Lou Lou and Pea and the Mural Mystery

by Jill Diamond

  * * *

  After eating their fill of banana pancakes in the morning, Lou Lou and Pea went to spread the truth about Ella Divine to the neighborhood. They posted their flyers on the bulletin board at the library, left a stack at Green Thumb, dropped some off at Cupcake Cabana, and gave them to passersby they recognized as fans. By eleven-thirty they were tired, hungry, and nearly out of flyers.

  “Mission almost accomplished!” said Pea. “If we leave the rest of the flyers at the candle shop, we will be done.”

  Elmira was unlocking the front door when Lou Lou and Pea arrived.

  “¡Hola, Elmira!” called Lou Lou. “You’re opening late this morning.”

  “Yes, yes, Lou Lou Bombay. But a late morning is merely an early afternoon.” Lou Lou decided she’d remember Elmira’s wisdom in case she was ever late for school.

  As they followed Elmira inside the candle shop, she said, “Niñas, I thought you might visit me today. What can I do for you?”

  Pea held out the last of their flyers and a bit of glitter sprinkled to the floor. “We are trying to tell everyone that Ella Divine is not a fraud.”

  Elmira squinted at the flyer. “Ah yes,” the Candle Lady said. “I heard about her miserable musical misfortune. It’s kind of you to make these. What friendly ‘Feathered Fedora’ fans you are!”

  “Can we leave them with you?” Lou Lou asked. “Maybe you could put one in the window.”

  “Of course!” Elmira replied. She looked up from the flyer and smiled. “Ella Divine is a wonderful singer. And ella es muy bonita and very nice. She is actually a customer of mine. I imagine she will be in later for a Perdón candle to ensure her fans’ forgiveness.”

  “Muchas gracias,” said Pea. “We really appreciate it.”

  “De nada,” Elmira replied. “Lou Lou, do you have any more news about the changing murals? I have been thinking about them as promised, but I have yet to reach any conclusions.”

  “We haven’t figured out what they mean but we’re still working on the Mural Mystery,” said Lou Lou.

  Elmira nodded. “If my intuition tells me anything, you will be the first to know. But one should not get lost in the details and forget what truly matters,” the Candle Lady advised. “So I hope you will not worry too much. Especially since I know you have a marvelous crop of toad lilies to think about!”

  “Thanks to the Crecer candle!” Lou Lou replied. Her stomach growled, telling her that it was time to return to the SS Lucky Alley for sandwiches and her dad’s sour sailor lemonade. “We should probably go now.”

  “One more thing,” said the Candle Lady. “Will you be attending the Día de los Muertos procession, niñas?”

  “Absolutely,” replied Lou Lou. “We never miss it.”

  “Then may I recommend you burn a Buena Suerte candle for good luck, just to ensure that your outfit and altar making go well. Nothing ruins a procession like poor preparation, my dears,” advised Elmira.

  “Thank you. Maybe another day.” While Lou Lou would have liked a candle to guarantee their success, she knew it was not practical. The last time she’d burned the Crecer candle, it triggered the crow’s nest smoke alarm, causing a fire scare aboard the SS Lucky Alley. Lou Lou was now strictly forbidden from indoor candle burning for the foreseeable future.

  “Of course,” said Elmira. “I may have a different good luck charm for your preparations. Wait, please.” The Candle Lady disappeared behind the curtain into the shop’s back room. She had been gone for only a second when Lou Lou and Pea heard a shriek. They rushed to the curtain and pushed it aside.

  The back room looked like it had been hit by a tornado. A shelf was toppled and a jumble of burgundy Éxito candles for success, dark green Sabiduría candles for wisdom, and black Protección candles were strewn across the floor. A chair was upside down, the drawers of a small mahogany desk hung open, and the papers inside were in disarray. But Elmira was not looking at the mess. Instead she was staring at a small silver box on the desk. It was open, revealing a plush red interior.

  “It’s gone!” the Candle Lady cried, looking from the empty box to Lou Lou and Pea and back again.

  “What’s gone, Elmira?” asked Lou Lou.

  “My money! I only keep a small sum in the cash register up front. The rest is in this box. Or was in this box.” Elmira finally surveyed the destruction in the room. “¡Qué desastre! I have been … robbed!” Elmira put her face in her hands.

