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.
* * *
After eating their fill of banana pancakes in the morning, Lou Lou and Pea went to spread the truth about Ella Divine to the neighborhood. They posted their flyers on the bulletin board at the library, left a stack at Green Thumb, dropped some off at Cupcake Cabana, and gave them to passersby they recognized as fans. By eleven-thirty they were tired, hungry, and nearly out of flyers.
“Mission almost accomplished!” said Pea. “If we leave the rest of the flyers at the candle shop, we will be done.”
Elmira was unlocking the front door when Lou Lou and Pea arrived.
“¡Hola, Elmira!” called Lou Lou. “You’re opening late this morning.”
“Yes, yes, Lou Lou Bombay. But a late morning is merely an early afternoon.” Lou Lou decided she’d remember Elmira’s wisdom in case she was ever late for school.
As they followed Elmira inside the candle shop, she said, “Niñas, I thought you might visit me today. What can I do for you?”
Pea held out the last of their flyers and a bit of glitter sprinkled to the floor. “We are trying to tell everyone that Ella Divine is not a fraud.”
Elmira squinted at the flyer. “Ah yes,” the Candle Lady said. “I heard about her miserable musical misfortune. It’s kind of you to make these. What friendly ‘Feathered Fedora’ fans you are!”
“Can we leave them with you?” Lou Lou asked. “Maybe you could put one in the window.”
“Of course!” Elmira replied. She looked up from the flyer and smiled. “Ella Divine is a wonderful singer. And ella es muy bonita and very nice. She is actually a customer of mine. I imagine she will be in later for a Perdón candle to ensure her fans’ forgiveness.”
“Muchas gracias,” said Pea. “We really appreciate it.”
“De nada,” Elmira replied. “Lou Lou, do you have any more news about the changing murals? I have been thinking about them as promised, but I have yet to reach any conclusions.”
“We haven’t figured out what they mean but we’re still working on the Mural Mystery,” said Lou Lou.
Elmira nodded. “If my intuition tells me anything, you will be the first to know. But one should not get lost in the details and forget what truly matters,” the Candle Lady advised. “So I hope you will not worry too much. Especially since I know you have a marvelous crop of toad lilies to think about!”
“Thanks to the Crecer candle!” Lou Lou replied. Her stomach growled, telling her that it was time to return to the SS Lucky Alley for sandwiches and her dad’s sour sailor lemonade. “We should probably go now.”
“One more thing,” said the Candle Lady. “Will you be attending the Día de los Muertos procession, niñas?”
“Absolutely,” replied Lou Lou. “We never miss it.”
“Then may I recommend you burn a Buena Suerte candle for good luck, just to ensure that your outfit and altar making go well. Nothing ruins a procession like poor preparation, my dears,” advised Elmira.
“Thank you. Maybe another day.” While Lou Lou would have liked a candle to guarantee their success, she knew it was not practical. The last time she’d burned the Crecer candle, it triggered the crow’s nest smoke alarm, causing a fire scare aboard the SS Lucky Alley. Lou Lou was now strictly forbidden from indoor candle burning for the foreseeable future.
“Of course,” said Elmira. “I may have a different good luck charm for your preparations. Wait, please.” The Candle Lady disappeared behind the curtain into the shop’s back room. She had been gone for only a second when Lou Lou and Pea heard a shriek. They rushed to the curtain and pushed it aside.
The back room looked like it had been hit by a tornado. A shelf was toppled and a jumble of burgundy Éxito candles for success, dark green Sabiduría candles for wisdom, and black Protección candles were strewn across the floor. A chair was upside down, the drawers of a small mahogany desk hung open, and the papers inside were in disarray. But Elmira was not looking at the mess. Instead she was staring at a small silver box on the desk. It was open, revealing a plush red interior.
“It’s gone!” the Candle Lady cried, looking from the empty box to Lou Lou and Pea and back again.
“What’s gone, Elmira?” asked Lou Lou.
“My money! I only keep a small sum in the cash register up front. The rest is in this box. Or was in this box.” Elmira finally surveyed the destruction in the room. “¡Qué desastre! I have been … robbed!” Elmira put her face in her hands.
“How awful! When could this have happened, Elmira?” Pea asked.
