Lou Lou and Pea and the Mural Mystery

by Jill Diamond

  Her dad frowned and said, “Lou Lou, can’t you wait for my limey key lime pie? Keeps the scurvy away.” Pea politely muffled a laugh with her napkin.

  “But we have important things to do.”

  “May we take it to go?” Pea tried to help. Lou Lou kicked her gently under the table. “I mean, may we eat it in our berths, Captain?”

  “I suppose that’s fine. I don’t want to get in the way of ‘important things.’” Lou Lou’s dad served up generous slices of pie.

  They were ready to head up to the crow’s nest, plates in hand, when Lou Lou’s mom asked, “That new neighbor boy—what’s his name? Joseph? Joshua?”

  “Jeremy.” Lou Lou tried not to hiss.

  “Jeremy, right. He came by today with his parents.”

  “He what?” squeaked Lou Lou, nearly dropping her plate.

  “He came by,” Lou Lou’s mom repeated, clearly not realizing the significance of this. “You girls were out with your Ella Divine flyers. He seems charming. I told him he could come back later, but his parents said they would be busy for the rest of the day.”

  “What did he want?” asked Lou Lou, her voice still shrill.

  “He was just being neighborly. He wanted to say hello to you, and Mr. and Mrs. Ruiz wanted to meet us. Jeremy even gave me a plate of chocolate chip cookies,” her mom answered. “Oh, and I almost forgot—he brought you something else.” Lou Lou’s mom disappeared into the kitchen. She returned a moment later and handed Lou Lou a book with a glossy cover that read Caring for Your Camellia: A Comprehensive Guide to Nurturing Award-Winning Blooms. “I thought it was very nice of him. I didn’t have the heart to tell him about Pinky’s passing.”

  Lou Lou’s ears were bright red. Not only was Jeremy the prime suspect in Pinky’s planticide, but he seemed to be mocking Lou Lou by giving her a camellia book when he knew that Pinky was dead. And he had some nerve bringing over yummy chocolate chip cookies to keep up his nice-guy charade. What if he’d poisoned the cookies just like he’d poisoned Pinky?

  Lou Lou did a mental check of her body: Stomach, okay. Pulse, okay. Ears, hot, but that was nothing new. Still, Lou Lou wanted to put down her pie and march over to her neighbor’s house right that moment to confront Jeremy.

  Pea touched Lou Lou on the arm, sensing that she was about to do something impulsive and probably unwise.

  “How about that chart?” Pea asked.

  Chrysanthemum, chrysanthemum, chrysanthemum, Lou Lou thought, and she calmed down. Yes, they should stick to the plan.

  “What chart?” asked Lou Lou’s mom.

  “Just another one of our projects,” said Lou Lou.

  “Thank you for the limey key lime pie, Peter,” Pea called as they hurried up the rope ladder.

  In the crow’s nest, Lou Lou held the camellia book by the spine and shook it vigorously over the floor.

  “What are you doing?” Pea asked.

  “Looking for evidence or threats from Jeremy.” Lou Lou thumbed through the pages but all she saw were colored pictures of camellia varieties. Finally, she gave up and shoved the book into a space on her shelf.

  “Some nerve he has, giving me a camellia book. Because of him, I don’t even have a camellia!” Lou Lou went to the window and looked at her garden. The asters were now thriving alongside the toad lilies. Lou Lou took a deep breath. There was nothing she could do but move forward to solve the Mural Mystery. “Let’s start the Matrix.”

  * * *

  Lou Lou and Pea’s Matrix-making went quickly. Pea drew perfect lines and boxes with a ruler, and Lou Lou added words, names, and X’s.

  “Remember when we made charts in first grade?” Lou Lou asked.

  “Of course! Mine showed my cleaning chores and yours showed the days that you watered your cactus,” replied Pea.

  “And Kyle spilled his chocolate milk on your chart,” Lou Lou said, drawing another X.

  Pea scowled, then smiled. “You helped me make a new one, though, and we’ve been best friends ever since!”

  As they talked, the Matrix became a marker-drawn masterpiece that clearly showed which murals memorialized which crimes, and the human/animal/camellia victims to match. Lou Lou didn’t expect that the Matrix would miraculously solve the Mural Mystery, but she hoped it might bring them closer to a solution.

