London Art Chase (4 page)

“Try it, why don't you, before you keep adding sugar,” Dad said.

Mia gave him her most innocent smile and then took a sip. “Delicious.”

“I think tea is di-vine,” Lulu said, reaching for a cookie.

“Not lov-e-ly?” Mia teased.

Lulu shot Mia a look and Maddie could see an argument about to start. She tried to think of something distracting to say, but all she could think of was telephone booths and frogs turning into princes.

“Lulu, try a sandwich,” Mom said, handing one over. “Ham and cheese. You'll like it.”

Lulu ate it in three bites. “Okay, fine, that was good. But not as good as chocolate!”

“What are these?” Mia asked, reaching for a square chocolate with a flower design on top.

“Those are petit fours,” Miss Julia said, “which is a French name. In the 18
^th
century the French made these teeny sweets in ovens.”

“Don't say French too loud around here,” Dad warned.

“Why not?” Mia asked, eyes wide.

“There's a very long rivalry between the two countries,” Miss Julia said. “You'll hear about it on the Tower of London tour.”

“What's a rivalry?” Lulu asked.

Maddie loved that Lulu always asked any question that popped into her mind. Either Maddie knew
the answer, and then she felt smart because she could answer, or she didn't, and she was relieved not to have to be the one to ask.

“A rivalry is a sort of competition that has been going on for a very long time—one that might flare up at any moment,” Mom said.

“Like how Mia and I sometimes fight about whose plan is the best one?” Lulu asked.

“You know, there is a thing called sibling rivalry,” Dad said, “But most of the time, I think you girls avoid it. Not too much competition in this family. You've all carved out your own unique space for yourselves, I'd say.”

Mia grinned and Lulu bounced on her seat, both delighting in the compliment, but Maddie twisted the corner of her napkin. She'd expected London to be all fun all the time, but somehow, things felt off-balance here too. Jangly. That was how she felt . . . or what was that word she'd learned recently?
Cacophony.
Maybe that was the word. Her insides felt noisy and chaotic, and it was hard to remember that no one else could hear.

“What do you think of the tea, Maddie?” Mom asked.

Maddie smoothed out her napkin. Enough. She was fine, and whatever cacophony thing was going on inside of her would eventually sort itself out. She was sure it would.

“You're right, Mom, the clotted cream is delicious,” Maddie said.

Mom could always read Maddie's face. Probably, Mom could see more of the cacophony than Maddie realized, but still, she wouldn't push. Mom waited until Maddie was ready to talk and never put her on the spot in front of everyone.

“I want to have tea at the Savoy every day,” Lulu announced, snatching the last petit four before anyone else could.

Mia leaned back in her seat. “I'm stuffed!”

“Me too,” Miss Julia said. “But I'm stuffed in the best kind of way . . . Ready to take London by storm.”

“Good thing too,” Mom said, smiling. “You'll need all that energy later to keep up with these girls.”

“True!” Miss Julia said.

“Shall we head back to our carriage before it turns into a pumpkin?” Dad asked, as he finished paying the bill.

“Our carriage? What pumpkin?” Lulu asked.

“Cinderella . . .” Mia said.

“OH!” Lulu said, standing up and twirling. “I get it now.”

“Come on, my sweetest of princesses,” Mom said, leading the way.

Maddie hoped she'd be swept up into the fun of it all again very soon.

SIX

E
veryone wanted to walk after all of that food, so they decided to take the sidewalk along the river. As they waited at a crosswalk, a uniformed man rode by on a horse. He wore a black helmet that tilted low over his eyebrows, making his eyes look shadowed and stern.

“Who's that?” Lulu asked as the light changed and they crossed the street. “Why's he riding a horse?”

“That,” Mom said, “is a bobby. Actually, I have a story for you about bobbies.”

“What's a bobby?” Mia asked.

“That's what I'm going to tell you.” Mom sat on a bench and waited while everyone gathered around. “Grandma's great-great-great grandfather”—Mom ticked off greats on her fingers—“was named Sir Robert Peel. He was called ‘Sir' because he was knighted by the queen. And do you want to know what he did? He invented the London police force. He thought that London needed officers to protect the people, so he decided who should be an officer and what they should wear. Now they call all the officers in London bobbies, after Robert Peel. Even though his name was Robert, everyone called him Bob. And that's why they started calling the police bobbies.”

“Whoa!” Lulu gasped.

“Awesome!” Maddie said, watching the bobby ride away.

“So we're royalty?” Mia asked.

Miss Julia, Mom, and Dad all burst out laughing.

“Not exactly,” Mom finally said.

“But we're Glimmer girls!” Lulu jumped off the bench and started to dance around. “Let's say our family motto Mommy wrote for us!”

All the girls chorused, “Glimmer girls, sparkle and shine, but most of all, be kind.”

As she chimed along, Maddie's gloominess began to fade. Even if she wasn't sure what her special place in the Glimmer family was yet, she knew that being a Glimmer girl was a good thing to be. Being a Glimmer girl meant she got to come to London and have tea at the Savoy and learn about bobbies and ride in strange cabs and pose for pictures on top of bronze lions. It meant she got to watch concerts in which her mom sang for thousands of people, and then bask in the glow she always felt when Mom sang the song she'd written especially for them. It meant she got to have Mia for a twin. Even when being a twin was hard, it was the best thing in the world to have a sister she could trust and have adventures with and even swap secrets with too. And being a Glimmer girl also meant Maddie got to have Lulu for a little sister—Lulu, who always made Maddie laugh and who helped her be brave enough to try things she wouldn't try otherwise.

