“The murder weapon is the savage teeth on this brute!” Bluebeard shouted. “And the body is probably slowly digesting in his belly!”
Mr. Canis roared with rage. He swatted at the table in front of him, knocking it against a wall. It crumbled into splinters. A dozen card soldiers appeared and sprang on Canis. They clubbed him with the hilts of their swords, but their blows didn’t seem to faze him. Sabrina watched in horror. She had never seen Mr. Canis lose his temper so quickly. He tore into the guards like they were nothing, bellowing savagely. Eventually, reinforcements arrived, and the soldiers managed to drag Canis from the courtroom.
Judge Hatter, who had been wildly hammering with his fists, slumped in his chair and wiped his face with his robe. “We’ve heard enough for today. We’ll meet back here Tuesday.”
“But your honor,” Bluebeard said. “Tuesday was yesterday.”
“Hmmm . . . you may be right. When would you like to meet, again?”
“Tomorrow?”
“My good man, you’re a genius. We can’t exactly begin yesterday can we? No, really, can we?”
Bluebeard shook his head.
“Very well, time marches on despite our best efforts. We shall meet tomorrow,” Judge Hatter said.
“But your honor!” Little John cried. “We haven’t had an opportunity to question the witnesses.”
Unfortunately, the judge ignored the big man’s protest and darted out of the room. The Five of Diamonds dismissed the crowd and they began to file out through the double doors. As she left, Sabrina caught Mayor Heart squinting at her. The nasty woman was giggling like an idiot and flashing her yellow and crooked teeth. “Better luck tomorrow,” she cackled.
Sabrina watched Robin Hood deflate. He looked around the court, bewildered and mystified. “What just happened?” he asked.
“We got steamrolled, that’s what happened,” Little John grumbled.
The family hadn’t been home ten minutes before there was a knock at the door. When Sabrina answered it, she found Swineheart and Boarman standing on the porch looking embarrassed.
“We know you didn’t have a choice,” Granny said after Sabrina invited the two men inside.
“We still feel like we let him down,” Swineheart said.
“I’m sure Mr. Canis knows you were trying to help,” Granny assured them. She brought them both tall glasses of iced tea and had them sit at the dining room table while she went to prepare snacks.
“This trial is a travesty,” Boarman complained. “We can’t let them get away with this!”
“I don’t know how we’re going to stop them,” Sabrina said. “Mayor Heart handpicked the judge, and there are several members of the Scarlet Hand on the jury.”
“Perhaps the two of you might be interested in helping us,” Granny said as she entered the dining room with a plate full of roast beef sandwiches, along with sauerkraut, pickles, baked beans, and egg salad. Sabrina couldn’t believe how normal the lunch was. She was going to have to invite people in more often.
“Help?” Swineheart said as he eyed the sandwiches hungrily.
“With our defense,” Granny said. “Today, they caught us off guard, and we can’t let that happen again. I believe the key to our success is preparation. We need to read everything we can about Red Riding Hood, her grandmother, Mr. Canis, and anything else related to the crime. Unfortunately, there are hundreds of versions of the Red Riding Hood story. You two have known Canis a lot longer than us, and I think you might be good at weeding out the facts from the fiction.”
Boarman and Swineheart nodded.
“We’ll do our best,” Boarman said, “right after we have one of those delicious sandwiches.”
Granny Relda gave the pigs two sandwiches each and let them eat as much as they wanted of the other dishes. Sabrina had never seen anyone eat as much as the two former deputies. They shoveled food into their mouths and were eager for more moments later. While they ate they went to work sifting through the family’s countless books. Sabrina, Daphne, Uncle Jake, and Granny helped search.
“What should we be looking for?” Daphne said.
“Any kind of discrepancy,” Granny replied.
Daphne took out her pocket dictionary. That she didn’t just ask Sabrina was infuriating. It was easy enough to tell her sister that discrepancy was another word for contradiction, but the little girl didn’t seem to want Sabrina’s help anymore. It hurt her to feel that “grown-up” Daphne no longer needed her.
“I don’t even know what we’re supposed to be looking for,” Sabrina grumbled as she flipped through the books. “It was six hundred years ago.”
“Well, we should read them all, anyway,” Daphne said. “Maybe we’ll find that there were other eyewitnesses.”
“I think all the eyewitnesses are in the Wolf’s belly,” Sabrina said.