Murder House

by Franklin W. Dixon

  I was definitely up for trying. But I wasn’t sure it was possible.

  “Good morning, everyone,” Veronica said as we sat around the table eating our cold cereal. We’d lost the right to hot food days ago. “Eat well. It’s a competition day!”

  “It’s cereal,” James grumbled. “How well can we eat?”

  I was sure that comment would end up in the footage we’d be viewing before Veronica told us who was the next person to be eliminated. Staying at Deprivation House was all about being able to deal with the deprivations without getting whiny.

  “George, that bruise on your face looks so painful,” Veronica commented. “How did you get it?” I couldn’t decide if Veronica’s question was sincere. She knew a lot about what went on in the house. But even she couldn’t see everything.

  “Walked into a door,” George muttered. Probably too embarrassed to admit he got hit.

  “Oh. I’m relieved to hear it,” Veronica said. “It looks more like an injury from a fistfight. And I’d hate to think there was any kind of friction between our contestants.”

  Now that, I knew, wasn’t sincere. Veronica would love any kind of friction.

  “Especially with today’s competition,” Veronica continued. “Your relationships with one another are going to be important.” She smiled. “But I don’t want to say too much. You’ll have to wait until this afternoon. Meet me at the fountain at three.” And she was gone.

  As soon as Olivia had downed her cereal, she signaled for me to meet her in the supply closet. She got Hal and Gail to meet us in there too. “Okay,” she said. “I think today’s competition is going to involve teams. That’s what I got from Veronica. What about the rest of you?”

  “Possibly,” Hal said. “But not definitely.”

  “I’m not saying it’s definite,” Olivia snapped. “I’m saying it’s possible. Will you all agree with that?”

  We all quickly agreed. Olivia was in complete drill sergeant mode.

  “What the ‘alliance’ needs to do—oh, clearly Gail is part of the alliance now,” Olivia began.

  I wasn’t sure “alliance” was exactly the right word. Maybe dictatorship?

  “What we need to do is make sure the rich kids don’t win the competition. An alliance member needs to win. If that means your individual team losing, fine.”

  “So you’re saying we should sabotage our teammate if they aren’t in the alliance?” Hal asked.

  “Exactly,” Olivia answered.

  Was Olivia behind Georgina’s accident? Was she behind the drawing and the message in the chamber? Was she trying to recruit some help right now? I wasn’t sure. But I was definitely sure this was a bad idea.

  “What’s the point?” I said. Olivia narrowed her eyes at me.

  “The point is what it’s always been since we formed the alliance. To win. The whole enchilada. One of us right here is going to win the million, and we’re going to split it four ways,” Olivia explained impatiently.

  The stress of the competition was getting to her. She hadn’t been this irritable and bossy when she first asked me to join the alliance. Or maybe she has been, but she was just hiding it because she knew she needed to be nice until I said yes.

  “I know the purpose of the alliance,” I said, trying to keep annoyance out of my own voice. “But it doesn’t really matter who wins the competition. It’s just for the show. It doesn’t actually have anything to do with winning or losing the money, if you think about it.”

  “Winning the competition means controlling the next deprivation,” Olivia told me, speaking slowly, exaggerating each word, like she was trying to teach me to talk. “Controlling the deprivation gives us power. We can choose a deprivation that will really hurt the other side. I’ve been studying them. I know their weak spots. I know how to make them hurt.”

  O-kay.

  Hal cleared his throat. “Uh, joining the alliance made logical sense to me.” He did another throat clearing. He sounded nervous. “It greatly improved my odds of winning a significant amount of money.”

  I could hear the “but” coming. It seemed like Olivia could too. The muscles in her jaw had clenched.

  “But,” Hal went on, “I didn’t know that being in the alliance would involve cheating. I’m not . . . comfortable performing any kind of sabotage.”

  “What you’re saying is that getting your computer game up and running isn’t that important to you,” Gail told him. Olivia shot her a proud smile.

  “I didn’t hear him say that,” I jumped in. “Have you thought about the fact that if we get caught cheating, we get booted? That means no money.”

