Sweet Valley Twins Super Chiller: The Curse of the Ruby Necklace
First time recapper here, so I apologize in advance for anything I might have done wrong. : ) And sorry about the length.
This is one of the two Sweet Valley books that I own (at least, that I own and actually know the whereabouts of). I was never really much of a SV fan as a kid, but I did read a few of the SVT books- including this one, which I loved. Second time through, I'm a bit less impressed.
First off, our lovely cover- apologies for the crappy picture quality; my ten-dollar digital camera sucks (hmmm, maybe that was why it only cost ten dollars). I also apologize for the fact that you can't really see the additions someone made to the cover with Sharpie, adding what I'm pretty sure are supposed to be marajuana cigarettes to the girls' hands.
Today’s story opens with the twins walking along the beach, looking for seashells. Jessica finds a dirty, grimy necklace in the surf, which, when she scrapes off a bit of the crud covering it, seems to have a shiny red stone hanging off of it. It “glitters brightly”, so you know it’s got to be valuable. Elizabeth wants to see it, but Jessica, in typical Jessica fashion, gets all territorial and refuses to let her. Nice. Elizabeth wants to go home because she thinks it’s going to rain, but Jessica wants to stay at the beach for some yet-to-be-disclosed reason, and this cues the usual description of how the twins look exactly alike, but couldn’t be more different. Blah, blah, blah, they’re best friends, they share everything- except for barnacle-covered necklaces, apparently- and though they argue a lot, they always make up in the end. Yawn.
Anway, Jessica wants to keep walking along the shore, even though the only thing ahead of them is the creepy Keller mansion. Elizabeth is immediately suspicious- the last time they went near there, Jessica said the place gave her the creeps. That was a long time ago, Jessica says, and they were only kids then. Um, aren’t you only twelve now? Finally, Liz worms out of Jessica that there’s a movie (called Dead Little Rich Girl- cheery) being filmed at the mansion, and they’re looking for extras. Fabulous. How many movie-making plotlines has this series had already? Elizabeth reveals that she doesn’t know what an extra is. Well, that’s interesting, considering she’s been one a couple of times.
The girls walk up to the mansion, where set designers are working on the exterior of the house, and trailers are already set up for the film’s stars. Jess is excited to discover the name of one of the actors:
“S-H-A-W-N-B-R-O… Shawn Brockaway!” Hooked on Phonics worked for Jessica!
Yes, Shawn Brockaway, star of the television show Castaway Kids (which we may or may not have heard about in earlier volumes), is going to appear in the movie. This, of course, only makes Jess even more eager to land a part. Luckily for them, the director just happens to be walking by at that exact time- though Jessica is suspicious of her, both because she’s wearing a baseball cap (?) and because she’s a girl (??). You’d think that with all the time this girl’s spent on movie sets, she wouldn’t be totally relying on stereotypes of the movie industry. But whatever. Despite Jessica being annoyingly fake and and kissing up to the director, Becka Silver (once she’s convinced that it’s her), Liz manages to impress her by praising one of her best movies (called A Fine, Drizzly Dawn- hee!) and dissing one of her worst movies (Grandpa’s Ghost). Honesty is the best policy in this case- the girls land jobs as extras!
The girls leave the set and start back along the beach, where a heavy storm suddenly appears out of nowhere. Jessica drops the necklace in the ocean, and stupidly dives into the crashing waves after it. Even though she nearly gets pulled out to sea by the undertow, she finds the necklace and makes it back to dry land. But why would she risk her life for a piece of jewelry that she only just found earlier that day? Why does she feel as if she just had to save it? Why can’t she explain her reasons to Elizabeth, or even to herself? It couldn’t be… foreshadowing, could it?
Back at the Wakefield home, Jessica obsesses over the necklace, cleaning it off to reveal more shiny, shiny jewels. She growls at anyone who even so much as looks at it, because it's hers, because she found it. Do you all understand that, dammit? Elizabeth shows off her poor vocabulary for the second time that day when she has to ask her mother what costume jewelry is. What, exactly, is this girl doing in Honors English classes?
A little bit later, Jessica goes to bed, happily reviewing about the amazing day she’s just had. “After all, it wasn’t every day that she got hired as a movie extra”. Really? Are you sure? She falls asleep and has a dream that someone’s stealing jewelry from a box, and that she’s falling off a balcony at the Keller mansion, onto the “sharp, dagger-like rocks” below. Hmmmm.
Jessica brings the necklace to school with her the next morning, though she keeps it in her backpack because if she wore it, “everyone would want it”. Mmm-hmm. Whatever, hon. She does, however, wear sunglasses (like all movie stars, donchaknow), because she wants Lila to ask about them, thus giving her an excuse to brag about her part in the movie. Since when has she ever needed an excuse before? Unfortunately, however, Ellen chooses this day to reveal to Lila that everyone knows her locker combination because they all break in to steal her mousse (hee!), so Li’s too distracted to listen to Jessica. Annoyed and disappointed, Jessica decides to skip first period to sit in the bathroom, cleaning and staring at her necklace. Good decision, there.
The next day after school, the twins go back to the mansion to find “nearly a hundred” kids lined up, all hoping to bechosen as extras for the movie. D’oh! It’s a good thing the twins were already chosen, or else we might have had to read about some other people for a change! Jessica makes sure all the Unicorns know why she and Liz get to skip the line and go right on in. Awww, she got her chance to brag after all! How sweet! Lila gets rejected because her face is too “modern”. Whatever. I’m just disappointed because I was hoping to read more about Lila. Jess brags some more, then decides that, since she’s in the movie and all, she might need to know a little bit about the plot. It’s a murder mystery about two twelve-year-old girls- and one of them kills the other. Charming. Later that night, Jessica has another nightmare. I wonder why.
Flash forward to Thursday, where Liz is sitting in Mrs. Arnette’s social studies class. And guess what? Spring break is starting the day after tomorrow. These girls are so lucky; we only had one spring break per year. I think Sweet Valley kids spend more time on spring break than they actually do in school. Elizabeth worries about the fact that Jessica doesn’t seem very excited about the movie or spring break- in fact, she thinks, all she ever seems to do is walk around “like a sleepy zombie” or clean off “that stupid necklace she’d found at the beach”. Suddenly, Jess (who had fallen asleep in class) wakes up screaming for the third time that week. Mrs. Arnette sends her to the nurse, and Jessica leaves her bag- with the necklace inside- with Elizabeth. Dun-dun-dunnnn.
Between classes, Liz takes both backpacks to the library, where she plans to research the history of the Keller mansion. Exactly how much passing time do these kids get? We had three minutes in middle school, yet she seems to spend ages in the library. Oh, well- one twin cuts class to stare at possessed jewelry, so why shouldn’t the other one cut to conduct research? It even fits with their personalities!
Elizabeth finds the necklace in Jess’s bag, and puts it in her pocket where it’ll apparently be safer. Not a good idea, Liz. That means you’ll actually have to admit you touched it, and remember how psycho she got when you just asked to look at it? Oh, well. Your funeral.
