Murder House Read online

  “That definitely looks like a corrosive poison,” I said. I wasn’t sure Joe Carr would have that kind of knowledge. He was more the guy who could tell the price of a pair of sunglasses with one glance. But this was important. And Ripley, who was the most privileged of us privileged rich kids, obviously knew something about first aid. “That means we definitely don’t want to make her throw up.”

  “Yeah, I accidentally drank some toilet bowl cleaner once,” George said, staring down at his sister. “They said throwing up would wreck my throat.”

  “How do you accidentally drink toilet bowl cleaner?” asked James.

  “I was five. I liked the color. I guess I drank it on purpose. But I didn’t, you know, drink poison on purpose,” George answered.

  “Here’s the milk!” Brynn called.

  “Don’t give it to her,” I said. “I think there are some poisons where you shouldn’t give the person anything.” Actually, I was positive. “We don’t know what she took. We’ve got to wait for the medic.”

  “I’m here,” the medic called. “Back up and give me some room.”

  We all backed up a little, but stayed close. Except Ann, I mean. She still hadn’t moved closer to the group.

  “What did you take?” the medic asked Georgina.

  “Noting,” Georgina answered, her voice thick and distorted. “Ust peach.” She flapped her hand toward the table where she and Hal were going to make their pie.

  Hold up. Hal. Had Hal poisoned the peaches? From what Frank told me, Gail and Olivia had leaned on Hal pretty hard. They’d pretty much told him that if he got a rich partner and didn’t do what he had to do to make sure the rich kid lost, they’d hang him out to dry.

  SUSPECT PROFILE

  Name: Hal Sheen

  Hometown: Coshocton, Ohio

  Physical description: 5’8”, 150 lbs., straight brown hair, brown eyes.

  Occupation: High school student

  Background: Mensa member, statewide science fair winner three years in a row.

  Suspicious behavior: Was Georgina’s partner when she was poisoned.

  Suspected of: Sabotaging contestants who aren’t part of the alliance.

  Possible motive: Threatened by Olivia to do sabotage for good of the alliance.

  “I want to get Georgina to a hospital ASAP,” the medic told Veronica. “I don’t think she ingested much of the substance. The abrasions don’t continue deep into her throat.”

  “Pit it ou,” Georgina said.

  “She spit it out,” George translated for his sister.

  “Even so,” said the medic. “I don’t want to take any chances.”

  “I’ve already called an ambulance,” Veronica announced.

  An ambulance. Again. Bobby T had needed an ambulance before he’d been booted from the show.

  At least he’d come back alive. We’d had a couple of people, both crew members, leave Deprivation House in silent ambulances. No sirens because there was no rush. The patients inside were already dead.

  Today’s ambulance ride wouldn’t be one of those. But that didn’t mean we’d had our last.

  “What have we got?” Frank asked. We were back in our “office” late that night. I’d managed to call toilet seat again. Yes! The edge of the bathtub is hard. And cold.

  “We’ve got a poisoning, the sabotage of a trampoline, sabotaged brakes, a drawing of a demon, and a partridge in a pear tree.” I sang that last part. Frank didn’t even smile.

  “All that since Mary was removed from the house.” Frank shook his head.

  “And the perps keep on comin’,” I said.

  “Do we think this is the work of one person?” Frank asked.

  “Usually I’d say it would be really unlikely that more than one person in our little community had turned homicidal,” I answered. “But since we’ve already had to oust two wackos . . . Who’s to say there’s only one more?”

  “Hal seems like a possibility,” said Frank.

  “I was thinking the same thing. Do you think he would have gone that far to keep Olivia and Gail happy?” I replied.

  “They basically made it a choice between keeping them happy and losing the chance to split the million dollars with them,” Frank mused. “Hal really wants start-up money for his game.”

  “Poison, though. He could have done something a lot less hard-core, right?” I asked. “I mean, Olivia threw a goldfish bowl at my head and tried to help me out of the top of a tree. He could have done something medium-core like that.”

