Once Upon a Crime Read online

  Gloria Frank looked confused but smiled. “Please, come in,” she said, ushering them down the hall and into the apartment.

  For Sabrina, stepping into the living room was a shock. Their once colorful home was now painted in drab shades of wheat. The hardwood floors had been redone, stealing all their old charm and personality, and many of the antique light fixtures had been replaced with austere, modern lamps. All of the furniture Sabrina remembered was gone. Their big puffy couch had been replaced with a sleek chocolate-brown sofa that looked more like a work of art than something to sit on. Every photograph of her family was gone. Even Daphne’s finger paintings were no longer hanging on the refrigerator.

  Just then, a teenage boy walked out of one of the bedrooms. He was a lanky kid wearing a rugby shirt and carrying a handheld video game. He had curly blond hair and a pair of headphones in his ears. When he saw the visitors, he took off the headphones and regarded the group curiously. “Mom? What is that awful smell?”

  “His Majesty’s healing vessel gives off an unusual scent but it is not by any means awful,” Moth said. “You should be honored to have found its aroma in your nose, you undeserving wretch.”

  “I’m so sorry,” Granny said, stepping between Moth and everyone else. “My granddaughter is in a play and she’s been practicing her lines nonstop. Unfortunately, they’re using some unusual props and she feels its best to carry one with her.”

  “She’s a method actress. How delightful! My son is an actor, too,” Mrs. Frank said as she turned to her son. “What was the last play your school did? You were incredible in it. What was it called?”

  “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”

  “He played Puck. Do you girls know that play?”

  “We’re living it,” Sabrina murmured as the cocoon gave off a particularly noxious blast of gas.

  “Phil, these girls used to live here,” Mrs. Frank said, waving her hand in front of her nose, and then seeming to realize that this might be rude, pretended to smooth her hair instead.

  “Wassup?” the boy said,

  “You have my old bedroom,” Daphne said, quietly.

  Phil raised his eyes and nodded, then put his headphones back on and wandered out of the room.

  “I’m sorry. Since we bought him that game we can’t get it away from him,” his mother said. “Can I take your coats?

  “We can’t stay,” Granny said. “We just wanted to come by and see who lived here now.”

  “Oh, we really love the apartment. I hope you think we’re taking good care of it,” Mrs. Frank said.

  Sabrina didn’t answer. She kept glancing around the room, trying to find something she recognized. The whole experience was making her dizzy.

  “Mrs. Frank, there is one other thing. We were wondering if you happened to find anything in the apartment when you moved in, say, for instance, a journal or a book of stories about fairy-tale characters?” Granny said. “The girls’ mother may have kept one and we’d love to get our hands on it.”

  “Oh, we found a few things when we redid the kitchen and the closets,” the woman said. She rushed out of the room and returned with an old shoebox. “My husband told me I was crazy to keep this stuff. He says I’m a pack rat, but they seemed personal and, well, it felt wrong to throw them out.”

  Sabrina took the box and flipped open the lid. Inside were a few yellowing love letters their father had written their mother, some scattered pictures of Sabrina and Daphne in the bathtub when they were little, and a ladies’ wallet with pink roses sewn on the front.

  “No journal,” Daphne said with a sigh.

  “Oh, dear, it’s not here,” their grandmother said. “Do you think you might have overlooked it?” she said to Mrs. Frank.

  Gloria Frank shook her head. “We did a lot of work on this place when we moved in. If there were a journal, we would have found it. I’m sorry.”

  “Well, we appreciate you hanging onto these things,” Granny said. “We should probably be going.”

  “It was so nice to meet you,” Mrs. Frank said. “Don’t worry, we’ll take good care of this place.”

  Granny and the girls waited at the bus stop until the next bus came. They climbed inside and found a seat in the back. Moth chattered on about how ignorant human beings could be, but the Grimm women were silent. Sabrina sat by the window, watching her neighborhood disappear.

  Back at the hotel, the little group waited for the elevator. When the doors opened, they were startled to see Mr. Hamstead and Bess inside, locked in a passionate kiss. When the couple finally noticed everyone staring, Hamstead’s face went pink and his snout popped out. He quickly put his hand over it, eyeing Bess nervously as if he didn’t want her to see. Bess on the other hand was grinning from ear to ear and holding him in her arms like they were lost at sea and he was a life preserver.