Liz finds an article from the thirties about a girl named Lillian Keller, who died on her twelfth birthday after falling from a balcony at the Keller mansion. Gee, you don’t think that could have anything to do with Jess’s nightmares, could it? Nah. Liz wonders if the movie they’re filming is going to have something to do with the story of Lillian’s death.
Back at home, Jessica is apparently feeling much, much better- she’s running around practicing her lines for the movie. (Liz doesn’t get this at first, and thinks that there’s something wrong with her head. Jessica retorts, “Do you think I’m just wandering around the house talking about parties and cakes for no reason?” Why would that be considered so unusual in these books?) Liz tries to give the necklace back, but- gasp!- Jessica decides that she doesn’t want it! And all of a sudden, Liz is dying to have it! So she keeps it, and Jess goes back to her lines (“We still haven’t cut the cake! We still haven’t cut the cake! We still haven’t cut the cake!”)
Later that night, of course, it’s Elizabeth that has the nightmare this time- of a four-fingered man rooting through a jewelry box, and then of falling off a balcony. Okay, just throw the necklace away, you guys.
The next day at school, Elizabeth stays after class to ask her science teacher, Mrs. Blake a “science question” about “an old thing”. She wants information about how to clean the necklace off, but she doesn’t want to tell Mrs. Blake the details, in case she asks to see it- Liz doesn’t want to show the necklace to anyone, because then they might want it, and she can’t have that because it’s hers, I tell you, hers! So she lies, and tells Mrs. Blake that she found an old bottle in the ocean. It’s specified, by the way, that this is the first time she’s lied to a teacher- because lying “was Jessica’s specialty”. More evidence of sociopathy! Mrs. Blake tells her to bring the bottle to school, and she’ll show her how to clean if off… but Liz can’t have that, so she sneaks into the science lab and steals the chemical she needs. Wow- having the necklace makes everyone act like Jessica! While she’s cleaning it with her newly-acquired chemicals, the big red stone falls out of its setting, revealing the initials “J.K.T.” engraved into the backing of the necklace. Dun-dun-dunnnn.
Cut to Jessica being measured for her costume, even though she keeps telling the wardrobe lady, Nadia, that she’s the exact same size as Elizabeth- they’re twins after all. Um, it is possible for identical twins to be different sizes, you know. Nadia doesn’t seem to realize this, however, as she finally declares it a waste of time to measure the two of them separately. Whatever. The twins head inside to begin filming, and Jessica notes that the Keller mansion “makes Lila’s house look like a dump”. I wouldn’t let her hear you say that, if I were you. Jess comments that the set is very disorganized, and a man standing nearby laughs, saying that she’s right, and that all movie sets are like that. He introduces himself as Harold Brooks, tells her that he’s a lighting technician, and gives her a little bit of inside information about the lighting and setting- he seems perfectly nice and friendly to me, but Jessica doesn’t think that he has a very nice laugh. Hmmmm. I wonder if this will be important later?
Later that day, Jess, Liz, and their cousin Robin (who’s visiting over spring break) are discussing the movie. Jessica says that if Liz is chosen for the part during the final take of their scene, she’s sure she’ll let Jessica pretend to be her so that Jess can be the star. Yep, that sounds about right. The twins start talking about the movie plot and the scene they’re in, and they discover that Jess’s old nightmare and the nightmare that Liz keeps having now are one and the same. GASP! True to her oblivious, in-denial character, Elizabeth decides that it’s a coincidence.
Next day at the set- Robin’s got permission to hang out there with them, for some reason, and so she and Jess are off getting Jess’s makeup done while Liz interviews Becka Silver about the movie’s plot and history. It turns out that Hilda Tomlinson, an orphan who lived with Lillian Keller’s family, got into a big fight with Lillian on the night of her twelfth birthday, and Lillian ran up to her mother’s room. Hilda followed her, and the next thing anyone knew, Lil had fallen off of the balcony. Everyone pretty much assumed that Hilda had done it, but rather than prosecute her or get the press involved in the scandal, they just called it an accident and sent Hilda off to “a hospital for disturbed children”, and she was never heard from again. Liz does the math in her head and comes to the conclusion that Hilda might still be alive. Dun-dun-DUNNNN.
Meanwhile, Jessica’s on the set, getting ready to film the first take of the party scene. All the kiddie extras are told that Shawn Brockaway (remember, the big-shot star of the film) is going to come out, and they all need to be totally professional- no talking to her, no asking for her autograph, etc. I’ll bet that Jessica will be the first one to lose her cool and do exactly that. Shawn comes out and is a big stereotypical brat to everyone, and they all just sit back and takes it because she’s so famous. They film for about five seconds, then stop. Jessica is confused- what about the rest of the scene? It’s revealed to her that movies aren’t filmed in chronological order- it’s only later that the editors put the whole thing together. Again, Jess’s been in movies before- why doesn’t she know this?
Liz has another dream- this time is starts out with Lillian and Hilda fighting over something that they both want, and think should belong to them. Lillian runs upstairs to “put it in Mother’s jewelry box”… and discovers someone rummaging through it. The scene flashes to her being outside, backed up against the railing of a balcony. She slips, and begins to fall over the edge… as a four-fingered hand reaches out and tries to grab something from around her neck. As she falls, she sees a figure standing on the balcony above, holding her necklace. Dun-dun-DUNNNN.
Elizabeth wakes up, and suddenly it’s all clear to her. Lillian was given the necklace for her birthday, but Hilda thought it had belonged to her mother. That’s what the girls were fighting over! ZOMG! Liz goes to wake up Jessica, and Robin comes along for the lolz. Elizabeth and Jessica both determine that they “sensed” the necklace’s true importance, and that was why they were both so desperate to keep it away from everyone else… though when she finally gave it to Liz, Jess felt relieved. They share more details of their dreams and discover that they’re identical, right up to the dude with the four-fingered hand. The twins decide that the ghost of Lillian is trying to tell them something. (Took you long enough.) Robin decides that they’re both whack-jobs. (Took you long enough, too.)
The next morning, Elizabeth decides that the girls should test their theory about the necklace by giving it to a third person to see if they start having nightmares. And by third person, she means Robin. Aren’t you so glad you came to Sweet Valley to be the twin’s guinea pig, Robin? After much coaxing and cajoling, she agrees to do it. Pushover.
Later on the set, Liz wanders off and goes upstairs, to Mrs. Keller’s old bedroom. This is where it all happened, folks. While she’s standing outside the closed door, she thinks she hears something inside- which makes her remember that, in her dream, Lillian heard someone in her mother’s room. Oh, noes! She goes inside, where she finds all the furniture exactly the way it was in her dream. Mr. Brooks, the lighting technician with the evil laugh, is standing on the balcony, wondering what the hell Liz is doing running around unsupervised. He’s up there to smoke, he says, because all the “Hollywood types downstairs hate to be around cigarette smoke”. Right. Liz beats it out of there fast, and comes across Becka, who is… smoking! As are a couple of other people! Way to share the second-hand smoke, guys! But if other people are downstairs with their cigs, why would Mr. Brooks think he had to hide away on the balcony? Unless… he was up there for some other reason. Dun-dun-DUNNNN.
