Lou Lou and Pea and the Mural Mystery

by Jill Diamond

  “Mi padre es un sótano gracioso.” She was proud of her complicated Spanish phrase. But Pea laughed.

  “Sótano means cellar,” Pea said. “You said, ‘My father is a funny cellar.’ I think maybe you mean marinero. That is the word for sailor.”

  “Oh, yeah,” said Lou Lou. She’d get that one right next time. She pocketed the money, called her padre gracioso to tell him the plan for their PSPP stroll, and they were out the door a moment later.

  Vanilla buttercream had won out over candles today, so Lou Lou and Pea went to Cupcake Cabana. They took a long route home to visit the murals and, on the way, they saw Rosa looking intently at Lady Carmen Rides Bonito. She didn’t notice Lou Lou and Pea until they were close enough to count the rhinestones on her hair clip.

  “Hi!” said Lou Lou. Rosa jumped and turned. She looked startled.

  “It is very nice to see you again, Rosa,” Pea said.

  “Hola, Peacock and Lou Lou,” Rosa said softly.

  “Why are you staring at this mural?” Despite Lou Lou’s good intentions, this sounded like an accusation. Pea’s advice to be more sensitive came in the form of a gentle elbow to Lou Lou’s ribs. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to be rude. It’s just that … maybe you’ve noticed the murals have been changing after bad things happen?” Lou Lou recounted the stories of Magdalena and Danielle Desserts and the tragedy of Pinky’s planticide. Rosa nodded sympathetically as Lou Lou talked. Her eyes were misty and she wiped them with her sleeve.

  “Yes, so many troubles…” Rosa trailed off as she looked back at the mural. Helado’s amber eyes gazed back at her.

  “Is Helado making you sad?” asked Lou Lou. Rosa seemed confused.

  “The bunny,” explained Pea. “He is new to the mural. We thought he needed a name so we picked Helado.”

  “Ice cream.” Rosa smiled despite her tears. “I like that.” She gazed at Helado. “The bunny you call Helado is mi mascota and my best friend. But I haven’t seen him in two weeks. He has been bunnynapped!” Rosa whispered.

  “How terrible!” exclaimed Pea.

  “Have you called the police?” asked Lou Lou.

  “No, no.” Rosa shook her head. “I don’t want to involve them in this.”

  That seemed odd to Lou Lou. “Rosa, do you have any idea who is behind the crimes and changing the murals?” she asked. “Is it Jeremy? Kid about our age, spiky blue hair, studded bracelet, black boots? Can’t miss him.”

  Rosa looked at them strangely. Before she could reply, they heard the sound of fast-approaching footsteps around the corner.

  “I’m sorry, I need to go.” Rosa seemed nervous. “¡Hasta luego, Peacock and Lou Lou!” She hurried away, disappearing into someone’s side yard.

  “Why does she keep rushing off?” Pea wondered.

  “I have no idea,” Lou Lou said, and looked at the spot where Rosa had been. She had a feeling they’d been close to finding out something about the Mural Mystery. She turned toward the corner where the sound of footsteps had stopped.

  Lou Lou caught a glimpse of a yellow bumblebee sweater as Kyle peered out, then quickly ducked back behind the corner.

  “We see you, Kyle!” Lou Lou called. Kyle’s head poked out again. He noticed Pea and emerged from his hiding spot.

  “Where does a peacock go when it loses its tail?” Kyle asked, grinning. Lou Lou wondered how long he’d been waiting to tell this joke to Pea. “A retail store!” said Kyle. “Get it? Re-tail. As in, to get another tail.”

  “I get it,” Pea replied, and Lou Lou couldn’t help but laugh. It reminded her of one of Bisabuela Nellie’s bad jokes. Encouraged, Kyle tried again.

  “Wanna hear a space joke? I have a million of those.”

  “Why were you hiding just now, Kyle?” Lou Lou asked.

  Kyle frowned. “I wasn’t hiding. I was spying from my invisible spacecraft.”

  “Why are you so interested in us?” asked Lou Lou. Kyle’s face turned red and he stole a glance at Pea.

  “I’m not interested in you guys!” Kyle replied. “I’m keeping an eye out for anything suspicious in the neighborhood. Just like I told you I would, Lou Lou Bombay! Who was that girl looking at the mural? I’ve seen her around before but I don’t know her.”

