by Jill Diamond
Lou Lou took a deep breath. Her ears were already tingling.
“Ready,” she and Pea answered together.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Día de los Muertos (Part One)
That night, a different world waited for Lou Lou and Pea in El Corazón. Crowds of people, some with painted skeleton faces, talked in groups or quietly gathered around altars on the sidewalks. The air was filled with the smoky perfume of incense, and it looked as if a rainbow had exploded. Strings of red papel picado—tissue paper flags with cut-out designs—fluttered in the light wind. Orange and yellow marigolds filled vases, tin cups, and glass jars. Little blue and green lights framed an altar dedicated to someone’s beloved auntie Maribel. A man strummed a purple guitar, softly singing a love song to a photograph of a beautiful woman.
Lou Lou and Pea took in the sights, sounds, and smells, stopping to marvel at altars or say their hellos to friends and neighbors. Lou Lou held Pinky’s altar proudly. She tried to clear her mind of the Mural Mystery for a few moments to remember Pinky in full bloom on a sunny day, thriving under the protection of the avocado tree. Lou Lou pictured her beloved camellia decorated with thousands of Flowering Bushes and Shrubs blue ribbons in an afterlife plant paradise.
Magdalena walked beside Pea but stopped when she saw a group of her friends.
“¿Espera aquí, bien?” she asked.
“Of course,” Pea replied, agreeing to wait for her.
While Magdalena was with her friends, Lou Lou and Pea wandered over to an altar adorned with flowered vines and hearts made from different shades of yarn. A man was knitting nearby in a ring of candles.
“Hi, Thomas,” Lou Lou said. Thomas from Sparkle ’N Clean looked up from his knitting needles, puzzled. “It’s Lou Lou and Peacock,” she added. The skeleton makeup made it difficult to recognize them.
“Darlings! Good evening! Nice to see you,” Thomas replied.
“Who are you remembering tonight?” Pea pointed at the altar. In the midst of the elaborate yarn designs was a picture of a woman in a rocking chair.
“My mother,” replied Thomas. “She taught me how to knit. It was her favorite pastime.”
Lou Lou was about to compliment Thomas’s altar when she saw blue spikes in the distant crowd.
“Jeremy!” she hissed, and tugged on Pea’s sweater. Of course he’s here, thought Lou Lou. Probably looking for another victim. “Let’s follow him. Maybe he’ll meet up with Elmira and then we’ll know it’s safe to go to the candle shop.”
Pea asked, “But what about Magda—”
“Don’t worry, we’ll find her later!” Sensing Pea’s hesitation, Lou Lou said, “Thomas, if you see Magdalena, can you please tell her we’re fine, we just went to help a friend?” This wasn’t exactly a lie—they were helping friends by solving the Mural Mystery.
“Of course,” Thomas replied. Lou Lou gave Pea a will that do? look. Pea nodded.
“Thanks, Thomas! Let’s go!” Lou Lou called over her shoulder. Pea hurried after her.
They waded through a sea of people all making their way toward the starting point of the procession. Lou Lou caught glimpses of Jeremy but she kept losing him in the crowd. By the time the procession began, he’d disappeared altogether.
Sugar Skulls Sarah led the way. She’d managed to remake many of her skulls after the sprinkler storm, but they weren’t as elaborate as in years past. Lou Lou noticed one of Elmira’s candles in the back of Sarah’s wagon. The glass holder showed a picture of a painter’s palette and read Creativo. It was the same candle that Lou Lou had bought before the third-grade writing contest. Sarah had likely hoped it would help her speedily craft the replacement sugar skulls.
“Jeremy! Over there!” Lou Lou spotted her neighbor half a block away. “Let’s go to the edge of the procession so we can get a better view of what he’s doing.” Without waiting for Pea to answer, Lou Lou tucked Pinky’s altar under her arm and grabbed Pea’s hand. They wove through the mass of brightly colored skeletons. When they finally made it to the sidewalk, they nearly collided with Danielle Desserts and her snooty-girl posse.
“Hey, watch it!” said Danielle. She was wearing a bubblegum-colored dress and her face was painted only with her usual lip gloss. Apparently, she didn’t do skeletons.
“Sorry,” Pea said. Lou Lou noticed Danielle was holding a candle that said Amor.