That night, Liz’s experiment works- Robin has The Nightmare. Jessica helpfully throws a glass of water at Robin’s face to wake her up. Hee. The twins try to take the necklace back, but Robin won’t let them. Jessica throws more water in her face to snap her out of it. Why don’t you just try pushing her into a pool? That’s usually more effective. While she’s coughing and spluttering, Jessica snatches the necklace back. Oh, great, now who’s going to get it away from her? Luckily, she has the sense to toss it onto the bed “as if it were a dangerous snake”. Robin is able to clear up a little bit more about the dream than the twins could- according to her, the man with the four-fingered hand accidentally dropped the necklace as Lillian was falling. Also, as she was hanging from the balcony, Hilda was standing there watching her. GASP! Elizabeth says, yet again, that she thinks that they’re having the dreams for a reason, and that Lillian is making them have them. Yes, Liz, we cleared that up a couple of chapters ago. But thanks for the effort. Steven walks in on them talking and is all, “Who’s Lillian?” as he grabs half a chocolate cake to eat for breakfast. Jessica, who’s just being so nice and helpful today, says, “She’s a person in the movie we’re making. She was real, but now she’s just an actress.” …Yeah.
Jess, Liz, and Robin go to the set to watch the footage from the previous day. During the infamous party scene, the girls notice a girl standing in the back of the room… a girl no one had noticed during the actual filming. Hmmm. Onscreen, she walks over and puts her hands on the shoulders of the girl playing Hilda. Strangely, no one but the three of them seems to notice this! GASP! The girls watch as the girl onscreen walks over to the fireplace and points to a picture on the mantel, then back to Hilda. According to Jess, the picture is of Lillian’s mom at her wedding. The film stops, and everyone goes on with their business. Yay.
Later that day, the girls are at home trying to figure out what the hell to do. Jess and Robin think that helping a ghost might be kind of dangerous. Elizabeth disagrees. Yeah, Liz, you're one to talk. Jessica says, “It’s not like we’re exactly Ghost Central here in Sweet Valley.” I have to stop reading for a few seconds because I’m laughing so hard. Liz hypothesizes that Lillian’s ghost pointed at the picture of her mom in her wedding dress because she wanted them to know that Hilda got married after she was released from the psychiatric hospital, and that the reason nobody could find her was that she had taken her husband’s last name. That’s a bit of a stretch there, Liz, but since this is Sweet Valley, we know you’re going to be right. Good job! The twins think that Lillian is trying to tell them that Hilda killed her (who do they think Ole Four-Fingers is, then?), and therefore they should try and track her down. Robin says, “Excuse me, but catching killers is a job for the police, not for sixth-graders.” Finally, someone notices! Liz and Jess disagree, saying that the police would not believe them. Well, I’ll give them that.
The next day, all three girls (guess they suckered Robin into it) go down to the library to search for Hilda’s wedding announcement. Jessica finally finds it- apparently, she married a man named George Zalanski. They go to the phone books and find a listing for “H. Zalanski”, at an address only a few minutes’ walk from the Keller house. Liz thinks that this constitutes as even more proof that Hilda killed Lillian, because she “returned to the scene of the crime”. Right. She also leaves a note for their parents, which is amusing enough for me to reproduce in its entirety:
“Dear Mom and Dad:
This is probably dumb, but just in case, Jessica and I thought we’d better leave a note. I’m putting it here under the dinner plates because then you won’t see it till dinner time. We should be home before then and I’ll just tear up the note because you’re not supposed to see it unless something goes wrong. Anyway, Jess and Robin and I are going to visit Hilda Zalanski, who used to be named Hilda Tomlinson. Her phone number and address are in the phone book. She’s the one who was supposed to have killed Lillian Keller. I can’t go into the whole story because it would take too long, plus you would think we were all nuts. Anyway, just in case we don’t come back, you’ll know where we went.
Love,
Elizabeth
P.S. Robin wants to add that she thinks Jessica and I are both crazy, but she doesn’t want to chicken out.”
I’m sure “she did it because of peer pressure” will be a really comforting explanation for Robin’s parents if she winds up dead. Robin says: “I feel like one of those kids in a horror movie who’s getting ready to do something really stupid, like open the door where the monster is hiding. And the whole audience is yelling Don’t go in there!” There’s a reason you feel that way, Robin. Jessica’s sociopathy renders her conscious useless, Elizabeth’s obsession with doing whatever Jess tells her to is clouding her vision, and you, the only sane one, are just going along with it because you don’t want to be called a fraidy-cat. You should feel bad.
Anyway, the girls walk to Hilda’s house, where Robin waits outside because she’s a fraidy-cat so that she can run for help should the need arise.
Hilda answers the door, and she’s all nice and grandmotherly at first, until they ask if she’s Hilda Tomlinson. Then she gets all snippy, asking who sent them (and she doesn’t believe them when they tell her it was Lillian- I wonder why). She almost sends them away, but Elizabeth tells her that the necklace did belong to her mother… so she knows something’s up, and she lets them in. Hilda tells them that after her mother’s death, the necklace was given to her sister (Lillian’s mom), and when Lillian got it for her birthday, Hilda was jealous because it seemed to her that Lillian always got everything. She guesses that everyone thinks that she pushed Lillian off of the balcony, and Liz confirms this. When asked, Hilda says that she didn’t do it… and that she doesn’t know who did. DUN-DUN-DUNNNN!
According to Hilda, she went upstairs after Lillian, because she felt bad for making her cry. When she got there, however, she heard Lil screaming, and so she went onto the balcony, and looked over the edge to see her hanging there. Hilda yelled for help, but no one heard, and so she tried to reach down to Lillian… though she didn’t reach very far, because she was worried about falling, too. When Lillian started to lose her grip and fall, Hilda lunged toward her, but only managed to grab the sleeve of her dress, which ripped off. Liz and Jess are a bit suspicious of this, because none of their dreams had anything about Hilda trying to save Lil. Uh-oh… But on with Hilda’s story. The family’s chauffeur, Harry Dennison, ran in and called for help, and then everyone came rushing up. Later, Harry told everyone else that he had seen Hilda pushing Lillian over the balcony- though Hilda figures it wasn’t his fault, because he must have seen her lunging to try and pull her back up, and mistaken it for her lunging to push her back down. Really? I’d still be pissed if someone framed me for murder, whether they did it accidentally or not. Anyway, the Kellers told the police that Hilda was insane, so she arrested- instead, Lillian’s parents sent her to a psychiatric hospital for criminally insane youth. When she got out, she got married, but after her husband died, she was “drawn” back to Sweet Valley and the Keller mansion. Okay.
Elizabeth asks why Harry always kept his hand in his pocket (which is something Hilda had mentioned before). Hilda says it was probably because… he only had four fingers on his left hand. DUN-DUN-DUNNNN!