  I figured that argument might mean more to Olivia and Gail than talking about right and wrong.

  “Even if we didn’t get caught, I’m not willing to hurt somebody to win,” Hal said, voice cracking.

  “I didn’t say hurt. I said make sure they don’t win the competition,” Olivia protested.

  “And you think that can be done in a completely peaceful, nonviolent way?” I shot back.

  “Are you saying you want out?” Olivia demanded.

  “No. I’m just trying to get things clear,” I told her. I definitely needed to stay in the alliance. The person Joe and I were looking for could be right here in this little group.

  “What about him?” Gail jerked her chin toward Hal.

  “I think I do want out,” Hal said.

  Good for him.

  “Fine. Of course, we’ll have to tell the others you were part of an alliance against them,” said Olivia.

  “What? Why? That will mess you up as much as me,” Hal protested.

  “It will mess us up. But not as much,” Olivia answered. “Because we’ll still have each other. We’ll still have the alliance.”

  Hal stared at the ground. Olivia, Gail, and I stared at him.

  “Well?” Olivia finally said.

  “I’m in,” Hal told her, without looking up.

  “You did the right thing.” Gail patted his shoulder, and Hal flinched. “Those other kids have tons of money. They’ve had everything their whole lives. It would be so unfair if one of them got a million dollars.”

  “Yeah. Gail’s family doesn’t always even have money for food and heat. I have to contribute the money I make frying burgers to keep our household going,” Olivia reminded him. “It would be so wrong for somebody like Brynn to win over Gail. One of Brynn’s shoes would probably pay Gail’s family’s rent for a month. I can’t believe she lets Georgina borrow them.” Olivia shook her head. “Not the point. The point is that rich people don’t need to win. Between Frank and Joe, it would be completely unfair for Joe to get that money.”

  “Completely,” Gail agreed. “We all heard what Veronica said. Joe’s dad makes a million times more than Frank’s. Frank probably would use the money for stuff like college.” She looked over at me, and I nodded. “What would Joe use it for? A second car? ’Cause you know he already has one.”

  “You know it,” Olivia said. “You must be so furious at him, Frank. Now that you know how he’s been living all these years. I mean, don’t you look at him sometimes and think, ‘I would really like to kill my brother’?”

  Psycho Teammate

  “What did you tell her?” I repeated. “I just want to know.”

  “That’s not the point,” Frank answered. He shifted uncomfortably on his seat at the edge of the tub. I’d scored the closed toilet seat. It was the most comfortable spot in our “conference room.”

  “I’m giving you a heads-up,” he continued. “If you’re paired up with Gail, Olivia, and maybe even Hal, you have to watch out for sabotage. I don’t know if Hal’s actually going to do anything. But Olivia and Gail were pushing hard, and Olivia is definitely going to be watching him.”

  “I just want to hear what you told her when she asked you if you wanted to kill me,” I said. Sometimes I can’t resist torturing Frank a little.

  He sighed. “You realize I’m undercover.”

&nbs
p; I waved my hand in a hurry-it-up motion.

  “I told her that when I couldn’t fall asleep I did sometimes imagine different ways that I could off you and get away with it,” he admitted.

  I laughed. “I’ve been doing that for years about you! Many of my scenarios involve cleaning supplies, because everyone knows you’re way into cleanliness and I’m a slob.”

  Frank decided to take the mature route. Otherwise known as the boring route. “Just be careful, okay?” he said.

  I nodded. “You have no idea what form this sabotage might take?”

  “None. It’s up to the individual alliance member. We act alone. If we get caught, we get thrown out of the contest alone,” Frank told me.

  “You think Gail or Olivia wrecked Georgina’s brakes?” I asked.

  “Definite possibility,” Frank answered. “I think they should be high on our suspect list for anything bad that’s directed at one of you rich brats.”

  It’s so cute when Frank tries to be funny.

  “I’m even thinking that Georgina and Gail could be behind that drawing in the library and the message on the chamber wall,” Frank went on. “When I went looking for Brynn yesterday, I found a sheet of paper from a sketchbook. Same words as on the Deprivation Chamber wall. Same handwriting. I figured it was a practice draft.”

