SVH #105: A Date With A Werewolf
I meant to put this up before I went on holiday and then, uh, didn't. Still, here's your dose of wacky werewolf goodness, following on from #104: Love and Death in London.
The B plot is just a bunch of scenes finishing off the different plots started off in the last book, so I didn't see the point of splitting it from the A plot.
We open where #104 left off; that is, with Elizabeth sobbing into the "coarse knit of Luke Shepherd's sweater" because Jessica has apparently been brutally murdered in the night. However, luckily for the franchise, Jessica then strolls in alive and well, and we realise that the dead blonde is Joy Singleton, the fiancee of Andrew Thatcher, Chief of Police. Her throat has been ripped open "as if by a wild beast"... yup, I think everyone saw that coming. Elizabeth muses on the situation to bring us all up to speed with the events of the last book, describes Joy as being "pleasant, if a little vapid" (not the time to be bitching about other people's intellectual standards, Liz) and explains that she's "known Luke for less than a week, but already she was falling for him, despite her feelings for... Todd..." Darn it, Liz, this happens far too often and just isn't cool. I'm beginning to have severe doubts about your attitude to Todd. Anyway, it occurs to both Liz and Andrew that Jessica might have been targeted - she only escaped because Joy woke her up to switch rooms with her as the moonlight in her room was too bright. Fair enough.
Back in the youth hostel in London, Emily "apparently Australian" Cartwright, Portia "bitch no more" Albert and Lina "princess who can apparently do a convincing Liverpudlian accent" Smith read the papers and notice that the Journal is running a lame story about the missing Princess Eliana on page one despite there being no evidence that the princess really was spotted in a Tokyo bathhouse. I can't understand why the ghostwriter passed up the opportunity to give Emily a stereotypical Australian accent - perhaps she assumes that they talk like British people, you know, Australia originally being a penal colony and all. Lina and Portia angst quietly about how "you have to get away from your past before you can find out who you really are" and Emily says she misses the Wakefields, describing them as "gorgeous and nice". Jessica hasn't been getting up to her usual tricks here so far, so this is an understandable, if somewhat deluded belief. Lina reveals that she and David are finally going to go on a date. Will she be able to keep up her Liverpool pretence for the whole time? Well, she's somehow managed to fool him with her fake accent so far (this only just occurred to me, but... seriously, how likely is it that Lina could maintain a realistic Liverpudlian accent, especially in the presence of a real Liverpudlian? I mean, surely the ghostwriter didn't assume that, say, a New Yorker could maintain a perfect Southern accent day in day out. It's not like an accent is a wig you can just put on. I should stop expecting logic in Sweet Valley!England, shouldn't I. Yes, I should).
Back at Pembroke Manor, Jess puts the ickiness of a bloody corpse out of her mind and concentrates on how cool it is suddenly being in a real life murder mystery "just like in an Agatha Christie book". I always thought a few werewolves would improve Murder on the Orient Express. She is also pleased to imagine how jealous Lila would be if she knew Jess was dating a lord. Well, sure, Jess - but not so much about the werewolf death stuff, I imagine.
Liz is being interviewed by Constable Sheila Atherton, who is looming over her, evidently irritated by Liz's compulsive scribbling in her reporter's notebook. Sheila refers to Sweet Valley as a village (I thought it was a town. We have towns in England, y'know.) Jess muses on how she was initially irritated by the differences between British and American English (stop whining, at least you can speak the language at all!) but how here in the Manor, it's all cool and stuff and she wants Robert to teach her to talk British. Aww. Liz explains how she knew Jess was in danger because of her nightmare. "It's because we're identical twins," Jess chips in helpfully. The constable responds, "Oh, really? I hadn't noticed." Didn't another cop already make that joke? Sheila claims that everyone is a suspect, including Elizabeth (it's always the quiet ones budding reporters!) and the elder Lord Pembroke. Liz is suspicious of the latter's agitated demeanour. She notices that Robert is all calm and neatly dressed; he's wearing a cravat, anyway. Stylish. We are told again that Todd is Liz's boyfriend and it's getting easier and easier to put him out of her mind. Geez, Liz, at least try and resist the lures of werewolf geek man.
The police ask Jess if she has any enemies. Jess brushes them off, claiming that it Joy's death was just a random murder like the last two... therefore inadvertently revealing both that she and Liz snuck into a crime scene, and that they've been snooping around and talking to angry reporters. Nice going. Lord Pembroke is all OMGWTF, and Jess hastily explains that although she knows about the other two deaths, there is no connection between them and Joy's.
Jess says she thinks Joy spoke to her between two and three a.m., and stereotype servant girl Maria Finch reluctantly admits that she was awake between two and five a.m. The constable then dismisses everyone, grumpily, and they go to eat brunch. I always thought brunch was more of an American custom than one of the British nobility, but apparently the Pembrokes like it and they're not going to let the murder keep them from it, as Liz comments. Power to the aristocracy.
Liz then sneaks away and eavesdrops on Lord Pembroke and Andrew. LP says they just need a little more time and can't pass up this chance. Liz writes it all down. Sheila then intercepts Andrew, asking if he thinks there's any connection between this murder and the other two Jess mentioned; Andrew doesn't think so. Liz doesn't believe him, but LP then sneaks up behind her, grabs her wrist and tells her not to dream of getting on the front page with this news; no one in London will care. This does not stop intrepid reporter and snooper extraordinaire Liz Wakefield, who goes to interview Maria and her butler boyfriend Alistair. Maria haltingly admits that she and Alistair went out for a romantic walk in the moonlight at around four: "an hour before I was to begin the morning's work in the kitchens". They work 'em hard at Pembroke Manor. When they came back in, Maria went upstairs to get table linen and saw someone leaving Jessica's room... but it was too dark to tell who. Liz thinks Maria is lying and is too scared to admit who she saw, but doesn't push it (for once). Instead she goes to search the murder scene, and, caught in the door, finds some strands of green thread... and some coarse animal fur. English cops just don't bother to do a proper search, apparently.
Jessica and Robert stroll in the gardens. Jess plays up the I'm-so-traumatised angle to get Robert to cuddle her (I was all set to mock her total lack of concern for the fact that there's a crazed killer on the loose, but then realised that all this is taking place not long after the Evil Twin saga, so Jessica has presumably got blase about all the people trying to murder her).