The twins leave, and walk along the beach with Robin as they tell her everything that happened. Robin’s still a bit wary of Hilda, but Jessica reassures her: “She seemed way too nice to be a murderer.” Just wait till you get to high school, Jess. The girls decide that the real murderer must have been Four-Fingered Harry. Doy.
The next day, the girls go back to the Keller mansion, where workmen are setting up air mattresses for The Great Fall Scene. Elizabeth has to ask someone what a stunt coordinator is. Kid, your vocabulary isn’t nearly as hot as you think it is. Jess and Robin are already inside, getting into costume for more filming of the party scene. Liz wanders off and comes across Harold Brooks, who’s adjusting a light with one hand. His right hand. And his left hand’s in his pocket. GASP! Liz starts to wonder if maybe there’s a reason he always keeps his left hand hidden away. She does the mental math, and realizes that he’s probably the right age to have been eighteen when Lillian was killed… the same as as Four-Fingered Harry. Liz accidentally knocks the light he’s working on, and he reached out to grab it… with both hands. Sure enough, Four-Fingered Harry the Chauffeur is one and the same as Four-Fingered Harold the Lighting Technician. DUN-DUN-DUNNNN!
Cut to later that afternoon. Liz, Jess, and Robin had hidden in an unused dressing room until everyone else had gone home, and now they’re sneaking up the stairs to Mrs. Keller’s bedroom, to “reenact the crime”. Yeah, I know, I don’t get it either, but you know it’s going to work. Liz goes over to open the balcony doors, and insults Robin until she goes out there with her. Geez, Robin really gets kicked around a lot in this book, doesn’t she? Elizabeth gets the bright idea of leaning over the ledge to see if Hilda could have reached Lillian when she was hanging there, and guess what? She could have! Hilda was telling the truth! Yay! Liz says that in their reenactment, Jessica should play Lillian. Hee. Way to take charge there and demand that your twin put herself in harm’s way for you, Liz, instead of the other way around. Through their reenactment, they determine that Four-Fingered Harry was up in Mrs. Keller’s room, digging through her jewelry box, when Lillian came in. Because he knew that she would tattle-tale on him, he pushed her off the balcony. When Hilda came running in, he figured he could blame her and get off scot-free. Before he pushed Lillian, however, he grabbed the necklace from around her neck- which he then dropped, so he ended up with nothing. Poor, murdering Four-Fingered Harry. Just as they’ve determined this, someone calls from the doorway: “Freeze! Nobody move an inch!” I think we’re supposed to get all scared and think it’s Four-Fingered Harry, but it’s just Becka and Tony the friendly neighborhood security guard, who’ve come to investigate. The girls spill their guts to Becka, who in turn tells them that Four-Fingered Harold Brooks had retired ten years ago, but then suddenly wanted to come out of retirement to do the lighting for this movie. How suspicious! Liz guesses that he wanted to make sure that nothing came up during the moviemaking that would unmask him as the true criminal. If only he had known.
The next afternoon, the girls and Becka put their s00per sekrit plan to catch Four-Fingered Harry into action. Becka tells him that he needs to adjust the lights in the ballroom, while Jess gets into Shawn’s costume and puts on the necklace, which Liz has finally finished cleaning. (Using the chemicals she stole from the science lab, no doubt.) Elizabeth reminds Jessica of their signal: if she gets into trouble, she’s supposed to shout Unicorns. Hee.
Jess sneaks into the ballroom where Four-Fingered Harry’s working, and starts pretending to be the ghost of Lillian, reliving the party scene. She runs up the stairs, and he follows her- heading straight towards the jewelry box on the dressing table. He turns toward her, his gaze fixed on the necklace… Jess tries to get him to believe that she’s Lillian’s ghost, but of course the murderer would have to be the most sensible person in the book- he recognizes her as “that nosy little girl who’s been interviewing Becka Silver”. D’oh! He thinks she’s Liz! She calls his bluff, and he locks her in the room with him. You know, Jess, he just slid the deadbolt closed- you can just as easily open it up again. Ah, but that wouldn’t further the plot, now would it? Never mind. Four-Fingered Harry starts going on about how amazing it’ll be when a second girl falls to her death, and Jessica, like an idiot, backs away from him toward the balcony. She yells Unicorns a couple of times, and we cut to…
Elizabeth, who is watching with Robin, Becka, and Tony from behind a secret two-way mirror? Um, what? They try to get into the room, but, of course, they’re locked out. They run back to their “secret observation place in the adjacent room”, where a hidden camera had been set up to film everything that went on in Mrs. Keller’s bedroom.
Meanwhile, Four-Fingered Harry’s still backing Jess out onto the balcony. He reveals that the necklace is not just a piece of costume jewelry- one of Liz’s vocab words of the week- but a piece made of real jewels and worth “millions, millions”! By now, Jessica’s at the edge of the balcony, and she suddenly realizes that her story may end just the way Lillian’s did. Four-Fingered Harry takes the necklace and lifts her over the balcony, throwing her down onto the jagged rocks below… where she hits the ground, and bounces! Whee! Because the stunt guys left the air mattresses down underneath the window! Yaaaay!
Back up in Mrs. Keller’s room, Four-Fingered Harry is looking at the necklace. Liz and Becka are watching from behind their two-way mirror. Tony the security guard is trying to force his way into the locked room, but FFH doesn’t care… because, under the control of the necklace, he can see Lillian’s ghost. He says to her “Yes, I’ll tell them. Yes, the time has come.” The walrus said. Tony smashes his way into the room, and grabs Four-Fingered Harry. Liz, Robin, and Becka rush down the meet Jess, who’s coming up to meet them. All’s well that ends well. Whoo.
It’s the next day, and Elizabeth, Jessica, and Robin are walking back to the Keller mansion for the final day of shooting. Liz reveals that Four-Fingered Harry confessed everything to the police the night before. Apparently no one’s told Hilda yet- oh, nice, don’t bother telling the old suspect that she’s off the hook- but don’t worry, “she’ll know soon”.
At the Keller mansion, Shawn Brockaway’s throwing a fit because they’re re-writing the script to portray Four-Fingered Harry as the real murderer, as opposed to Poor, Framed Hilda, and so Jessica goes over and very calmly throws a handful of birthday cake at Shawn’s face. It’s a good thing there wasn’t cake around when she needed to wake Robin up from her nightmare. Before long, all the extras are joining in, wrecking the cake that’s needed for filming in order to get revenge on their bratty co-star. Becka, however, doesn’t give a shit. Neither do the cameramen, who film the whole shebang. I guess they’re just going to push back the filming for a couple more days, then? It’s not like people working on movie sets have, y’know, deadlines or anything- they always have free time to wreck props and infuriate child actresses.
Pretty soon afterwards, Hilda shows up- it turns out that Elizabeth called her and asked her to come, figuring that she might like to know that she’s in the clear, murder-wise. Our Liz is so thoughtful. The girls take her to the projection room, where a film of the empty set has been set up. Liz gives her her necklace (which she has no trouble with anymore, now that the murder has been solved), and turns on the projector. After a few seconds, Lillian’s ghost appears onscreen, and starts to talk. Hilda can hear her, but no one else can. Jessica ends the book with these words: “I think we should leave them alone. They probably have a lot to talk about.” Awwww.