  “I agree,” Frank answered. “He’s a possibility, but not top of the list, I don’t think. Also, if he is behind the poisoning, then we definitely have two people at work. There would be no reason for Hal to seriously hurt George. That wasn’t anything Olivia and Gail were expecting from him.”

  “No reason for him to have sabotaged Georgina the first time either. Olivia and Gail hadn’t threatened him yet.” A new thought hit me. “Or else Hal’s a lot more sly than we’re giving him credit for. Maybe he wanted to take some of the competition out all along. Maybe he was working on it before Olivia and Gail even brought it up. Maybe he damaged the dirt bike’s brakes, and tried to poison Georgina, and messed up George’s trampoline.”

  “Why not just admit he sabotaged the brakes when Olivia brought up sabotage?” asked Frank.

  “Maybe he didn’t want to give them any info to use against him. Maybe he’s planning on playing the alliance somehow,” I suggested. “Maybe he even did the demon drawing. He’s always carrying around a sketch pad, and the practice handwriting you found was on sketch paper.”

  “But Gail and Olivia were trying so hard to keep their sketch pad hidden from me. Why do that, if there was nothing to hide?” Frank asked.

  I shrugged. “Maybe they were trying to hide something else. Like . . . that they’d been drawing pictures of me! Yeah, they didn’t want you to know that they think I’m the more handsome brother. They thought it would hurt so bad, since I’m already the rich one.”

  “Yeah, I’m sure that’s it.” Those were the words Frank said. But somehow they came out sounding like, Only in your delusional skull, my brother.

  “I’m just saying that there’s more than one reason to keep the sketch pad hidden. It doesn’t mean they wrote the note or did the drawings,” I clarified. “So, we got Hal. Who else?”

  “James. The guy wants to win. We know that. He never lets anyone forget it,” Frank answered.

  “I think we’d need a two-perp scenario with James, too. Because I really don’t believe he’d sabotage his teammate. Not that he cares about sportsmanship or anything like that. But, like you said, he wants to win,” I said.

  “Olivia and Gail are clearly good suspects. All the victims we’ve had since Mary left have been rich. Two attacks on Georgina, one on George. It was Brynn’s teddy bear that got shredded, and maybe it was even supposed to be Brynn in the picture.” Frank stood up. I could tell he wanted to do some pacing, but there wasn’t space in the bathroom.

  “I never even think of Brynn as being one of the rich kids,” I said.

  “I don’t either. Olivia was saying stuff about her shoes. I guess they’re expensive. I wouldn’t know,” Frank admitted.

  “Don’t look at me,” I protested. “I know my shades, yeah. And sneakers. But that’s about it.”

  Frank sat back down. “So Olivia and Gail may be working together. Maybe either Olivia or Gail is working separately. Gotta say, Gail seems less likely. She seems to be a follower type.”

  “I’m with you. I think Olivia should be at the top of our list,” I agreed. “And we should be thinking about Ripley, too. She’s been right there next to two of the accidents. Giving instructions on how to take care of Georgina. Checking George for spinal injuries. She wasn’t right on the spot when Georgina crashed, but that would have been hard to accomplish. You and Georgina were flying. Ripley was near the back of the pack.”

  “Georgina. George. Georgina,” Frank said slowly.

&
nbsp; “It seems like their dad has kind of the ego,” I commented. “He basically named both his kids after himself.”

  “Georgina. George. Georgina,” Frank said again.

  “What about Ann? You were partnered with her. Has she snapped or what? Do you think she could—” I began.

  “George thought maybe somebody was going after him and his sister because they were the new people,” Frank interrupted. “It is kind of strange that they’ve been targeted repeatedly.”

  I tapped my head. Sometimes it helps me shake thoughts loose. Didn’t work so much this time. “None of the people we’ve talked about have a reason to focus on George or Georgina. Yeah, they’re rich, and that makes Olivia and Gail insane. But there are other rich people around.”

  I did another couple of taps. A thought came loose. “And anyway, even though it seems like the G’s were targeted, they couldn’t have been.”

