In which girls cry, Elizabeth and Jessica take maturity to new lows, werewolves menace London, and crime scenes are violated with impunity.
We open at breakfast in the youth hostel, where Elizabeth, Portia and Emily helpfully fill the reader in on much of the drama of the last few days. Then David and Gabriello (remember him? The forgettable Italian?) enter bearing the day's papers, and this prompts Elizabeth to recap the rest of the werewolf-related angst to us, most of which is now front-page news. Finally, Jessica arrives, sees the papers, and immediately turns on Liz, blaming her and Luke for forcing their "absurd, demented werewolf theory" on everyone and getting Robert accused of the deaths. She calls Liz a reverse snob and Luke a nut; Liz leaves the table, pointedly saying bye to everyone but her twin. The maturity starts here, people.
That afternoon, Liz walks in the park with Luke. We are reminded again of the existence of Trusty Boyfriend Todd: "she had [a boyfriend] at home, and she'd intended to be faithful to him. But she couldn't help the way Luke made her feel. They had so much in common - a love of literature and history - so much to talk about." Is it just me, or is this book promoting two-timing and fickleness to a rather odd degree? Of course you can help the way you feel, Liz; it's called subverting your baser instincts. Geez!
Anyway, Luke gets Liz to promise she won't go off and play detective on her own again, but Liz admits even to herself that she's not intending to keep this promise. Luke then gives her a silver bullet for protection, and Liz muses that "because of his poetic nature", Luke had "seemed to respond to the [werewolf] legends [his mother told him] as reality rather than myth." Um, poetry does not make you delusional, Liz.
The next day, Liz and David head off to Buckingham Palace to see Eliana (I'm just going to say now that it's very unlikely that the present queen would have a sixteen-year-old daughter in 1994. Granddaughter, yes. But I guess that's not romantic enough. And now I'll stop snarking English details.) David comments that "every citizen in England dreams of" having tea with the queen (awww) and hopes Eliana will still fancy him now she's all regal again.
Meanwhile, Jessica has dropped by to hang out with Portia between performances. She's pissed off she turned down tea with the queen, but she can't break her vow not to be in the same room as her sister. See, maturity. Portia encourages Jess to stop moping around and get out there and clear Robert's name, so Jess makes a list of the victims and starts attempting to think.
The next day the hostel group discuss the concert they went to last night, in which Gabriello played first violin. According to Jessica, "it was almost as cool as a rock concert", so it must have been good. Emily asks the twins along for a shopping trip, but Liz is angry enough with Jess to pretend she's got plans with Luke instead and decides to do some investigating. Then when Jess and Emily set off, Jess immediately ditches Emily, also to sleuth on her own. Sucks to be you, Emily. Jessica heads off to the home of Dr Neville, one of the werewolf's victims, and sneaks inside. She searches Dr Neville's files and finds one for a woman named only as Annabelle S, who died of pneumonia nine years ago. Suddenly she hears a noise in the house, so she shoves the file in her bag and dives out of the kitchen window.
We see that the source of the noise is Elizabeth, who has had exactly the same idea as Jess. She also heads to the files, feeling a touch of deja-vu/mysterious twin powers "as if I've been here before", before picking up Robert Pembroke's medical file. Those twins do love stealing from crime scenes. She then thumbs through Neville's address book and finds an address for the Pembroke nanny, Mildred Price. She begins to write down the details on a piece of paper when suddenly she hears a noise, so, panicking, she pinches the card with Mildred's address from the book and flees the house.
We see that the source of this noise is someone described only as 'the intruder'. He is clearly not happy: "tumultuous, unbearable emotions acted on his body like a whip, driving him, driving him mad"... he searches the files, but what he is looking for isn't there. Furious, he is about to kick the desk over when he sees the piece of paper Liz began to write on still there. "Nanny Millie", he thinks, "a look of cunning gleam[ing] in his bloodshot eyes" and, crumpling the paper in his fist, departs.
After leaving Neville's house, Liz heads off to tea with Rene. Busy social lives these girls have. Liz tells Rene what she found at Pembroke Manor in the last book (creepy werewolf rooms, green bathrobes, etc) and Rene tells her she should leave England and go home - he doesn't like her being so involved. Liz refuses, pointing out they haven't finished their internships (journalistic integrity!! Or something...) and says she's more worried about Jessica, who's now had two brushes with death from the wolfman.