This is one of the two Sweet Valley books that I own (at least, that I own and actually know the whereabouts of). I was never really much of a SV fan as a kid, but I did read a few of the SVT books- including this one, which I loved. Second time through, I'm a bit less impressed.
First off, our lovely cover- apologies for the crappy picture quality; my ten-dollar digital camera sucks (hmmm, maybe that was why it only cost ten dollars). I also apologize for the fact that you can't really see the additions someone made to the cover with Sharpie, adding what I'm pretty sure are supposed to be marajuana cigarettes to the girls' hands.
Today’s story opens with the twins walking along the beach, looking for seashells. Jessica finds a dirty, grimy necklace in the surf, which, when she scrapes off a bit of the crud covering it, seems to have a shiny red stone hanging off of it. It “glitters brightly”, so you know it’s got to be valuable. Elizabeth wants to see it, but Jessica, in typical Jessica fashion, gets all territorial and refuses to let her. Nice. Elizabeth wants to go home because she thinks it’s going to rain, but Jessica wants to stay at the beach for some yet-to-be-disclosed reason, and this cues the usual description of how the twins look exactly alike, but couldn’t be more different. Blah, blah, blah, they’re best friends, they share everything- except for barnacle-covered necklaces, apparently- and though they argue a lot, they always make up in the end. Yawn.
Anway, Jessica wants to keep walking along the shore, even though the only thing ahead of them is the creepy Keller mansion. Elizabeth is immediately suspicious- the last time they went near there, Jessica said the place gave her the creeps. That was a long time ago, Jessica says, and they were only kids then. Um, aren’t you only twelve now? Finally, Liz worms out of Jessica that there’s a movie (called Dead Little Rich Girl- cheery) being filmed at the mansion, and they’re looking for extras. Fabulous. How many movie-making plotlines has this series had already? Elizabeth reveals that she doesn’t know what an extra is. Well, that’s interesting, considering she’s been one a couple of times.
The girls walk up to the mansion, where set designers are working on the exterior of the house, and trailers are already set up for the film’s stars. Jess is excited to discover the name of one of the actors:
“S-H-A-W-N-B-R-O… Shawn Brockaway!” Hooked on Phonics worked for Jessica!
Yes, Shawn Brockaway, star of the television show Castaway Kids (which we may or may not have heard about in earlier volumes), is going to appear in the movie. This, of course, only makes Jess even more eager to land a part. Luckily for them, the director just happens to be walking by at that exact time- though Jessica is suspicious of her, both because she’s wearing a baseball cap (?) and because she’s a girl (??). You’d think that with all the time this girl’s spent on movie sets, she wouldn’t be totally relying on stereotypes of the movie industry. But whatever. Despite Jessica being annoyingly fake and and kissing up to the director, Becka Silver (once she’s convinced that it’s her), Liz manages to impress her by praising one of her best movies (called A Fine, Drizzly Dawn- hee!) and dissing one of her worst movies (Grandpa’s Ghost). Honesty is the best policy in this case- the girls land jobs as extras!
The girls leave the set and start back along the beach, where a heavy storm suddenly appears out of nowhere. Jessica drops the necklace in the ocean, and stupidly dives into the crashing waves after it. Even though she nearly gets pulled out to sea by the undertow, she finds the necklace and makes it back to dry land. But why would she risk her life for a piece of jewelry that she only just found earlier that day? Why does she feel as if she just had to save it? Why can’t she explain her reasons to Elizabeth, or even to herself? It couldn’t be… foreshadowing, could it?
Back at the Wakefield home, Jessica obsesses over the necklace, cleaning it off to reveal more shiny, shiny jewels. She growls at anyone who even so much as looks at it, because it's hers, because she found it. Do you all understand that, dammit? Elizabeth shows off her poor vocabulary for the second time that day when she has to ask her mother what costume jewelry is. What, exactly, is this girl doing in Honors English classes?
A little bit later, Jessica goes to bed, happily reviewing about the amazing day she’s just had. “After all, it wasn’t every day that she got hired as a movie extra”. Really? Are you sure? She falls asleep and has a dream that someone’s stealing jewelry from a box, and that she’s falling off a balcony at the Keller mansion, onto the “sharp, dagger-like rocks” below. Hmmmm.
Jessica brings the necklace to school with her the next morning, though she keeps it in her backpack because if she wore it, “everyone would want it”. Mmm-hmm. Whatever, hon. She does, however, wear sunglasses (like all movie stars, donchaknow), because she wants Lila to ask about them, thus giving her an excuse to brag about her part in the movie. Since when has she ever needed an excuse before? Unfortunately, however, Ellen chooses this day to reveal to Lila that everyone knows her locker combination because they all break in to steal her mousse (hee!), so Li’s too distracted to listen to Jessica. Annoyed and disappointed, Jessica decides to skip first period to sit in the bathroom, cleaning and staring at her necklace. Good decision, there.
The next day after school, the twins go back to the mansion to find “nearly a hundred” kids lined up, all hoping to bechosen as extras for the movie. D’oh! It’s a good thing the twins were already chosen, or else we might have had to read about some other people for a change! Jessica makes sure all the Unicorns know why she and Liz get to skip the line and go right on in. Awww, she got her chance to brag after all! How sweet! Lila gets rejected because her face is too “modern”. Whatever. I’m just disappointed because I was hoping to read more about Lila. Jess brags some more, then decides that, since she’s in the movie and all, she might need to know a little bit about the plot. It’s a murder mystery about two twelve-year-old girls- and one of them kills the other. Charming. Later that night, Jessica has another nightmare. I wonder why.
Flash forward to Thursday, where Liz is sitting in Mrs. Arnette’s social studies class. And guess what? Spring break is starting the day after tomorrow. These girls are so lucky; we only had one spring break per year. I think Sweet Valley kids spend more time on spring break than they actually do in school. Elizabeth worries about the fact that Jessica doesn’t seem very excited about the movie or spring break- in fact, she thinks, all she ever seems to do is walk around “like a sleepy zombie” or clean off “that stupid necklace she’d found at the beach”. Suddenly, Jess (who had fallen asleep in class) wakes up screaming for the third time that week. Mrs. Arnette sends her to the nurse, and Jessica leaves her bag- with the necklace inside- with Elizabeth. Dun-dun-dunnnn.
Between classes, Liz takes both backpacks to the library, where she plans to research the history of the Keller mansion. Exactly how much passing time do these kids get? We had three minutes in middle school, yet she seems to spend ages in the library. Oh, well- one twin cuts class to stare at possessed jewelry, so why shouldn’t the other one cut to conduct research? It even fits with their personalities!
Elizabeth finds the necklace in Jess’s bag, and puts it in her pocket where it’ll apparently be safer. Not a good idea, Liz. That means you’ll actually have to admit you touched it, and remember how psycho she got when you just asked to look at it? Oh, well. Your funeral.