  “Why not?” Frank asked.

  “Because no one knew it was going to be George who ended up on the trampoline or Georgina who would end up with the peaches and the bad brakes,” I explained.

  We both sat in silence for a moment.

  “You remember how you said you’d know how to kill me because I’m your brother?” asked Frank.

  “I don’t think I said it exactly like that,” I objected.

  “Okay, but you said something like you’d make it look like an accident involving cleaning projects, because I like to clean and it wouldn’t look suspicious,” Frank went on.

  “How did we go from talking about George and Georgina to talking about me and you?” I asked.

  “They’re siblings, just like us,” Frank answered.

  “Not just like us. One of them is a girl,” I said. “Oh, well, maybe just like us.”

  Frank rolled his eyes. “What I mean is, you know the people you’re related to really well.”

  Another thought came loose, and I didn’t even have to tap my head. “Like that your sister loves peaches. And the color purple. There was only one purple dirt bike, and she went right for it.”

  “Georgina would know what her brother loves too. Like trampolines,” Frank added.

  “When I was clinging to the tree like a scared monkey in the challenge yesterday, I heard Georgina yell for Hal to get the trampoline so George couldn’t. I thought she was being stupid, because George was closer to the tramp than she or Hal was—and she’d basically just pointed it out to him,” I said. “What if that’s what she was trying to do?”

  “George led Georgina to the peach table in a way. He got there first. I heard Georgina begging him to choose another table because he knew she loved peach,” Frank told me.

  “So that places him near the dish of peach slices. He had the opportunity to poison them,” I answered.

  “And George even said he drank toilet bowl cleaner when he was little,” Frank reminded me. “He probably wasn’t trying to kill Georgina, just take her out of the competition. They both want to get legally emancipated. Only one of them can win the money. . . .”

  “They’ve made it clear they aren’t sharing,” I added. “I think we need to do an evidence sweep. I call heads.”

  “What are we calling for?” asked Frank.

  “Heads, I get to search George’s stuff,” I explained.

  “Which means the loser has to search Georgina’s,” Frank said. “Which means sneaking into one of the girls’ bedrooms in the middle of the night.”

  It’s probably a good thing I lost. If Frank had to sneak into a bedroom full of sleeping girls, he might lose his lunch. And the hurling sounds would wake them all up.

  I had a few butterflies myself as I softly swung open the door to Brynn, Olivia, and Georgina’s room. It wasn’t so bad I felt like I was going to puke them up, though.

  If the cameras are on, this will probably be on the show, I thought. Won’t Mom and Aunt Trudy be proud? I guessed I could tell them it was all part of the socioeconomic experiment. Frank and I’d given this story about how we were going to use being on the show as a project for school. It was the best explanation for why we’d be on TV with different names, pretending to be from different families. I guessed as part of the experiment one of us would have to like going through girls’ personal belongings while they were asleep.

  I dropped to my knees and crawled into the room. I doubted any of the girls were awake, but this way I’d be harder to spot, just in case. I crept over to Georgina’s bed and slowly pulled opened the bottom drawer of her dresser. It would be stupid of her to leave any evidence in there. But it’s not like Georgina was a professional.

  Clothes. Of the underwear kind. That’s all I’ve got to say about it. I searched, trying not to touch anything.

  No evidence.

  Next drawer. More clothes. Safe to touch.

  No evidence.

  I was out of drawers. I should check the pockets of whatever clothes she had hanging in the closet. But first, I slid the suitcase out from under her bed. Not quite empty. I felt something shift inside.

  The zipper sounded as loud as machine-gun fire as I slid it open. I paused and listened. All I heard was breathing and a little snoring from somebody. Good. No one had woken up.

  I lifted the lid of the case. A Teen World magazine. Oooh, forbidden. We’d already been deprived of all reading material. And that was it.

  No evidence.

  I started to slide the suitcase back under the bed.

  “Don’t,” a girl muttered.

  I froze.

  “Please, don’t. Don’t hurt me. Please.”