Back in London, Portia and Rene talk backstage; Portia tells Rene to stop being such a jealous git over Liz and Luke, pointing out that he wasn't actually dating Liz when she met Luke. Gold star for Portia. Then they go off to eat fish and chips.
Luke and Elizabeth continue to play detective. Luke bitches about Robert to Liz, telling her that he has been expelled from a bunch of schools, drives his silver Jaguar convertible like "a bloody maniac" (because everyone in England says 'bloody', donchaknow) and is snapped in the tabloids with a different girl every week. Liz and Luke each prefer the other to Jess and Robert respectively; I don't really agree. Luke comments that Robert "has me topped" in one area at least: "he took his girlfriend out last night, while I remained cloistered in my room, reading about werewolf imagery in Native-American rites and rituals." Wow, does this guy know how to have a good time or what? Liz shows him the fur and the green threads and he's all OMG WEREWOLF. Liz is all 'journalistic integrity, journalistic integrity' and reminds him werewolves don't exist. They narrow the suspect list down to Maria, Alistair, Lord and Lady Pembroke, and Robert; although Liz says she doesn't think Maria and Alistair are guilty, just scared.
Chapter Three opens with Luke and Liz returned to London; the Journal's front page informs them that a million pound reward is being offered to whoever finds the missing Princess Eliana. Luke points out that if Eliana does return, then the Journal won't be able to use her disappearance to keep the werewolf - sorry, I mean mysterious murders involving ripped-out throats - stuff off the front page. "No one's going to turn Lina in," Liz blurts out, before realising she's just put her foot in it. Luke agrees to keep quiet for now, but points out that Lina might have to come clean when lives are at stake. Back at the hostel, Liz is given a message from Rene that he's sorry for "acting like a jealous git spurned lover" and he'd like to take her out as a friend. Okay, so Liz is now back to juggling only two men. Progress.
Jess has returned to the hostel after a date involving Robert, chateaubriand, and trifle; she can't understand why Liz is so subdued. "I feel awful about Joy... But... she would want us to go on having a great time in England." Oh, Jess, you're so... not affected by the death; it's either very sweet or slightly sociopathic. She goes on to say that "I haven't been this happy since before Sam died. I didn't think I would ever love another boy the way I loved Sam. But I do, Liz." Liz says what we're all thinking, that is, "are you sure it's Robert you're in love with, and not just the money and celebrities and expensive dinners?" Jess replies "I'm not that superficial." Well, I could take issue with that, but am distracted by Jess suddenly diving headfirst into the vagaries of British slang: "I wouldn't date someone who was naff, or a real narg, just because he was rich." I've never heard anyone say 'narg'; maybe it's an aristocracy thing. Jess explains that it means 'nerd', indulges in a few lines of casual Winston Egbert-bashing (horrors! And after he was so nice to you on that island!) and then freaks out at Liz when Liz says she thinks Jess is rushing into the relationship. Jessica points out that Liz is all goo-goo-eyed over her werewolf geek despite knowing him less than a week (not to mention Liz actually has a boyfriend back home, although Jess doesn't mention that) then storms out.
Eliana happens to overhear the argument (Sweet Valley!England is a nation of eavesdroppers) and tells Liz that while she understands Liz's concern, she doesn't need to worry; she knows Robert, he is not a psychotic maniac, and the worst Jess could get from him is a broken heart. Well, if he was a psychotic maniac, he wouldn't tell you, Eliana. But Liz capitulates, and asks Eliana why she thinks Lord Pembroke is pushing the missing princess stuff onto the front page so often. Eliana says that to the British, anything involving the Royal Family is big news, which I scoffed at when I first read this book, but now I think might actually be true. She also explains that Lord Pembroke has a terrific fear of scandal; he takes great pains to cover up Robert's traffic violations and expulsions. Liz sympathises, remembering when she was accused of killing Sam. Eliana tells her that the Pembrokes were involved in a scandal about twenty years ago; she doesn't remember any details, but it was "a deep dark secret that was apparently causing the Pembrokes great embarrassment." Liz decides she must know more. However, rather than doing something logical, like going to the nearest library and looking up newspapers from the relevant time period, she decides to go and question Lady Pembroke, who'll obviously spill the beans on the family secret. Not cool, Liz.
At the Journal offices, Tony Frank explains that he'll probably be too busy to look after the twins now crime editor Lucy Friday has quit and he's taken her position. He then angsts a bit about his unrequited love for Lucy, which Jessica apparently divined from the start, before sending the twins off to help resident humorously dumb policeman Sergeant Bumpo investigate a case where a university student was hit on the head by a kitchen sink. No, really. Tony heads off to do reporter stuff, and Luke materialises and asks Liz to accompany him to a showing of the movie The Howling. Jessica starts mocking them by singing snatches of that song Werewolves of London by Warren Zevon, which I found rather funny, but Luke doesn't, because, as he says in a quiet voice, werewolves are "very serious business." Indeed.
Liz manages to get away from Jessica and Bumpo by sending Jessica to go and interview the injured student, who is a football player. Jessica's eyes light up at the thought of manflesh, and Liz hurries off to Pembroke Green, "the Pembrokes' fashionable Eaton Square home." (I can't remember if there really is an Eaton Square. This is bugging me now.) She does the old hair-down-and-lipgloss routine to transform herself into Jessica, and starts questioning Lady Pembroke about her missing mink coat, because Lady Pembroke will be nicer to her son's girlfriend than to her son's girlfriend's nosy twin. However, when she asks if the Pembrokes have any enemies, and continues "Even an instance that took place a very long time ago - say, twenty years ago - could cause somebody to perpetrate a crime like this for revenge," Lady Pembroke gets mad and throws her out. Liz, when will you learn that any plan that involves dressing up as Jessica is usually a bad idea?
Jess returns to the youth hostel and starts to write up her article on the kitchen sink boy (who apparently had acne and no neck, so wasn't cute at all. Oh, well, Jess, it's not as if you don't already have a cute guy whom you love with all your heart, remember?) Liz has not returned; Jess comments on the irony of her sister sloping off while she's stuck at home doing reporter stuff: "it's as if she's turned into me!" Ohmigosh, maybe Liz got hit on the head again, turned into Jessica, but also became a werewolf! It's genius! Or... perhaps not. Robert calls to ask Jess to dinner, saying he'd like to see if she and his mother can patch up their quarrel after the interview. Jessica realises what Liz did and is Not Pleased, telling Emily she may finally have a good story for the Journal: "American Teenager Murders Twin Sister."