  Lou Lou added the final X in the Ella Divine’s Musical Misfortune row under If Pigs Could Fly. She leaned back and squinted at the Mural Mystery Matrix:

  “I don’t see any connections between the events and the original mural paintings. I mean, Pinky is in A Lovely Day for a Parade. But what does a camellia have to do with parades?”

  “And how could Ella Divine’s broken recording possibly be related to flying pigs?” Pea asked.

  “Well, at least we have all the Mural Mystery information in one place now. That’s helpful. Maybe we should also make a list of the suspects’ known whereabouts. Speaking of which…” Something caught Lou Lou’s eye and she peered out her little window, pressing her nose against the glass.

  “Pea, come look! He’s in my yard!”

  “¿De verdad? What is he doing?” Pea rushed to the window. On the grass below was a figure dressed in black. They couldn’t see all his features, but the loping walk and spiky hair told them it was definitely Jeremy.

  “I’m not sure,” Lou Lou replied. “But he better not touch a petal or leaf on any of my plants!”

  Jeremy went straight to Pinky’s former spot under the avocado tree. Lou Lou had brought all the funeral mementos into the house, so it was just an empty patch of wet dirt. He took a small paper bag from the sack slung over his shoulder and peeked inside, then reached in and pulled something out. Jeremy stooped toward the ground with his back to the window.

  “What was in that bag?” cried Lou Lou, thinking her ears might actually become little fireballs. “Did it look like bleach? Or vinegar? Or a hammer? If he even sets a foot near my perennial sunflowers, he’s gonna be sorry!”

  “It’s too dark and I can’t see well from this angle,” Pea replied, looking through the binoculars. “But he’s not pouring anything and I don’t see any hammers.”

  Jeremy stood up and crumpled the paper bag in his fist, stuffing it into his sack. He walked back toward the fence.

  “I’m going to find out what’s going on!” Lou Lou pulled on her sweatshirt and hat. Pea shook her head.

  “Lou Lou, you cannot go out there right now.”

  “Why not? We caught him in the act, Pea! Okay, I’m not sure what act, but I know it was a bad one. Even if he doesn’t harm anything else in the garden, we still have to confront him to get justice for Pinky … and for Magdalena and Ella Divine!” Lou Lou remembered to add the people Pea cared about most. She began to climb down the rope ladder.

  “Lou Lou, if we let Jeremy know we are on to him, we might never be able to prove that he is behind the crimes. Not to mention, Rosa might not get Helado back, Elmira might never see her money again, and Danielle’s necklace might be lost forever. We are still better off watching him secretly for a while. He is not going to confess, so it will be his word against ours until we have more evidence.”

  Lou Lou paused to run through her second set of chrysanthemums that evening. Although she wanted to avenge Pinky’s death immediately, Pea made a good point, as usual.

  “I suppose you’re right,” Lou Lou replied. “But he knew exactly where Pinky was, so that’s some proof he committed the planticide, right? Is he still there?”

  “No, he’s gone now,” said Pea. “It’s too dark out there to see anything anyway.”

  Lou Lou climbed back up the ladder and pulled off her hat. Her head itched from the wool. “First thing tomorrow, we’ll go outside and try to figure out what Jeremy was doing down there, okay?” she said.

  “Yes, perfect pla … ahhh … n.” Pea covered her mouth as she yawned. It was late and they’d had a long day.

  Although Lou Lou wanted to stay awake to see if Jeremy returned, before they knew
it, they were both fast asleep.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  An Altar Is Born

  It rained during the night, but Sunday brought sunshine, and Lou Lou awoke with a sense of purpose. She was almost certain she knew who had killed Pinky and she suspected Jeremy was also behind the other crimes. Now she and Pea had to prove he was responsible and stop him from causing more mayhem.

  Lou Lou sat up in bed and pushed curls out of her eyes. Pea was still sleeping.

  “Pea!” Lou Lou whispered, but there was no response. She patted Pea’s arm.

  “Demasiado temprano,” Pea groaned and rolled away from Lou Lou. “Too early!”

  “It’s after eight. We have a lot to do today,” Lou Lou pressed.

  Pea half opened her eyes, then closed them again. “Muffin and tea, please,” she requested.

  “Coming right up!” Lou Lou knew she’d won the rise-and-shine battle. She hurried down to the kitchen and returned a few minutes later. Using the pulley and bucket that brought things to and from the crow’s nest, Lou Lou hauled up a steaming cup of tea and a plate of cinnamon muffins. The tea sloshed onto the muffins during its journey in the bucket, but Pea didn’t seem to mind. She sat up in bed in her striped pajamas and took a sip from the mug.