“Probably overnight. The thief must have come in and out from there.” Elmira waved her hand at the open back door. “Sometimes I forget to lock the back when I close the shop. So very foolish of me.” Elmira shook her head sadly. “Three weeks of profits. Stolen! What will I do now? How will I pay for my Candle Lady Caribbean Cruise?” A sob escaped her.
“Your what?” asked Lou Lou. Elmira pointed to a poster on the wall. It was a glossy picture of a large cruise ship anchored between two palm-fringed islands. The ship’s rails were decorated with candles exactly like the ones in Elmira’s shop. Smiling women in sunglasses held brightly colored drinks with umbrellas in them and waved from the deck. Below the picture was written:
Calling all candle ladies! Come join your candle-loving companions on the Fifth Annual Candle Lady Caribbean Cruise! Make friends, enjoy paradise, and relax by the flickering flames. You may even win the candle lady beauty contest. Hurry to register by November 15, before tickets sell out!
“This was going to be my first getaway in years,” Elmira said sadly. “I was so looking forward to chatting with other candle ladies, playing Guess That Flame, and meeting Lydia Luz, the world’s leading … candleologist!” The last part came out in another sob.
“I am so sorry, Elmira,” said Pea, crossing the room to give the Candle Lady a hug.
“Do you know who could have done this?” Lou Lou asked, thinking of a spiky-blue-haired boy with a studded bracelet.
“No tengo idea,” Elmira said.
“Maybe you should call the police,” Pea suggested.
“Of course. Once I get this mess cleaned up,” said the Candle Lady.
“We’ll help you!” Lou Lou and Pea hefted the shelves upright and picked up candles that had rolled across the floor.
“It’s good that none of these were damaged when they fell,” said Lou Lou, turning over a glass pillar in her hand. She tapped her red-sneakered foot against the concrete. “The floor is pretty hard.”
Pea shrugged. “Yes, but the glass is thick. It is lucky for Elmira. It would be terrible if she’d lost both her money and her candles.”
When they’d finally collected the last runaway candle and returned it to the shelf, it was well past lunchtime and Lou Lou was eager to get home. Before they left, Lou Lou picked up the Buena Suerte candle recommended by Elmira for their Día de los Muertos preparations.
“I’d like to buy this candle after all,” she called to Elmira, who was still in the back room.
“But you are not allowed to burn it,” Pea whispered.
“My parents only said no indoor burning, so technically I could light it outside the house.” Pea looked skeptical. “Plus, it’s the least I can do for Elmira after the robbery.” At that, Pea smiled her approval.
It was only after they’d left that Lou Lou remembered the other good luck charm that Elmira had gone to fetch in the back room. Elmira seemed to have forgotten about it, but the Candle Lady had a lot on her mind.
They’d almost made it back to the SS Lucky Alley without any further surprises when Pea noticed the mural on the side of Ruby’s Beauty Parlor.
“Lou Lou, look!” Pea pointed at If Pigs Could Fly, a painting of a cloud-filled sky and bright pink pigs with angel wings and halos. “Ella Divine is in the mural!”
Lou Lou felt a distinct sense of déjà vu. Once again, a familiar scene had changed. An elegant woman now stood on one of the clouds where she hadn’t been before. The scarlet-lipped figure wore a long emerald evening gown and held a microphone in one hand and a broken record in the other. Lou Lou could tell from Pea’s downturned mouth and wide blue eyes that she was upset by the reminder of her idol’s bad night.
“Ella Divine will be okay.” Lou Lou touched Pea’s arm. “And we’ll figure out what happened with the recording. Someone must have broken it if Ella Divine is in a mural!”
Helado the missing bunny, Magdalena’s ruined dress, Pinky’s planticide, Danielle Desserts’s necklace—it was clear that the new mural images all showed someone’s cruel mischief, not accidents.
“I think you are right,” Pea agreed. “But the crimes are piling up fast. How are we going to stop them?” She sounded worried.
“Listen, I know we can solve this Mural Mystery, Pea. Remember how we figured out that Mrs. Jackson’s dog was stealing churros from the taco truck? Or when we helped your babysitter uncover who was sending her love letters?”
Pea bit her lip and nodded. “We are quite good at solving problems,” she said. Pea raised her chin and pulled her shoulders back. “And we definitely have to get to the bottom of this one. For the sake of Ella Divine, Pinky, and everyone else who was hurt by these crimes, including Elmira!”
“Yes, poor Elmira,” replied Lou Lou. “I bet she’ll be painted next.”