Lou Lou and Pea and the Mural Mystery

by Jill Diamond

  But today at Cats, Hats, and Bats, Lou Lou stared at a new addition to the mural. Between two Himalayan cats in sombreros stood a familiar woman in glasses. The painter had used careful brushstrokes to make her look wet, adding stringy hair and clothes that hung limply and dripped water.

  “Hello, Sugar Skulls Sarah,” Lou Lou said to the painting. She wasn’t surprised by the image. She’d expected to see Sarah in a mural ever since the suspicious sprinkler storm. Lou Lou pulled the Mural Mystery Matrix from her satchel. She leaned against the wall and added another row to the Matrix, printing Sugar Skulls Sarah’s Sprinkler Storm. Then she added a column for Cats, Hats, and Bats and put an X at the intersection of the two. When she was done, she stepped back to survey the mural.

  “LOOK AROUND FOR THE BRIGHTEST HUE,” Lou Lou quoted from the riddle. “It’s gotta be your sweater, Sarah.” Sugar Skulls Sarah’s sweater was a bright shade of bluish purple. Lou Lou pursed her lips and thought.

  “It’s indigo!” she exclaimed, pointing one finger in the air at her discovery. She didn’t need Pea’s color swatch book to confirm this. A few months ago she and Pea had tried to make indigo dye from the leaves of one of Lou Lou’s plants to color Pea’s handmade skirt. It hadn’t worked well and they’d ended up with a wet bundle of grayish cotton. But Lou Lou admired the true color of indigo.

  Lou Lou carefully wrote Indigo below the new X on the Matrix and underlined the I.

  “Just a few more clues to go!” she announced triumphantly to the afternoon sky.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  Almrei

  Lou Lou ran all the way to If Pigs Could Fly. Pea was waiting for her when she arrived with her color swatch book tucked under her arm.

  “Hi!” said Lou Lou, panting to catch her breath. “I found something—” She stopped in midsentence. “First, how’s Uno?”

  “Messy.” Pea crinkled her nose. “What did you find?”

  “Sugar Skulls Sarah!” Lou Lou replied. “She’s in Cats, Hats, and Bats! In her indigo sweater.” Lou Lou showed Pea the Matrix.

  “Poor Sarah,” said Pea. “But at least we are making progress on the riddle.”

  “Speaking of…” Lou Lou was looking at the mural.

  “Ella Divine is the SOMETHING NEW in this one,” Pea said. “Her lips are a beautiful shade of scarlet but her emerald gown is definitely the BRIGHTEST HUE.” Pea flipped her swatch book open to a shade of emerald green that matched the mural.

  “Great!” Lou Lou wrote Emerald in the correct box on the Matrix and underlined the E.

  At School Is for the Birds, Lou Lou and Pea got right to work on riddle solving. After some consideration, they decided that the BRIGHTEST HUE was the lemon color of Magdalena’s dress, not the purple stain. Lou Lou wrote Lemon in the correct box on the Matrix and underlined the L.

  “We don’t need to go see Lady Carmen Rides Bonito,” Pea said. “Helado’s eyes are definitely the BRIGHTEST HUE in that mural, and we know they are amber.”

  Lou Lou nodded. “I was thinking the same thing.” She added the word Amber, also underlining the A. “That’s it! We’ve got them all!” Lou Lou held up the Mural Mystery Matrix.

  “What do the letters spell?” asked Pea.

  “Hmm.” Lou Lou read in a diagonal from the top corner of the Matrix to the bottom. “‘Almrei.’”

  “That’s not a real word,” Pea pointed out.

  “Well, we can’t forget about the riddle’s P.S.,” Lou Lou said. “YOU SEEK THE ONE THAT’S MISSING. That has to mean that we’re missing a letter! Let’s go through the alphabet from A to Z and try adding each letter to the beginning of almrei. Maybe we’ll get something that makes sense.”

  “Sounds like a good strategy to start,” said Pea.

  “Can you come back to the SS Lucky Alley so we can work on it?”

  “I am supposed to meet my mother at La Frutería in ten minutes,” Pea replied. “She promised to make me a blueberry pie for dessert tonight because I got an A on my History paper about Impressionist painters.”

  “That’s great, Pea!” said Lou Lou. “I really am happy you did well on your Expressionist paper.” She paused. “I just wish we could spend more time on the riddle.”