Liz returns to the hostel - everyone else is out at a club - and starts studying Robert's medical file. However, it doesn't tell her much, and she feels lonely; Luke never gave her his home telephone number, so she can't call him, and she doesn't have anyone else. Her thoughts stray back to Todd, and she takes out his most recent letter. Rereading it makes her feel homesick, and she realises she misses Todd, and that Luke could never replace Todd because England is all foreign, and she and Luke are from different worlds. So, she... immediately starts wishing Luke were there to kiss her and hold her in his arms. No, I don't get the thought processes here either. She takes off the anti-werewolf pendant Luke gave her to look at it more closely, and notices for the first time that there is an A carved on the back. She wonders if maybe the necklace does have some power, because she hasn't had anyone attack her, but decides to put the pendant in Jessica's bag - she has Luke to protect her, while Jessica has no one.
The club that the hostel crowd have gone to is revealed to be an underage juice bar, which I find incredibly funny for some reason. Jess tells Portia and Emily about the file she found, and wonders if perhaps it has some connection to the Pembrokes; after all, Neville was Lord Pembroke's best friend. Portia feels there's bound to be some secret to uncover: after all, in porn racy novels about adulterous affairs, the heroine often has her surname hidden. Eventually, the hostel crowd head home, and try not to get freaked out by the silent, foggy streets and the thought of the werewolf somewhere out there...
The next morning, Jess has overslept, and though Liz is uneasy about taking the tube on her own or letting Jessica do it, she reminds herself she's not Jessica's alarm clock, and heads out on her own. Because sibling rivalries should always triumph over watching out for werewolves. She finds herself walking on an empty street and is creeped out when she encounters a dark-haired man in sunglasses who may or may not have been following her. Musing that Rene, Luke and Robert all have dark hair, she decides not to take the tube and catches a bus instead.
Jess wakes up, very late for work, and dresses without even caring if her outfit matches; things really are bad! She rushes out and then realises she left her bag at the hostel. She returns to her room, noticing that the door is ajar when she's positive she closed it, and when she gets inside she can smell Robert's cologne and someone has straightened her rumpled bed. Positive he's only just left, she grabs her bag and runs back outside, but there's no one there but a homeless man in a hat. Jess sits down on the pavement and cries. It'll be the first time of many, I promise.
At the Journal offices, Liz discovers that Lucy Friday has been made new editor-in-chief after Reeves got fired. Lucy announces to everyone that under her leadership, they will aim high, get the job done, and print "more real news in greater depths". She then tells Tony Frank that he's still on probation as crime editor. Tony is very pleased at Lucy's promotion; smitten with her, he thinks she'll make a great editor-in-chief. Liz then runs into Luke. They make out in the corridor, but Luke notices she's not wearing her pendant. Liz explains where it's gone and asks Luke about the initial on the back. He explains the pendant belonged to his mother, Ann. Tony then comes to find them - there's been a murder in Pelham (I keep reading this as Peckham, and werewolves + blocks of flats produces some rather interesting images of a special type of urban decay) and they all dash out to the Batmobile to catch a black cab. Liz remembers that Pelham is where Mildred Price lives, and tells Tony this, explaining that she found out by breaking into Neville's house. Tony is spectacularly unconcerned about her behaviour: "Of course, I can't officially approve of your methods, but off the record: jolly good work!" They decide to visit Mildred after they've checked out the latest murder, but unfortunately discover that the latest murder is Mildred and, yes, her throat has been ripped out as if by a wild beast. See, Liz; your snooping around leads to the deaths of others. However, Tony reassures Liz that if the murderer (i.e. Robert Pembroke) had wanted to kill Mrs Price he'd have found a way and she probably wouldn't have listened to any warnings about him, so there was nothing they could do. "Where will the bloodshed end?" Liz cries.
Meanwhile, back at the office, Lucy congratulates Jess on some good work, and so Jess asks if she can be Lucy's personal intern, explaining that she really doesn't want to spend lots of time with Liz. Lucy agrees, but tells Jess she should try and make up with Liz. Jess, however, vows to keep the feud going. (You'd think after what happened with the Jungle Prom in the Evil Twin saga she'd be a little less keen to fight with her twin, but then, this is Jessica.)