  “First we’ll go outside and see if we can figure out what Jeremy was doing last night,” Lou Lou said. Pea pulled a brush through her hair while Lou Lou riffled through Pea’s duffel bag for a T-shirt and jeans to move her along. Pea raised an eyebrow.

  “Don’t worry, I will fold everything back up,” said Lou Lou.

  “The shirt with the bluebirds goes well with them.” Pea pointed at the jeans and Lou Lou handed her the clothes.

  “We’ll work on our Día de los Muertos preparations after we look for Jeremy evidence.”

  Pea’s mouth was full of soggy muffin, so she nodded in reply.

  * * *

  In the backyard, Lou Lou and Pea examined the area around the avocado tree. Pea wore gloves and stayed a safe distance from the dirt, while Lou Lou crawled in the soil on hands and knees, looking for signs of Jeremy’s mischief. She also carefully checked Bouquet Blooms, Summer Weirds, Eats and Cures, and Fancy Fall Florals. But she found no foul play—in fact, her perennial sunflowers were doing better than ever. And, aside from a bit of displaced dirt and a few faint boot prints, there was also no trace of Jeremy’s activity near the avocado tree. Everything looked the same, just a bit wetter from the nighttime rain.

  “It’s frustrating. If only we could find something … anything that would link him directly to the crimes,” Lou Lou said.

  “We will just have to keep looking,” Pea replied. Lou Lou agreed—they had to wait for Jeremy to make a mistake. But first they had procession outfits to create and an altar to make.

  Back inside, Lou Lou and Pea fetched paper, fabric, thread, glue, and other odds and ends. They laid everything on the living room floor next to the unlit Buena Suerte candle that Lou Lou hoped would help with their preparations. After three hours of hard work on their outfits and Pinky’s altar, they were done. Pea added blue lace to her embroidered skirt and small pearl buttons to her sweater. But Pea’s pièce de résistance was her parasol. She attached a rainbow of tassels to the outer edge of an old umbrella. They swirled wildly as she twirled around the room.

  Lou Lou had a long black dress, a hand-me-down from her mom made smaller. Keeping with her Pinky theme, she cut out colorful velvet flowers, and Pea helped her sew them to the dress and finish them off with button centers. She couldn’t hold a parasol in the procession because she had to carry Pinky’s altar. But she’d found a large-brimmed hat and pinned on multicolored tassels for a similar effect. Lou Lou realized the slight flaw in her design when she triumphantly put on the hat but had to brush orange and green strings aside in order to see. With a bit of trimming, though, the hat was perfect.

  Lou Lou’s mom came into the living room, sneezing but smiling. She gave Lou Lou three origami flowers, more elaborate than the simple bouquet she’d created for Pinky’s funeral.

  “Achoo! Fantastic!” she exclaimed, talking about the altar, not her sneeze.

  “¡Salud!” said Pea.

  “Are you okay?” Lou Lou asked. Her mom’s eyes were watery and her nose was red.

  “First cold of the season,” her mom said in a nasally voice. “I need a tiss—Achoo!” She hurried toward the bathroom.

  “Bless you—I mean, salud!” Lou Lou attached the flowers to the altar by wrapping the wire stems around the wooden frame. Inside the frame, Lou Lou had fastened mementos and symbols of Pinky. She replaced the photo of Bisabuela Nellie and her terriers with the photograph she had used at the funeral. She also added construction-paper sunshine, water, and soil, as well as an advertisement for Pinky’s favorite brand of fertilizer cut from the Hello Horticulture! Society magazine. The final touch was a spritz of Lou Lou’s mom’s floral perfume, even though it smelled like jasmine and not autumn queen camellia.

  “Looks wonderful,” Pea said. “Pinky would be honored.” With the Día de los Muertos projects complete, Lou Lou and Pea took everything up to the crow’s nest for safekeeping until Wednesday evening.

  “What now?” asked Pea.

  “The Mural Mystery, of course,” replied Lou Lou. “But first, let’s eat. I know better than to sleuth on an empty stomach!”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  A Storm for Sugar Skulls Sarah

  During lunch, Lou Lou and Pea talked about the procession.

  “Magdalena will come with us,” Pea said.