  “Sketchbook, huh?” I said. “That makes me think of Hal right off. He almost always has his with him.”

  “That was my first reaction too. But then I went upstairs to Brynn’s room, and I saw Olivia and Gail talking. Gail hid something behind her back. I finally got a look at it—”

  “And it was a sketchbook,” I finished for Frank. “It’s interesting that Olivia’s the one who pointed out that the girl in the picture looked like Brynn. That fits with the whole destroy-the-rich campaign.”

  “And it was Brynn’s teddy bear that became a demon sacrifice. Freaking out Brynn would definitely throw her off her game,” Frank added. “Olivia didn’t say anything about the drawing or the bear at the alliance meeting. You’d think she’d want to make sure that Hal and I didn’t get spooked along with Brynn and the rest of you. She should want us focused.”

  “Maybe there’s an alliance within the alliance,” I suggested. “Maybe the girls are playing the two of you guys. Maybe they’re planning to use you to help eliminate some of the competition, but cut you out later.”

  “If Olivia wins, I think she’s going to forget how to even pronounce the word ‘alliance,’” Frank predicted.

  “Joe, your partner for this competition will be . . .” Veronica smiled.

  I got this ate-way-too-many-hot-dogs-way-too-fast feeling in my gut.

  “Olivia,” she concluded.

  Of course. Perfect. The girl who wanted every rich person dead, dead, dead. Who thought my own brother probably fantasized about killing me.

  This is a good thing, I told myself. You’re a highly trained ATAC agent. You can handle whatever sabotage Olivia decides to throw at you. You wouldn’t want her paired with someone who didn’t have any advance warning—or any skillz.

  Frank hates that word, just FYI. Skillz. He hates any word that has a z where he thinks there should be an s. I know way too many facts like this about my brother.

  Veronica kept on matching up the pairs as we stood around her on the front patio. Here’s how it laid down. Frank and Ann. She showed up for the competition looking like a goth girl ready for a night out. She’d made some kind of weird charm out of twigs and string and hair. But after seeing Ann lose it last night, I knew she wasn’t making a fashion statement. That stuff had to be antidemon protection. She was one scared weird girl.

  Brynn and Ripley got teamed up. Georgina and Hal. I wondered if Hal would try anything to sabotage Georgina. It sounded like Olivia—with backup from Gail—had put some real fear into him.

  “That leaves James, George, and Gail,” Veronica said. “Hmmm. An odd number.”

  James’s hand shot up. “I’ll go solo,” he volunteered.

  “Why am I not surprised to hear that?” Veronica asked. “Why do I suspect that the words ‘does not play well with others’ were featured on many of your elementary school progress reports?”

  I noticed George’s hand go up to the bruise on his jaw. I’m sure he was praying that Veronica would go ahead and let James play by himself.

  George didn’t know Veronica that well yet, or he wouldn’t have bothered. She liked to do things in whatever way would make the most people unhappy. “No, I think I’ll give Gail the chance to prove what she can do on her own. Gail, you seem like something of a follower to me. This will be a good opportunity for you, I promise.”

  “It’s not fair,” Olivia muttered.

  “There’s nothing in the rules requiring fairness on the producers’ side,” Veronica stated, looking pleased with herself. She turned to James. “That means you and George will be a team.”

  “Good,” George said quickly.

  He’d figured out that attitude was the difference between staying at Deprivation House and getting kicked out.

  James rolled his eyes but managed not to say anything that the judges wouldn’t like when they were deciding who had to hear the words, “You are deprived of the chance to win one million dollars,” during the next elimination.

  Still, I was pretty sure that if team James-George lost today, there’d be another fight to break up. Cameras on or not.

  “Now, on to the competition,” Veronica said. “Perhaps those of you with families wealthy enough to hire help have heard that some house cleaners don’t do windows. Perhaps even those of you whose families don’t have so much in the bank haven’t had to wash windows either. Maybe your parents take on that chore.”