Liz and Tony interview Mildred Price's granddaughter, Dolores. Dolores tells them Mildred always left her door unlocked (I find that very unlikely, in London, but then, I dunno, maybe my own London-based grandmother is just paranoid or something) and that the police have said she was killed last night. Tony and Liz also learn that Robert visited her for a couple of nights in the last week, and left when the papers started running the werewolf story. Dolores believes Robert came back last night and killed his nanny. Boo, hiss. As Liz and Tony leave, they run into Rene, who claims he's visiting a friend of his mother's, but seems awkward and hurries off as quickly as possible. Tony asks Liz not to go off investigating on her own any more, but to take him, Jess or Luke with her. Liz explains she's mad with Jess, and Tony tells her that their only hope of survival against the wolfman is to band together: "his eyes burned into hers and she felt a thrill of excitement"... Steady on, Liz, you've got enough men to juggle as it is!
Meanwhile, 'the intruder' from earlier has found his way to the twins' room at the hostel. He trashes it, tearing up Todd's letter to Liz and taking Robert and Annabelle's medical files, but to his fury, he can't find the silver bullet, so leaves, swearing the Wakefields are his "enemies, then, to the death". Take a number and get in line, pal.
Lucy is impressed with an article Jess has written, but Jess totally doesn't care about the praise. She discovers the pendant in her bag, and is at first furious, but then touched by her sister's concern and so wears the pendant - although not so anyone can see.
As Tony leaves the newspaper offices for the evening, he sticks his head round Lucy's door and asks her out "for a pint of ale and a bite of supper". Wow, tempting; Lucy rebuffs him, telling him she believes in keeping one's private life out of the workplace, and Tony slinks away, crestfallen.
Liz and Jess walk to the tube station together, not speaking, but sticking together. On the train, they casually discuss - without looking at each other, of course - how Lucy and Tony are so totally made to be together. Liz thinks nostalgically of how "in the old days" the two of them would have come up with a matchmaking plot, but the conversation soon peters out as they remember they're angry with each other. However the silence is broken when they reach the hostel and find their wrecked room. They notice that all their cash and valuables are still there, and that Portia's things are far less damaged than theirs, and both wail, "My file!" as they realise what else is gone.
The police send Sergeant Bumpo to investigate, and the girls realise that this is being viewed as just a student prank. Bumpo is made of fail and falls down the stairs as he leaves; as Liz comments, he doesn't even dust for fingerprints. The girls begin to clean up (another crime scene violated. Won't someone think of the crime scenes?) Portia tells Liz that Mrs Bates is going to give everyone a front door key so that the door can be kept locked (what is this with people not locking their doors in Sweet Valley!England?) Outside, Bumpo arrests the homeless man in the hat that Jess saw earlier, who appears to be drunk and disorderly. Rene appears, and asks Liz again to leave England, and when she refuses, to stay in the hostel: "Don't go out into the night". But Liz has a date with Luke, so off she goes.
That night, Jess asks Liz where Luke got the pendant from - she too has noticed the A on the back, and wonders if it's her Annabelle S. But when she hears Luke's mother's name was Ann, she assumes she's wrong. However, she's positive Annabelle is connected - no one knew she had that file, but the intruder was obviously desperate to get his hands on it. Meanwhile, Liz slips into another dream of werewolves, but this time, the wolf is not pursuing Jessica, but her. And as we all know, dream messages in Sweet Valley are never wrong.
The next morning, the twins learn that there's been another attack - Lord Pembroke is critically injured, but still alive. Jessica is very upset and tears up in front of Lucy, explaining that she can't bear the thought that Robert won't know his father is hurt and may not get a chance to say goodbye if Lord Pembroke kicks the bucket. Lucy asks Jess what she'd say if Lucy pointed out that it's more likely Robert does know because he did it: Jess retorts that she'd think Lucy was just listening to rumours rather than looking for facts herself. Lucy is impressed by her pluck and gives her the morning off to try and find Robert; and a good starting point might be talking to Lord Pembroke.
