Me, Frida, and the Secret of the Peacock Ring

The next morning, Paloma wakes to the sound of Gael and Lizzie serenading from the street below with their guitar and trumpet. The pair comes inside for breakfast and discusses their plan for the locked door: Tomorrow night, at their mariachi performance, Lizzie will unlock the museum’s back door. They can then sneak in wearing hats to cover their faces from security cameras. Paloma is nervous, but she gains confidence when Lizzie tells her that she is courageous.

Recalling that she and her mother are having dinner at the Farills that night, she suggests that she might involve Tavo in the mystery. Gael and Lizzie caution her against this, concerned that Tavo may inform his parents and their plan would then be ruined. Paloma agrees to keep their plan a secret from Tavo.

Paloma and her mother arrive at the Farills’ home, which has extensive security. As they drive through the locked gates, Paloma thinks that she sees Gael in a taxi. Paloma enjoys the dinner, snapping photos of the mole (a traditional Mexican sauce). Afterward, Tavo invites her to play billiards.

When they are alone, he asks her if she would like to explore an off-limits room. He opens the room—a wine cellar of sorts—and shows Paloma a particularly expensive bottle of wine. She asks Tavo if Gael lives nearby, explaining that she believes that she saw him enter through the gate after her car. Tavo says that he does not know Gael.

On the car ride home, Paloma’s mother falls asleep, and Paloma is certain that it will be easy for her to sneak out to Casa Azul.

That night, Gael and Lizzie meet Paloma outside of her home. As they walk to Casa Azul, Gael comments on the photos Paloma took of her dinner. Paloma explains that the Farills have invited she and her mother to view some art in Mexico City. Gael responds strangely to this.

The backdoor is indeed still unlocked when they arrive. Lizzie plays look-out while Gael and Paloma head for the hidden door. They are surprised to find that it is unlocked; inside, however, they discover that it is merely a janitor’s closet. Gael says that they should hurry out as the janitor is likely there working, but Paloma picks up a cuff link she spies on the floor. Just then, Lizzie whistles an alert and Gael and Paloma hide inside the closet.

A man wearing nice clothing and a trench coat searches around in the dark. Paloma feels a spider crawling on her and, when she can no longer stifle a scream, lets one out. Suddenly, she feels the trench coat man grab her.

Paloma struggles as the man tries to pull her away; Gael tugs her in the other direction. The man speaks in a language that Paloma cannot understand. The scuffle continues until a second person enters the room and hits the man with something; he collapses, and Gael and Paloma run out.

The person is Lizzie, and she has hit the man with her trumpet case. As they run, she explains that the man—who walks with a limp—was in the courtyard just after Gael and Paloma went into Casa Azul. They return to Paloma’s house, speculating about who the man might be. Paloma is certain that she heard him say the Spanish word for “ring” but believes that he was also speaking Russian—one of the languages the fortune teller speaks.

Paloma’s mother finds them, then, and is frantic. She had awoken and discovered Paloma missing. She yells and shouts, banning Paloma from spending time with Gael and Lizzie again. As the trio protests, Paloma notices that the same man, walking with a limp, is outside at their gate. He tries the handle, but when he cannot get the gate to open, he hops into a nearby car.

Paloma attends the Mexican Art and Culture class, happy to discover that it is taught by Professor Breton, who is involved with her mother’s fellowship. She learns that Kahlo’s work is so important to Mexico that it is protected by its government.

During a break, Gael appears as Paloma sits outside. He apologizes for getting Paloma into trouble. Paloma suggests that they phone Gael’s father to learn more about the ring and the man in the trench coat, but Gael resists, saying that his father is busy. They make plans to leave notes for one another in a flowerpot outside of Paloma’s house since her mother has taken her phone. Gael leaves, and Paloma feels that he is keeping a secret from her.

The next morning, Paloma spots a black car down the street from her house; she wonders if it is the same black car that carried the man in the coat. Gael has left a note: He says that he also saw the black car and fears that they are being watched.

After class, Professor Breton and Paloma meet her mother for lunch. The fortune teller is outside of the restaurant and, when Paloma approaches her, she tells her that she has not been able to find a peacock ring for her. She asks Paloma about the Aztec warrior medallion, explaining that she sold Gael one because he and his sister were desperate for protection of their father. This worries Paloma. As the fortune teller walks off, she drops something: an invitation to Frida’s birthday party.

As they eat, Paloma’s mother is surprised to hear Professor Breton say that Paloma is a good student. She is still angry at Paloma’s disappearance to Casa Azul. That night, Paloma leaves Gael a note asking him to meet her during her class break the next day. As she goes to bed, she sees the black car once more.

The next day, Paloma’s mother tells her that she will not be able to go with the Farills to Mexico City as planned as she is behind in her work. Paloma will go without her. She tells Paloma that someone has broken in to the Farills’ home but no one was hurt.

At break, Gael is not there to meet Paloma, even though the note she left for him is gone. When she returns home, the black car is still there. Out of frustration, Paloma writes, “I see you!” on one of her notecards, then waves it at the black car before planting it in the flower pot.

At the museum, Tavo and his father show Paloma one of Kahlo’s self-portraits titled “Self Portrait with a Braid, 1941.” Paloma feels that it is different than the other self-portraits, and she and Tavo’s father discuss why. He points out that the year the painting was painted is a clue: It was done just after Frida’s marriage to Diego Rivera when she was questioning whether she had made the right decision.

As he talks, Paloma asks Mr. Farill about Frida’s jewelry. He tells her that just two weeks ago, some of it was stolen from Casa Azul by an employee. He leaves to find Mrs. Farill elsewhere in the museum, while Paloma makes notes about their conversation on her notecards; others think that she is writing down educational material. Suddenly, she notices something about the timeline of events and rushes off to ask Mr. Farill the name of the man imprisoned for the theft: It is Gael and Lizzie’s father.