  “How awful! When could this have happened, Elmira?” Pea asked.

  “Probably overnight. The thief must have come in and out from there.” Elmira waved her hand at the open back door. “Sometimes I forget to lock the back when I close the shop. So very foolish of me.” Elmira shook her head sadly. “Three weeks of profits. Stolen! What will I do now? How will I pay for my Candle Lady Caribbean Cruise?” A sob escaped her.

  “Your what?” asked Lou Lou. Elmira pointed to a poster on the wall. It was a glossy picture of a large cruise ship anchored between two palm-fringed islands. The ship’s rails were decorated with candles exactly like the ones in Elmira’s shop. Smiling women in sunglasses held brightly colored drinks with umbrellas in them and waved from the deck. Below the picture was written:

  Calling all candle ladies! Come join your candle-loving companions on the Fifth Annual Candle Lady Caribbean Cruise! Make friends, enjoy paradise, and relax by the flickering flames. You may even win the candle lady beauty contest. Hurry to register by November 15, before tickets sell out!

  “This was going to be my first getaway in years,” Elmira said sadly. “I was so looking forward to chatting with other candle ladies, playing Guess That Flame, and meeting Lydia Luz, the world’s leading … candleologist!” The last part came out in another sob.

  “I am so sorry, Elmira,” said Pea, crossing the room to give the Candle Lady a hug.

  “Do you know who could have done this?” Lou Lou asked, thinking of a spiky-blue-haired boy with a studded bracelet.

  “No tengo idea,” Elmira said.

  “Maybe you should call the police,” Pea suggested.

  “Of course. Once I get this mess cleaned up,” said the Candle Lady.

  “We’ll help you!” Lou Lou and Pea hefted the shelves upright and picked up candles that had rolled across the floor.

  “It’s good that none of these were damaged when they fell,” said Lou Lou, turning over a glass pillar in her hand. She tapped her red-sneakered foot against the concrete. “The floor is pretty hard.”

  Pea shrugged. “Yes, but the glass is thick. It is lucky for Elmira. It would be terrible if she’d lost both her money and her candles.”

  When they’d finally collected the last runaway candle and returned it to the shelf, it was well past lunchtime and Lou Lou was eager to get home. Before they left, Lou Lou picked up the Buena Suerte candle recommended by Elmira for their Día de los Muertos preparations.

  “I’d like to buy this candle after all,” she called to Elmira, who was still in the back room.

  “But you are not allowed to burn it,” Pea whispered.

  “My parents only said no indoor burning, so technically I could light it outside the house.” Pea looked skeptical. “Plus, it’s the least I can do for Elmira after the robbery.” At that, Pea smiled her approval.

  It was only after they’d left that Lou Lou remembered the other good luck charm that Elmira had gone to fetch in the back room. Elmira seemed to have forgotten about it, but the Candle Lady had a lot on her mind.

  They’d almost made it back to the SS Lucky Alley without any further surprises when Pea noticed the mural on the side of Ruby’s Beauty Parlor.

  “Lou Lou, look!” Pea pointed at If Pigs Could Fly, a painting of a cloud-filled sky and bright pink pigs with angel wings and halos. “Ella Divine is in the mural!”

  Lou Lou felt a distinct sense of déjà vu. Once again, a familiar scene had changed. An elegant woman now stood on one of the clouds where she hadn’t been before. The scarlet-lipped figure w
ore a long emerald evening gown and held a microphone in one hand and a broken record in the other. Lou Lou could tell from Pea’s downturned mouth and wide blue eyes that she was upset by the reminder of her idol’s bad night.

  “Ella Divine will be okay.” Lou Lou touched Pea’s arm. “And we’ll figure out what happened with the recording. Someone must have broken it if Ella Divine is in a mural!”

  Helado the missing bunny, Magdalena’s ruined dress, Pinky’s planticide, Danielle Desserts’s necklace—it was clear that the new mural images all showed someone’s cruel mischief, not accidents.

  “I think you are right,” Pea agreed. “But the crimes are piling up fast. How are we going to stop them?” She sounded worried.

  “Listen, I know we can solve this Mural Mystery, Pea. Remember how we figured out that Mrs. Jackson’s dog was stealing churros from the taco truck? Or when we helped your babysitter uncover who was sending her love letters?”

