The Unusual Suspects (The Sisters Grimm, Book 2)

"I thought it was a whale," Daphne said.

"No, hon, only in the movie," Granny replied. "It's just a shame he didn't tell his father. By the time Gepetto discovered he wasn't on board, they were too far out to turn back."

"Well, I really do appreciate your help with this," the sheriff said. "The mayor's been cutting budgets left and right these days and I just didn't have the man power or money to catch the little thieves myself."

"Or make sure that the security guard was off duty so we didn't have to mess with his brain," Sabrina grumbled.

"Sheriff, the Grimms are always at your disposal," Granny Relda said, ignoring Sabrina.

"I appreciate that, Relda, and I wish I could give you the credit for the arrest, but if Mayor Charming found out we'd been working together, my backside would be one of those footballs in Gepetto's store," Hamstead said.

"It's our little secret," Granny Relda said with a wink.

"How is Canis?"

Granny shifted uncomfortably in her seat. Both Sabrina and Daphne watched her closely, wondering what their grandmother would say.

"He's doing just fine," the old woman replied, forcing a smile.

Sabrina couldn't believe what she had just heard. In the short time they had known the old woman, Granny Relda had never told a lie. Mr. Canis was not "fine" by a long shot. Three weeks earlier, Granny's constant companion and houseguest, Mr. Canis, had transformed into the savage creature known as the Big Bad Wolf. Since then, no one had seen him. He had locked himself inside his bedroom while he fought to put back his real-life inner demon. Every night, Sabrina and Daphne had heard the old man's painful moans and labored breathing. They would be woken by one of his horrible cries or the sound of him slamming against a wall. Mr. Canis was far from "fine."

"That's good to hear," Hamstead said, though even from the backseat Sabrina could spot the look of doubt on his face.

"I want my phone call," a little voice cried from the glove compartment. "We were framed!"

The sheriff banged heavily on the dashboard. "Tell it to the judge!"

Soon, Sheriff Hamstead pulled his squad car into the driveway of the family's quaint, two-story yellow house. It was very late and all the lights were off. Sabrina opened her door and Elvis lumbered out, still wearing two Lilliputian-free glue traps on his giant behind. It was bitterly cold, and Sabrina hoped the two adults wouldn't blabber on. Granny could talk a person's ear off. But the sheriff just thanked them again and excused himself, claiming he had paperwork piling up back at the station.

At the front door, Granny took a giant key ring out of her handbag and went to work unlocking the many locks. Once Sabrina had believed Granny Relda was just a paranoid shut-in, but in the last three weeks she had seen things that she would never have dreamed possible and now understood why the house was locked so tightly.

Granny Relda knocked on the door three times and announced to the house that the family was home, making the last magical lock slide back and the door swing open.

After cookies, and some vegetable-oil swabbing for Elvis, Granny Relda said, "Get cleaned up and hurry to bed. You've got school tomorrow. I've kept you up too late as it is."

"Actually, Granny," Sabrina replied. "I think I'm coming down with something. I'd hate to go to school and get everyone sick."

Granny grinned. "Sabrina, it's been three weeks. If you two | don't go to school tomorrow they are going to put me in the jail-house. Now, up to bed."

Sabrina frowned, forced a cough to make the old woman feel guilty, and then marched up the steps. Couldn't Granny see there were more important things to do than go to school?

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Long after Daphne had drifted into a steady, snoring sleep, Sabrina crawled out of their four-poster bed in the room that had once been their father's. His model airplanes still hung from the ceiling and an old catcher's mitt rested on his desk. She knelt down on her hands and knees and pulled several dusty books and a key ring out from under the bed before climbing to her feet again and creeping silently into the hallway.