Lulu Dark Can See Through Walls

by Bennett Madison

  “What can I do for you, Lulu?” Mrs. Silver prompted.

  At that moment I realized that I didn’t even know what I was going to say. I couldn’t tell her my real suspicions. Especially not over the phone. It would be too cruel.

  “Um, have you heard from Berlin lately?” I asked, doing my best to sound unconcerned. “I haven’t seen her in a week or so, and I was afraid she’d gotten sick or something. She hasn’t answered her phone. I hope she’s not mad at me.”

  There was a long silence. “You haven’t seen her?”

  “Not really,” I murmured apologetically.

  “Dammit,” Babs snapped. Then: “Sorry, dear. I didn’t mean to snap at you. It’s just that’s a bit of a pattern for Berlin. She seemed to be doing so well. But the school’s been calling and calling about her, and I can’t seem to get in touch with her either. What a nuisance. Can you meet me for lunch, by any chance?”

  “Um,” I said. “I’m in Halo City.”

  “I am too,” Berlin’s mom said airily. “Here on business. That’s why I’m sure Berlin’s hiding out. She’ll do anything to avoid seeing me. So. Where can I meet you?”

  After setting up a meeting with Mrs. Silver, I took a deep breath and bit the bullet. I needed Charlie’s help, and I was willing to grovel if necessary.

  “What do you want, Lulu?” he snapped when he answered his phone.

  “Charlie.” I sighed. “Please, please, please help me out here. I’m not going to apologize for lying about the other night because the fact is that I’m telling the truth. I did not, repeat not, ditch you to make out with Alfy. I’m sorry things have been so weird between us. I promise we can sort it out later, but right now I really need you to give me the benefit of the doubt.”

  “Why should I?” he asked peevishly.

  “Why shouldn’t you?” I retorted. “I have never lied to you, Charlie. Never. Why would I start now? Besides, if I had made out with Alfy, wouldn’t I make sure to tell every jealous hag at Orchard Academy about it personally?”

  There was a long pause.

  “Fine,” Charlie said sullenly. “What do you need?”

  Charlie agreed to meet me and Mrs. Silver at Little Edie’s. He still seemed unsure about the Alfy rumors, but he was starting to come around, and thank goodness. He’d be much better at talking to an aristocrat than I would. He was experienced with it from dealing with his own mother. And with what I had to tell Mrs. Silver, I needed all the help I could get.

  When I got to the restaurant, I recognized Berlin’s mom immediately. She was waiting at the table in the middle of the café, smoking a cigarette nervously. The tip-off was her jewelry—she had diamonds dripping from her neck and wrists and a huge tacky ring on her finger. Although she seemed to be trying for legitimacy, she was wearing a skimpy tank top and enormous Chanel goggles even though we were indoors. Her bronzed skin had that tight, stretched look that comes from serial face-lifts. It had to be her.

  “Hi, Mrs. Silver,” I said, approaching her. “I’m Lulu.” I wanted to ask her to move to my usual table, since that’s the place I’m most comfortable. But somehow it seemed rude.

  Mrs. Silver glanced around the room before dropping her cig in an ashtray to shake my hand. “Hello, Lulu,” she said. “I’m pleased to meet you.”

  We finished the handshake, then stared at each other blankly. I didn’t know what to say next. I smiled nervously and took a seat. Please let Charlie get here fast, I prayed silently.

  It was almost enough to give me religion that he chose that moment to walk in the door. And he was perfect. Seeing him in action is always such a surprise.

  He’s a total ruffian in day-to-day life, but when he’s got to interact with someone like Babs Silver, Charlie completely transforms. He shook Bab’s hand firmly, kissed her on the cheek with a smooth, “Mrs. Silver,” and took a seat next to us. Yep, Charlie was a charmer. Babs melted like butter—and he didn’t even let on that he was mad at me.

  We ordered some appetizers, which Babs ate only at Charlie’s behest. We talked small talk, or he did, rather, while I fretted about when to bring up Berlin. It took forever to work up the nerve, but finally I did it.

  “Bab—I mean, Mrs. Silver,” I stammered. “When was the last time you saw Berlin?”

  Mrs. Silver placed her glass of wine on the table and exhaled a slow puff of smoke. I coughed loudly.