Meanwhile, Liz is out with Rene, discussing the Pembrokes. She points out that Lord and Lady Pembroke appear to be quite cold to each other; perhaps their marriage has some Issues. Rene is concerned for Liz's safety, and his worries are not assuaged when he sees the anti-werewolf pendant Luke gave Liz. He thinks it's a weird gift from a "beau". I don't know, do teenaged boys in modern France (this book was published in 1994) say 'beau'? (However, yes, he's right that it is kind of a weird gift.) Liz tells him that she and Luke think the murderer could be a werewolf. Rene is politely sceptical, and Liz starts to swing back to believing that maybe werewolves don't exist after all. Make up your mind!
When Liz returns to the hostel, Jess immediately confronts her about her impersonation. "Darn you, Liz!" she cries, showing a commendable control over her language at this emotional moment. She announces her intention to tell Lady Pembroke the truth, but Liz begs her not to as it will put Lord Pembroke on guard. Jessica bursts into tears, screams that she can't tell the truth anyway as it will make her family look insane, and then runs out. Liz is all *shrug*.
Dinner at the Pembrokes, and Lady Pembroke is all icily snarky to Jess, who, of course, has no clue what she even said to piss the woman off. So, cunningly, she apologises, and then asks what part of her questioning Lady Pembroke took objection to. Lady Pembroke replies that all of it was inappropriate, but especially the questions about Pembroke family history and the identity of her dining companion at the meal where she lost her mink. Robert is all 'so you're friends now, yay!' Neither Lady Pembroke nor Jess appear to agree. Later, Robert apologises for his mother's behaviour, tells Jess it's okay, and invites her out to Stonehenge for the day. "Isn't it just a bunch of old rocks?" Jess asks. Robert responds, "Oh, no... It's much more than that. It's you and me, Jessica - all alone in the countryside - with nothing around us but lonely fields and the open road." Not exactly subtle... but Jess is up for it, so they make plans to go on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Liz and Luke are watching The Howling. Normally, Liz is "too busy analysing the plot deficiencies to be scared by the special effects" of horror movies, but this time the movie doesn't seem so farfetched, and by the end of it she is once again convinced that werewolves do exist, and one of them is stalking the streets of London. For goodness sake, Liz; of all the things to be rationally convinced by, a fictional movie is not high on the list. She decides to masquerade as Jessica again and go out to the Pembroke country house to quiz Lord Pembroke, officially about the missing mink; she'll tell the hostel and the Journal that she's going to do research on an article about a local ostrich-farmer.
Meanwhile, Lord Pembroke sits in his beautiful library and angsts over all the death, remembering in passing how he lost the love of his life, a girl with blue eyes and a lilting laugh. He reveals himself to be another werewolf geek, though in his case it's because he yearns to shoot a werewolf and mount its head on his wall. Which seems a bit creepy to me because werewolves are, y'know, people half the time, but hey, those crazy Brits... So anyway, when the first murder occurred, he asked Andrew to suppress it because he wanted the field clear for his own private hunt. Then his best friend, Dr Neville, got killed and it turned into a vendetta against the wolf. Unfortunately, at the scene of the crime, Pembroke discovered his son Robert's silver cigarette case. Oh, come on. Cigarette cases are never legitimate clues, especially initialled ones. Anyway, Pembroke tells himself that maybe Robert had the case stolen, or left it there on an earlier visit to Neville. Buuut... he'd still like to keep it quiet that all the evidence is pointing towards Robert. Fair enough.
Anyway, he's distracted by a call from Liz-pretending-to-be-Jess. He fondly thinks of Jess as guileless (ha), Liz as nosy and suspicious (well... yeah) and Luke as creepy and someone who makes him "unspeakably uncomfortable" (okay, maybe he's not so off the mark after all). He is happy for Liz-as-Jess to come to the Manor for a few days, and tells her that Robert has changed since he began dating her; he's far more responsible and happy. He ends by asking her to remember, whatever happens, that Robert loves her very much.
When Liz arrives at the Manor, though, a body is being carried out of the house: not good. It turns out to be Maria: definitely not good. Lord Pembroke asks Liz not to tell anyone at the Journal about it - especially her nosy sister.
Meanwhile, Eliana and David work at the soup kitchen together and are unspeakably moral; David comments on the need for a clinic in the area. He says that if he had a lot of money, he would build one and then, instead of studying literature, he'd put himself through medical school in order to run it. "I'd like to use my skills... to treat the illnesses of the poor," he says. Eliana comments that most of the people she knows who are at medical school "plan to specialise in diseases of the rich" like, y'know, gold poisoning. They nearly kiss, and then make plans to go to Portobello Road, because "two working-class blokes from Liverpool don't often get the chance to explore the big city." I could point out to the ghostwriter that (a) generally 'bloke' is a term for a man and (b) Liverpool's not exactly a tiny backwater, but I won't, because I have become jaded.
Back at Pembroke Manor, Liz is snooping in Robert's bedroom, and feeling vaguely guilty, both about lying to Lord Pembroke, who does seem genuinely concerned about his family, and about asking Maria questions - what if that's what got her killed? However, she fights down the emotion and is rewarded when she finds a green bathrobe in Robert's wardrobe, which the threads in Joy's room clearly came from. Surprised by a maid, she claims she got lost, and asks where the library is, musing that luckily, no one knows how out of character it is for Jess to want to find that particular place. In the library she pulls down a copy of Jekyll and Hyde, and it opens a secret passageway which leads down into a hidden room full of stuffed wolves and books on lycanthropy; so hidden that it even has its own phone line. She thinks "How creepy!", remembers her boyfriend is into the same stuff, and quickly explains that Luke's interest in werewolves isn't weird at all. I'm sayin' nothing.
Poking around, she finds one book inscribed "To Robert. With all my love, Annabelle", dated twenty years earlier. Significant! Especially as Lady Pembroke's name isn't Annabelle. Ahah.
Meanwhile, Luke helps Jessica to finish her latest article, this one on a shoe thief. He also reads her his poetry:
"Through darkened wood he runs alone;
White teeth gleam like sharpened bone.
Wolfsbane bloom is softly kissed
By moonlight drifting through the mist.
By day he wishes no one ill;
At night he hungers for the kill."
Jess comments that she's glad she's dating a normal guy.
The hostel crowd make plans to go out; I only mention this because Emily claims to be "as bored as a kangaroo in a body cast". She is Australian after all!