  “Her name is Rosa,” said Pea. “She is very nice.”

  “I saw her yesterday, too,” Kyle said. “She was talking to that new kid in our school. The one with blue hair and the studded wrist thingy.”

  Rosa and Jeremy! Lou Lou and Pea exchanged knowing looks.

  “What were they talking about?” Pea asked.

  “Dunno. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but she looked upset,” Kyle said. “I was gonna tell him to stop bothering her, but he left before I got the chance. He was probably scared off just looking at me since I’m so tough.” Kyle pulled up his sleeve and flexed his biceps. Lou Lou smiled. She could fit one of her ponytail holders around his arm. “I was watching her today in case she needed my help,” Kyle added.

  Why was Rosa talking to Jeremy? Lou Lou wondered. He must have been threatening her. Maybe trying to get her to pay a bunny ransom for Helado’s safe return. Which could explain Rosa’s reluctance to get the police involved.

  “Let’s go.” Lou Lou wanted to tell Pea about her ransom theory without Kyle Longfellow around.

  “Goodbye, Kyle,” Pea said, and turned.

  “Wait! I should hang out with you guys. I can protect you with my supernova laser beam.”

  Lou Lou and Pea continued down the block. “Maybe next time!” Lou Lou called over her shoulder.

  The sky was darkening and they had to head back to the SS Lucky Alley. As they walked and talked, Rosa’s words echoed in Lou Lou’s head.

  So many troubles …

  It’s true, thought Lou Lou. And somehow the troubles have to stop!

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Ella Divine Sings the Blues

  At home, Lou Lou’s dad was making shiver-me-timbers spaghetti and singing a sea shanty about mermaids of the deep. Lou Lou and Pea took plates to go and, dodging the Halloween phantoms hanging in the hall, went up to the crow’s nest to eat and change for their night out. Lou Lou pulled on a silver satin dress while Pea debated choices from her duffel.

  “The shimmery navy is my favorite but I wore it last time. I could wear the green sequined skirt instead and add some blue accents.” Pea held up a headband and tights.

  “Yeah, what you said sounds good.” Lou Lou was peering out the window with Henry Pearl’s binoculars. She focused on her asters, then on a patch of thyme in Eats and Cures. Nothing looked out of place.

  “Which one? Shimmery navy or green sequins with blue accents?”

  “What? Oh, sorry.” Lou Lou looked at Pea. “Green sequins with blue accents. You wore the shimmery navy last time.” Pea was polite enough not to point out she had just said that.

  Ten minutes later, Lou Lou and Pea came down dressed in their stylish clothes.

  “Don’t you two look elegant,” Lou Lou’s dad remarked, straightening his tie. “Jane!” he called. “Time to go to the Heliotrope.”

  Every third Friday of the month, Lou Lou and Pea crossed their fingers that one or the other’s parents would take them to the Heliotrope, a restaurant and theater a few blocks from the SS Lucky Alley. On these nights, Ella Divine performed her husky mix of blues and jazz. Lou Lou thought Ella Divine was the bee’s knees when it came to singing, but it was Pea who truly adored the performer. Admiring her glamorous evening gowns, Pea always said she wanted to be like Ella Divine when she grew up. Except Pea would sing in Spanish and wear blue, as well as Ella Divine’s signature color, emerald green. Pea had already written her first song, “Me Encanta Limpiar Mi Habitación” (“I Love to Clean My Room”).

  After a short walk, Lou Lou and Pea were greeted by grand oak doors and the Heliotrope’s lighted marquee, which read in big letters: LIVE TONIGHT! THE LOVELY ELLA DIVINE! And in smaller letters below: Try our famous chocolate cheesecake! Inside, Lou
Lou’s parents picked a table in the back and allowed Lou Lou and Pea to sit in a booth closer to the stage. The girls slid into the velvet-lined seat and Francesca, the waitress, waved from across the room. A few minutes later, Francesca brought over their usual: pomegranate Italian sodas topped with maraschino cherries and a piece of chocolate cheesecake with two forks.

  “Thank you, Francesca,” said Pea, taking a sip of her soda.

  “Thanks!” echoed Lou Lou, stabbing a cherry with her straw.

  “Y’all are very welcome,” Francesca replied in her Southern drawl, which Lou Lou and Pea liked to imitate after nights at the Heliotrope.