  Mrs. Silver tsked. “Nasty habit,” she said apologetically. She extinguished her cigarette. “I haven’t seen Berlin since January. Since she started at Orchard Academy. But I keep in close contact. I’m sure you know that she can be a handful. She needs a lot of attention, so I talk to her at least once a week. When I can get ahold of her, that is.”

  It didn’t seem occur to Mrs. Silver that perhaps Berlin was “a handful” because she’d been in boarding school since she was eight years old. I remembered my notebook entry from Saturday. Childbirth and insanity. There was certainly a medical connection.

  “Have you spoken with her this week?” Charlie asked.

  Babs gave him a smile. She was so impressed by him that she probably would have smiled if he’d sneezed in his hand and wiped it on her tailored wool pantsuit.

  “Last time I spoke with her was two Fridays ago. She was on her way out the door. Something about going to see some handsome rock singer perform.”

  She no doubt meant the Many Handsomes’ show. “But you haven’t heard from her since?” I asked.

  “Not a peep.”

  “Well, this might come as a bit of a shock to you,” I said as gently as possible, “but Berlin hasn’t been in school for more than a week.”

  Mrs. Silver sighed and rolled her eyes in frustration. “She always does this. She knew I was coming to town and just couldn’t bear to see me. So she disappeared. This time she didn’t even bother to call in and excuse herself from school. She always turns up eventually, but honestly, it’s getting ridiculous. I’m beginning to think we should just bring her back to Motoropolis permanently.”

  Duh, I thought.

  “Berlin had been acting strange for a while before she, um, disappeared,” I said, parroting Helena’s observation. Although I hadn’t noticed it myself, I thought it was best to play along with Babs’s notion that Berlin and I were tight. “Had you noticed that?”

  “No, she seemed fine to me except for her sinuses,” Mrs. Silver said. “They’ve been giving her trouble since January.”

  “Probably the surgery,” I said unthinkingly. “I’ve heard it can do that.”

  Charlie’s eyebrows shot up in alarm. He kicked me under the table, but it was too late.

  Lulu Dark strikes again, I thought ruefully, talking too fast for her brain to keep up.

  “Surgery?” Mrs. Silver seemed genuinely surprised, but I knew she was just covering.

  I squirmed in my seat. “You know.” I gestured to my nose, scissoring my fingers.

  Mrs. Silver was suddenly angry. “We Silvers have perfect features,” she said, pointing her own nose, which had obviously been under the knife as well, into the air. “She would never, ever get a nose job.”

  Charlie reached across the table, cutting in. “Absolutely,” he said. “I guess Lulu just jumped to conclusions. A nose as beautiful as Berlin’s doesn’t usually come naturally in Halo City, that’s all. But looking at yours, I can see where she gets it.” He snuck a glance at me. This is how it’s done, you idiot, his eyes telegraphed.

  Berlin’s mom seemed mollified. She placed a bony hand at her jawline. “Why, thank you,” she cooed.

  “The boys sure like it,” I said, following Charlie’s lead with more flattery. “Berlin has them lining up.”

  “I’ve been concerned about that, too,” Babs said, still slightly wary. “Of course, I want her to be happy, but I want to make sure she’s not dating the wrong types. God forbid she should get into trouble with some gold-digging ne’er-do-well. You know, she never dated much before. But now that she’s in Halo City, she’s gotten a li
ttle carried away.”

  Although I was learning a lot about Berlin’s psychology, none of it was going to help me find her killer. I had one final thought before we called it a day. Maybe I could fit some of the pieces of this crazy jigsaw puzzle together. I pulled out my digital camera and found the picture of Sally Hansen.

  “Have you ever seen this girl?” I asked, handing the camera to Mrs. Silver. She glanced down at it for a fraction of a second.

  “No,” she said, without much thought. “Is she a friend of Berlin’s too?”

  “I don’t know,” I admitted.

  Babs slid the camera across the table. “Listen, I really appreciate your concern for my daughter, but I assure you Berlin has just taken another little sabbatical. She’ll turn up eventually. She always does.”

