Read Online Deprivation House by Franklin W. Dixon - Free Book Online

stepped into the book-lined room.
    Olivia waved me into the chair next to hers. “Don’t worry about the cameras. This is one of the times they’re off.”
    â€œHow do you know?” I asked. Veronica had told us the union would only allow us to be filmed a limited amount of hours a day, but that she wasn’t going to tell us which hours those would be.
    â€œI have my ways,” Olivia answered, all mysterious.
    I just looked at her. Sometimes that’s a good way to get people to say more.
    â€œOkay, I got Mitch to tell me,” Olivia admitted. “He’s pretty cool. He told me this was the little girl’s bedroom before it got turned into the library. You know, the little girl who saw her father kill her mother. He knows everything about the house.”
    â€œSo what did you want to talk to me about. Without cameras,” I said.
    Usually I have this blushing problem around girls. But right now, Olivia didn’t feel like a girl to me. She felt like a suspect. Joe calls this feeling his Spidey sense. I call it instinct. Instinct combined with experience.
    â€œIt seems like we’ve got two groups of peoplehere. People who actually need money. And people who don’t,” Olivia said. “Like you—what would you do with the money if you won?”
    â€œCollege,” I answered automatically. “Help my parents pay off the house.” I go over my cover story a lot so I can answer things right away like that.
    Olivia nodded, like she’d guessed something right. “And what about your brother?”
    I hesitated. “I don’t know. I don’t really know him. We kind of just met.”
    â€œYeah. You were adopted by different families. Seeing him with his Diesel shades and his two-hundred-dollar jeans has to be hard,” Olivia said. She reached out and touched my hand.
    I still kept getting the suspect vibe from her.
    â€œKind of,” I answered, because I figured it was what Frank Dooley would say.
    â€œJoe doesn’t need the money. Ripley certainly doesn’t—she’s just here for PR anyway. James would probably blow it all in six months. And, let’s face it, Kit should go back wherever she came from. She’s a lousy actress. Have you seen her mugging for the camera? It’s embarrassing.”
    I wanted to ask her what she meant about Ripley being here for PR. That seemed important to the case. But I didn’t think Frank Dooley would go there right away.
    â€œThat guy Bobby T doesn’t need cash, that’s for sure,” I said. “He got some big bucks when they optioned his blog.”
    â€œYeah, and I was reading on Purple Girl’s website that he’s already blown it all,” Olivia told me. “A guy like that, who can blow a million five—which is what he got—doesn’t deserve a second chance. He’s not getting the Deprivation House money if I can help it.”
    I couldn’t help wondering exactly how far Olivia would go—or had already gone—to make sure Bobby T didn’t win.
    â€œBobby T spent all that money?” I asked. “Is that even humanly possible?”
    â€œClearly you don’t hang around the right humans,”
    SUSPECT PROFILE
    Name: Olivia Gavener
    Hometown: Homestead, Florida
    Physical description: 5’7”, 140 lbs., red hair, freckles, brown eyes.
    Occupation: High school student.
    Background: Oldest of five kids, helps out family with paycheck from fast-food job.
    Suspicious behavior: Said she would do anything to sto Bobby T from getting the million.
    Suspected of: Sending death threat to Ripley Lansing and other contestants; attempting to kill Bobby T.
    Possible motive: Needs money to continue to help family and have a different life.
    Olivia answered. “Not that I do.” She shook her head. “Or maybe they are theright ones. Just not the rich ones. Anyway, according to Purple Girl, Bobby spent that