  As always, the show was packed with the singer’s adoring fans. Pea waved to a girl from her school. Lou Lou smiled at her music teacher and looked around for other familiar faces to greet. Just as the houselights went down, Lou Lou thought she spotted blue spikes at a table across the room. She squinted, but in the dark it was impossible to tell for certain if it was Jeremy.

  “Pea! I think Jeremy’s here!” Lou Lou whispered loudly.

  Pea, who was eating chocolate cheesecake and watching the spotlight in anticipation, looked at Lou Lou.

  “Where?”

  Lou Lou pointed into the darkness. “Over there … somewhere…”

  “I can’t really see anything,” said Pea.

  “Shh!” A man in a neighboring booth hushed Lou Lou and Pea as Ella Divine emerged from behind the heavy crimson curtain. She looked beautiful in a lace emerald evening gown and shiny patent-leather pumps. Ella Divine’s hair was curled and pinned into an elaborate hairstyle and her lips were painted a bright scarlet. She immediately launched into one of her most popular songs, “Feathered Fedora,” which was Pea’s favorite. The crowd cheered but Lou Lou frowned.

  “She didn’t say good evening like she always does,” whispered Lou Lou. “Strange, right?”

  “Mmm.” Pea was engrossed in “Feathered Fedora.” Her eyes were half-closed and she was swaying to the music as she sang along softly:

  “I am always where you’re at.

  I’ll be the feather in your hat.

  I’ll be the flowers in your May.

  I’ll be the sweet in your beignet.”

  Suddenly, Pea snapped to attention as if waking from a dream. Instead of moving to the next verse of “Feathered Fedora,” Ella Divine kept repeating the first lines.

  “What’s going on?” Lou Lou asked. Before Pea could reply, Ella Divine dropped her microphone. But the singing went on. The performer’s eyes grew big, and she rushed offstage. The music stopped and the houselights came on. Lou Lou’s jaw dropped.

  “Lip-synching?” gasped Lou Lou. “Ella Divine lip-synchs her songs?” Similar murmurs could be heard in the crowd. Ella Divine was known for her beautiful live performances. It was unthinkable that she was lip-synching.

  People got up from their tables and booths to leave. All around outraged voices protested.

  “Can you believe it? She’s a fraud!”

  “What a waste of money. I could have stayed home and listened to her album.”

  “The chocolate cheesecake may be good, but I am never coming here again!”

  Lou Lou didn’t see Jeremy in the angry crowd. Only Francesca, who was frantically trying to refill drinks so she wouldn’t lose all her customers. Pea caught her eye as she dashed past their booth.

  “What on earth, Francesca? Did you know that Ella Divine doesn’t actually sing her songs during her performances?”

  “But she usually does sing! I swear it!” said Francesca. “The lip-synching was just a onetime thing. Y’all have to believe me—she’s not a fake.”

  “Can we go see her?” Lou Lou pointed backstage. They needed to talk to Ella Divine to find out what had happened.

  Francesca hesitated, but gave in. “All right, go,” she said. “Be quick about it. And don’t get me in trouble by tellin’ management that I sent you.” Lou Lou glanced back at her parents’ table. Her mom and dad were talking to a friend. Francesca followed her gaze.

  “If they ask, I’ll tell them I sent y’all back there,” Francesca said. “Hurry up now.”

  Lou Lou and Pea checked that no one was watching, then opened the small door near the stage, ignoring the sign that said: PERFORMERS AND EMPLOYEES ONLY / SÓLO ARTISTAS Y EMPLEADOS. They’d been backstage once before, on Pea’s birthday, when Francesca took them to meet Ella Divine, so they knew exactly where to find the singer.

  From outside the dressing room, Lou Lou and Pea could hear crying. Pea knocked lightly in the middle of the gold star that read: MISS DIVINE. Her idol opened the door a crack and peered out. Tears and mascara stained her cheeks, but she still looked beautiful.

  “May I help you?” Ella Divine asked. Her voice was hoarse and scratchy. Lou Lou realized that they didn’t have a plan for what to say.

  Pea cleared her throat. “Miss Divine, my name is Peacock Pearl. I met you last year. You may not remember, but I do because I am your biggest fan. I come to your show every month with my friend here, Lou Lou Bombay.”

  “Nice to see you again,” Lou Lou said, peeking around Pea’s shoulder. Ella Divine managed a weak smile.