“Did you just buy that candle, Danielle?” Lou Lou asked.
“I might have,” replied Danielle. “Why do you care?”
“Her crush is here tonight so she wanted a loooove candle,” one of her friends blabbed. Danielle shot her a dirty look.
“You must have seen Elmira to get the candle. Where is she?” Lou Lou asked.
“She’s right across the street.” Danielle surprised Lou Lou with a straight answer for once. Lou Lou caught a glimpse of the Candle Lady pushing a cart loaded with candles. This meant that Elmira’s shop was empty.
“Thanks, Danielle. I appreciate—”
“Whatever. You helped me look for my necklace so we’re even, got it? Now get out of here!” Danielle turned her back to Lou Lou, who was more than happy to move on.
“We have to get to the candle shop quickly!” Pea said. “Before Elmira returns to reload her cart.”
They ducked down a side street to escape the crowd. But there were people everywhere blocking their way. As she scanned for the quickest route, Lou Lou saw blue spikes at the other end of the street.
“There he is!” she exclaimed.
“Just forget about him,” Pea said. “Now that we know Elmira’s whereabouts, we don’t need to follow Jeremy.”
Lou Lou knew she was right. The most important thing was getting to the candle shop. Lou Lou turned a few more corners, but when she glanced behind her, there were the blue spikes again.
“Pea! I think he’s following us!” Lou Lou said.
Pea looked over her shoulder. Sure enough, Jeremy was now behind them.
“This way!” Pea led her best friend down an alley to a larger street. When Lou Lou glanced back, she saw that Jeremy had made the same turn.
“He’s on to us!” Lou Lou said. “He’s going to stop us from finding evidence!” They zigzagged through more skeletons, trying to lose Jeremy. But it seemed impossible—he stayed close on their tail! Lou Lou was looking around for a place to hide when Pea pulled her into the doorway of a taqueria.
“Try the enchiladas verdes. They’re the best in town,” a woman advised before she left the taqueria.
“Gracias,” Pea said politely as blue spikes streaked past and disappeared into the crowd.
“Quick thinking, Pea! He’s gone!” Lou Lou said.
Now that they were Jeremy-free, it was high time to get to the candle shop and crack the Mural Mystery once and for all.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Día de los Muertos (Part Two)
Arriving at the candle shop, Lou Lou felt her nerves grow jumpy. What if they couldn’t find any evidence and, instead, got in trouble for entering without Elmira’s permission? Not to mention, they didn’t have a plan for what to do once they were inside the shop or even how to get inside in the first place. Lou Lou pushed hopefully on the door. Locked.
“Shoot! Any ideas?” she asked Pea. For the first time, Lou Lou thought that maybe an adult or the police might have come in handy. “We can’t break the glass. We’d be grounded forever, even if Elmira is the culprit!”
“Not to mention how dangerous that would be. We can try the back door,” Pea suggested. “Remember what Elmira said after the fake robbery?”
“‘Sometimes I forget to lock the back when I close the shop,’” Lou Lou quoted the Candle Lady. “Brilliant!”
They darted through the narrow alley between Manny’s Bodega and the candle shop to the back door. Lou Lou crossed her fingers and turned the knob.
Unlocked!
She raised her eyebrows at Pea, and Pea nodded. Together they entered the shop’s back room. Lou L
ou stashed her hat and Pinky’s altar in a corner along with Pea’s parasol.
“I can check the candle shelves for evidence while you search her desk,” Pea suggested. Although the candles were mostly arranged in neat rows, Pea began straightening out stray candles.
“How about I check the candle shelves while you search her desk?” Lou Lou suggested. “If you tidy things, she’ll know someone has been here.”
“Good point.” Pea reluctantly messed up her work so that the candles were returned to their original positions.
Lou Lou wove her way through the shelves but nothing seemed out of the ordinary. She peeked behind the candle rows but there was no sign of anything at all except for dust and a runaway peppermint candy.
When Lou Lou was halfway through her search, Pea called out, “Come look at this!” Lou Lou joined Pea at Elmira’s small desk. It was covered in a mess of papers that Pea was clearly trying hard not to organize. The paper in Pea’s hand said:
Official Ticket, Candle Lady Caribbean Cruise! Issued to Elmira the Candle Lady for a luxury suite and special VIP reception with Lydia Luz!