  “It’s Impressionist, and thank you,” Pea said. “How about we work on the riddle separately tonight to try to find the missing letter? You take A through M, and I will take N through Z, and we will call each other if we figure it out.”

  “Yes!” Lou Lou was happy to keep up the Mural Mystery momentum. As they walked to La Frutería, Pea used Lou Lou’s pen to copy almrei onto a blank page at the end of her color swatch book. At the fruit store, they said their see you tomorrows and Lou Lou ran all the way back to the SS Lucky Alley. She was certain they’d decipher the Mural Mystery riddle and put a stop to the El Corazón crimes once and for all!

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  The One That’s Missing

  The afternoon turned to evening, and Lou Lou’s confidence that she would find the riddle’s solution began to wane. She tried adding all the letters from A through M to the beginning of ALMREI but nothing made sense. BALMREI certainly didn’t mean anything. Nor did FALMREI, or any other combination. Lou Lou stared at the Mural Mystery Matrix.

  As she ate her dad’s castaway chili, she pondered whether the extra letter might go at the end of the word, not the beginning.

  “Ahoy, Lou Lou!” Her dad sat down at the table. Lou Lou’s mom was still sick in bed. “Something wrong with the chow?” Lou Lou realized she’d paused in midbite. Beans were sliding off her spoon and making little splashes in her bowl.

  “No, sorry, Dad. It’s great.” Lou Lou quickly folded up the Matrix.

  “What are you working on?” her dad asked.

  “Just my chart project,” Lou Lou said, hoping to avoid more questions. It seemed to work. Her dad nibbled silently on a piece of corn bread.

  “Did you ever thank the new neighbor boy for the book?” he asked suddenly. Thank him! Ha! Lou Lou thought. She could hardly imagine thanking Jeremy for anything. Let alone a book intended to mock Pinky’s planticide.

  “No.”

  “Try to remember next time you see him,” said her dad.

  “Yes, Dad,” Lou Lou grumbled. Her head ached and she wanted to continue working on the riddle. “I’m finished eating and I’m feeling tired. Is it okay if I go to my room?”

  “Don’t you want a scuttlebutt sundae? I bought your favorite ice cream—mint chocolate chip.”

  Lou Lou thought for a moment. “Actually, that sounds great.” She wasn’t making any progress on the Mural Mystery, and scuttlebutt sundaes were delicious. When she’d scraped the last bit of hot fudge from the bottom of her dish, Lou Lou kissed her dad on the cheek and went up to the crow’s nest. She truly was tired and decided it was best to get some sleep and then look at the riddle with fresh eyes. Still, it was frustrating to be so close to the solution but missing one piece.

  “I’ll figure you out in the morning,” she said before she turned out the light.

  * * *

  Despite her exhaustion, Lou Lou had trouble falling asleep. She tossed and turned and when she finally drifted off, she dreamed that Helado was in her garden with Pinky. Suddenly, a flood came from nowhere and they were carried away in a huge wave. Lou Lou screamed and ran after them but it was no use. Helado and her beloved camellia were washed out to sea, leaving Lou Lou all alone. But she could still hear Helado crying, in a very unbunnylike voice, “ALMREI! ALMREI! ALMREI!”

  * * *

  In the morning, Lou Lou felt unsettled. It was the day of the procession, when she should have been focused on remembering Pinky. But they still hadn’t solved the Mural Mystery and avenged Pinky’s planticide. Lou Lou was slowly getting dressed for school when the phone rang.

  “Lou Lou, it’s Peacock!” her mom called. Lou Lou scampered to the rope ladder. Her mom placed the phone in the bucket and Lou Lou hauled it up.

  “Five minutes maximum,” Jane said. �
��Otherwise, you’ll miss your bus.” Lou Lou put the phone to her ear.

  “Pea! Hi! Did you figure something out?” Lou Lou was too excited to bother with Good morning or How was your blueberry pie?

  “Maybe,” Pea said. “But it was Kyle who did the figuring.”

  “Kyle?” Lou Lou asked. “What does Kyle have to do with anything?”

  “I went out early with my father to get pasteles and tea for breakfast,” Pea began. Lou Lou wasn’t surprised. Pastries were one of the only things that could get Pea right out of bed. “Kyle was at the café and he came over to bother me when I was working on the riddle. He didn’t know about the missing-letter theory, of course, and he assumed ALMREI was an anagram. Lou Lou, I think Comet Cop Kyle was correct!”