  Pea bit her lip and nodded. “We are quite good at solving problems,” she said. Pea raised her chin and pulled her shoulders back. “And we definitely have to get to the bottom of this one. For the sake of Ella Divine, Pinky, and everyone else who was hurt by these crimes, including Elmira!”

  “Yes, poor Elmira,” replied Lou Lou. “I bet she’ll be painted next.”

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  A Funeral for Dear Pinky

  Even though they were tired after the eventful morning, Lou Lou wanted to do some gardening before Pinky’s funeral. While Lou Lou dug in the soil of Bouquet Blooms, Pea peeked over the fence into the neighbor’s yard.

  “What do you see?” Lou Lou called as she patted dirt over rows of tulip and daffodil bulbs.

  “Jeremy is not there, but his jacket is on the lawn chair.”

  “Anything suspicious about it? Drips of mural paint on the sleeves? Bleach spots?” Lou Lou asked.

  “Nothing like that. But I do see something poking out of the pocket. A slip of paper with letters and numbers.” Lou Lou brushed soil off her hands and joined Pea at the fence.

  Pea squinted. “I can’t make out what it says. Wait, I have an idea.” Pea ran inside and came back with the binoculars.

  “Okay, the numbers are 8998. And the letters are O-S-A.”

  “O-S-A. What does that mean?” Lou Lou wondered.

  “I don’t know. But it looks like there is another letter, half-hidden. Maybe a B or an R…”

  “Rosa!” Lou Lou exclaimed. She grabbed Pea’s arm, and Pea looked sideways at Lou Lou’s hand.

  “Sorry.” Lou Lou tried to brush her dirty fingerprints off Pea’s skin. Pea took her handkerchief from her pocket, wiped off the smudges, and peered through the binoculars again.

  “I think there is a dash before the numbers,” Pea said. “So it’s probably Rosa’s phone number. Why would Jeremy have her number?”

  “Like I told you, he’s definitely trying to get her to pay a ransom for Helado!” cried Lou Lou. “Let’s call her and ask about it!”

  “But how will we find the missing numbers?” Pea asked.

  “We’ll try some common three-digit extensions.” Lou Lou was already running inside for the phone. When she returned, they tried the first combination of numbers.

  “Getty’s Pizza Parlor. May I take your order?” a man said on the other line.

  “Uh, sorry, wrong number,” Lou Lou mumbled. She dialed another combination.

  “Bueno?” It was a woman, but she sounded older than Rosa. Lou Lou handed the phone to Pea.

  “Buenos días. ¿Me puede comunicar con Rosa?” Pea asked politely.

  “Número equivocado,” the woman replied.

  “Gracias. Adiós.” Pea shook her head at Lou Lou. They tried five more times with no luck.

  “We are not getting anywhere,” Pea said. Lou Lou nodded. They couldn’t call every possible combination.

  “We’ll just look up her number!” Lou Lou suggested. “What’s her last name?”

  “I don’t know,” replied Pea.

  Lou Lou thought back to Helado’s mournful painted eyes and Rosa’s despair over the bunnynapping of her pet. She wished they could find Helado for Rosa.

  “Maybe Jeremy is hiding Helado in the house. We could try to get in there to look!”

  “Is that really a good idea?” Pea asked. “What if he catches us? Or if his parents are home?”

  “Yeah, you’re right,” replied Lou Lou. “We need another plan. Let’s go inside and think about it.”

  Lou Lou and Pea lounged in the living room. Soothing sounds of the sea came from speakers on the mantel, half-hidden by Halloween cobwebs. Lou Lou brought a plate of cookies from the kitchen.

  “These are delicious. Did your dad make them?” Pea asked.

  “Nope, he doesn’t do chocolate chip because he couldn’t think of a clever enough nautical name. They must’ve come from the store.” Lou Lou and Pea munched silently until Lou Lou spoke over the high-pitched cry of a seagull.

  “I don’t know how to find Helado, but I have a different plan. We should make a chart of the new paintings and the bad things that have happened in the Mural Mystery. We’ll call it the Mural Mystery Matrix! Maybe it will help us to see connections and figure out what’s going on.”

  “Great idea, but we still need to make the altar and our procession outfits, too,” said Pea. “Día de los Muertos is this Wednesday and we have barely started!”