Liz finds an article from the thirties about a girl named Lillian Keller, who died on her twelfth birthday after falling from a balcony at the Keller mansion. Gee, you don’t think that could have anything to do with Jess’s nightmares, could it? Nah. Liz wonders if the movie they’re filming is going to have something to do with the story of Lillian’s death.
Back at home, Jessica is apparently feeling much, much better- she’s running around practicing her lines for the movie. (Liz doesn’t get this at first, and thinks that there’s something wrong with her head. Jessica retorts, “Do you think I’m just wandering around the house talking about parties and cakes for no reason?” Why would that be considered so unusual in these books?) Liz tries to give the necklace back, but- gasp!- Jessica decides that she doesn’t want it! And all of a sudden, Liz is dying to have it! So she keeps it, and Jess goes back to her lines (“We still haven’t cut the cake! We still haven’t cut the cake! We still haven’t cut the cake!”)
Later that night, of course, it’s Elizabeth that has the nightmare this time- of a four-fingered man rooting through a jewelry box, and then of falling off a balcony. Okay, just throw the necklace away, you guys.
The next day at school, Elizabeth stays after class to ask her science teacher, Mrs. Blake a “science question” about “an old thing”. She wants information about how to clean the necklace off, but she doesn’t want to tell Mrs. Blake the details, in case she asks to see it- Liz doesn’t want to show the necklace to anyone, because then they might want it, and she can’t have that because it’s hers, I tell you, hers! So she lies, and tells Mrs. Blake that she found an old bottle in the ocean. It’s specified, by the way, that this is the first time she’s lied to a teacher- because lying “was Jessica’s specialty”. More evidence of sociopathy! Mrs. Blake tells her to bring the bottle to school, and she’ll show her how to clean if off… but Liz can’t have that, so she sneaks into the science lab and steals the chemical she needs. Wow- having the necklace makes everyone act like Jessica! While she’s cleaning it with her newly-acquired chemicals, the big red stone falls out of its setting, revealing the initials “J.K.T.” engraved into the backing of the necklace. Dun-dun-dunnnn.
Cut to Jessica being measured for her costume, even though she keeps telling the wardrobe lady, Nadia, that she’s the exact same size as Elizabeth- they’re twins after all. Um, it is possible for identical twins to be different sizes, you know. Nadia doesn’t seem to realize this, however, as she finally declares it a waste of time to measure the two of them separately. Whatever. The twins head inside to begin filming, and Jessica notes that the Keller mansion “makes Lila’s house look like a dump”. I wouldn’t let her hear you say that, if I were you. Jess comments that the set is very disorganized, and a man standing nearby laughs, saying that she’s right, and that all movie sets are like that. He introduces himself as Harold Brooks, tells her that he’s a lighting technician, and gives her a little bit of inside information about the lighting and setting- he seems perfectly nice and friendly to me, but Jessica doesn’t think that he has a very nice laugh. Hmmmm. I wonder if this will be important later?
Later that day, Jess, Liz, and their cousin Robin (who’s visiting over spring break) are discussing the movie. Jessica says that if Liz is chosen for the part during the final take of their scene, she’s sure she’ll let Jessica pretend to be her so that Jess can be the star. Yep, that sounds about right. The twins start talking about the movie plot and the scene they’re in, and they discover that Jess’s old nightmare and the nightmare that Liz keeps having now are one and the same. GASP! True to her oblivious, in-denial character, Elizabeth decides that it’s a coincidence.
Next day at the set- Robin’s got permission to hang out there with them, for some reason, and so she and Jess are off getting Jess’s makeup done while Liz interviews Becka Silver about the movie’s plot and history. It turns out that Hilda Tomlinson, an orphan who lived with Lillian Keller’s family, got into a big fight with Lillian on the night of her twelfth birthday, and Lillian ran up to her mother’s room. Hilda followed her, and the next thing anyone knew, Lil had fallen off of the balcony. Everyone pretty much assumed that Hilda had done it, but rather than prosecute her or get the press involved in the scandal, they just called it an accident and sent Hilda off to “a hospital for disturbed children”, and she was never heard from again. Liz does the math in her head and comes to the conclusion that Hilda might still be alive. Dun-dun-DUNNNN.
Meanwhile, Jessica’s on the set, getting ready to film the first take of the party scene. All the kiddie extras are told that Shawn Brockaway (remember, the big-shot star of the film) is going to come out, and they all need to be totally professional- no talking to her, no asking for her autograph, etc. I’ll bet that Jessica will be the first one to lose her cool and do exactly that. Shawn comes out and is a big stereotypical brat to everyone, and they all just sit back and takes it because she’s so famous. They film for about five seconds, then stop. Jessica is confused- what about the rest of the scene? It’s revealed to her that movies aren’t filmed in chronological order- it’s only later that the editors put the whole thing together. Again, Jess’s been in movies before- why doesn’t she know this?
Liz has another dream- this time is starts out with Lillian and Hilda fighting over something that they both want, and think should belong to them. Lillian runs upstairs to “put it in Mother’s jewelry box”… and discovers someone rummaging through it. The scene flashes to her being outside, backed up against the railing of a balcony. She slips, and begins to fall over the edge… as a four-fingered hand reaches out and tries to grab something from around her neck. As she falls, she sees a figure standing on the balcony above, holding her necklace. Dun-dun-DUNNNN.
Elizabeth wakes up, and suddenly it’s all clear to her. Lillian was given the necklace for her birthday, but Hilda thought it had belonged to her mother. That’s what the girls were fighting over! ZOMG! Liz goes to wake up Jessica, and Robin comes along for the lolz. Elizabeth and Jessica both determine that they “sensed” the necklace’s true importance, and that was why they were both so desperate to keep it away from everyone else… though when she finally gave it to Liz, Jess felt relieved. They share more details of their dreams and discover that they’re identical, right up to the dude with the four-fingered hand. The twins decide that the ghost of Lillian is trying to tell them something. (Took you long enough.) Robin decides that they’re both whack-jobs. (Took you long enough, too.)
The next morning, Elizabeth decides that the girls should test their theory about the necklace by giving it to a third person to see if they start having nightmares. And by third person, she means Robin. Aren’t you so glad you came to Sweet Valley to be the twin’s guinea pig, Robin? After much coaxing and cajoling, she agrees to do it. Pushover.
Later on the set, Liz wanders off and goes upstairs, to Mrs. Keller’s old bedroom. This is where it all happened, folks. While she’s standing outside the closed door, she thinks she hears something inside- which makes her remember that, in her dream, Lillian heard someone in her mother’s room. Oh, noes! She goes inside, where she finds all the furniture exactly the way it was in her dream. Mr. Brooks, the lighting technician with the evil laugh, is standing on the balcony, wondering what the hell Liz is doing running around unsupervised. He’s up there to smoke, he says, because all the “Hollywood types downstairs hate to be around cigarette smoke”. Right. Liz beats it out of there fast, and comes across Becka, who is… smoking! As are a couple of other people! Way to share the second-hand smoke, guys! But if other people are downstairs with their cigs, why would Mr. Brooks think he had to hide away on the balcony? Unless… he was up there for some other reason. Dun-dun-DUNNNN.