“Wait a second!” Lulu said, throwing out her arms and catching both of her sisters in their stomachs.

“Ouch, Lulu!” Mia said.

“Oof!” Maddie said.

Lulu rounded on them with fingers in the air. “Our great-great-great . . . well, whatever . . . old guy in our family
invented
the police. That means we should be excellent at solving crime. Like the mystery of who stole my suitcase, for instance.”

“No one stole your suitcase, Lulu,” Mia said. “It was just lost along the way.”

“You don't know that,” Lulu said. “Anything could have happened to it.”

“I'll bet they've delivered it to our hotel room already,” Mia said.

“But what if they haven't? What if someone took it and—”

“And what? They're playing with your toys? Do you really think that would happen?” Mia asked.

Lulu started to sing a few notes that sounded like the beginning of a theme song. “The Glimmer girls are on the case!”

Maddie couldn't help laughing. At least Lulu wasn't crying over the suitcase anymore.

“It would be fun to be detectives, wouldn't it?” Maddie asked Mia.

“But what would we investigate?” Mia asked. “Who would the suspects be?”

“We can look for clues!” Lulu shouted, continuing on with her theme song.

Another bobby clopped past on his horse, and Lulu shouted after him, “We're related to Sir Robert Peel!”

“Is that right?” The bobby circled back and dismounted.

“Actually, it is,” Mom said. “I was just telling the girls about their great-great-great grandfather, and about why London police are called bobbies.”

“Fascinating,” he said.

“So, we're going to investigate our first crime,” Lulu said.

“Really, and what is that?” the bobby asked.

“Someone stole my suitcase,” Lulu said.

“Actually, it got lost on our flight,” Mia said.

Maddie looked from Mia to Lulu, praying her sisters wouldn't get in a fight right now, not in front of a police officer.

Instead of looking annoyed, though, the bobby nodded and pursed his lips. Then, after consideration, he said, “I suppose the suitcase could have been stolen. Or it could have been lost. When something goes wrong, the first thing a bobby must do is to think through all of the possibilities. We must never rule out any scenarios until we're sure they're impossible.”

“What's the second thing a bobby does?” Lulu asked.

“Well, usually we'd look for obvious clues. Then, if it appears the situation truly is a crime, we'd call for
backup. That's because three minds are always better than one.”

“So we should look for clues!” Lulu bounced up and down on her toes. “About my suitcase!”

“You can certainly keep your eyes open,” the bobby said. “Are the airline officials looking for your suitcase?”

“Yes,” Mia said.

“Well, then, if it were me, first I'd see what they discover. If they can't find your suitcase in a reasonable amount of time, maybe it's time to dig a little deeper. In any case, it's good to have such clever minds on the case. Particularly minds that descended from Sir Robert Peel.”

“What does descended mean?” Lulu asked.

“That means he's your relative from a long time ago,” Mom said. “And now, Glimmer girls, I think it's time for us to say good-bye to our new friend.”

“True. I should head out on my patrol,” the bobby said, remounting his horse.

“Good-bye!” they all called and waved.

Mid-wave, Lulu let out a huge yawn. Maddie found herself yawning too.

“We're all tired,” Mom said. “But every girl deserves to see the lights of London. Let's ride around a little and then we can go back to the hotel and get a great night's sleep.”

“Sounds perfect,” Dad said, wrapping an arm around her and raising his other hand to hail a new cab.

SEVEN

W
e're here!” Lulu announced, pushing her way through the concert hall doors.

She bolted down the aisle the way Mom always told her not to do, because she might stumble and fall into one of the seats. Lulu never fell though—the faster she went, the more sure-footed she seemed. Once Lulu made it to the stage, she hurried up the steps and threw herself into one band member after another's arms for giant hugs.

“We're in London!” she announced with each hug. “London!”

Maddie and Mia made it up to the stage after Lulu, but they also made the rounds, handing out hugs. Maddie loved every single person in Mom's band. And even though she knew they'd be there for the concert, it was always surprising seeing them in each city on tour—like running into your aunts and uncles halfway around the world.

“So, we think we should sing a song in Mom's concert,” Mia said to Richie, the drummer.

“Your own song, huh?” he said, smiling over at Mom. “And what would you sing?”

“Something about dreaming big, I think,” Mia said.

“I'll be the star!” Lulu said, leaping and twirling, nearly tripping over a coiled-up cord.

Dad caught her, laughing. “If there's a Glimmer girls song, all three of you will be the stars.”

Lulu's face fell. Mia knew the song wasn't the only problem; there was also Lulu's dashed plans to be the Glimmer Girls Detective Agency. This morning, her suitcase arrived at the hotel just after Mom and Dad had left. Even though Lulu was happy to have her toys back, she'd really wanted to be a detective and figure out who stole her suitcase.

“It's okay, Lulu,” Maddie said. “Maybe the Glimmer girls will find another case.”