Next to Elmira’s desk was an open suitcase overflowing with summer clothes, a swimsuit, and sunglasses.
“So she’s going on her Candle Lady Caribbean Cruise after all!” Lou Lou said.
“Yes,” replied Pea. “That is probably why she committed the crimes. To sell more candles to pay for her trip!”
“But the ticket alone is not proof that Elmira is the culprit. There has to be something else, Pea!” Lou Lou said.
“Okay, but we’re running out of time to investigate. Elmira will be back from the procession soon!” Pea replied.
Lou Lou and Pea searched frantically for more evidence. That was when Lou Lou noticed something odd. Between two Valentía, or courage, candles on a far shelf, she could just make out a word written on the wall. She squinted at it and read, Sótano. Lou Lou recognized the Spanish but the meaning escaped her. She opened her mouth to ask Pea, when suddenly it came to her—Pea’s laughter in the front hallway of the SS Lucky Alley when Lou Lou confused the Spanish word for sailor with sótano, the word for cellar. That was it—cellar! And a cellar, thought Lou Lou, is a perfect place for the Candle Lady to hide her secrets.
“Pea, I think I found the cellar! I’m just not sure how to get inside.” Lou Lou searched for a way in but she couldn’t find a knob to turn or a panel to push. Pea appeared by her side.
“How odd,” Pea said. “One of these Valentía candles looks different from the others. Almost like a fake.” Pea grasped the candle to pull it from the shelf but it didn’t budge. Instead the whole shelf swung toward her. It was a door to the cellar with a candle handle!
“Amazing!” said Lou Lou, who only wasted a moment wishing Elmira wasn’t their enemy so she could show Lou Lou how to make a secret door for the SS Lucky Alley. “Let’s go!”
Lou Lou and Pea slipped through the hidden door, closing it behind them. They quietly made their way down a dimly lit staircase to another door at the bottom. Lou Lou looked at Pea, took a deep breath, and turned the knob, hoping their lock luck would hold out. But this door was bolted shut. Lou Lou’s ears were hot little coals against her head and she jiggled the knob, willing the lock to give. Then, from the other side of the door, came a thump, thump, thump that made Lou Lou freeze in mid-jiggle. Pea grabbed Lou Lou’s hand.
“Someone or something is in there!” she whispered. “What should we do?” They heard the noise again.
“Hello?” Lou Lou called through the door. “Who’s there?” No answer came, just more thumping.
Pea squeezed Lou Lou’s hand harder. “Maybe we should go back,” she said.
Lou Lou knew Pea was probably right. Even though she wanted to find out what was behind the door, it was too risky. It might be an angry attack dog guarding Elmira’s secret cellar. Or worse, the thumping was Elmira herself, working on another sinister plan after beating them to the candle shop. Lou Lou turned to go back up the stairs. But then she thought about poor Pinky and her promise to avenge her camellia’s death.
“We can do this,” she said under her breath and jiggled the knob one final time. Something gave, and the door opened a crack.
THUMP, THUMP, THUMP!
The noise was louder now. With Pea still gripping one hand, Lou Lou used the other to slowly push open the door. She raised her arm in defense against a vicious canine and prepared to let loose a stream of excuses to the Candle Lady about why they were on her cellar stairs. But instead of a dog’s snarl or Elmira’s face, Lou Lou saw a little white bunny with amber eyes stomping one back foot.
“Helado!” Lou Lou gasped. As she entered the cellar, the bunny scurried away. Pea came in behind her and closed the cellar door. She crouched down and clicked her tongue at Helado. Lou Lou had seen her do the same thing to soothe Uno and Dos. The bunny ceased its thumping and bounded over to Pea.
“He’s friendly!” Pea said. “He was probably just scared because he thought we were Elmira.” She patted the bunny’s head.
Lou Lou looked around the cellar. The space was almost entirely filled with stacked candle boxes marked VELAS. In one corner were food and water dishes for poor bunnynapped Helado. In the other was a table covered in a hodgepodge of items. There were powders and potions, junk and jewelry, including a necklace adorned with four rose-gold stars.
“Danielle’s best-friends shining-star necklace!” Lou Lou said. A row of bottles sat on a shelf over the table. Lou Lou picked up one that held a purple liquid and smelled it.