That night, Liz’s experiment works- Robin has The Nightmare. Jessica helpfully throws a glass of water at Robin’s face to wake her up. Hee. The twins try to take the necklace back, but Robin won’t let them. Jessica throws more water in her face to snap her out of it. Why don’t you just try pushing her into a pool? That’s usually more effective. While she’s coughing and spluttering, Jessica snatches the necklace back. Oh, great, now who’s going to get it away from her? Luckily, she has the sense to toss it onto the bed “as if it were a dangerous snake”. Robin is able to clear up a little bit more about the dream than the twins could- according to her, the man with the four-fingered hand accidentally dropped the necklace as Lillian was falling. Also, as she was hanging from the balcony, Hilda was standing there watching her. GASP! Elizabeth says, yet again, that she thinks that they’re having the dreams for a reason, and that Lillian is making them have them. Yes, Liz, we cleared that up a couple of chapters ago. But thanks for the effort. Steven walks in on them talking and is all, “Who’s Lillian?” as he grabs half a chocolate cake to eat for breakfast. Jessica, who’s just being so nice and helpful today, says, “She’s a person in the movie we’re making. She was real, but now she’s just an actress.” …Yeah.
Jess, Liz, and Robin go to the set to watch the footage from the previous day. During the infamous party scene, the girls notice a girl standing in the back of the room… a girl no one had noticed during the actual filming. Hmmm. Onscreen, she walks over and puts her hands on the shoulders of the girl playing Hilda. Strangely, no one but the three of them seems to notice this! GASP! The girls watch as the girl onscreen walks over to the fireplace and points to a picture on the mantel, then back to Hilda. According to Jess, the picture is of Lillian’s mom at her wedding. The film stops, and everyone goes on with their business. Yay.
Later that day, the girls are at home trying to figure out what the hell to do. Jess and Robin think that helping a ghost might be kind of dangerous. Elizabeth disagrees. Yeah, Liz, you're one to talk. Jessica says, “It’s not like we’re exactly Ghost Central here in Sweet Valley.” I have to stop reading for a few seconds because I’m laughing so hard. Liz hypothesizes that Lillian’s ghost pointed at the picture of her mom in her wedding dress because she wanted them to know that Hilda got married after she was released from the psychiatric hospital, and that the reason nobody could find her was that she had taken her husband’s last name. That’s a bit of a stretch there, Liz, but since this is Sweet Valley, we know you’re going to be right. Good job! The twins think that Lillian is trying to tell them that Hilda killed her (who do they think Ole Four-Fingers is, then?), and therefore they should try and track her down. Robin says, “Excuse me, but catching killers is a job for the police, not for sixth-graders.” Finally, someone notices! Liz and Jess disagree, saying that the police would not believe them. Well, I’ll give them that.
The next day, all three girls (guess they suckered Robin into it) go down to the library to search for Hilda’s wedding announcement. Jessica finally finds it- apparently, she married a man named George Zalanski. They go to the phone books and find a listing for “H. Zalanski”, at an address only a few minutes’ walk from the Keller house. Liz thinks that this constitutes as even more proof that Hilda killed Lillian, because she “returned to the scene of the crime”. Right. She also leaves a note for their parents, which is amusing enough for me to reproduce in its entirety:
“Dear Mom and Dad:
This is probably dumb, but just in case, Jessica and I thought we’d better leave a note. I’m putting it here under the dinner plates because then you won’t see it till dinner time. We should be home before then and I’ll just tear up the note because you’re not supposed to see it unless something goes wrong. Anyway, Jess and Robin and I are going to visit Hilda Zalanski, who used to be named Hilda Tomlinson. Her phone number and address are in the phone book. She’s the one who was supposed to have killed Lillian Keller. I can’t go into the whole story because it would take too long, plus you would think we were all nuts. Anyway, just in case we don’t come back, you’ll know where we went.
Love,
Elizabeth
P.S. Robin wants to add that she thinks Jessica and I are both crazy, but she doesn’t want to chicken out.”
I’m sure “she did it because of peer pressure” will be a really comforting explanation for Robin’s parents if she winds up dead. Robin says: “I feel like one of those kids in a horror movie who’s getting ready to do something really stupid, like open the door where the monster is hiding. And the whole audience is yelling Don’t go in there!” There’s a reason you feel that way, Robin. Jessica’s sociopathy renders her conscious useless, Elizabeth’s obsession with doing whatever Jess tells her to is clouding her vision, and you, the only sane one, are just going along with it because you don’t want to be called a fraidy-cat. You should feel bad.
Anyway, the girls walk to Hilda’s house, where Robin waits outside because she’s a fraidy-cat so that she can run for help should the need arise.
Hilda answers the door, and she’s all nice and grandmotherly at first, until they ask if she’s Hilda Tomlinson. Then she gets all snippy, asking who sent them (and she doesn’t believe them when they tell her it was Lillian- I wonder why). She almost sends them away, but Elizabeth tells her that the necklace did belong to her mother… so she knows something’s up, and she lets them in. Hilda tells them that after her mother’s death, the necklace was given to her sister (Lillian’s mom), and when Lillian got it for her birthday, Hilda was jealous because it seemed to her that Lillian always got everything. She guesses that everyone thinks that she pushed Lillian off of the balcony, and Liz confirms this. When asked, Hilda says that she didn’t do it… and that she doesn’t know who did. DUN-DUN-DUNNNN!
According to Hilda, she went upstairs after Lillian, because she felt bad for making her cry. When she got there, however, she heard Lil screaming, and so she went onto the balcony, and looked over the edge to see her hanging there. Hilda yelled for help, but no one heard, and so she tried to reach down to Lillian… though she didn’t reach very far, because she was worried about falling, too. When Lillian started to lose her grip and fall, Hilda lunged toward her, but only managed to grab the sleeve of her dress, which ripped off. Liz and Jess are a bit suspicious of this, because none of their dreams had anything about Hilda trying to save Lil. Uh-oh… But on with Hilda’s story. The family’s chauffeur, Harry Dennison, ran in and called for help, and then everyone came rushing up. Later, Harry told everyone else that he had seen Hilda pushing Lillian over the balcony- though Hilda figures it wasn’t his fault, because he must have seen her lunging to try and pull her back up, and mistaken it for her lunging to push her back down. Really? I’d still be pissed if someone framed me for murder, whether they did it accidentally or not. Anyway, the Kellers told the police that Hilda was insane, so she arrested- instead, Lillian’s parents sent her to a psychiatric hospital for criminally insane youth. When she got out, she got married, but after her husband died, she was “drawn” back to Sweet Valley and the Keller mansion. Okay.
Elizabeth asks why Harry always kept his hand in his pocket (which is something Hilda had mentioned before). Hilda says it was probably because… he only had four fingers on his left hand. DUN-DUN-DUNNNN!
The twins leave, and walk along the beach with Robin as they tell her everything that happened. Robin’s still a bit wary of Hilda, but Jessica reassures her: “She seemed way too nice to be a murderer.” Just wait till you get to high school, Jess. The girls decide that the real murderer must have been Four-Fingered Harry. Doy.