  I recognized the voice.

  “Brynn, it’s me, Joe,” I said softly. “I’m not going to hurt you. It’s just . . . a stupid prank the other guys and I came up with.”

  “Don’t!” Brynn cried, her voice higher.

  “I’ll get out right now.” I stood up. “I’m going. See?” I scanned the beds until I found Brynn.

  She was asleep. She’s having a nightmare, I realized. I also realized my heart was beating like somebody was using it as a bongo. Hard and fast.

  “Please,” Brynn said again. Then she rolled over on her side and went silent.

  Ann wasn’t the only one who’d gotten freaked by what had been happening in the house. Clearly Brynn had too. Who was I kidding? The house was giving me the wiggins. The only one it wasn’t bothering was the person—or people—behind all the badness.

  And that’s why I was in here. To get some evidence about exactly what was really going on in Deprivation House.

  I crouched down and did another check under the bed. Other than the suitcase, the only thing I spotted was a pair of sneakers. Well, I wasn’t necessarily looking for something big.

  I had to get down on my stomach and stretch my arm out until I practically dislocated my shoulder, but I was able to get the shoes without waking up Georgina. Right shoe.

  No evidence.

  Left shoe.

  Something. Something smooth and cool. I slid it free. Did you know they make pink Swiss Army knives? Because that’s what it was. I began opening the blades. The first one was rough all down one side, and not very sharp.

  It took me a second to get it. Because of the Y chromosome. It was a nail file. The next blade was regulation. I cautiously ran one finger down the flat side—and picked up a thread.

  I bagged it, put the Swiss Army knife back where I found it, and crawled out of the room. Frank was waiting for me in the hall. “Let’s go to the bathroom,” he said.

  I could tell from his face that he’d found something. “Look at this,” he told me as soon as the bathroom door was safely closed behind us.

  It was a baster from the kitchen. “Smell it,” Frank urged.

  I pulled off the squeeze top and sniffed. Something harsh and chemical. Something I suspected was the corrosive poison that had burned Georgina’s tongue.

  “I got something too. Off the blade of a knife I found in one of Georgina’s shoes.” I handed the small plastic bag to Fr
ank.

  “Looks like a piece of canvas thread,” he commented. “Think it’ll match the trampoline?”

  “Yeah,” I answered. “Think Veronica will care that her contestants are trying to kill each other?”

  Twisted Twins

  “What am I to do about these?” Veronica tapped one crimson fingernail on her desk. The desk where the baster and the plastic bag lay.

  Joe and I exchanged a glance. Wasn’t it obvious what she was to do? Hand George and Georgina over to the police. Immediately.

  “I wasn’t trying to hurt Georgina,” said George.

  “That’s true,” Georgina jumped in. “George drank a mouthful of the same stuff, almost. His was toilet cleaner. He gave me drain cleaner. But he knew I’d be okay. And the dirt bike—I ride hard. I’m always taking spills. Wiping out isn’t anything.”

  “It’s like how Georgina knows I’ve taken falls off a trampoline before,” George added quickly. “She probably just thought I’d break a leg or something. Worst case.”

  Georgina nodded hard. “And he’s always breaking stuff. He’s already broken his arm twice snowboarding.”

  This was bizarre. Suddenly the two of them were a team.

  “So you’re admitting it?” Veronica asked.

  Both George and Georgina’s mouths dropped open. It’s like neither of them had realized they had an option. Lying, for example. Something like, “I have no idea how that (fill in the blank) got in my (fill in the blank). Someone must have put it there.”

  “I—” George began.

  “We—” Georgina started.

  “So you’re admitting it.” Veronica cut them off. It wasn’t a question this time.

  “But I won’t press charges!” Georgina exclaimed triumphantly. “And neither will George. So there’s nothing you can do to us.”

  George grinned. “I would never press charges against my twin.”

  Veronica shook her head. “Again, I’m staggered by the knowledge a private school education provides.”

  “Yeah. So do we get to stay on the show? Since we aren’t prosecuting each other?” George asked.