Meanwhile, Luke, Liz and Tony are also discussing the latest attack. Luke's eyes "glitter strangely" and he comments "the werewolf's cruelty and fury knows no bounds... nothing... no one... is sacred." Liz muses that Luke does sometimes take things to an extreme, but tells herself that it's because he's a poet. What the hell kind of poets do you know, Liz?
Meanwhile, Jess sneaks into Lord Pembroke's hospital room, claiming to be a friend of the family. He is conscious, and they talk; when he spots her pendant, he tells her it reminds him very much of one "poor Annabelle" had, "the only woman I ever..." His voice fades dramatically away. When he speaks again, he asks Jessica to tell Robert some very important news: he has a brother. As Jess leaves him, she runs into Lady Pembroke, and tries to speak to her, but Lady Pembroke screams at her to go away because the Wakefield twins bring death.
Meanwhile, Liz flicks through her notes and finds the memo she made to herself about the secret library and the book in it signed All my love, Annabelle. She decides to go back to Pembroke Manor and snoop again, unaware of how she and Jess really need to have a mutual briefing session. But sensibly, she tells Tony her plans and he offers to accompany her. At Victoria Station, Liz thinks she sees Rene in the crowd, but isn't sure, and off they go to Cauldmoor County.
Jess makes a list of suspects while eating McDonalds, musing that Andrew Thatcher and Lady Pembroke are possibles, but Luke isn't because "people who write poetry are too wimpy to be murderers". However, she leaves him on her list because he's the easiest person to investigate, and wanders over to snoop at his desk. She sees an interesting-looking red notebook, but before she can open it, Luke catches her and she pretends she's looking for a stapler.
Liz and Tony arrive at Pembroke Manor, and Tony manages to use "a whit", "I wager" and "tavern-keeper" all in two sentences. Hee. They... apparently just wander into the Manor - Tony thinks all the servants are leaving because of, y'know, the werewolf-y death - and creep into the secret room, where Liz finds a hollow book containing old letters. And not just any letters, but love letters between Annabelle and Lord Pembroke. Liz finds one written on Annabelle's deathbed, in which a child is mentioned, and Tony puts the boot into the British class system by explaining that Annabelle and Lord Pembroke could never have married because their social status was too different. ("Class?" Liz asks innocently, as a romantic American. "What's that?") Tony also thinks that Annabelle and Lord Pembroke's illegitimate child must be in an orphanage, or on the streets. Because they don't have foster care in England. I'm surprised he didn't suggest the workhouse as another possible destination. As they leave, Tony suggests that maybe Robert found out about his father's secret and it pushed him over the edge. They walk down to the main road to get a taxi, jumping at shadows: Liz feels that someone is out there in the dark, following her...
In the next paragraph we learn that she's right. Someone is indeed watching her from the edge of the forest and musing on how if he killed her and Tony, their bodies wouldn't be found for ages. However, it's not full moon, so he's not at full strength, so decides to leave it for now. Wandering into the Manor (another place that leaves its doors unlocked, evidently) he creeps into the secret room, sniffs at the love letters, and "howls balefully into the night".
Back at the hostel, there's a surprise - Princess Eliana has descended from on high to mingle with the commoners come for a visit! Emily apparently asked her over, and Liz and Jess both immediately realise it's a not-so-subtle ploy to force them to stay in the same room and be friendly to each other. Within seconds, the twins are sniping at each other about the werewolf killings: Eliana claps her hands together, crying, "Girls, please. This just won't do!" Jessica yells back that Eliana can't order her around like she can the servants at the palace, and storms out, sobbing that she hates everyone. I should start a girls crying tally in this book, shouldn't I.
Eliana tries to encourage Liz to go and at least apologise to Jess, but Liz refuses. Eliana pouts, claiming that she "had such confidence that I'd be able to bring you back together, and now my hopes are dashed." Because it's all about you, Eliana. Once the princess has left, Liz realises she's all lonely again, and wanders up to Rene's room (tsk, tsk - girls aren't allowed on the boys' floor!) But his door is locked. So she bitches about how he's always so busy at the embassy and never has time for her and is never there when the chips are down. Sheesh, it's not like you stood him up on the first social arrangement he made with you or anything. That night, she tries to think of Todd, but Sweet Valley feels as if it's never existed. (How terrible that would be. What would us comm members do with our lives, for one thing?)