  This woman was something else. The fact that her daughter had been missing for more than a week didn’t even give her pause. If I were a truly terrible person, I would have told her that Berlin had been murdered, and I would have stomped out. Just to teach her what a bad mom she was. But I’m not a terrible person. I didn’t even have the heart to broach the subject. And all of a sudden I felt even sadder for Berlin than before.

  “Sorry to have wasted your time,” I mumbled.

  I took my camera and started to fidget with it while Babs and Charlie chatted about their summer homes. I was messing with the magnification, absently zooming in and out, in and out on Sally’s picture when—

  I gasped.

  “Charlie,” I said. “We need to go.”

  “What?”

  I threw a wad of bills onto the table, knowing I was overpaying, and grabbed Charlie’s hand, dragging him out of the café. Berlin’s mother didn’t seem surprised at our hasty exit. She just sat there, watching us go.

  “Goodbye, Mrs. Silver!” Charlie called over his shoulder, waving in a panic. “Have an excellent stay in Halo City. See you again soon.”

  “When Berlin shows up, I want you two to go out together,” Mrs. Silver shouted at Charlie as I flung open the door. “You would be perfect for each other.”

  “I can’t believe you, Lulu,” Charlie said when we were halfway down the block. “How could you be so rude? You really blew it.”

  “Charlie, you’ll never believe it. That picture!” I exclaimed, making a beeline for the subway.

  “What picture?”

  “On my camera. Sally Hansen. She had my purse!”

  “No way!” Charlie said.

  “Yes! I didn’t see it before because she had it over her shoulder. You could just see a tiny bit of it, peeking out from behind her skirt. But I know that was it! That pattern is unmistakable. And if Sally Hansen has my purse, there’s only one person she could have gotten it from—Berlin!”

  “What?” Charlie asked.

  “Try to stay with me,” I told him. “Your sister saw Berlin Silver with my handbag on Saturday night—the last time she was seen by anyone. This picture was taken the following Friday afternoon, after Berlin disappeared.”

  “Oh my God,” Charlie gasped. “That means . . .”

  “That means we’ve got to find Daisy. We have proof now. Sally Hansen killed Berlin Silv—”

  I halted in my tracks. My face went white. Blocking our path on the sidewalk was none other than Sally Hansen herself. She had one hand on her hip and my beloved, familiar purse dangling from the other.

  “Lulu Dark,” she snarled. “I’ve finally caught you.”

  ELEVEN

  I STOOD, FROZEN IN place. I knew I should run, but face-to-face with Sally, I found my Chinese slippers stuck to the sidewalk. Charlie was with me, I tried to console myself. At least I’d have company at the bottom of Dagger Bay.

  Sally grunted and her arm came slashing toward me. I flinched. This was it! Something hit me hard in the chest. I looked down. My purse! It bounced off me and fell to the ground in front of my feet.

  What was she, an ancient Egyptian? Did she want me to die with my belongings or something?

  “Here’s your hideous purse,” Sally spat. “I hope you’re happy with Alfy. He may be good-looking, but I think he traded brains with that bulldog of his somewhere along the line. And by the way, he cheats. As if you hadn’t figured that one out already.”

  Wait a minute. What was she talking about? Wasn’t this the part where she was supposed to kill me?

  “Huh?” I wasn’t yet ready to speak in full sentences.

  “I found your purse in his apartment,” Sally said. “So don’t play dumb with me. I know you’re Alfy’s new hussy. Keep him; he’s a troll. You’ll find out for yourself once the novelty wears off.”

  Charlie’s jaw dropped. “Lulu, I can’t believe you,” he mumbled.

  I just stood there, trying to figure things out. But none of this made any sense.

  “Sally, why have you been following me if you’re not going to kill me?”

  “First off, my name’s not Sally, it’s Lisa.”

  That’s right. I had gotten so used to calling her by her nickname that I had forgotten it was only my invention.

  “And kill you?” she said. “What are you smoking? Alfy’s the one I want to kill. You’re nothing to me but a dirty boyfriend thief. I just wanted to give you your purse back. And meet you face-to-face. It’s all over town, so I don’t know why I bothered, but still. It’s called closure. Dr. Phil says it’s important.”

  “Wait,” I said quickly. “You’ve got it all wrong. I swear on a stack of . . . I don’t know—phone books or something—that I haven’t been messing with your boyfriend. Last time I saw him was that day at Halo Park, when you were spying on me.”

