Murder House

  ATAC BRIEFING FOR AGENTS FRANK AND JOE HARDY

  MISSION: To finally get to the bottom of the ongoing deadly scares taking place on the set of the reality TV show Deprivation House.

  LOCATION: A huge villa in Beverly Hills, CA, without a single luxury left inside.

  POTENTIAL VICTIMS: Every contestant on the reality show is in extreme danger.

  SUSPECTS: It’s possible one of the new contestants has a devious agenda, or else someone who’s been there all along is hiding a huge secret.

  This mission requires your immediate attention. This message will be erased in five seconds.

  Watch out for our next case, Book One of the new Double Danger Trilogy: Double Trouble

  ALADDIN PAPERBACKS

  Simon & Schuster, New York

  Cover designed by Sammy Yuen Jr.

  Character photograph copyright © 2008

  by Michael Frost; background photograph

  copyright © 2008 by PictureQuest

  Ages 8–12

  SimonSaysKids.com

  0908

  Is their cover blown?

  She can’t know, I told myself. ATAC security is way too good. She can’t have gotten past it.

  I completely believed that. In my head. In my stomach, I wasn’t quite as sure.

  Veronica raised her eyebrows. “Interesting choice,” she told Georgina. “And something of a bargain, because Frank’s secret gives away something about Joe as well.”

  My palms began to sweat. A secret that was about me and Joe? How many things could that be?

  Strategy. I needed strategy. What should Joe and I do if we were outed right here and now?

  Deny it? Say it was some ratings stunt of Veronica’s? Or something she and the other producers had come up with to create tension in the house? I don’t watch a lot—or actually any—reality TV, but Joe says they all end up having lots of fights among the contestants. That was definitely turning out to be true on our show.

  Or should we admit to the truth and warn everybody that they were in danger? Just explain that Joe and I had been placed undercover as contestants because the death threats they’d received were being taken very seriously—and for good reason, since several people in this house had already been victims of murder!

  #1 Extreme Danger

  #2 Running on Fumes

  #3 Boardwalk Bust

  #4 Thrill Ride

  #5 Rocky Road

  #6 Burned

  #7 Operation: Survival

  #8 Top Ten Ways to Die

  #9 Martial Law

  #10 Blown Away

  #11 Hurricane Joe

  #12 Trouble in Paradise

  #13 The Mummy’s Curse

  #14 Hazed

  #15 Death and Diamonds

  #16 Bayport Buccaneers

  #17 Murder at the Mall

  #18 Pushed

  #19 Foul Play

  #20 Feeding Frenzy

  #21 Comic Con Artist

  Super Mystery #1: Wanted

  Super Mystery #2: Kidnapped at the Casino

  #22 Deprivation House

  #23 House Arrest

  #24 Murder House

  Special Ghost Stories

  Edition: Haunted

  Available from Simon & Schuster

  This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  ALADDIN PAPERBACKS

  An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division

  1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020

  www.SimonandSchuster.com

  Copyright © 2008 by Simon & Schuster, Inc.

  All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

  ALADDIN PAPERBACKS, THE HARDY BOYS MYSTERY STORIES, HARDY BOYS UNDERCOVER BROTHERS,

  and related logo are

  registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

  Designed by Sammy Yuen Jr.

  The text of this book was set in Aldine 401 BT.

  First Aladdin Paperbacks edition September 2008

  10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

  eISBN-13: 978-1-4424-5347-0

  Library of Congress Control Number 2008920166

  ISBN-13: 978-1-4169-6409-4

  ISBN-10: 1-4169-6409-6

  Chapter 1: Sabotage

  Chapter 2: Everybody Has Secrets

  Chapter 3: Accusations

  Chapter 4: Worried?

  Chapter 5: Deeply Disturbed

  Chapter 6: Silent Girl Screams

  Chapter 7: Ripped Apart

  Chapter 8: Psycho Teammate

  Chapter 9: Another One Down

  Chapter 10: Targeted

  Chapter 11: Twisted Twins

  Chapter 12: So Much Blood

  Chapter 13: Killer Pool

  Chapter 14: Why Would She Do That?

  Chapter 15: The Knife

  Chapter 16: Game Over

  Sabotage

  I figured the wheels of my Suzuki RM-Z450 had to be smoking as I wove through the orchard. But I didn’t let up on the throttle. I had the lead, and I didn’t want to lose it.

  I broke out of the trees and into the field behind the tennis courts. Mounds of dirt were heaped up all across it. I could maneuver the bike around them. But I’d lose time.

  The three mounds almost dead ahead weren’t so much different from the triple jump at Highland Park. I’d taken that one lots of times.

  Okay, this hill was a little higher, I decided as I started up it. I heard at least one bike coming up behind me. Fast. I moved into attack position. Standing on the dirt bike’s pegs. Knees tightened around the tank. My elbows up and out.

  Yeah, this hill was definitely higher than the first of the triple back home. I kept an even throttle as I approached the top. Here it came. I was about to go airborne.

