The Unusual Suspects (The Sisters Grimm, Book 2)

"Oh, I like the little one." The crow chuckled. "You gotta have a good sense of humor to live in this town."

"The death was very suspicious," Granny Relda said, trying to steer the conversation back to the murder. She took one of the black feathers they had found in the classroom out of her handbag and held it out to the bird. "This was at the crime scene."

"I've heard rumblings in the flock," the Widow said, eyeing the feather.

"Rumblings?" Granny Relda asked.

The bird hesitated and looked around as if someone might be listening.

"Some of the crows claim they blacked out. They say they can't account for about fifteen minutes of the day," the crow whispered. "The ones I talked to said they heard music and suddenly they were all standing around the school yard, unsure of how they got there. Sounds like the piper is back to his old games."

"That would be unfortunate," Granny said.

"But I don't think it's your biggest problem," the crow continued. "Someone's sent you a message and I'm warning you, Relda, you don't want to mess with the Scarlet Hand."





"I don't know what you're talking about," said the old woman. "What message?"



"It's all over your house, Relda. Whatever you've gotten involved in this time has attracted the attention of some very bad people."



Sabrina and Daphne ran down the porch steps and looked up at the house. On the windows, roof, and even on the chimney were red-paint hands, just like the one they had found on the chalkboard in Mr. Grumpner's room.



"Who did this?" Sabrina asked.



"We've only been home for an hour," Daphne added.



The Widow hopped down the steps and flew up into the air. "Keep your nestlings close," the crow squawked as it disappeared over the tree line.



"Girls, get back into the house," Granny Relda said sternly.





Chapter 6



t was obvious to Sabrina that the Scarlet Hand had spooked Granny Relda. The old woman spent the rest of the night silently digging through her old books and taking notes. When the girls announced they were going to bed, she mumbled what sounded like good night, but kept researching.



While Daphne brushed her teeth, Sabrina ran her head under the bathtub faucet and washed her hair for the fourth time that day. She wrapped it up in a towel, and the girls headed for their bedroom. Daphne put on her favorite pair of footie pajamas and pinned her deputy's badge to them. After buffing it into a shine, she went to their father's desk, which the little girl was slowly converting into a beauty parlor, and took a hairbrush from one of its drawers.





"Can I?" she asked. Sabrina nodded and her little sister climbed up on the bed, took the towel off of the older girl's head, and ran the brush over her long blond hair. For some reason, brushing Sabrina's hair helped calm Daphne down so that she could go to sleep. After finding a dead body, being attacked by a frog-girl, nearly dying with Granny behind the wheel of the car, and having the house vandalized right under their noses, Daphne would be brushing for a long time, Sabrina suspected.

"You OK?" she asked.

"I can't get Mr. Grumpner's face out of my head," Daphne replied.

"Try not to think about it."

"But we have to think about it. Now that we're police officers, it's up to us to find his killer."

"I think we should let the sheriff handle this one," Sabrina said.

"We can't. We made a vow. Besides, the town needs us to solve the mystery. We are Grimms and this is what we . . ."

"What we need to do is find Mom and Dad," Sabrina interrupted.

"We'll find them," her sister said.

"I don't know how. We've been here for three weeks and have spent all our time catching Lilliputians and killing giants. Isn't it time to start putting Mom and Dad first?"

"The mayor needs our help."

"And while we're busy doing the mayor's job, Mom and Dad are still missing," Sabrina snapped. "How do we know that Charming isn't responsible?"

"He wouldn't do that."

"He's an Everafter, Daphne! Everafters can't be . . ."

"What?" Daphne said. "Everafters can't be what?"

"Trusted!" Sabrina exploded.

Her sister looked at Sabrina as if she didn't recognize her. It was an expression more hurtful than any word the little girl could have said.

"It's obvious an Everafter kidnapped our parents and it's also obvious that an Everafter is behind Grumpner's murder," Sabrina tried to explain.

"Sabrina, they aren't all bad."

"All the ones I've met," the older girl insisted.

Daphne set the hairbrush on the nightstand, crawled under the covers, and turned her back on her sister.

"I don't like you very much, right now," she whispered.

"You'll see I'm right soon enough," Sabrina said.