  “Uh, hello,” Granny said as the couple stepped out of the elevator. “Is Mr. Canis awake?”

  “Yes,” Hamstead said, his face still pink. “He’s in his room and wants to speak with you. I asked him if everything was OK and he nearly bit my head off, literally.” He blushed even more brightly when he noticed that Daphne was giving him playful winks.

  “We just stopped by for some hot cocoa,” Bess said. “Wall Street was a bust. It’s incredible how fractured our community is. We live such separate, secret lives. We’re going to try SoHo and Chinatown next.” The blonde lady turned to Hamstead and gave him a big, over-the-top smooch on the cheek. “Sugar dumpling, I’m going to go freshen up. Mind if I borrow your room key?”

  “Not at all,” Hamstead said. He dug into his pocket and handed the key to her. A moment later, she was back inside the elevator and on her way upstairs.

  “Mr. Hamstead, I do believe you are smitten with her,” Granny said.

  “What does smitten mean?” Daphne asked.

  Sabrina turned to answer but then noticed something unusual. The little girl was asking Granny Relda instead of her.

  “It means he’s got a huge crush on her,” Granny said.

  “Which is a huge problem,” Mr. Hamstead said. “When she finds out who I am … what I am—”

  “Ernest, she’s an Everafter, too, obviously,” Granny Relda said.

  “A human Everafter,” Hamstead said. “I’m a pig. There’s a big difference.”

  “But there are lots of mixed-Everafter couples. You’re forgetting Miss Muffet and the spider.”

  “Miss Muffet is a crackpot,” Hamstead said. “Bess is beautiful and funny and the most amazing woman I’ve ever met. She’s not going to be interested in me when she discovers I’m just an unemployed pig from upstate.”

  Granny smiled. “I’m sure that Bess likes you for who you are.”

  “If this pointless conversation is over,” Moth complained, “I’d like to get His Majesty back to the room.”

  “Of course,” Granny said. “I’m going to pop in on Mr. Canis. I’ll meet you soon.”

  The girls went up to their room and closed the door. Moth climbed onto one of the two queen-sized beds and propped the icky cocoon onto a pillow. “I need silence, humans,” she announced.

  Sabrina rolled her eyes. “Fine,” she said turning to her sister. “I need to talk to you.” She gestured to the bathroom and Daphne followed her inside.

  “Daphne, Granny and I have talked and we’ve come to an understanding—”

  “I know all about it,” Daphne said, stiffly.

  “Then you know I’m not going to be involved in this detective stuff anymore.”

  “I know you’re quitting.”

  “I don’t want you to do it, either. We should be trying to find out how to wake Mom and Dad up, anyway. Once they’re back to normal, we can move somewhere normal and be a family again. Doesn’t that sound good?”

  Suddenly Daphne burst into tears. They streamed down her face and onto the shoebox Gloria Frank had given them, which she still clutched in her hands.

  “Why are you crying?” Sabrina said, dismayed.
“Don’t you want to get back to normal?”

  “No!” Daphne yelled. “This is our destiny.”

  “You don’t even know what the word destiny means.” For the first time in Sabrina’s life, she saw rage in her little sister’s eyes. Before Sabrina knew what had happened, Daphne set down the shoebox, opened the door to the shower, turned on the water, and shoved Sabrina inside.

  “You little—!” Sabrina sputtered. “I’m trying to protect us.”

  “No you’re not! You’re trying to protect yourself. You haven’t once asked me what I want. You’re a … jerkazoid and I don’t need you. I’ll be a fairy-tale detective all by myself!” Daphne turned and stomped out of the room, slamming the bathroom door behind her.

  Soaked to the bone, Sabrina climbed out of the shower, took off her clothes, and put on one of the fancy white robes the hotel had left hanging on the back of the door. She wrapped her head in a towel and thought about what her sister had just said. Daphne was mad, but Sabrina would make her understand. She was doing this for both of them.