The next day Liz is doing some last-minute snooping before going back to London; unfortunately, just as she opens the secret door, in walk Lord Pembroke and Andrew, and she has to hide under the table without time to close the door again. Andrew orders Pembroke to hand over any clues he's found, regardless of who they implicate; he'll then put out a warrant for the suspect's arrest. Pembroke begs for more time, and Andrew says he'll have till ten o'clock that night; if he doesn't get the evidence by then, subpoenae will happen. Andrew leaves, and Pembroke muses aloud that Robert cannot be the killer, so he'll tell him to skip town, just in case. Because that just screams innocence. It's only then that he notices the open door, but he isn't too concerned, assuming that one of the servants must have accidentally triggered it while dusting. He considers how he feels whenever he enters the room: "a strange mix of security, mystery and passion," because of all the time he and Annabelle spent there "examining old documents". Oh, is that what they're calling it now? He then heads into the room to call Robert on the private line.
Liz flees the library and calls the newspaper offices; but Luke is unavailable (because he does actually have a job and so cannot spend all his time obsessing about werewolves and playing Sherlock Holmes) and Tony tells Liz that Jess is going to spend the day with Robert. Oh no!
Robert agrees to skip town, but tells Jessica first, and gives her money for a cab. Jessica is sad, and so soothes her soul by going to Harrods. She spends all the money Robert left her, and then starts on the credit card her parents gave her for emergencies. Ned, Alice, you've known Jessica long enough to guess what would happen, so... why, just why? However, the shopping binge isn't making her feel any better; she's angry with Robert for ditching her and with herself for putting up with it. Finally she heads down into Knightsbridge tube station, where she is pursued by a panting, snarling, hairy creature. She trips, but just as the thing catches up with her, some snooty City types walk down onto the platform, and her assailant flees.
Meanwhile, David asks Portia what you should do if someone you love is hiding something from you. Portia immediately focuses on her own problems, and decides to tell her father what she's doing in London. However, she is motivated to talk to Eliana as well, and suggest that she be honest with David. They are interrupted by Mrs Bates sucking up to Portia because of her famous father; Portia is furious, but Eliana realises that someone who loves you should be able to accept all of you, and they make a pact to each come clean with their loved ones.
Liz runs to the newspaper office, desperate to track down Jessica, and ends up telling Tony everything. Tony doesn't believe in werewolves, but is suspicious of Robert. Suddenly, Jessica walks in, unharmed but very shaken. Now she's starting to believe in werewolves too. Tony, Jessica, Luke and Liz go off to talk to Lucy. She doesn't believe in werewolves, but points out that if there was a werewolf, and if he was wearing the green bathrobe on the night of Joy's murder (which Liz has taken the liberty of purloining from Pembroke Manor) then they'd find traces of fur on the robe. Liz has a brainwave - they'll give the robe to Bumpo, who loves doing forensic stuff and also loves the twins because they don't mock his stupid cases and lame British stereotype-ness to his face. Hooray for comic relief characters having impact on the plot! Jessica still clings to the belief that the murderer isn't Robert, but Liz points out that Robert was the only one who knew she'd be alone today - everyone else thought they were together. Jessica stands by her man, but admits herself that she may be in danger.
Meanwhile, David and Eliana go to the church of Notre Dame de France and look at art. Eliana comments of a mural that she's always been impressed at the way the artist "combined surreality with whimsy", then kicks herself when David gives her a funny look. Because working-class Liverpudlians don't know anything about anything but soup kitchens and homeless people, duh. As they reach the tube station, David picks up a copy of the Journal with the headline Is Princess Eliana Dead? and a massive picture of the princess. Too late, Eliana remembers she isn't wearing sunglasses. David does a double-take, and in the best traditions of romantic heroines everywhere, Eliana doesn't try to explain, instead bursting into tears and running away.
Lucy, Tony, Liz, Jess and Luke return to the Journal offices, where Lucy discovers that the edition of the paper that David saw is suggesting the body found at Pembroke Manor was that of Eliana. She freaks out at Tony, whose byline is on the story, disses his journalistic integrity (nooo!) and storms out. The Lucy/Tony romance is on the rocks again. I... try and care.
At the hostel, Liz and Eliana chat; Eliana thinks David will hate her for lying to him. "Running away was fun for a while," she muses, "but it didn't accomplish anything except bring grief to my family and David." That's very true, Eliana. Running away is bad, kids! She decides to turn herself in so that the paper can stop using her disappearance to bury werewolf news, but Liz suggests instead that David turns her in so that he can get the million pound reward, build his clinic and put himself through medical school (I am trying not to snark at the fact that David only wants to go to medical school to help, not because he actually likes medicine or has any aptitude for it, because all-rounders who can study both literature and medicine do exist. But it still bugs me). Suddenly David walks in and tells Eliana, "I loved you as a pauper. I'll love you just as much as a princess - if you'll have me." Awww. That's actually kind of cute, especially as his speech "had obviously been rehearsed." Eliana accepts: under one condition...
Portia gets a standing ovation at the last night of her play, and her dad, who was in the audience, hugs her and introduces her to everyone as his daughter and an actress. So that's that done. Meanwhile, Lord Pembroke reluctantly hands over the evidence to Andrew: a silver cigarette case, some green threads, and a clump of fur.
The next day, Jess arrives at the Journal offices to find plans for a press conference going on; everyone knows what it's about but her, and Liz has sworn them all to secrecy. Jess curses herself for not flirting with the guys in the press room who are currently printing a special edition of the paper. Tsk, Jess, you've been letting yourself slip. The BBC television crew show up with Emily in tow. Pembroke fires Mr Reeves, the boss of the paper, for printing unsubstantiated rumours about princesses and suchlike, because "there is no room in my newspaper for lies!" We see that Lucy and Tony are back together again. Yay.
The press conference begins, and David takes the stand to unveil... Eliana! She apologises for the trouble she's caused, tells everyone that the queen is going to let her associate with whoever she wants, and claims she'll begin using her position to Help People.
Meanwhile, Bumpo calls with the results of the forensics; the threads were from Robert's robe, the robe has traces of fur on it, and the fur comes from a wolf. At that moment, Thatcher tells everyone about the murders, and finishes by saying he's put out a warrant for Robert's arrest. Jessica takes her rage out on Liz, as usual, and, still believing Robert is innocent, vows to clear his name.
