"Sherman, please come out." Came Ben's voice as the older boy knocked on Sherman's door, the very first chance Sherman got, he ran right into his room and locked the door. Now all the children where trying to get him to come out, Peabody knew he wouldn't, not know, not with all the cops and officers here.

This was a great way to spend a birthday.

Who doesn't want to see a dead dog, being eaten by maggots get taken away by the cops and then have to talk the officers, along with the other parents, Peabody was sure that this was the last things on the Greenblooms mind.

"Hey, Peabody." Came a familiar voice, the dog looked up at Officer Barely.

"Hello, Officer."

"What happened?"

"Must I go though it again? I must of told five police men the same thing! I just...really want to talk to Sherman right now."

"I'm sorry, just give me the abridge version."

"I was in the kitchen getting the cake, I heard the children scream, came running, saw what inside the box, called you guys."

"Hm, Which one of the parents do you think did this?"

"None. The present came from the Greenblooms, only they were just being messengers, according to them, some man told them to give it Sherman, the only problem is, the man asked Ben to do it, and according to Ben, the man was wearing sunglasses, a hat, and baggy clothes, so there was no way to identify him."

Barely seemed to frown at this, Peabody frowned as well, there was something still not settling well with the dog.

"Did you know something like this was going to happen?" Peabody asked the officer, that caused the bushy mustache on Barely's face to twitch lightly.

"Of course not."

"I don't believe you, you wanted to come here, to Sherman's party for some reason, you know something that I don't."

"I just wanted to check up on Sherman."

Peabody scoffed and crossed his arms, Barely sighed heavily.

"I'll tell you later..." He, Barely whispered to the dog and walked off to talk to one of the others parents. Peabody narrowed his green eyes, not liking the sound of Barely's voice. He was soon snapped out of his thoughts when he felt someone tap him on the shoulder, turning around, Peabody found himself looking at five very worried children.

"Sherman won't come out of his room." Penny said, her voice matching her facial expression. Peabody frowned and sighed, taking off his glasses, he rubbed his eyes, that was going to be a problem as well.

"It's the police, he probably doesn't want to deal with them, can't say I blame him." Peabody said softly as he put his glasses back on.

"He's scared." Ben said, more to the rest of the children than to Peabody, something about Ben's voice told Peabody that he knew what it was like to be this scared. Peabody could only nod to the ten year old.

"Well, why don't we go and tell him that he's not alone in this?! I think that's why he's scared!" Penny said to them in a commanding voice, before Peabody could ask them to just leave Sherman be for the time being, they ran off towards Sherman's room once more. The dog only shook his head, slowly, he knew Sherman probably won't open that door.

"Hey, Peabody." Came Professor Barnabas Greenbloom's voice, Peabody looked at the man.

"Professor, I'm sorry your daughter and Son had to see such a revolting thing today-"

"I'm sure they are fine, I mean, they both looked scared and sick, but, Sherman looked the most affected over what happened." The professor said and Peabody nodded.

"Yeah...If you want to leave now-"

"Actually, I know that look in Ben's eyes, I can tell that he wants to stay and comfort Sherman, if he can. So, I was wondering, because like I said, I can sense it, If it would be alright if Ben and Guinevere stay the night? if asked that is."

That threw the dog off guard, was the professor serious? He did see that someone was threatening them, right? Peabody turned to where Sherman's door was, he blinked in surprise, they weren't out there, did they manage to get him to open the door? did these kids managed to get his son to do the impossible?!

"Uh...If Ben and Guinevere ask, then I see no problem with it." Peabody said, doing a double take to the empty hallway.

"What are you looking at?" The professor asked him when he noticed the dog looking back towards the hallway.

"I think they managed to get Sherman to open his door..." Peabody mumbled, heard the professor chuckle slightly but then turn and walk back over to his wife. Peabody walked over to Sherman's door, of course it was shut, still, he put his ear up to it and listened, sure enough, he could make out a muffled conversation going on in the room. Unfortunately, he couldn't understand what they where saying. Still, the fact that they got him to open his door was amazing.

"Peabody."

The white beagle turned and looked at officer Barely, the cop pointed to Peabody's empty room.

"Lets have a talk in here."

Narrowing his eyes, Peabody followed the officer into his own room, turning on the light, Peabody shut the door.

"What's this all about? What aren't you telling me?!" Peabody demanded instantly. Officer Barley quickly gestured for Peabody to lower his voice.

"Calm down, please-"

"Calm down? Sherman was doing fine and smiling again! Now, it might be ruined! Now we might be back to square one! and you know what!? I want answers! Answers you most likely have!" Peabody growled uncharacteristically.

"Ok, Ok, please, just lower your voice...I will tell you everything."

Peabody took several deep breaths calming himself down. Barely looked at the dog and then pointed to the bed.

"You, uh, better sit down..." Barely told the dog, Peabody only crossed his arms and glared at the officer, he just wanted answers, he had enough.

"Or...not...ok..." Barely took a deep breath, then in his calmest voice spoke, what he told Peabody, actually made the dog lose his balance a bit.

"Matthew Walters, escaped. We believe he is the one who sent the dead dog to Sherman, we also believe that Sherman and yourself are not safe here..."