  “If it’s an anagram, what does it spell?” Lou Lou asked.

  “Elmira,” Pea whispered. “It spells Elmira.”

  “Elmira?” Lou Lou was confused. “But what does the Candle Lady—”

  Before Lou Lou could finish her sentence, her ears were on fire. The candle shop robbery! It wasn’t on the Mural Mystery Matrix because it had never been in a mural. The candle shop robbery was THE ONE THAT’S MISSING. They were supposed to seek the missing crime, not a missing letter. But why? What was special about poor Elmira losing her money and her chance to go on the Candle Lady Caribbean Cruise? Lou Lou suddenly had another thought that seemed too outrageous to be true.

  “Pea, is Elmira the Mural Mystery culprit?” she asked. Even as Lou Lou said this, she was thinking it couldn’t be possible. Elmira was their friend.

  “At first I didn’t think so,” replied Pea. “But then I considered it some more—”

  “She can’t be. She’s always trying to help everyone,” Lou Lou interrupted. “She sold you the Belleza candle after Magdalena’s dress was ruined, and me the Crecer candle after Pinky’s planticide. Why would she cause problems if she was trying to fix them?” But as soon as Lou Lou asked the question, she knew the answer.

  “Because more problems means…” Pea began.

  “More candle sales!” Lou Lou finished.

  Lou Lou felt like sparks were shooting out from the sides of her head. It was true that Elmira always had a candle recommendation and had made successful sales after misfortune befell the victims of the neighborhood criminal. Lou Lou pictured Danielle with the Encontrar candle, Elmira had mentioned that Ella Divine would want a Perdón candle, and the Candle Lady had gone to Sarah’s Studio to sell her a Reparar candle. Lou Lou wasn’t certain if Rosa had bought a candle to ensure Helado’s safe return, but she wouldn’t be surprised if she had. More problems clearly meant more business for Elmira. It must be true—it had been Elmira all along!

  “Time to get off the phone,” Lou Lou’s mom yelled just as Lou Lou heard Silvia Pearl call, “¡Es hora de colgar el teléfono!”

  “Sounds like we both have to go,” said Lou Lou. “I wish we didn’t have school today!”

  “Me too,” Pea replied. “But we will talk more this afternoon!”

  When Lou Lou hung up the phone, her head was spinning. No wonder the Candle Lady always knew people’s problems. It wasn’t just because of her “intuition”—she was the criminal! And working with Jeremy, no doubt.

  Lou Lou was still sure there was something off about him. She remembered the candle he’d had at Halloween that clearly came from Elmira’s shop. And the phone call she’d overheard in the garden. Jeremy must have been talking to Elmira! He was definitely the Candle Lady’s henchman—after all, the trouble had started when he arrived in town.

  Before she headed off to catch her bus, Lou Lou went to her little window. She could see the bare patch of earth beneath the avocado tree illuminated by the morning sun.

  “I know I’ve found your killers, Pinky,” she said under her breath. “And you can bet your heavenly autumn queen blooms that I’m going to prove it!”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  Procession Preparation

  All day, Lou Lou had the distinct feeling that the unfortunate and mysterious events of the past few weeks were coming to a climax. It was Día de los Muertos, they had solved the riddle, and they were going to expose the culprit behind the Mural Mystery! She wasn’t sure how they were going to pull off the last part, but Lou Lou was confident she and Pea would figure it out.

  Pea lived on the other side of El Corazón in a blue house with a big picture window and a cherry tree in the front yard. The Pearl residence was closer than the SS Lucky Alley to the start of the procession, so Lou Lou and Pea decided to get ready there. After school, Lou Lou stopped at home to pick up Pinky’s altar, the procession outfits, and flowers from her garden. On the drive to Pea’s, Lou Lou tied the flowers into a colorful crown.

  She couldn’t wait to talk to Pea about the Mural Mystery, but when Lou Lou arrived, she remembered her Pearl-house niceties. Lou Lou removed her shoes, washed her hands, and said a polite hello to Silvia and Henry Pearl before she rushed to Pea’s room. Dos yowled at her from the end of the neatly made bed, but Lou Lou ignored him. As Lou Lou took their procession outfits from her bag, she explained her theory that Jeremy was Elmira’s partner in crime.