The next morning, Liz suggests to Tony that they go to the address Annabelle wrote her love letters from; Forget-Me-Not Lane. However, Tony is then yelled at by Lucy - he's not written his article because he spent yesterday afternoon chasing werewolves with Liz. Lucy decides to accept his excuse - this time - but gives him a warning. Tony is coming down with the flu, but can still grin at the fact that Lucy said he has a charming smile.
At The Slaughtered Lamb pub, Liz tells Luke what she found out at the Manor. He's very interested. Both of them feel that they're getting very close to the werewolf.
Meanwhile, Jessica heads off to meet Portia, who apparently has a plan for getting Lady Pembroke to spill the beans on the family drama. Jess muses on how her fight with Elizabeth was the worst yet (well, it wasn't as bad as the Jungle Prom one. No one's died yet. Sorry, that was harsh). Portia is waiting for her with her famous actor father, Sir Montford Albert; she has remembered that Lady Pembroke is a huge fan of her father's work, so off the three go to Pembroke Green, where Lady Pembroke is immediately smitten, and lets them in. Sir Montford tells Lady Pembroke he's after money for a theatre company in Edinburgh, and when she pledges some, he thanks her and then leaves. Portia and Jessica stay. Jessica bluffs, telling Lady Pembroke that she knows about Annabelle and that Lord Pembroke told her everything. Lady Pembroke starts spewing venom about Annabelle's child: how the boy took so much away from their own son; even his nanny, Mildred Price, who Lord Pembroke sent to stay with Annabelle when the latter had pneumonia. When Lady Pembroke found out about this, she cut off Lord Pembroke's cash, being apparently the rich one in the family, and when Annabelle died, Lady Pembroke made her husband swear never to help the illegitimate boy again. "I knew that boy was no good... just from his name," she hisses. "Lucas is an evil name." You heard it here first, folks. The penny drops for Jessica: Luke Shepherd is our man! Or rather, hairy-wolf-like thing.
Jessica flees to the nearest (red) telephone booth and calls the hostel, but Liz isn't there. She's not at the newspaper offices either, having just left with Tony. Jess decides to leave a message at Tony's house so she can start spreading the word, but is horrified when he answers, explaining that Liz has gone to Annabelle's old address, and that he stayed behind because he's sick. And, of course, he told Liz to take someone, and she said she'd ask Luke. He tells Jess which road Annabelle's house is on, and "dropping the phone, Jessica exploded out of the booth. Eyes wide and hair flying, she ran out into the street, waving her arms madly" and hails a taxi.
Meanwhile, Liz and Luke are in a taxi heading to Forget-Me-Not Lane. Liz prattles on about Annabelle; Luke is quiet and thoughtful. When they reach the house, Liz suggests asking the neighbours if they've seen anything first, but Luke suggests trying the door and seeing if it's unlocked. Liz muses that "breaking into someone's house was against the law, but under the circumstances it was also irresistably tempting." So off they go. The power's off in the house, but they find candles. Luke goes into the basement to see if he can find a fusebox, and Liz starts to head upstairs.
A worried Tony calls Lucy, saying he think there might be something bad going on, and they decide to head down to Annabelle's too.
Liz goes into a man's bedroom and finds a photograph of a woman and a baby. There's something familiar about them... taking the photo, she heads into another bedroom, this one looking more... lived-in. She then gets a nasty shock when she sees that all the newspaper cuttings covering the walls relate to one topic: the Pembrokes. She picks up a red notebook, clearly someone's diary, and after half a second's wrangling with her conscience over whether to read it, does so (give it up, Liz's conscience) noticing the handwriting is familiar. Whoever's writing it notes that they keep waking up covered in blood with no memory of what's just happened... and then a large, hairy, fanged figure appears in the doorway. Liz stares at it in terror, and suddenly notices it's wearing Luke's clothes. Laughing, she tells him to stop fooling around and take off the mask, but Luke tells her that it won't come off. "Don't you see?" And Elizabeth does: "Luke was the werewolf of London."