  “Thank you,” she said. “I do remember you. And of course I notice you at all my shows. You always look so fashionable.” Lou Lou squeezed Pea’s arm. She knew the compliment would mean a lot. “I hope you will keep coming, even after tonight,” Ella Divine added. A tear spilled from the singer’s eye. But she pulled herself together and graciously inquired, “Would you like an autograph? I think I have some photos from my days on the French Riviera. I could sign one for you.”

  “Actually, may we come in to talk to you?” Pea asked.

  “I’m not very good company right now. But you two might be my only fans left.” Ella Divine opened the door all the way to reveal her dressing room decked out with a chandelier, fancy emerald-green furniture, and patterned wallpaper. An Ave Cantora candle with a picture of a songbird on the glass holder burned in one corner next to a vase filled with lilies.

  The singer motioned for them to sit, and Lou Lou and Pea perched on the edge of a small sofa. Ella Divine made herself comfortable in an enormous wingback chair with the satin of her dressing gown pooled around her. She clutched a steaming mug of tea.

  “Miss Divine. About your show…”

  Pea was clearly trying to think of a nice way to ask the singer about the troubling events. But Lou Lou couldn’t contain her curiosity anymore.

  “You don’t always lip-synch your songs, do you? Why did you do it tonight?” The singer burst into tears. Lou Lou felt terrible, and Pea looked at her with raised eyebrows.

  “I’m so sorry!” exclaimed Lou Lou. “Please don’t cry. Please. I didn’t mean to make it worse. We were just surprised.” And a little disappointed, thought Lou Lou, though this time she held her tongue.

  “This is the first time I have ever lip-synched!” cried Ella Divine. “I promise! It was only because I came down with laryngitis yesterday and lost my singing voice.” In a flash, it all made sense—the hoarseness in Ella Divine’s voice, the songbird candle, and the evening’s strange performance.

  “How terrible!” exclaimed Pea, though she sounded relieved to know that her idol didn’t normally fake her songs.

  “I didn’t want to cancel the show tonight and make my loyal fans wait until next month for my performance,” Ella Divine explained. “The stage manager suggested that I sing along to a recording. I knew it wasn’t right to fool my audience, but I was so excited to share my newest song, ‘Sequined Sabine.’ So I decided I would lip-synch just this one time.”

  “Then during ‘Feathered Fedora,’ the recording broke.” Lou Lou filled in the next part of the story. She thought about seeing Jeremy in the crowd. Could he have messed up the recording?

  “Correct. Now I am ruined! No one will ever come to hear me sing again!” Ella Divine put her face in her hands and sobbed. Pea went to the singer and patted her shoulder.

  “
Miss Divine,” she said, “I promise you that I, Peacock Pearl, will do everything I can to spread the truth about what happened to you tonight. I will make flyers explaining that you are not a fraud. I will tell everyone I know in the neighborhood and at school. You have my word.”

  “Me too,” agreed Lou Lou. Ella Divine looked up. Her eyes were red but at least she was smiling.

  “That would be wonderful,” she said. “You are both very kind.”

  It was clear that Ella Divine was exhausted after her terrible evening, so Lou Lou and Pea bid her a fond farewell. Besides, they had things to do back at the SS Lucky Alley. There was Pinky’s funeral, which was planned for tomorrow, more preparation for Día de los Muertos, and now they had flyers to make for Ella Divine. Also, there was no forgetting that they had a growing Mural Mystery to solve. It was going to be a busy weekend.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Poor Elmira

  Back in the crow’s nest, Lou Lou and Pea made Ella Divine’s flyers while they watched out Lou Lou’s window for any shenanigans in the garden below.

  “Something is down there!” said Pea, careful not to topple a bottle of glue as she grabbed the binoculars.

  “Really? Is it Jeremy?” Lou Lou looked up from sprinkling gold glitter on construction paper.

  “No, too small. And furry. Maybe a raccoon? It’s eating the garbage.” Pea grimaced. “Disgusting. Definitely a raccoon.”

  Aside from the raccoon, nothing interesting happened outside. But Lou Lou and Pea successfully made fifty-nine flyers for Ella Divine before they went to bed. They drew pictures of the singer, the Heliotrope, Francesca, and even chocolate cheesecake. The flyers were all slightly different. But each one had the same message—explaining the lip-synching incident and asking Ella Divine’s loyal fans to forgive her and return for the next show.