugs and worms? And could you teach us this amazing technique? There is much we can learn from you, Duck Burt.”

Brutus opened his mouth to respond, but at that moment Chase spoke those fateful words that send shivers down the spine of every cat the world over:‘Take him to the vet.’

We all wailed in horror and in shock, our honorary duck-hood suddenly forgotten.

Chapter 11

“So how exactly did you end up in the water?” asked Odelia.

Brutus, who was riding shotgun because of the fact that he was the patient today, looked sheepish.“I, um, wanted to take down a witness statement from the ducks, and… I guess I must have ventured out too far. Before I knew it, in my enthusiasm, I was sinking.”

Odelia gave him a quick sideways glance.“You’re a real hero, do you know that, Brutus? You actually risked life and limb to find out who killed poor Dany.”

“Thanks,” said Brutus, then sneezed not once but five times in quick succession.

Odelia gave him a look of concern. She didn’t like the sneezing. But at least he was alive. For a moment, after Chase had fished him out of the pond, she’d feared he was gone, and it had been like a knife through the heart. If anything ever happened to any of her cats… “Good thing Chase was there,” she said now. “If not for him…”

“We should have jumped in,” said Max ruefully. “I wanted to, but…”

“You can’t swim either. I know. If you’d jumped in, Chase would have had to save the both of you.”

“Maybe Chase should teach us how to swim,” Dooley now piped up. He’d been awfully quiet. Watching his friend almost drown had clearly made a big impression.

Odelia laughed.“I’ll have to tell him that. It’ll give him a big laugh.”

“No, but I mean it,” Dooley insisted. “If Brutus had known how to swim, this would never have happened.”

“Dooley is right,” Max said, nodding. “What if Chase isn’t around next time? What if no one is around and we accidentally stumble into the pond?”

“Accidentally being the key word here,” Brutus said.

“If we know how to swim, we can save ourselves.”