The afternoon turned to evening, and Lou Lou’s confidence that she would find the riddle’s solution began to wane. She tried adding all the letters from A through M to the beginning of ALMREI but nothing made sense. BALMREI certainly didn’t mean anything. Nor did FALMREI, or any other combination. Lou Lou stared at the Mural Mystery Matrix.
As she ate her dad’s castaway chili, she pondered whether the extra letter might go at the end of the word, not the beginning.
“Ahoy, Lou Lou!” Her dad sat down at the table. Lou Lou’s mom was still sick in bed. “Something wrong with the chow?” Lou Lou realized she’d paused in midbite. Beans were sliding off her spoon and making little splashes in her bowl.
“No, sorry, Dad. It’s great.” Lou Lou quickly folded up the Matrix.
“What are you working on?” her dad asked.
“Just my chart project,” Lou Lou said, hoping to avoid more questions. It seemed to work. Her dad nibbled silently on a piece of corn bread.
“Did you ever thank the new neighbor boy for the book?” he asked suddenly. Thank him! Ha! Lou Lou thought. She could hardly imagine thanking Jeremy for anything. Let alone a book intended to mock Pinky’s planticide.
“No.”
“Try to remember next time you see him,” said her dad.
“Yes, Dad,” Lou Lou grumbled. Her head ached and she wanted to continue working on the riddle. “I’m finished eating and I’m feeling tired. Is it okay if I go to my room?”
“Don’t you want a scuttlebutt sundae? I bought your favorite ice cream—mint chocolate chip.”
Lou Lou thought for a moment. “Actually, that sounds great.” She wasn’t making any progress on the Mural Mystery, and scuttlebutt sundaes were delicious. When she’d scraped the last bit of hot fudge from the bottom of her dish, Lou Lou kissed her dad on the cheek and went up to the crow’s nest. She truly was tired and decided it was best to get some sleep and then look at the riddle with fresh eyes. Still, it was frustrating to be so close to the solution but missing one piece.
“I’ll figure you out in the morning,” she said before she turned out the light.
* * *
Despite her exhaustion, Lou Lou had trouble falling asleep. She tossed and turned and when she finally drifted off, she dreamed that Helado was in her garden with Pinky. Suddenly, a flood came from nowhere and they were carried away in a huge wave. Lou Lou screamed and ran after them but it was no use. Helado and her beloved camellia were washed out to sea, leaving Lou Lou all alone. But she could still hear Helado crying, in a very unbunnylike voice, “ALMREI! ALMREI! ALMREI!”
* * *
In the morning, Lou Lou felt unsettled. It was the day of the procession, when she should have been focused on remembering Pinky. But they still hadn’t solved the Mural Mystery and avenged Pinky’s planticide. Lou Lou was slowly getting dressed for school when the phone rang.
“Lou Lou, it’s Peacock!” her mom called. Lou Lou scampered to the rope ladder. Her mom placed the phone in the bucket and Lou Lou hauled it up.
“Five minutes maximum,” Jane said. “Otherwise, you’ll miss your bus.” Lou Lou put the phone to her ear.
“Pea! Hi! Did you figure something out?” Lou Lou was too excited to bother with Good morning or How was your blueberry pie?
“Maybe,” Pea said. “But it was Kyle who did the figuring.”
“Kyle?” Lou Lou asked. “What does Kyle have to do with anything?”
“I went out early with my father to get pasteles and tea for breakfast,” Pea began. Lou Lou wasn’t surprised. Pastries were one of the only things that could get Pea right out of bed. “Kyle was at the café and he came over to bother me when I was working on the riddle. He didn’t know about the missing-letter theory, of course, and he assumed ALMREI was an anagram. Lou Lou, I think Comet Cop Kyle was correct!”
“If it’s an anagram, what does it spell?” Lou Lou asked.
“Elmira,” Pea whispered. “It spells Elmira.”
“Elmira?” Lou Lou was confused. “But what does the Candle Lady—”
Before Lou Lou could finish her sentence, her ears were on fire. The candle shop robbery! It wasn’t on the Mural Mystery Matrix because it had never been in a mural. The candle shop robbery was THE ONE THAT’S MISSING. They were supposed to seek the missing crime, not a missing letter. But why? What was special about poor Elmira losing her money and her chance to go on the Candle Lady Caribbean Cruise? Lou Lou suddenly had another thought that seemed too outrageous to be true.
“Pea, is Elmira the Mural Mystery culprit?” she asked. Even as Lou Lou said this, she was thinking it couldn’t be possible. Elmira was their friend.
“At first I didn’t think so,” replied Pea. “But then I considered it some more—”
“She can’t be. She’s always trying to help everyone,” Lou Lou interrupted. “She sold you the Belleza candle after Magdalena’s dress was ruined, and me the Crecer candle after Pinky’s planticide. Why would she cause problems if she was trying to fix them?” But as soon as Lou Lou asked the question, she knew the answer.
“Because more problems means…” Pea began.
“More candle sales!” Lou Lou finished.
Lou Lou felt like sparks were shooting out from the sides of her head. It was true that Elmira always had a candle recommendation and had made successful sales after misfortune befell the victims of the neighborhood criminal. Lou Lou pictured Danielle with the Encontrar candle, Elmira had mentioned that Ella Divine would want a Perdón candle, and the Candle Lady had gone to Sarah’s Studio to sell her a Reparar candle. Lou Lou wasn’t certain if Rosa had bought a candle to ensure Helado’s safe return, but she wouldn’t be surprised if she had. More problems clearly meant more business for Elmira. It must be true—it had been Elmira all along!
“Time to get off the phone,” Lou Lou’s mom yelled just as Lou Lou heard Silvia Pearl call, “¡Es hora de colgar el teléfono!”
“Sounds like we both have to go,” said Lou Lou. “I wish we didn’t have school today!”
“Me too,” Pea replied. “But we will talk more this afternoon!”
When Lou Lou hung up the phone, her head was spinning. No wonder the Candle Lady always knew people’s problems. It wasn’t just because of her “intuition”—she was the criminal! And working with Jeremy, no doubt.
Lou Lou was still sure there was something off about him. She remembered the candle he’d had at Halloween that clearly came from Elmira’s shop. And the phone call she’d overheard in the garden. Jeremy must have been talking to Elmira! He was definitely the Candle Lady’s henchman—after all, the trouble had started when he arrived in town.
Before she headed off to catch her bus, Lou Lou went to her little window. She could see the bare patch of earth beneath the avocado tree illuminated by the morning sun.
“I know I’ve found your killers, Pinky,” she said under her breath. “And you can bet your heavenly autumn queen blooms that I’m going to prove it!”