  She rolled her eyes. “I wasn’t spying on you. I was spying on him. But you were flirting with him, and then I found your stupid bag in his apartment. With his phone number in it. I don’t see why you’re denying it. I tried to talk to you on the train the other day, but you wouldn’t wait up. Where I come from, that’s called being a coward.”

  Charlie cleared his throat. “Lulu, you swore up and down that you weren’t lying to me.”

  “I’m not!” I defended myself. “If my purse was in Alfy’s apartment, I didn’t leave it there because my purse was stolen the night of that concert.”

  Then it dawned on me. Duh.

  “Berlin stole my purse,” I explained. “She must have left it at Alfy’s.”

  “Berlin?” Sally-slash-Lisa said. “Who on earth is Berlin?”

  “Berlin Silver!” I argued. “The girl you killed and dumped in Dagger Bay!”

  “I didn’t kill anyone, you idiot!” Sally-slash-Lisa yelped. “Let alone some stranger named after a foreign capital.”

  “But if you didn’t kill Berlin, then who . . . ?” I stopped short.

  It was all coming together now. If Berlin had left my purse at Alfy’s, that meant Alfy was the last one to see her alive.

  It was so obvious. Alfy Romero was the killer! A murderous, cheating rock star!

  I sighed. These things always turn out the same. Want to know whodunnit? It’s the one who’s fine as hell. How depressing.

  “Come on, Charlie. I’ve figured it all out.” I took his hand to run, but he wasn’t budging.

  “Not until you explain why you didn’t tell me you were seeing Alfy Romero. Why did you have to lie about it?”

  I hate it when everyone else is two steps behind me. I folded my arms across my chest, threw my hip to the side, and glared at him. “Charlie, keep up. I am not having a secret affair with Alfy Romero. Berlin Silver was. And he killed her!”

  Charlie bit his lip, putting the pieces together for himself.

  Now it was Lisa’s turn to be freaked out. She glanced back and forth between me and Charlie. “You guys are lunatics,” she said. She turned on her six-inch heels and hurried away. I couldn’t believe I’d ever been scared of her.

  “Come on, Charlie,” I said. “We’re going back to my place. Call Daisy and tell her to meet us. We need to hatch a plan.”

  “Wouldn�
��t it make way more sense to call the police instead?”

  “Nah. They didn’t believe me last time and they’re not going to now. That’s okay. When I’m finished, they’ll be on their knees thanking me. And there’s no better feeling than being able to say, ‘I told you so.’”

  “What about sneezing?” Charlie said. “That feels really good. Or peeing after you’ve been holding it for an hour. Or—”

  “Don’t be so literal about everything,” I cut him off. I definitely didn’t want to know what was going to come out of his mouth next.

  Back at the loft, we found Daisy was waiting for us on the front stoop. “Good job, gumshoe,” she said, patting me on the back. For once I didn’t argue about the moniker. Despite my instincts to the contrary, I was proud of myself for figuring things out.

  We went to the kitchen. I cut up some Granny Smith apples, spread peanut butter on the slices, and took them to my room on a tray with three cans of Coke. It was a celebratory snack. The crime was solved; all that was left was the part where we confronted the murderer and tricked him into spilling everything.

  If we could do it without being tied up and left for dead in the basement of a burning building with only our nail files and compacts as escape tools, I would consider it a job very well done.

  Charlie, Daisy, and I lolled on my bed, nibbling the apples and brainstorming.

  “We’ll need disguises,” Daisy said.

  “Really? Why?” Charlie asked.

  Daisy looked at him like he’d eaten a plate of stupid for breakfast. “If we’re not wearing disguises, Alfy isn’t going to confess anything. He’ll know we’re on to him and he’ll just kill us too.” She turned toward me. “Trust me. We need disguises. Disguises always make every plan better.”

  Charlie raised one eyebrow but didn’t say anything.

  “What should we be?” she mused. “Harem girls? I’ve got these great Arabian Nights pants that I haven’t had a chance to use yet.”

  Charlie snorted.

  “Um, Daisy, I don’t see why Alfy Romero would confess his crime to two Halo City harem girls,” I said.