  “That’s terrific!” replied Lou Lou. Because Pea’s cousin had agreed to accompany them, Lou Lou and Pea could walk in the evening procession without their parents’ constant supervision.

  Lou Lou’s mom coughed loudly as she joined them at the table. Lou Lou wheeled the fridge open and took out a carton of orange juice. She poured a glass for her mom.

  “Thanks, honey.” Jane took a big sip. “Could you girls do me a favor? I need some cold medicine and your dad had to go to—”

  “Sure!” Lou Lou answered before her mom could finish. Although she was happy to help, a trip to the pharmacy would also give them a chance to see any new changes to the murals. It didn’t hurt that Cupcake Cabana was on the way. Lou Lou’s mom knew this, too, and gave Lou Lou money for medicine plus a little more.

  “For cherry cough syrup and sweets for my sweets.” Jane patted Lou Lou on the head and winked at Pea. “Back to bed now for me. What a shame to miss such a lovely day.”

  Lou Lou kept an eye on the murals as they ate their cupcakes and walked toward the pharmacy. She’d brought along the Mural Mystery Matrix and a pen, and she checked the Matrix every time they passed an important mural to make sure they’d recorded all the additions correctly. Everything seemed in order and there were no new changes.

  “Maybe it will be a quiet day for the Mural Mystery,” Pea suggested.

  Before Lou Lou could reply, a scream pierced the midday calm. Lou Lou sprinted in the direction of another scream, with Pea close behind. When they rounded the corner, they saw that it was Sugar Skulls Sarah making the racket. She stood in front of her studio, dripping wet. A puddle formed around her on the sidewalk.

  “What happened, Sarah?” panted Lou Lou.

  Sarah took off her glasses and pushed sopping strands of hair off her face. Drips ran down her cheeks. She might have been crying, but with all the water Lou Lou couldn’t tell.

  “It’s just awful. Really truly awful,” Sarah wailed. “Everything is soaked.”

  “Yes, we can see that,” replied Lou Lou impatiently. Pea shot her a try to be more sensitive glance. Gently, Lou Lou continued. “Maybe we can help. Should I go find you a towel?”

  Sugar Skulls Sarah wrung out the cuffs of her sweater, making another puddle at Lou Lou’s feet. “It’s not just me that’s wet, Lou Lou. Like I said, everything is soaked.” Sarah pointed at her studio.

  Through the open glass door Lou Lou and Pea saw what sh
e meant. Inside, it looked like there had been a torrential downpour. Water ran down the legs of tables and chairs. Many of the wall tapestries were drenched and askew. The marigold vases were overflowing, and decorations spilled out of bowls in the flood, speckling the floor with glitter and bright color.

  “What in the world—?” Pea started to ask.

  “The sprinklers!” cried Sarah. “I was putting the finishing touches on some of the skulls when the fire sprinklers in the studio turned on at full blast. But there was no fire! Not even a puff of smoke.” Lou Lou and Pea suddenly realized the full consequences of the sprinkler storm.

  “The sugar skulls!” exclaimed Pea. “They will dissolve!”

  “Exactly,” Sarah responded sadly. “They’re ruined.” She pointed at shelves that had once displayed the skulls she’d decorated for the giant wagon she always towed behind her bicycle in the procession. Sure enough, the skulls were now formless lumps of white covered in wet feathers and dripping clusters of beads and gems. It was a mess.

  “How terrible!” Pea cried, clearly distressed by the thought of destroyed artwork. “What can we do?”

  “It’s hopeless,” replied Sarah. “I’ll have to start over and work night and day just to make enough skulls for Día de los Muertos. ¡Ay, qué pena!” Lou Lou heard sirens in the distance. Sarah sighed.

  “Before I do anything, I have to explain this to the fire department and clean up this disaster.”

  “We’d stay to help you clean…” Lou Lou said.

  “Yes, normally we would love to!” Pea chimed in.

  “… but we’re supposed to go to the pharmacy.” Lou Lou remembered the medicine they’d promised her mom.

  “No hay problema,” said Sarah. “I’m going to call some friends to come over.”

  Sugar Skulls Sarah went back into her studio. Lou Lou and Pea stood gazing after her for a silent moment.

  Then Lou Lou said, “Sprinkler sabotage! It’s gotta be! You heard her—there wasn’t a fire. There’s no way this was an accident.”