This one was actually kind of dull, considering all the werewolf stuff going on. I hope the last one will be better.
The B plot is just a bunch of scenes finishing off the different plots started off in the last book, so I didn't see the point of splitting it from the A plot.
We open where #104 left off; that is, with Elizabeth sobbing into the "coarse knit of Luke Shepherd's sweater" because Jessica has apparently been brutally murdered in the night. However, luckily for the franchise, Jessica then strolls in alive and well, and we realise that the dead blonde is Joy Singleton, the fiancee of Andrew Thatcher, Chief of Police. Her throat has been ripped open "as if by a wild beast"... yup, I think everyone saw that coming. Elizabeth muses on the situation to bring us all up to speed with the events of the last book, describes Joy as being "pleasant, if a little vapid" (not the time to be bitching about other people's intellectual standards, Liz) and explains that she's "known Luke for less than a week, but already she was falling for him, despite her feelings for... Todd..." Darn it, Liz, this happens far too often and just isn't cool. I'm beginning to have severe doubts about your attitude to Todd. Anyway, it occurs to both Liz and Andrew that Jessica might have been targeted - she only escaped because Joy woke her up to switch rooms with her as the moonlight in her room was too bright. Fair enough.
Back in the youth hostel in London, Emily "apparently Australian" Cartwright, Portia "bitch no more" Albert and Lina "princess who can apparently do a convincing Liverpudlian accent" Smith read the papers and notice that the Journal is running a lame story about the missing Princess Eliana on page one despite there being no evidence that the princess really was spotted in a Tokyo bathhouse. I can't understand why the ghostwriter passed up the opportunity to give Emily a stereotypical Australian accent - perhaps she assumes that they talk like British people, you know, Australia originally being a penal colony and all. Lina and Portia angst quietly about how "you have to get away from your past before you can find out who you really are" and Emily says she misses the Wakefields, describing them as "gorgeous and nice". Jessica hasn't been getting up to her usual tricks here so far, so this is an understandable, if somewhat deluded belief. Lina reveals that she and David are finally going to go on a date. Will she be able to keep up her Liverpool pretence for the whole time? Well, she's somehow managed to fool him with her fake accent so far (this only just occurred to me, but... seriously, how likely is it that Lina could maintain a realistic Liverpudlian accent, especially in the presence of a real Liverpudlian? I mean, surely the ghostwriter didn't assume that, say, a New Yorker could maintain a perfect Southern accent day in day out. It's not like an accent is a wig you can just put on. I should stop expecting logic in Sweet Valley!England, shouldn't I. Yes, I should).
Back at Pembroke Manor, Jess puts the ickiness of a bloody corpse out of her mind and concentrates on how cool it is suddenly being in a real life murder mystery "just like in an Agatha Christie book". I always thought a few werewolves would improve Murder on the Orient Express. She is also pleased to imagine how jealous Lila would be if she knew Jess was dating a lord. Well, sure, Jess - but not so much about the werewolf death stuff, I imagine.
Liz is being interviewed by Constable Sheila Atherton, who is looming over her, evidently irritated by Liz's compulsive scribbling in her reporter's notebook. Sheila refers to Sweet Valley as a village (I thought it was a town. We have towns in England, y'know.) Jess muses on how she was initially irritated by the differences between British and American English (stop whining, at least you can speak the language at all!) but how here in the Manor, it's all cool and stuff and she wants Robert to teach her to talk British. Aww. Liz explains how she knew Jess was in danger because of her nightmare. "It's because we're identical twins," Jess chips in helpfully. The constable responds, "Oh, really? I hadn't noticed." Didn't another cop already make that joke? Sheila claims that everyone is a suspect, including Elizabeth (it's always the quiet ones budding reporters!) and the elder Lord Pembroke. Liz is suspicious of the latter's agitated demeanour. She notices that Robert is all calm and neatly dressed; he's wearing a cravat, anyway. Stylish. We are told again that Todd is Liz's boyfriend and it's getting easier and easier to put him out of her mind. Geez, Liz, at least try and resist the lures of werewolf geek man.
The police ask Jess if she has any enemies. Jess brushes them off, claiming that it Joy's death was just a random murder like the last two... therefore inadvertently revealing both that she and Liz snuck into a crime scene, and that they've been snooping around and talking to angry reporters. Nice going. Lord Pembroke is all OMGWTF, and Jess hastily explains that although she knows about the other two deaths, there is no connection between them and Joy's.
Jess says she thinks Joy spoke to her between two and three a.m., and stereotype servant girl Maria Finch reluctantly admits that she was awake between two and five a.m. The constable then dismisses everyone, grumpily, and they go to eat brunch. I always thought brunch was more of an American custom than one of the British nobility, but apparently the Pembrokes like it and they're not going to let the murder keep them from it, as Liz comments. Power to the aristocracy.
Liz then sneaks away and eavesdrops on Lord Pembroke and Andrew. LP says they just need a little more time and can't pass up this chance. Liz writes it all down. Sheila then intercepts Andrew, asking if he thinks there's any connection between this murder and the other two Jess mentioned; Andrew doesn't think so. Liz doesn't believe him, but LP then sneaks up behind her, grabs her wrist and tells her not to dream of getting on the front page with this news; no one in London will care. This does not stop intrepid reporter and snooper extraordinaire Liz Wakefield, who goes to interview Maria and her butler boyfriend Alistair. Maria haltingly admits that she and Alistair went out for a romantic walk in the moonlight at around four: "an hour before I was to begin the morning's work in the kitchens". They work 'em hard at Pembroke Manor. When they came back in, Maria went upstairs to get table linen and saw someone leaving Jessica's room... but it was too dark to tell who. Liz thinks Maria is lying and is too scared to admit who she saw, but doesn't push it (for once). Instead she goes to search the murder scene, and, caught in the door, finds some strands of green thread... and some coarse animal fur. English cops just don't bother to do a proper search, apparently.
Jessica and Robert stroll in the gardens. Jess plays up the I'm-so-traumatised angle to get Robert to cuddle her (I was all set to mock her total lack of concern for the fact that there's a crazed killer on the loose, but then realised that all this is taking place not long after the Evil Twin saga, so Jessica has presumably got blase about all the people trying to murder her).
Back in London, Portia and Rene talk backstage; Portia tells Rene to stop being such a jealous git over Liz and Luke, pointing out that he wasn't actually dating Liz when she met Luke. Gold star for Portia. Then they go off to eat fish and chips.
