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 Lou 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.