  “And there’s also Pinky’s funeral,” Lou Lou said.

  “We should do that first,” replied Pea. “It’s important for you, Lou Lou. And for Pinky.”

  “Of course.” Pea was right—it was time to finally say goodbye to her camellia. “Matrix making will be tonight’s activity and we’ll work on the altar and our procession outfits tomorrow. Let us now step outside for the funeral,” Lou Lou said formally. “Mom, Dad! You are cordially invited to join us for a small service to bid farewell to the best camellia ever to grace the garden of the SS Lucky Alley.”

  Lou Lou fetched a shopping bag from the crow’s nest and followed Pea out to the garden to stand near Pinky’s resting place. Lou Lou’s dad looked solemn in his captain’s hat and her mom held a bouquet of magenta origami flowers.

  “This will be a simple service since the real memorial will be on Día de los Muertos,” Lou Lou began. “But I have brought some items and prepared a few words.” She reached into the shopping bag and pulled out an old pickle jar full of water, which she held high in the air.

  “This sacred water is from the tap at Green Thumb nursery to remind Pinky’s spirit of its camellia childhood.” Lou Lou placed the jar at her feet and took from the bag a homemade blue ribbon.

  “We all know that Pinky would have won first place in the Flowering Bushes and Shrubs competition at the Hello Horticulture! Society Annual Conference. This is the honor that Pinky deserves!” Lou Lou placed the ribbon near the avocado tree and pulled out a photo of herself and Pinky taken the first year that Pinky flowered. Lou Lou was smiling and holding one of Pinky’s blooms close to the camera to show the bright color of the petals.

  “Although I may grow other camellias, I will always remember Pinky as my best friend.”

  Pea cleared her throat.

  “Best plant friend, I mean.” Lou Lou put the photo next to the ribbon. The last item in the bag was the Crecer candle. “Pinky will grow no more, at least in this world, but this symbolizes Pinky’s life.”

  “Lou Lou…” Pea said hesitantly, eyeing Lou Lou’s parents.

  “We’re outside the house,” Lou Lou reminded Pea.

  “It’s okay. Just blow it out when you’re done,” said her mom. Lou Lou handed Pea the candle to hold as she struck a match.

  “It is now time for the eulogy.”

  Lou Lou pulled a small piece of paper from her pocket and everyone bowed their heads as she began to read:

  Ode to Pinky

  You started so small, no blooms at all,

  But then grew so tall.

  And in the f
all

  With beautiful blossoms, you did enthrall. You were more than a shrub, You were more than a plant—

  A beautiful thing that did ever enchant.

  You brightened the garden Of the SS Lucky Alley,

  A masterpiece till your tragic finale,

  And you would have won

  A ribbon so blue.

  No other camellia

  Could compare to you.

  But you’ve moved on to a place

  Full of water and light,

  A heavenly space

  Free of aphids and blight.

  Although it’s the end

  And you’ve gone away,

  You’re still loved by your friend

  Lou Lou Bombay.

  When she’d finished, Lou Lou picked up the jar of water. She’d planned to only sprinkle a little on the ground but decided to pour out the whole jar, careful to avoid the photograph and the ribbon. After all, camellias like water, Lou Lou thought. Any good horticulturist knew that a too-dry camellia would bear undersize flowers and even risk bud-drop.

  Lou Lou’s mom placed the origami bouquet by the photo and her dad held out a small bundle. “I wrapped one of Pinky’s branches in sailcloth,” he explained, putting the bundle with the other items. “It’s what we’d do if we were having a burial at sea.”

  “Rest in peace, Pinky,” Pea said, and with those words, the funeral for dear Pinky was over.

  Now it was time to catch the camellia’s killer!

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  The Mural Mystery Matrix

  After Pinky’s funeral, Lou Lou was eager to start on the Mural Mystery Matrix. But the call for dinner came before they made any progress.

  Lou Lou’s dad rang the large old-fashioned bell and yelled, “Chow time! All hands to the galley!”

  It was pirate pizza night, so Lou Lou didn’t really mind the interruption. Pirate pizza was a delicious combination of cheese, tomato sauce, basil or oregano from Eats and Cures, and a single pepperoni eye patch on each slice. Once she and Pea had cleaned their plates, Lou Lou asked to be excused.