Luke and Elizabeth continue to play detective. Luke bitches about Robert to Liz, telling her that he has been expelled from a bunch of schools, drives his silver Jaguar convertible like "a bloody maniac" (because everyone in England says 'bloody', donchaknow) and is snapped in the tabloids with a different girl every week. Liz and Luke each prefer the other to Jess and Robert respectively; I don't really agree. Luke comments that Robert "has me topped" in one area at least: "he took his girlfriend out last night, while I remained cloistered in my room, reading about werewolf imagery in Native-American rites and rituals." Wow, does this guy know how to have a good time or what? Liz shows him the fur and the green threads and he's all OMG WEREWOLF. Liz is all 'journalistic integrity, journalistic integrity' and reminds him werewolves don't exist. They narrow the suspect list down to Maria, Alistair, Lord and Lady Pembroke, and Robert; although Liz says she doesn't think Maria and Alistair are guilty, just scared.
Chapter Three opens with Luke and Liz returned to London; the Journal's front page informs them that a million pound reward is being offered to whoever finds the missing Princess Eliana. Luke points out that if Eliana does return, then the Journal won't be able to use her disappearance to keep the werewolf - sorry, I mean mysterious murders involving ripped-out throats - stuff off the front page. "No one's going to turn Lina in," Liz blurts out, before realising she's just put her foot in it. Luke agrees to keep quiet for now, but points out that Lina might have to come clean when lives are at stake. Back at the hostel, Liz is given a message from Rene that he's sorry for "acting like a jealous git spurned lover" and he'd like to take her out as a friend. Okay, so Liz is now back to juggling only two men. Progress.
Jess has returned to the hostel after a date involving Robert, chateaubriand, and trifle; she can't understand why Liz is so subdued. "I feel awful about Joy... But... she would want us to go on having a great time in England." Oh, Jess, you're so... not affected by the death; it's either very sweet or slightly sociopathic. She goes on to say that "I haven't been this happy since before Sam died. I didn't think I would ever love another boy the way I loved Sam. But I do, Liz." Liz says what we're all thinking, that is, "are you sure it's Robert you're in love with, and not just the money and celebrities and expensive dinners?" Jess replies "I'm not that superficial." Well, I could take issue with that, but am distracted by Jess suddenly diving headfirst into the vagaries of British slang: "I wouldn't date someone who was naff, or a real narg, just because he was rich." I've never heard anyone say 'narg'; maybe it's an aristocracy thing. Jess explains that it means 'nerd', indulges in a few lines of casual Winston Egbert-bashing (horrors! And after he was so nice to you on that island!) and then freaks out at Liz when Liz says she thinks Jess is rushing into the relationship. Jessica points out that Liz is all goo-goo-eyed over her werewolf geek despite knowing him less than a week (not to mention Liz actually has a boyfriend back home, although Jess doesn't mention that) then storms out.
Eliana happens to overhear the argument (Sweet Valley!England is a nation of eavesdroppers) and tells Liz that while she understands Liz's concern, she doesn't need to worry; she knows Robert, he is not a psychotic maniac, and the worst Jess could get from him is a broken heart. Well, if he was a psychotic maniac, he wouldn't tell you, Eliana. But Liz capitulates, and asks Eliana why she thinks Lord Pembroke is pushing the missing princess stuff onto the front page so often. Eliana says that to the British, anything involving the Royal Family is big news, which I scoffed at when I first read this book, but now I think might actually be true. She also explains that Lord Pembroke has a terrific fear of scandal; he takes great pains to cover up Robert's traffic violations and expulsions. Liz sympathises, remembering when she was accused of killing Sam. Eliana tells her that the Pembrokes were involved in a scandal about twenty years ago; she doesn't remember any details, but it was "a deep dark secret that was apparently causing the Pembrokes great embarrassment." Liz decides she must know more. However, rather than doing something logical, like going to the nearest library and looking up newspapers from the relevant time period, she decides to go and question Lady Pembroke, who'll obviously spill the beans on the family secret. Not cool, Liz.
At the Journal offices, Tony Frank explains that he'll probably be too busy to look after the twins now crime editor Lucy Friday has quit and he's taken her position. He then angsts a bit about his unrequited love for Lucy, which Jessica apparently divined from the start, before sending the twins off to help resident humorously dumb policeman Sergeant Bumpo investigate a case where a university student was hit on the head by a kitchen sink. No, really. Tony heads off to do reporter stuff, and Luke materialises and asks Liz to accompany him to a showing of the movie The Howling. Jessica starts mocking them by singing snatches of that song Werewolves of London by Warren Zevon, which I found rather funny, but Luke doesn't, because, as he says in a quiet voice, werewolves are "very serious business." Indeed.
Liz manages to get away from Jessica and Bumpo by sending Jessica to go and interview the injured student, who is a football player. Jessica's eyes light up at the thought of manflesh, and Liz hurries off to Pembroke Green, "the Pembrokes' fashionable Eaton Square home." (I can't remember if there really is an Eaton Square. This is bugging me now.) She does the old hair-down-and-lipgloss routine to transform herself into Jessica, and starts questioning Lady Pembroke about her missing mink coat, because Lady Pembroke will be nicer to her son's girlfriend than to her son's girlfriend's nosy twin. However, when she asks if the Pembrokes have any enemies, and continues "Even an instance that took place a very long time ago - say, twenty years ago - could cause somebody to perpetrate a crime like this for revenge," Lady Pembroke gets mad and throws her out. Liz, when will you learn that any plan that involves dressing up as Jessica is usually a bad idea?
Jess returns to the youth hostel and starts to write up her article on the kitchen sink boy (who apparently had acne and no neck, so wasn't cute at all. Oh, well, Jess, it's not as if you don't already have a cute guy whom you love with all your heart, remember?) Liz has not returned; Jess comments on the irony of her sister sloping off while she's stuck at home doing reporter stuff: "it's as if she's turned into me!" Ohmigosh, maybe Liz got hit on the head again, turned into Jessica, but also became a werewolf! It's genius! Or... perhaps not. Robert calls to ask Jess to dinner, saying he'd like to see if she and his mother can patch up their quarrel after the interview. Jessica realises what Liz did and is Not Pleased, telling Emily she may finally have a good story for the Journal: "American Teenager Murders Twin Sister."