The next day, the girls go back to the Keller mansion, where workmen are setting up air mattresses for The Great Fall Scene. Elizabeth has to ask someone what a stunt coordinator is. Kid, your vocabulary isn’t nearly as hot as you think it is. Jess and Robin are already inside, getting into costume for more filming of the party scene. Liz wanders off and comes across Harold Brooks, who’s adjusting a light with one hand. His right hand. And his left hand’s in his pocket. GASP! Liz starts to wonder if maybe there’s a reason he always keeps his left hand hidden away. She does the mental math, and realizes that he’s probably the right age to have been eighteen when Lillian was killed… the same as as Four-Fingered Harry. Liz accidentally knocks the light he’s working on, and he reached out to grab it… with both hands. Sure enough, Four-Fingered Harry the Chauffeur is one and the same as Four-Fingered Harold the Lighting Technician. DUN-DUN-DUNNNN!
Cut to later that afternoon. Liz, Jess, and Robin had hidden in an unused dressing room until everyone else had gone home, and now they’re sneaking up the stairs to Mrs. Keller’s bedroom, to “reenact the crime”. Yeah, I know, I don’t get it either, but you know it’s going to work. Liz goes over to open the balcony doors, and insults Robin until she goes out there with her. Geez, Robin really gets kicked around a lot in this book, doesn’t she? Elizabeth gets the bright idea of leaning over the ledge to see if Hilda could have reached Lillian when she was hanging there, and guess what? She could have! Hilda was telling the truth! Yay! Liz says that in their reenactment, Jessica should play Lillian. Hee. Way to take charge there and demand that your twin put herself in harm’s way for you, Liz, instead of the other way around. Through their reenactment, they determine that Four-Fingered Harry was up in Mrs. Keller’s room, digging through her jewelry box, when Lillian came in. Because he knew that she would tattle-tale on him, he pushed her off the balcony. When Hilda came running in, he figured he could blame her and get off scot-free. Before he pushed Lillian, however, he grabbed the necklace from around her neck- which he then dropped, so he ended up with nothing. Poor, murdering Four-Fingered Harry. Just as they’ve determined this, someone calls from the doorway: “Freeze! Nobody move an inch!” I think we’re supposed to get all scared and think it’s Four-Fingered Harry, but it’s just Becka and Tony the friendly neighborhood security guard, who’ve come to investigate. The girls spill their guts to Becka, who in turn tells them that Four-Fingered Harold Brooks had retired ten years ago, but then suddenly wanted to come out of retirement to do the lighting for this movie. How suspicious! Liz guesses that he wanted to make sure that nothing came up during the moviemaking that would unmask him as the true criminal. If only he had known.
The next afternoon, the girls and Becka put their s00per sekrit plan to catch Four-Fingered Harry into action. Becka tells him that he needs to adjust the lights in the ballroom, while Jess gets into Shawn’s costume and puts on the necklace, which Liz has finally finished cleaning. (Using the chemicals she stole from the science lab, no doubt.) Elizabeth reminds Jessica of their signal: if she gets into trouble, she’s supposed to shout Unicorns. Hee.
Jess sneaks into the ballroom where Four-Fingered Harry’s working, and starts pretending to be the ghost of Lillian, reliving the party scene. She runs up the stairs, and he follows her- heading straight towards the jewelry box on the dressing table. He turns toward her, his gaze fixed on the necklace… Jess tries to get him to believe that she’s Lillian’s ghost, but of course the murderer would have to be the most sensible person in the book- he recognizes her as “that nosy little girl who’s been interviewing Becka Silver”. D’oh! He thinks she’s Liz! She calls his bluff, and he locks her in the room with him. You know, Jess, he just slid the deadbolt closed- you can just as easily open it up again. Ah, but that wouldn’t further the plot, now would it? Never mind. Four-Fingered Harry starts going on about how amazing it’ll be when a second girl falls to her death, and Jessica, like an idiot, backs away from him toward the balcony. She yells Unicorns a couple of times, and we cut to…
Elizabeth, who is watching with Robin, Becka, and Tony from behind a secret two-way mirror? Um, what? They try to get into the room, but, of course, they’re locked out. They run back to their “secret observation place in the adjacent room”, where a hidden camera had been set up to film everything that went on in Mrs. Keller’s bedroom.
Meanwhile, Four-Fingered Harry’s still backing Jess out onto the balcony. He reveals that the necklace is not just a piece of costume jewelry- one of Liz’s vocab words of the week- but a piece made of real jewels and worth “millions, millions”! By now, Jessica’s at the edge of the balcony, and she suddenly realizes that her story may end just the way Lillian’s did. Four-Fingered Harry takes the necklace and lifts her over the balcony, throwing her down onto the jagged rocks below… where she hits the ground, and bounces! Whee! Because the stunt guys left the air mattresses down underneath the window! Yaaaay!
Back up in Mrs. Keller’s room, Four-Fingered Harry is looking at the necklace. Liz and Becka are watching from behind their two-way mirror. Tony the security guard is trying to force his way into the locked room, but FFH doesn’t care… because, under the control of the necklace, he can see Lillian’s ghost. He says to her “Yes, I’ll tell them. Yes, the time has come.” The walrus said. Tony smashes his way into the room, and grabs Four-Fingered Harry. Liz, Robin, and Becka rush down the meet Jess, who’s coming up to meet them. All’s well that ends well. Whoo.
It’s the next day, and Elizabeth, Jessica, and Robin are walking back to the Keller mansion for the final day of shooting. Liz reveals that Four-Fingered Harry confessed everything to the police the night before. Apparently no one’s told Hilda yet- oh, nice, don’t bother telling the old suspect that she’s off the hook- but don’t worry, “she’ll know soon”.
At the Keller mansion, Shawn Brockaway’s throwing a fit because they’re re-writing the script to portray Four-Fingered Harry as the real murderer, as opposed to Poor, Framed Hilda, and so Jessica goes over and very calmly throws a handful of birthday cake at Shawn’s face. It’s a good thing there wasn’t cake around when she needed to wake Robin up from her nightmare. Before long, all the extras are joining in, wrecking the cake that’s needed for filming in order to get revenge on their bratty co-star. Becka, however, doesn’t give a shit. Neither do the cameramen, who film the whole shebang. I guess they’re just going to push back the filming for a couple more days, then? It’s not like people working on movie sets have, y’know, deadlines or anything- they always have free time to wreck props and infuriate child actresses.
Pretty soon afterwards, Hilda shows up- it turns out that Elizabeth called her and asked her to come, figuring that she might like to know that she’s in the clear, murder-wise. Our Liz is so thoughtful. The girls take her to the projection room, where a film of the empty set has been set up. Liz gives her her necklace (which she has no trouble with anymore, now that the murder has been solved), and turns on the projector. After a few seconds, Lillian’s ghost appears onscreen, and starts to talk. Hilda can hear her, but no one else can. Jessica ends the book with these words: “I think we should leave them alone. They probably have a lot to talk about.” Awwww.