  Stay low over the jump, I reminded myself. It would buy me a few extra seconds. Not much. But a few seconds could be the difference between winning and losing. I was undercover as a reality show contestant, and that meant I should want to win more than anything. Somebody on the show wanted to win so badly he or she had sent death threats to all of the contestants.

  As my bike came off the top of the hill, I pushed down on the right footpeg and pulled up on the left side of the handlebars. The bike laid out flat. Nice. The move had stopped the upward motion of the jump. That’s where I picked up the extra seconds.

  I got on the throttle right before I hit ground to help the rear suspension take the impact of landing. Solid. Now I had to—

  My strategy was worthless. A rider came over the hill behind me kamikaze style, lost control of their ride, and slammed into my back wheel.

  We both went down. And another bike was just going airborne. There was no time to do anything but curl my body into a protective ball. I felt the bike’s heat on the top of my head as it cleared me. Next time I might not be so lucky.

  I scrambled to my feet and saw that it was Georgina who’d taken me out. “Come on, we’ve got to get out of the way before someone else takes the jump!”

  I grabbed my bike by the handlebars, got it up, then ran it down the side of the hill, out of the path of the most direct route to the grocery shelves at the end of the field. That’s what this race was. A contest to see who could get the groceries on their list back to the mansion first.

  “Are you okay?” I asked Georgina.

  She pulled off her helmet. “Yeah. But the bike’s messed up,” she answered.

  “I don’t know if mine got damaged or not,” I said.

 
“No, I mean mine was messed up before. The brakes stopped working,” Georgina told me. She slapped the seat of her bright purple Kawasaki.

  The dirt bikes we were using for the race were brand-new. That could mean only one thing.

  Sabotage.

  Everybody Has Secrets

  “Everyone, everyone! Please gather round,” Veronica called from her spot on the patio near the large fountain. She backed up a step as we headed toward her. I’m sure she was afraid we’d contaminate her. We were all sweaty and dirt smeared and grass stained.

  Veronica was perfumed and nail painted and color coordinated in her pale blue suit and pale blue spike heels. She should have looked like TV Host Barbie in all that perfect, with her white-blond hair smoothed back into one of those knot things that aren’t buns but that I don’t have the words to actually describe, having only one X chromosome.

  But the smile she gave the group was pure, lipstick-coated nastiness. You’d never see Barbie looking so eeevil. And enjoying it so much.

  “First, I want to announce the winner of this competition.” She paused. Of course. When Deprivation House actually aired, there would probably be a commercial break right here. “Brynn Fulgham got her groceries home before the rest of you. That means she will be deciding the next deprivation.”

  “Don’t take away toiletries!” Ripley called. Ripley Lansing was the group’s celebrity, although she was only famous for having famous—and rich—parents. “The boys smell bad enough now that they hardly ever shower. We won’t survive if they lose deodorant privileges!”

  “Who can shower when there’s no hot water anymore?” Gail protested. Gail’s parents definitely weren’t rich. So not rich they didn’t always have enough money to pay the heating bill. Sometimes Gail had to go to bed in her coat to stay warm.

  “All the girls still shower,” Ripley shot back.

  “I don’t care about deodorant or shampoo or any of that. I just want to be able to keep my drawing supplies,” Hal said. Hal was always drawing plans for the planet around which he planned to design a computer game.

  I tried to figure out what Joe Carr would want most. That was my cover. A rich boy from Connecticut, adopted by a different family from my brother, Frank Dooley. It was hard to come up with anything. We’d already lost cell phones, iPods, junk food.

  “Brynn, I’m begging you. Think of the odor,” Ripley pleaded.

  “Now, now. It’s Brynn’s decision,” Veronica reminded everyone. “And she doesn’t need to make it until tomorrow night. Right now, I want to take some time for us all to get to know one another a little better.”

  “I know these losers as well as I want to,” James Sittenfeld told her. “I’ve been trapped in the house with them for almost a month.”

  We had been spending almost all our time together since our first day as contestants on Deprivation House, a reality show where teenagers saw how long they could last without luxury items. The network probably thought it would be fun for old folks to laugh at the younger generation freaking out because they were unable to go online, watch TV, text message, and talk on the cell at the same time.

  Still, I wouldn’t mind learning some more about the other kids in the house. They were all suspects. See, my brother and I weren’t really contestants. That was just our cover. We were actually here on an assignment for American Teens Against Crime, an organization our dad helped found. ATAC puts teens undercover in places where adult operatives would stick out too much. Like on a reality show where all the contestants are kids. Get me?

  Frank and I ended up here because all the contestants had received death threats. And since we’d shown up, a lot of nasty things had been happening. Some people had even died. None of them contestants. At least not yet.

  So that’s why I was up for finding out as much as possible about every kid in the house. Although I’ve got to say, if James wasn’t a suspect and was just some guy, I’d be happy to never learn another thing about him. Like last night, I found out he clips his toenails—with his teeth. I already knew he was maniacally competitive, and a bully. But I’m not biased or anything. Detectives have to keep open minds. And I’m a detective. Just because James is your basic rat dropping in human form doesn’t mean he’s a killer.