Meanwhile, Liz is out with Rene, discussing the Pembrokes. She points out that Lord and Lady Pembroke appear to be quite cold to each other; perhaps their marriage has some Issues. Rene is concerned for Liz's safety, and his worries are not assuaged when he sees the anti-werewolf pendant Luke gave Liz. He thinks it's a weird gift from a "beau". I don't know, do teenaged boys in modern France (this book was published in 1994) say 'beau'? (However, yes, he's right that it is kind of a weird gift.) Liz tells him that she and Luke think the murderer could be a werewolf. Rene is politely sceptical, and Liz starts to swing back to believing that maybe werewolves don't exist after all. Make up your mind!
When Liz returns to the hostel, Jess immediately confronts her about her impersonation. "Darn you, Liz!" she cries, showing a commendable control over her language at this emotional moment. She announces her intention to tell Lady Pembroke the truth, but Liz begs her not to as it will put Lord Pembroke on guard. Jessica bursts into tears, screams that she can't tell the truth anyway as it will make her family look insane, and then runs out. Liz is all *shrug*.
Dinner at the Pembrokes, and Lady Pembroke is all icily snarky to Jess, who, of course, has no clue what she even said to piss the woman off. So, cunningly, she apologises, and then asks what part of her questioning Lady Pembroke took objection to. Lady Pembroke replies that all of it was inappropriate, but especially the questions about Pembroke family history and the identity of her dining companion at the meal where she lost her mink. Robert is all 'so you're friends now, yay!' Neither Lady Pembroke nor Jess appear to agree. Later, Robert apologises for his mother's behaviour, tells Jess it's okay, and invites her out to Stonehenge for the day. "Isn't it just a bunch of old rocks?" Jess asks. Robert responds, "Oh, no... It's much more than that. It's you and me, Jessica - all alone in the countryside - with nothing around us but lonely fields and the open road." Not exactly subtle... but Jess is up for it, so they make plans to go on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Liz and Luke are watching The Howling. Normally, Liz is "too busy analysing the plot deficiencies to be scared by the special effects" of horror movies, but this time the movie doesn't seem so farfetched, and by the end of it she is once again convinced that werewolves do exist, and one of them is stalking the streets of London. For goodness sake, Liz; of all the things to be rationally convinced by, a fictional movie is not high on the list. She decides to masquerade as Jessica again and go out to the Pembroke country house to quiz Lord Pembroke, officially about the missing mink; she'll tell the hostel and the Journal that she's going to do research on an article about a local ostrich-farmer.
Meanwhile, Lord Pembroke sits in his beautiful library and angsts over all the death, remembering in passing how he lost the love of his life, a girl with blue eyes and a lilting laugh. He reveals himself to be another werewolf geek, though in his case it's because he yearns to shoot a werewolf and mount its head on his wall. Which seems a bit creepy to me because werewolves are, y'know, people half the time, but hey, those crazy Brits... So anyway, when the first murder occurred, he asked Andrew to suppress it because he wanted the field clear for his own private hunt. Then his best friend, Dr Neville, got killed and it turned into a vendetta against the wolf. Unfortunately, at the scene of the crime, Pembroke discovered his son Robert's silver cigarette case. Oh, come on. Cigarette cases are never legitimate clues, especially initialled ones. Anyway, Pembroke tells himself that maybe Robert had the case stolen, or left it there on an earlier visit to Neville. Buuut... he'd still like to keep it quiet that all the evidence is pointing towards Robert. Fair enough.
Anyway, he's distracted by a call from Liz-pretending-to-be-Jess. He fondly thinks of Jess as guileless (ha), Liz as nosy and suspicious (well... yeah) and Luke as creepy and someone who makes him "unspeakably uncomfortable" (okay, maybe he's not so off the mark after all). He is happy for Liz-as-Jess to come to the Manor for a few days, and tells her that Robert has changed since he began dating her; he's far more responsible and happy. He ends by asking her to remember, whatever happens, that Robert loves her very much.
When Liz arrives at the Manor, though, a body is being carried out of the house: not good. It turns out to be Maria: definitely not good. Lord Pembroke asks Liz not to tell anyone at the Journal about it - especially her nosy sister.
Meanwhile, Eliana and David work at the soup kitchen together and are unspeakably moral; David comments on the need for a clinic in the area. He says that if he had a lot of money, he would build one and then, instead of studying literature, he'd put himself through medical school in order to run it. "I'd like to use my skills... to treat the illnesses of the poor," he says. Eliana comments that most of the people she knows who are at medical school "plan to specialise in diseases of the rich" like, y'know, gold poisoning. They nearly kiss, and then make plans to go to Portobello Road, because "two working-class blokes from Liverpool don't often get the chance to explore the big city." I could point out to the ghostwriter that (a) generally 'bloke' is a term for a man and (b) Liverpool's not exactly a tiny backwater, but I won't, because I have become jaded.
Back at Pembroke Manor, Liz is snooping in Robert's bedroom, and feeling vaguely guilty, both about lying to Lord Pembroke, who does seem genuinely concerned about his family, and about asking Maria questions - what if that's what got her killed? However, she fights down the emotion and is rewarded when she finds a green bathrobe in Robert's wardrobe, which the threads in Joy's room clearly came from. Surprised by a maid, she claims she got lost, and asks where the library is, musing that luckily, no one knows how out of character it is for Jess to want to find that particular place. In the library she pulls down a copy of Jekyll and Hyde, and it opens a secret passageway which leads down into a hidden room full of stuffed wolves and books on lycanthropy; so hidden that it even has its own phone line. She thinks "How creepy!", remembers her boyfriend is into the same stuff, and quickly explains that Luke's interest in werewolves isn't weird at all. I'm sayin' nothing.
Poking around, she finds one book inscribed "To Robert. With all my love, Annabelle", dated twenty years earlier. Significant! Especially as Lady Pembroke's name isn't Annabelle. Ahah.
Meanwhile, Luke helps Jessica to finish her latest article, this one on a shoe thief. He also reads her his poetry:
"Through darkened wood he runs alone;
White teeth gleam like sharpened bone.
Wolfsbane bloom is softly kissed
By moonlight drifting through the mist.
By day he wishes no one ill;
At night he hungers for the kill."
Jess comments that she's glad she's dating a normal guy.
The hostel crowd make plans to go out; I only mention this because Emily claims to be "as bored as a kangaroo in a body cast". She is Australian after all!