  The little girl had left the shoebox sitting on the toilet tank. Sabrina picked it up and opened the lid. The photos were the embarrassing bathtub shots that parents love to take and kids wished would be lost in a fire. But they made Sabrina smile. They represented happier times. She flipped through the yellowing love letters, tied in a small red ribbon, and then opened the pink wallet. Inside was her mother’s driver’s license, some expired credit cards, a couple of pictures of her father, and a photo of Veronica sitting with her daughters. Sabrina and Daphne had their faces painted with stars and rainbows and were smiling. Sabrina remembered that day clearly. Her mother had taken them to a fair held at the South Street Seaport—it had been a good day.

  It was odd to hold something her mother had owned. The girls didn’t have a single item from their old lives; even their clothes were gone. Sabrina lifted the wallet to her nose and sniffed deeply, hoping to find some hint of her mother’s perfume, but all she could smell was old leather.

  ith her sister not talking to her and Moth shooting her angry looks, Sabrina turned to the book her grandmother had given her when they had arrived in the city. A Midsummer Night’s Dream was a play, starring Puck and his obnoxious parents. Cobweb and Moth were in it as well. Though the old-fashioned writing was challenging, it didn’t take a brain surgeon to realize Shakespeare had his hands full with Oberon and Titania. He described them both as petty, jealous, and manipulative. Apparently, Sabrina realized, nothing had changed in the four hundred plus years since the play had been written.

  When Granny returned to the room, Mr. Canis was with her. Except for a glimpse that morning, Sabrina hadn’t seen him since the night before. She was shocked at his appearance. He had grown several inches in height and packed on twenty pounds of muscle. His shock of white hair now had brown streaks in it and he had what looked like the definite beginnings of a beard and mustache. Sabrina knew what was happening to the old man. Lately, whenever he tapped into the Big Bad Wolf’s power, he lost a little more of himself. She wondered what the family would do when there was no more of Mr. Canis to lose, but she said nothing. Granny didn’t mention anything either, and acted as if all was well. She was eager to get back on the case and urged the girls to hurry and put on their coats, hats, and mittens.

  Most of the day was spent scurrying from one neighborhood to the next, hoping beyond hope that they would stumble upon an Everafter. Bess had given them plenty of leads but all had been dead ends. Still, Granny Relda was determined. She must have poked her head into every dark restaurant and creepy alley in Manhattan. They spoke to dozens of street people, who knew more neighborhood secrets than anyone else. Many were homeless, and Granny Relda thanked them all for their time and information with five-dollar bills, insisting they use the money to put something warm in their bellies. But none of their tips led the family to Everafters. The closest the detectives got was discovering a man wearing a wedding dress riding a multicolored bicycle around Washington Square Park. He turned out to be human.

  With Mr. Hamstead and Bess no doubt sharing a romantic meal somewhere, the rest of the investigators decided to stop for an early dinner at a small Chinese restaurant called the Happy Duck. As they went inside, Sabrina noticed eight roasted ducks hanging in the window and wondered if they were all that happy.

  The restaurant was the kind of place where the menu was as big as a phone book, the staff spoke little English, and the tables were crowded together. The waiters eyed Puck’s cocoon and pinched their noses in disgust as the group made their way to a table in the back near a huge fish tank. Daphne ordered for the whole table, and enough food for several others, and Sabrina relaxed, thinking the meal would be a welcome, cheering break from tramping through the snow. But Granny snuck off to make a phone call halfway through the feast; Mr. Canis sat silently throughout with his eyes closed, breathing in and out in a slow pattern; Puck’s cocoon kept rubbing up against Sabrina, drenching her in sticky goo; Daphne was still not talking to her; and Moth refused to eat, saying the food was a travesty and unfit for pigs. It was the most uncomfortable meal of Sabrina’s entire life. She couldn’t have been more relieved when her grandmother returned to the table.

  “Your Uncle Jacob says everything is well,” Granny said.

  “Has he found a way to wake up Mom and Dad?” Sabrina asked, hopefully.

  Granny shook her head. “He said he was trying every magical potion we have in the house. Unfortunately, he’s had to abandon the place for a couple of days.”

