Chapter 1
"Kendall Knight! Come here!" yelled Mrs. Knight from the kitchen.
"What's wrong Mom?" asked Kendall as he came out of the bedroom. She sounded mad.
Mrs. Knight sat at the table and stared at Kendall as he came into the room. A mound of envelopes was on the table in front of her. She tossed one of the envelopes at Kendall.
"Do you care to tell me what you spent five thousand dollars on recently?" asked Mrs. Knight as she watched Kendall pick up the bill.
"Five thousand dollars?" asked Kendall in shock as he read the bill. "But I never spent any of it!"
"It says that it came off the credit card that Gustavo personally gave you," said Mrs. Knight. "You know that Gustavo is going to expect you to pay for that."
Mrs. Knight leaned back in her chair.
"But Mom, I haven't even used my credit card since I received it last month!" said Kendall. "Well, take that back. I used it once to buy myself a lunch, but that's it I swear!"
Mrs. Knight studied Kendall and the shocked look on his face before saying, "I believe you Kendall. I have no reason not to. But how do you explain that bill?"
"I don't know," said Kendall.
"Look. You stay here and watch Katie in the apartment since she has the flu. I'll go try to straighten this out with Gustavo and the bank," said Mrs. Knight as she rose from the table and held her hand out for the bill.
Kendall handed it over wordlessly.
"I'll be back shortly," said Mrs. Knight as she waved goodbye and shut the door of apartment 2J behind her.
Kendall walked over to the couch and threw himself down onto it. He looked up at the ceiling and wondered how that bill had come into existence. Kendall heard the door fly open and he didn't have to look to know who it was.
"I'm telling you, if you just gave me five minutes alone with Lucy, I could get her to love me," said James.
"James, you've been trying to make Lucy love you forever. Five more minutes isn't going to make a difference," said Logan.
"It will if I give her the face," insisted James.
"The face?" asked Logan with a short laugh. "And what, may I ask, is the face?"
Kendall turned his head to the side to look at them as James smiled a bright smile.
"That's the face?" asked Logan. "Well, good luck with that is all I can say."
"Hey! A smile is a person's glimpse into your heart," said James. "Maybe if I give her a glimpse into my heart, she'll love me."
Carlos walked behind the pair of them, daydreaming about something. He snapped out of it when Logan turned and asked him, "What do you think James could do to win Lucy's heart?"
"Be her hero," said Carlos with a shrug of his shoulders.
"Yep," said James. "I'm sticking with my plan."
The three of them turned and finally saw Kendall's worried face.
"What's wrong Kendall?" asked Logan as they came over and sat down on the couch with him.
"My Mom received a bill saying that I spent five thousand dollars on the credit card that Gustavo gave us," said Kendall.
"What did you spend it on?" asked James eagerly.
"I didn't spend it on anything!" said Kendall. "That's the problem! My Mom went to the bank to see if she could straighten the matter out."
"Well that certainly is strange," admitted Logan.
"Maybe it's a case of identity theft," said Carlos.
The three of them looked over at Carlos as Kendall said, "Identity theft? Who would want to pretend to be me?"
"I don't know, but Carlos may have a point," said Logan. "It's not impossible."
"But why?" asked Kendall.
Before anyone else could say a word, they heard a terrified scream down the hall.
"What was that?" asked Kendall as they all ran toward the door.
They reached the door and peeked out into the hallway to see everyone clustered a little ways down the hall.
"Carlos, James, could you please stay with Katie for a minute? We'll be right back," said Kendall as he and Logan ran over to see what all the commotion was about.
They got to the crowd and managed to worm their way in so they could see what was going on. A teenage girl laid collapsed on the floor, unconcious.
"Is she dead?" asked someone from the crowd.
Kendall knew that she was. He could see the tiny pool of blood beginning to puddle under her head.
"Yes," said someone from the crowd. "She is."
Kendall didn't recognize the girl, but that was probably because there were a lot of people living at the Palm Woods. How did she die?
"She's been murdered," whispered Logan as if he could read Kendall's thoughts.
"What?" whispered Kendall as he turned to face Logan.
"Look at the red wound by her hairline," said Logan. "A knife is the only thing that could leave that kind of scar."
Mr. Bitters suddenly appeared on the scene, flustered and out of breath.
"It's alright. There is no need to panic. Everyone please head back to your rooms and stay there. The police will be here shortly," instructed Mr. Bitters as he stood in front of the murdered girl.
Kendall and Logan turned and walked back to the aparment like the rest of the crowd. What was going on?
"So someone got murdered?" asked James, his voice becoming pinched in panic. "And we're expected to stay here still?"
"Where would we go James?" asked Kendall. "Besides, Katie is really sick. I told Mom I'd watch over her."
"Carlos, you're awful quiet," said Logan looking over at Carlos who was lying on the couch. "Actually you've been staring off into space all day. What's up?"
"I'm trying to figure out who that guy that we saw at the ice cream stand today is," said Carlos. "He looked familiar and it's been bothering me all day."
"You mean the guy in front of us with the scar on his right hand?" asked James. "He looked familiar?"
"Well yea," said Carlos. "Something about him seemed familiar."
Suddenly a knock came at the door.
"I wonder who that could be," said Kendall as he got up from the couch and walked over to the door.
He opened the door and saw two police officers standing there.
"Is there something I can do for you officers?" asked Kendall.
"Yes, is there a Kendall Knight here?" asked one of the police officers.
"That would be me," said Kendall. "What can I do for you?"
"Kendall Knight, you are under arrest," said the other officer.
"What for?" asked Kendall in shock.
"For the murder at the Palm Woods."