  “George and Georgina only joined us very recently, and I thought some of you might be curious as to why they were allowed to join our game so late,” Veronica continued.

  “To get ratings,” Olivia muttered.

  Veronica pretended not to hear her. “The truth is, I got a letter from their father asking me to consider allowing them to come to Deprivation House. It was so touching that the network and I just couldn’t say no.” She gave a sweet smile. And when she smiles like that, somebody’s about to get sucker punched.

  “Let me read it to you,” Veronica went on. I did a face check on George and Georgina. Not happy. And not happy. I miscalculated. Make that two somebodys were going to get a Veronica smackdown. She began:

  “Dear Ms. Wilmont, I saw a commercial for your upcoming show, Deprivation House, and I had to write to you. You and your house may be the last hope for my fifteen-year-old twins, George and Georgina. All their lives, their mother and I have given them everything they’ve asked for. As an example, for their last birthday, they received a trip to Maui with eight of their friends, Georgina received a Tennessee walking horse, and George an Escalade, in addition to thousands of dollars’ worth of smaller presents.

  “It would have been our pleasure to give our children these gifts. We want them to enjoy all life has to offer. But they don’t seem to understand that not everyone has the privileges they do. They have no concept of the work that has gone into earning the money to pay for their lifestyle. They show no appreciation. They show almost no awareness that a horse or a car are any different from the air or the ground, something that is simply there at any time for their use.

  “That’s why I’m begging you to make them a part of your show. Not so they have a chance to win a million dollars. That would only make the situation more nauseating. All I want is for George and Georgina to have the opportunity to live without what they consider necessities, but what the majority of the population considers luxuries. For a brief time, I want them to be deprived. I know that this is not your responsibility. It is their mother’s and mine. But we have not been able to take control of the situation, and that is why we are asking for your help. No, begging.

  “I know the deadline to enter the contest has passed, but please don’t refuse us. Please give George and Georgina a chance to become better people.

  Sincerely,

  George Taggart”

  Veronica carefully refolded the letter. “Of course, I couldn’t say no.”

  I did another George and Georgina face check. Very not happy. And very not happy. In fact, make that George red-faced, looking like he was about to go nuclear. And Georgina, face drained of color, looking like she was plotting somebody’s long and painful death.

  “If their parents don’t want them to have the money, does that mean they’re ineligible to win it?” Olivia asked.

  I wasn’t surprised that she was the first to get that question out. Olivia is the queen of strategy in the game.

  “That would be completely uncool,” George burst out. “If we’re here, and we have to follow all the same rules as everybody here, we should have the same chance to win the cash as anybody else.”

  “George and Georgina will follow the same rules and have the same privileges as the rest of you,” Veronica answered. “Including the chance to win the prize money.”

  “What would you even do with the cash?” Gail protested. “It sounds like you have two of everything that exists already.” Gail was a latecomer to the House too, just not as late as the twins. She joined the group about a week and a half into the game as a surprise twist.

  “Ever heard of legal emancipation?” Georgina asked. Some of the color had returned to her cheeks, and her eyes were bright with excitement. “
That’s what I would do with the money. Hire myself a lawyer. Cut all ties with my parents. As you might have guessed, they’re complete control freaks, emphasis on the freaks. And use the rest of the cash to live on.”

  “My plan exactly,” said George.

  “Not until you just heard me say it,” Georgina snapped. “You never have any ideas of your own.”

  “It doesn’t matter, because only one of us is winning the moola, and it’s going to be me,” George told his sister. “Don’t think I’m sharing, either. I’ll be living solo, and you’ll be home with the freaks.”

  “You’ve never won anything without my help and you know it,” Georgina shot back. “The only reason I didn’t win today is that my bike was messed with. You couldn’t—”

  “Hey, don’t fight,” James cut in. He gave a smile every bit as nasty as Veronica’s, but minus the lipstick. “It’s pointless. Neither of you is going to win. ’Cause I’m winning. Everybody else here has already accepted it. You’ll just have to suck it up too.”

  “Did you forget that Brynn won today’s competition?” Olivia demanded.

  “Competitions aren’t everything,” James reminded her. “It’s all about how you handle the deprivation. And I’m stone. Nothing gets to me.”

  “You practically meowed when your exercise equipment got—” Olivia began.

  Veronica clapped her hands. “Enough of this bickering. It’s very entertaining, but I think we’ve got plenty of footage. Now, I imagine it must have been somewhat humiliating for George and Georgina to have had that letter read aloud to all of you—and of course to all the viewers when our show airs. So I think it’s only fair that a few other secrets are revealed today. George, why don’t you pick one of the other contestants, and I’ll reveal a secret about them.”

  “Why does he get to pick?” Georgina whined.

  Veronica ignored her. Veronica is very good at ignoring anything that displeases her.

  “What secrets are you even talking about, anyway?” demanded James.

  Veronica ignored him, too.