Gold Medal Murder Read Online Free Page B

even have any books, at least not that I could see. No wonder Scott could swim for hours a day—he had nothing else to do!
    It was hard to place the cameras in such empty rooms, but I did the best I could. They were small, about the size of a quarter. I hid one among flowers and another few on the staircase. I tried to find Scott’s bedroom, but to no avail. There were doors everywhere, leading to more white hallways and empty rooms. It was a house you could easily become lost in.
    Finally, I found myself in the living room Scott had mentioned. It was ginormous! But everything in it was white, making it hard to tell where the floor ended and the walls began. Maybe it was all an optical illusion, and it wasn’t as big as it looked? Or maybe it was even bigger. It hurt my eyes to try to focus on anything too carefully.
    About halfway across the room, a flicker of motioncaught my eye. I looked down. Had something brown just flitted underneath the couch I was passing? I paused for a second, but saw nothing. I started to walk forward again.
    And then I heard it. The telltale sound of a hollow rattle, followed by a slight slithering. Rattlesnake!
    If I was close enough to hear it rattling, that meant I was close enough to be in danger of being bitten. I stood as still as I could, trying to pinpoint where the sound was coming from. It must have been under the couch I was standing next to. Or the little footstool. Or the small decorative table. Or… The more I looked around, the more I realized the room was full of furniture and things that were hard to notice before, because everything in the room was white. The snake could be anywhere!
    Correction: Make that snakes. I heard a second rattle, somewhere off to my right. Then a third, close by the second. It wasn’t unusual for snakes and other animals to find their way into new homes in LA while they were being built—there just isn’t much room for wild things to live anywhere, so they like empty houses—but something told me that this had just gone from coincidence to attempted murder. And while I may not have been the intended target, I just might end up the victim.
    I looked around. Close by was a white statue of atree, about three feet tall. It was solid at the base, and I felt pretty sure no snake could be hiding underneath it. Very, very slowly, I climbed on top of it. With a little bit of height, I could see around the room. Right off the bat, I spotted two more snakes lazily slithering between pieces of furniture. This room was a reptilian minefield! There was no way I could chance walking back.
    I looked at the door I had entered. It wasn’t that far away. I began to calculate the distance. If I leaped from this statue to the back of the armchair, and stepped from there onto the dining table, and from there to the love seat… It looked like I could make it back without ever touching the floor.
    The first part was going to be the hardest. The armchair was a good four feet away, and if I landed wrong, I’d go flying to the ground, where I’d be lucky if I just broke my neck and wasn’t bitten by a snake. Or three.
    I psyched myself up to jump.
    â€œOne… two… three!”
    I leaped. I hung in the air for a split second, and then my right foot landed hard on the wooden back of the chair. Immediately, the chair tipped back onto two legs. I brought my left foot down onto one of the arms, hoping to balance the weight and keep from falling over entirely. For a second, the chair teetered, trying to decide whether to go back to standing on four legs or fall all the way over. I windmilled my arms, tryingto balance as best I could. Then the chair landed back down. I let out a sigh of relief. Safe.
    After that, the rest of the trip was easy. I made it to the door without ever stepping once on the floor. Once in the hallway, I raced back to the training center.
    â€œHelp!” I screamed, as soon as I got through the doors.