  “They have to be working together, Pea. I think Elmira is in charge, but Jeremy is helping her with the evil deeds!”

  “That’s possible,” Pea said.

  “Elmira must have staged the candle shop robbery so we wouldn’t suspect her,” Lou Lou added. She had thought this through during Math. “Remember how none of the glass candleholders were broken? That’s because the shelves weren’t pushed over by a thief. Elmira did it herself and was careful not to damage anything!”

  “No wonder she wanted to clean up the crime scene before the police came,” Pea said. “I just thought she was being tidy, but now I am sure she never actually reported the robbery since it wasn’t real!” After a moment, Pea added, “It’s sad that Elmira is a criminal. I always thought she was kind.”

  “I know. Me too,” Lou Lou replied. “I still don’t think she has only mean bones in her body.” It was difficult to admit this about Pinky’s killer, but during Social Studies, Lou Lou had thought about all the nice things Elmira had done for them. Like how she’d given Lou Lou a Feliz Cumpleaños candle for her seventh birthday. Or brought Pea a Sanar candle to speed up the healing when she’d broken her arm. “But I guess we never saw all sides of the Candle Lady.”

  “So what should we do next?” Pea asked as she changed into her colorful butterfly skirt and blue sweater.

  “We definitely need to find evidence of her crimes so we can expose her!”

  “Maybe we can even get Helado back for Rosa,” said Pea.

  “Elmira always goes out during the procession to sell candles from her cart.” Lou Lou pulled on her flowered dress. “That would be a good time to sneak into the candle shop. Can you zip me up?”

  “We will have to be careful,” said Pea. “She can’t know that we’re on to her before we can prove she is responsible. Otherwise she’ll try to cover everything up so no one believes us. Remember that’s what happened in the mystery we read during the summer? The jewel thief hid all the rubies and diamonds before the police came!”

  Lou Lou nodded. “Let’s bring Pinky’s altar and start walking in the procession, at least until Twenty-Third Street.” As eager as she was to catch Elmira, she wanted some of the evening to be dedicated to Pinky’s memory. “Then we can make up an excuse to tell Magdalena and go to the candle shop.”

  By now Lou Lou and Pea were dressed, so it was time to transform into skeletons. First, a wash of white makeup turned their faces to bones. Pea carefully colored her lips black and drew on dark eye sockets with the black liner, which made the blue of her eyes pop.

  “Now do me,” Lou Lou said when Pea’s makeup was complete. “You’re so good and I always mess it up.” Pea used the liner to make Lou Lou’s face a mirror image of her own. They added the finishing touches to their Día de los Muertos outfits—Lou Lou’s hat, Pea’s parasol
, and Pinky’s altar. Lou Lou handed Pea the flower crown she’d made.

  “So you have something pretty for your hair,” Lou Lou said. Pea placed the crown on her head and smiled.

  “¡Gracias, Lou Lou! It’s beautiful. You made it exactly the way I taught you!”

  Lou Lou grabbed her satchel and her little green camera, which had been a tenth-birthday present. They went into the living room where Pea’s parents were reading.

  “Oh my! Look at you two!” Henry exclaimed. He took a quick photograph with Lou Lou’s camera.

  “Lou Lou, that is a beautiful way to honor Pinky’s memory.” Pea’s mother pointed at the altar. “¿Tienen hambre? I made fresh tamales for Día de los Muertos.” Lou Lou fidgeted. She loved Silvia’s tamales, but she was eager to get going.

  “Gracias, Mamá, pero no tenemos tiempo,” Pea replied.

  “I thought you might be in a hurry so I made you cucumber sandwiches just in case.” Silvia held out a paper bag, which Lou Lou put into her satchel.

  “Thank you!” she said.

  “De nada,” replied Silvia. “We will be watching the procession from the Padillas’ balcony with the Bombays, so call if you need anything.”

  “Claro. Hasta luego,” Pea said to her parents, kissing each of them on the cheek.

  “Yes, hasta luego!” Lou Lou chimed in.

  When they opened the front door, Magdalena was already waiting on the porch. She wore a long dress and carried marigolds and a white candle. Magdalena flashed her gold-medal smile.

  “¿Listas, chicas?” she asked.