Meanwhile, Tony and Lucy drive dramatically through the rain. Lucy is touched by Tony's concern for the twins. The two muse that sometimes "two people think they can't stand each other when, in fact, it's just the opposite. They put on a big act, pouring all their energy into a silly feud..." As they stop at a red light, Lucy puts a hand on Tony's arm, and kisses his cheek. Finally.
Luke picks up the photograph Liz found and starts rambling about how Lord Pembroke, Dr Neville, and Nurse Handley, the first victim, all let his mother die. Liz realises that Luke's animal side has taken over, and prays she can get the other Luke back. She decides to humour him, but Luke's rage flares up as he describes how jealous he felt when he visited Pembroke Manor - and how angry he was with Jessica for looking down on him and thinking she would be Lady Pembroke one day "when my own mother had been denied that privilege". Luke explains his mother told him who he really was on her deathbed, and how he knew then that someday he'd destroy all those who'd hurt her. But just as he reaches Liz, someone at the doorway orders him to freeze: "I have the silver bullet!" It's the homeless man seen earlier - but without his hat, Liz is able to see that it's Robert. Then in burst Rene and Bumpo. Luke snarls and attacks Robert, and the other two also throw themselves into the fight while Liz dithers on the sidelines wailing for them to stop. Then - a shot rings out, and Luke falls. Liz rushes over to him: "the werewolf mask slips off" and she stares into the face of the boy she apparently loves. He gasps out that they did it - they killed the werewolf - and then dies.
The twins don't get back to the hostel until dawn, having spent all night telling reporters, policemen and their parents what happened (poor Ned and Alice. And so soon after all the drama of the Night to Remember stuff too). They sit on the steps and watch the sunrise; Liz apologises for suspecting Robert, and the twins make a pact to never fight again, or at least always fight on the same side. I wonder how long that'll last.
Later, Robert takes Jessica out, and explains what happened. Luke was clearly framing him, so he decided to keep a low profile until he could find some evidence for the real killer. So he disguised himself as a homeless person and kept a watch on the twins. When he went into their room, he took the bullet, which he'd seen Luke give to Liz, because he thought he'd probably end up confronting the killer face-to-face and thought a silver bullet might come in handy. After Bumpo left the hostel, Robert pretended to be drunk so that Bumpo would arrest him; on the way to the station, he revealed his true identity and spent the night in the cells on a vagrancy charge. Luckily, this was the night Lord Pembroke was attacked, so Bumpo realised Robert was innocent, and, on hearing that Robert saw Luke entering the hostel earlier and could have vandalised the girls' room, agreed he needed watching. This was how they all got to Annabelle's house more or less on time.
Meanwhile, Liz sits and reads Luke's diary. The child Luke was a lonely, confused boy, and as he grew older, his confusion turned to rage at Robert's selfishness and his own abandonment. At sixteen, he experienced his first blackout and started to wake up in different places with no memory of how he'd got there. It becomes clear that good!Luke had no idea that he was killing - he gloats in the diary about how upset Lord Pembroke will be when he finds out Robert is a killer. He also mentions stealing Robert's cigarette case, and is baffled as to how it got to Neville's body; and trying on Robert's green robe, just for a moment. As the entries get closer to the present, Luke is positive that he's close to the werewolf; that when Lord Pembroke was attacked, he must have grappled with the wolf, and that's how he's now covered in blood. The last entry in the notebook is a love sonnet, titled "Elizabeth".
Robert and Lord Pembroke have a bonding moment.
Rene reveals that he too was following Elizabeth, as her bodyguard, because he was so concerned for her safety. Um, yay?
Lucy and Tony decided to get married. Like, the next day. Jess is pleased at the romanticism of it, and the excuse for a party. Sergeant Bumpo has been invited, and knocks over chairs in a humorous manner. At the wedding, it's announced that Lord Pembroke is going to be all right, and has turned over ownership of the Journal to his son. Liz admits she was wrong about Robert, and muses that Jess really does care for him - won't it suck when she has to leave, in a week's time? She then reflects that her own heart has been broken into a million pieces, but it's time to put it back together and go home. Sounds like a plan.
I'm pretty sure I own the Bruce-and-Lila-living-in-squalor SVU books, so I will probably have a stab at them later; but I'm not sure when.