  “Why? What happened?”

  “He made the mistake of giving Elvis a plate of sausage.”

  Giving their dog Elvis sausage was a big no-no. It did bad things to the two-hundred-pound Great Dane. Very bad, very smelly things. The last time Daphne had given him sausage they’d almost had to move.

  “I miss Elvis,” the little girl said. She leaned back in her chair and rubbed her protruding belly. “Look at me. I’m having a baby. I’m going to name him Number 15 with Egg Roll.”

  Granny laughed. “Liebling, you’ve got food all down the front of your shirt. Let me take you into the bathroom and clean you up.”

  Daphne shrugged as if she didn’t care but followed the old woman anyway.

  “I believe I would like to wash my hands,” Mr. Canis said, and got up as well. Unfortunately, that left Sabrina and Moth alone. Sabrina tried to ignore the fairy girl but Moth’s angry eyes were boring into her.

  “Let’s make something clear, human,” Moth said. “If you attempt to interfere in my relationship with Puck you will regret it. He is my fiancée!”

  “Listen, I don’t want your fiancée. I’m eleven. I’m not even allowed to have a boyfriend, so when Puck finally crawls out of his icky ball you can be sure he’s all yours.”

  “You do not love him?” Moth said.

  “NO!” Sabrina said a little too loudly. She looked around the room and felt every eye on her, including those of Mr. Canis, who was waiting in line for the bathroom. He had a smile on his face, but when she shot him an angry look it disappeared, and he went back to studying the ceiling.

  “I do not want anything to confuse Puck when he finally reconsiders Oberon’s choice,” Moth said.

  “What are you talking about? What is Oberon’s choice?”

  “Me, I am Oberon’s choice. He selected me to be Puck’s bride,” Moth said.

  “What do you mean he selected you?”

  “It’s called the father’s privilege. Fairy fathers choose their son’s mates.”

  “Oh, I bet Puck loved that! I wish I could have seen his face when his dad made that announcement!”

  Moth snarled, and Sabrina realized the girl took the subject very seriously.

  “So then what happened?” Sabrina asked.

  “The prince was confused …”

  “You mean he dumped you,” Sabrina said.

  “He made a mistake and, unfortunately, his father punished him for it. Puck was banished
from Faerie. That was more than ten years ago and we hadn’t heard from him … until yesterday,” Moth said.

  “He’s been stuck in Ferryport Landing. It’s like a big roach motel. You can check in but you can’t check out,” Sabrina said. “From what I know of him you shouldn’t be too upset he left. Puck would drive you crazy. You’re better off without him.”

  “How dare you!” Moth cried. “King Puck is a great fairy.”

  “Sorry,” Sabrina said. “But I have to ask you, if he left town to avoid getting married once, why do you think things are going to be different this time?”

  Moth snarled but said nothing.

  “Well, I hope it works out for you,” Sabrina said sarcastically. “The Trickster King is a real catch.”

  The two girls sat in silence until the others returned to the table.

  “Who wants some lychee ice cream?” Daphne cried. “You’re still hungry?” Mr. Canis asked. “I’m still awake, aren’t I?”

  While everyone looked over the dessert menu, Sabrina took her mother’s little pink wallet out of her pocket and flipped it open. She stole a peek at her mom’s picture. Just then she noticed a small flap hidden behind the photo. She opened it, stuck her fingers inside, and pulled out an oddly colored business card. It was dark blue and covered in little moons and stars and had an inscription:

  Scrooge’s Financial and Spiritual Advice

  Affordable Rates!

  18 West 18th Street

  Voted Best Psychic by Time Out New York Magazine

  Sabrina flipped the card over and discovered handwriting on the other side.

  Veronica, stop by anytime. I owe you one!

  E. Scrooge

  “What did you find?” Granny Relda asked.

  “Just some old business card in my mother’s wallet,” Sabrina said, handing it over. “I think it’s for a psychic or something.”

  Granny read the inscription and a big grin filled her face. “Sabrina, for someone who doesn’t want to be a detective you’re very good at it. You just found an important clue!”

  Sabrina was dumbfounded. “Clue? It’s just a card for some scam artist.”