  “Or they leave them dirty,” George said under his breath. “Poor people don’t mind being dirty, do they? Or is it that they can’t afford soap?”

  I felt like punching the guy myself. Just because I was undercover as a rich kid didn’t mean I couldn’t think he was a complete wad. Did it?

  I reminded myself that I wasn’t here to teach George Taggart manners. Or James. Or anybody else. I was here to stop a murder. The lives of every contestant had been threatened.

  “As you may have noticed, we have lots of windows at Deprivation House,” Veronica continued. She flicked one hand in the direction of the mansion. Oh, man. I can’t believe I hadn’t noticed before. It looked like somebody had sprayed down each of those windows with an oily, gray-green goop. I didn’t especially want to think about what it was.

  “We have so many windows that I guarantee each of the teams will get a chance to wash some,” Veronica told us. “At least those teams that want a chance at winning today.” She clapped her hands. “What are you waiting for? Go ahead and get started!”

  “With what?” Georgina asked.

  “Look around,” said Veronica. “There may be some useful items lying about.”

  “Forget that,” said James. “I’m getting to work right now.” He raced toward the house, pulling off his T-shirt off as he ran. He used the shirt to scrub the glass of the closest window. All that happened was that he smeared the goo around—and got his shirt covered with the gunk.

  “Idiot!” George shouted at him. “You’re already losing us time. Help me look for something that will actually work!”

  The rest of us were already looking. I spotted a bucket hanging from a branch of one of the trees. A branch very near the top. Of course.

  “I’ll go get that,” I said to Olivia in a low voice. I gave my chin a quick jerk toward the bucket. I didn’t want to give away its location to anyone else.

  “I’ll help,” Olivia volunteered.

  “That’s okay. I got it,” I said quickly. I definitely didn’t want any “help” from Olivia when I was that far off the ground!

  I didn’t wait for her to answer. I took off in the direction of the tree—not going straight for it.

  “Remember that the windows of the upper stories do count!”
Veronica called.

  I guessed I also needed to look for a hidden ladder. And some sponges. That should get us started.

  I made a sharp turn toward the tree. A second later I was climbing. I could see the branches shaking below me. Somebody else had spotted the bucket. I glanced down. Olivia!

  “I think I can get this one solo,” I called down to her. “See if you can find some cloths or sponges or something. Or something we can use for a ladder.”

  “I think I see a sponge by the bucket,” Olivia answered.

  I squinted up at the top of the tree. Didn’t see anything spongy. “I’ll get it while I’m up there,” I promised.

  “Do you see where I mean?” Olivia asked. She kept climbing. So did I.

  “Uh, I think so.” Lie. Which made us equal. I was pretty sure Olivia was lying about seeing any sponges up there. Either she was trying to slow us down, or she was trying to get a chance to shove me out of this tree.

  “Just go! I’ll find it when I’m up there, I’m sure.” I was pretty far up there already.

  “Hal, get that mini tramp!” Georgina shouted from below. “George is a trampoline fiend! He’ll destroy us on that thing, bouncing up to wash the second-floor windows.”

  I took a glance down. Bad strategy. It was a good idea to nab something the opposition could use to a big advantage. But Georgina had basically announced the location of the tramp to her brother—and he was a lot closer to it than either Hal or Georgina was.

  “George! I saw it first!” Georgina shrieked. Like that mattered.

  I got my attention back on my own prize and kept climbing. There weren’t too many great branches in this part of the tree. I picked one I thought would hold me, and jammed my foot on it. . . .

  At the same moment Olivia decided to reach up and use it as a handhold. She jerked the branch back, and my foot was suddenly slamming down into empty space. A second later, my entire body weight was hanging by one hand.

  “Look out!” Olivia yelled.

  Look out. Yeah. For psycho teammates.

  I managed to wrap my other hand around the branch, then haul myself up until I could straddle it. Don’t doubt that I was hugging the trunk with both arms at that point. The branch I was perched on wasn’t much stronger-looking than the one Olivia had managed to bend back.