The next day Liz is doing some last-minute snooping before going back to London; unfortunately, just as she opens the secret door, in walk Lord Pembroke and Andrew, and she has to hide under the table without time to close the door again. Andrew orders Pembroke to hand over any clues he's found, regardless of who they implicate; he'll then put out a warrant for the suspect's arrest. Pembroke begs for more time, and Andrew says he'll have till ten o'clock that night; if he doesn't get the evidence by then, subpoenae will happen. Andrew leaves, and Pembroke muses aloud that Robert cannot be the killer, so he'll tell him to skip town, just in case. Because that just screams innocence. It's only then that he notices the open door, but he isn't too concerned, assuming that one of the servants must have accidentally triggered it while dusting. He considers how he feels whenever he enters the room: "a strange mix of security, mystery and passion," because of all the time he and Annabelle spent there "examining old documents". Oh, is that what they're calling it now? He then heads into the room to call Robert on the private line.
Liz flees the library and calls the newspaper offices; but Luke is unavailable (because he does actually have a job and so cannot spend all his time obsessing about werewolves and playing Sherlock Holmes) and Tony tells Liz that Jess is going to spend the day with Robert. Oh no!
Robert agrees to skip town, but tells Jessica first, and gives her money for a cab. Jessica is sad, and so soothes her soul by going to Harrods. She spends all the money Robert left her, and then starts on the credit card her parents gave her for emergencies. Ned, Alice, you've known Jessica long enough to guess what would happen, so... why, just why? However, the shopping binge isn't making her feel any better; she's angry with Robert for ditching her and with herself for putting up with it. Finally she heads down into Knightsbridge tube station, where she is pursued by a panting, snarling, hairy creature. She trips, but just as the thing catches up with her, some snooty City types walk down onto the platform, and her assailant flees.
Meanwhile, David asks Portia what you should do if someone you love is hiding something from you. Portia immediately focuses on her own problems, and decides to tell her father what she's doing in London. However, she is motivated to talk to Eliana as well, and suggest that she be honest with David. They are interrupted by Mrs Bates sucking up to Portia because of her famous father; Portia is furious, but Eliana realises that someone who loves you should be able to accept all of you, and they make a pact to each come clean with their loved ones.
Liz runs to the newspaper office, desperate to track down Jessica, and ends up telling Tony everything. Tony doesn't believe in werewolves, but is suspicious of Robert. Suddenly, Jessica walks in, unharmed but very shaken. Now she's starting to believe in werewolves too. Tony, Jessica, Luke and Liz go off to talk to Lucy. She doesn't believe in werewolves, but points out that if there was a werewolf, and if he was wearing the green bathrobe on the night of Joy's murder (which Liz has taken the liberty of purloining from Pembroke Manor) then they'd find traces of fur on the robe. Liz has a brainwave - they'll give the robe to Bumpo, who loves doing forensic stuff and also loves the twins because they don't mock his stupid cases and lame British stereotype-ness to his face. Hooray for comic relief characters having impact on the plot! Jessica still clings to the belief that the murderer isn't Robert, but Liz points out that Robert was the only one who knew she'd be alone today - everyone else thought they were together. Jessica stands by her man, but admits herself that she may be in danger.
Meanwhile, David and Eliana go to the church of Notre Dame de France and look at art. Eliana comments of a mural that she's always been impressed at the way the artist "combined surreality with whimsy", then kicks herself when David gives her a funny look. Because working-class Liverpudlians don't know anything about anything but soup kitchens and homeless people, duh. As they reach the tube station, David picks up a copy of the Journal with the headline Is Princess Eliana Dead? and a massive picture of the princess. Too late, Eliana remembers she isn't wearing sunglasses. David does a double-take, and in the best traditions of romantic heroines everywhere, Eliana doesn't try to explain, instead bursting into tears and running away.
Lucy, Tony, Liz, Jess and Luke return to the Journal offices, where Lucy discovers that the edition of the paper that David saw is suggesting the body found at Pembroke Manor was that of Eliana. She freaks out at Tony, whose byline is on the story, disses his journalistic integrity (nooo!) and storms out. The Lucy/Tony romance is on the rocks again. I... try and care.
At the hostel, Liz and Eliana chat; Eliana thinks David will hate her for lying to him. "Running away was fun for a while," she muses, "but it didn't accomplish anything except bring grief to my family and David." That's very true, Eliana. Running away is bad, kids! She decides to turn herself in so that the paper can stop using her disappearance to bury werewolf news, but Liz suggests instead that David turns her in so that he can get the million pound reward, build his clinic and put himself through medical school (I am trying not to snark at the fact that David only wants to go to medical school to help, not because he actually likes medicine or has any aptitude for it, because all-rounders who can study both literature and medicine do exist. But it still bugs me). Suddenly David walks in and tells Eliana, "I loved you as a pauper. I'll love you just as much as a princess - if you'll have me." Awww. That's actually kind of cute, especially as his speech "had obviously been rehearsed." Eliana accepts: under one condition...
Portia gets a standing ovation at the last night of her play, and her dad, who was in the audience, hugs her and introduces her to everyone as his daughter and an actress. So that's that done. Meanwhile, Lord Pembroke reluctantly hands over the evidence to Andrew: a silver cigarette case, some green threads, and a clump of fur.
The next day, Jess arrives at the Journal offices to find plans for a press conference going on; everyone knows what it's about but her, and Liz has sworn them all to secrecy. Jess curses herself for not flirting with the guys in the press room who are currently printing a special edition of the paper. Tsk, Jess, you've been letting yourself slip. The BBC television crew show up with Emily in tow. Pembroke fires Mr Reeves, the boss of the paper, for printing unsubstantiated rumours about princesses and suchlike, because "there is no room in my newspaper for lies!" We see that Lucy and Tony are back together again. Yay.
The press conference begins, and David takes the stand to unveil... Eliana! She apologises for the trouble she's caused, tells everyone that the queen is going to let her associate with whoever she wants, and claims she'll begin using her position to Help People.
Meanwhile, Bumpo calls with the results of the forensics; the threads were from Robert's robe, the robe has traces of fur on it, and the fur comes from a wolf. At that moment, Thatcher tells everyone about the murders, and finishes by saying he's put out a warrant for Robert's arrest. Jessica takes her rage out on Liz, as usual, and, still believing Robert is innocent, vows to clear his name.
This one was actually kind of dull, considering all the werewolf stuff going on. I hope the last one will be better.