“One part grape juice…” Lou Lou said.
“… two parts DYE!” Pea finished. “That must be what made the stain on Magdalena’s dress!”
“This one smells like bleach,” Lou Lou said, sniffing another bottle and thinking of Pinky.
“Look! Elmira used this to embarrass Ella Divine during her performance.” Pea pointed to a record labeled “Feathered Fedora,” Broken Version. Lou Lou pulled her camera from her satchel and took a few photos of the stolen and sinister items.
“Evidence!” she said. Suddenly, Lou Lou heard a door slam upstairs, followed by voices. From Pea’s wide eyes and Helado’s resumed thumping, Lou Lou could tell that they had heard it, too.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Día de los Muertos (Fin)
“We have to get out of here,” Lou Lou whispered urgently. She stuffed her camera and Danielle’s necklace into her satchel.
“We can’t go back up the stairs. We will run into whoever is up there,” Pea said. And whoever was up there was getting closer to the sótano door. Lou Lou recognized the male voice instantly.
“Jeremy!” she said. The softer female voice was difficult to hear, but Lou Lou assumed it was Elmira.
“I tried to follow Lou Lou but I lost her somewhere during the procession. I’m sorry,” Jeremy said.
“He’s talking about me!” Lou Lou whispered. The female voice said something she couldn’t make out. Jeremy spoke again.
“Yeah, the other one was with her, too. Peacock, right?”
“He’s talking about you!” said Lou Lou.
“Oh, I took care of the camellia. Don’t worry about that,” Jeremy said.
“He’s talking about Pinky!” The color of Lou Lou’s ears matched the bright red of her sneakers. She still couldn’t hear the woman’s replies, but she was more certain than ever that Jeremy was the Candle Lady’s accomplice.
Then Jeremy said, “I thought they’d figured it out, too. I tried to help them.”
Now Lou Lou was confused. Why would Jeremy, one of the criminals, want to help them?
“Pea, I don’t—”
“Shh,” Pea cautioned. The voices were even closer now.
“We’ll have to find a different way,” the woman’s voice said. “If only I could get him back. Quick, look around to see if he’s here.” Now Lou Lou could tell it wasn’t Elmira speaking. Still, the voice was familiar …
“Rosa!” Lou Lou exclaimed
.
“What?” asked Pea.
“It’s Rosa up there with Jeremy!”
“Rosa? I thought she was on our side.” Before Lou Lou could reply, the talking stopped and she heard the back door open.
“Hola. What are you doing here?” Elmira had arrived. “Poking around without my permission, I presume! Looking for a bunny, perhaps?”
“Please, please return my pet,” Rosa pleaded. “We haven’t told anyone about your crimes. You know that—you’ve been watching us all the time.”
“Yeah, c’mon. Just give him back to Rosa. And stop all this mischief. You’ve done enough damage.” This was Jeremy speaking. It was an odd choice of words for Elmira’s accomplice. Then Lou Lou had a startling thought. What if Jeremy was one of the good guys?
“Pea, I might have been wro —”
“Yes, I know. Sounds like he has been on our side all along.” Pea saved Lou Lou from admitting her mistake.
“You know I can’t give that bunny back,” Lou Lou heard Elmira say. “And you’re loco if you think I can stop now. It’s true that I only planned to make enough money to pay for my Candle Lady Caribbean Cruise so I could finally rest my tired bones on vacation. But now that I have made reservations for the Candle Lady Chalet Getaway and the Candle Lady Carnival in the spring, I must continue my work.”
“Tía, how can you be so cruel?” It sounded like Rosa was crying now.
“Our abuelo would be ashamed if he knew how you were treating Rosa and the shop’s loyal customers,” Jeremy said. “What happened to the kind and helpful tía that I knew as a little kid? How did you become so coldhearted?” Lou Lou and Pea exchanged glances. ¿Tía? ¿Abuelo? Were Elmira, Rosa, and Jeremy related?
“It’s not like I enjoy hurting people, mis queridos,” Elmira said. “I love to help with everyone’s problems, but it’s important that my customers have enough problems so that I can solve them with a sale. That’s why you can’t tell anyone about my little pranks. You should have taken the share of the profits I kindly offered you to keep quiet. You wouldn’t believe how many customers have fallen for my scheme. It has been a smashing success!”
