Foreword: I think it's about time to update this story. Frank was found in a room with a dead man, but now, the detectives will face another obstacle: the room was completely locked and was impossible for a person to get out after framing Frank! As I promised, this is not going to be like the usual ND&HB Sup Mys because it's more like a true mystery novel and has less romance. Please review!

5

The One and Only Suspect

The first one to move was Nancy. She went to the limp body and checked the pulse. After a few moments later, she bit her lower lip and looked up, shaking her head.

"Sam is dead."

"What was that noise about?"

Nancy turned around. It was Mrs. Morley. Behind her was Mr. Morley. Then, three more people came to the lobby. There were Ned, Jerome, Percival, and Kent. They all had worried looks on their faces after hearing the sound of shattering glass.

Mrs. Morley was the one who screamed as she saw the body of her cousin on the floor. He was not moving, and an eighteen-year-old dark-haired boy was sitting on the chair, holding a golden statue with blood splattered on it. In an instant, she deduced what had happened and screamed once again.

"What have you done, Frank?" she asked. It was more like crying.

"I… I didn't do anything," Frank said, trying to stand up. "Oh, my head…"

He brought his left hand to his face and gasped. There was blood on his left hand, and he had no idea how it got there. After all, he didn't feel hurt anywhere except the back of his head, and he knew he wasn't hurt that bad. But when he looked at the lifeless body of a man in front of him, he knew instantly where the blood came from. The room filled with the sick odor of fresh blood.

"I'll call 9-1-1!" one of Percival's two brothers said. He had blond hair and brown eyes. Looking at his age, Nancy deduced that he was Kent Stuart, the youngest in the whole family. He took out his cell phone and dialed 9-1-1. He then went to the lounge and talked to the operator.

"This is not happening…" the other brother said. He had gray hair and looked older than Percival but younger than Mrs. Morley. He must be Jerome. He also had brown eyes. As Nancy looked, the entire family had brown eyes.

"Frank, why are you here?" Joe finally asked.

"I was told to come here."

"What?" George asked. "Who?"

"I don't know." Frank held the back of his head. "Oh, my head is pounding."

"You can tell us what happened later," Nancy said. "But now, we need the police to come." She then turned to the others. "Please do not touch anything in the inn before the police comes here. We need to preserve the crime scene as it is. They need to dust the area for fingerprints."

"Why do they have to do that?"

It was Mr. Morley. He had a cold stare, and he was staring at Frank. "We already know who the murderer is."

Mrs. Morley covered her face. The three Stuarts looked nervously around, but from their looks, Nancy knew that they were convinced Frank was the killer. Nancy immediately had an idea.

"Sam must have knocked down the vase when he collapsed, so the killer must have been still in the room when he collapsed. George and I were in the lounge reading magazines when Joe and we heard the crashing sound. And no one has escaped through this door," she said, facing the door where the others were standing at, "so the killer must have escaped from the other door in this room." She walked to the door that was at the wall facing north. Taking out her gloves, Nancy tried the knob.

"What?"

It was locked. She turned to the others. "Does anyone have key to this room?"

"There is no key," Mrs. Morley said. "This room can be locked only from the inside. Besides, we didn't have to worry about being locked out because you can never lock this door without someone in this room to lock it in the first place."

"Then, this must mean a locked room!" Percival Stuart, who was a famous attorney, said. "And only one person could have committed the crime."

"No!" George shouted. "Frank would never kill anyone. He's the son of Fenton Hardy, a famous private investigator!"

For a second, the guests were silent as they heard that the dark-haired eighteen-year-old was the famous detective's son.

"But it doesn't matter," Mr. Morley said. "This is a murder case. I don't care who your father is. You can commit a murder even when your father is the king of the world!"

After that, nobody said anything.

A few minutes later, the police finally arrived. There were some crews from the rescue team who came here on foot. One of them was sure that Sam was dead.

"He must have been hit multiple times by someone who used a hard object with a circular base," he said. "And I'm sure we found our murderer here."

Joe was maddened by that remark. "My brother would never commit a murder. Besides, we never even talked to Sam Cantu. He has no motive."

Nancy added, "Besides, we just came here today. We haven't even talked to any other person here in Florida."

A police officer came into the room. "Mr. Hardy," he said, facing Frank who was standing in the middle of the lobby, "you are hereby arrested for the murder of Samuel Cantu." He snapped the handcuff on Frank's wrists. "Come with us to the station." And then he turned to Nancy, George, Ned, and Joe. "And you four. Come with us to the station as well; we'll need to hear from you about the condition you found the body in."

They didn't argue. They followed the officers into three separate police cars. Few minutes later they arrived at the police station. The interrogation seemed to last forever, but the four teenagers were finally released. Frank was sitting at a desk in a separate room when they went to see him.

"Frank," Nancy said, "you must tell us what happened. Why did you end up in that room with the body?"

Frank looked up. He seemed to be confused. "I got this letter telling me to come to the dining room right away. Someone had come to the door and slipped it into the room. I don't know who it was, but I went to the dining room anyway. But when I opened the door, nobody was inside. I then heard someone coming, so I turned around. That's when I felt something hard hit the back of my head. I heard the glass vase shattering and opened my eyes. My head was throbbing and I didn't know what was going on until I saw the body in front of me in the pool of blood."

"So someone must have framed Frank," Joe said, "but I don't know who."

"A murderer is still out there," Nancy added, "and I won't rest until I find who he is. And I have a hunch that the two murders are connected—"

"What?" Joe asked, surprised. "What do you mean two murders?"

Nancy immediately knew that her mouth had slipped. She wasn't supposed to tell the Hardys about the murder case she was asked to investigate, but now she knew she had to tell them what she was hiding all along.

"Okay, Ned, George, and I came here to Florida because we were asked to investigate a murder case. A friend of my parents' wanted me to catch the person responsible for killing Christina Stuart. And I think the two murders may be linked. After all, they both took place at the farm."

Just then, the officer came into the room. "I'm afraid you'll have to leave. We will be analyzing the blood found on the golden statue Mr. Hardy was holding. We have his fingerprints, and if we find that the blood on the statue matches Mr. Cantu's blood, then that will be all the evidence we need to convict him of a murder."

Nancy was horrified. "But he has no motive!"

"Maybe he and the victim got into a fight, or maybe he was having a grudge on the victim. Who knows? Unless proven otherwise, I am going to charge him of first-degree murder, second-degree murder, or voluntary manslaughter."

George whispered to Nancy, "Let's get out of here, Nance. We have to find who framed Frank!"

Nancy nodded. She turned to the officer. "We would like to investigate this case. May we go back to the scene of the crime? We have done other detective works in the past. I'm Nancy Drew."

"Nancy Drew?" The officer's eyebrows shot up. "I've heard of your reputation, young lady. During the last two years you have been solving quite a few cases here in Florida."

Nancy immediately remembered those cases he was talking about. She was at Cape Canaveral, which was also known as Cape Kennedy, to solve the Mystery of the Moss-Covered Mansion when she was sixteen to prove that one of her father's friends was innocent after he had been arrested for sending a truck loaded with explosive oranges into Space Center. When she was seventeen, she went to the Florida Keys to find The Clues of the Black Keys to help find the three keys needed to open an antique trunk and the buried treasure. Then, just a few months ago, she solved Mystery of Crocodile Island, where she uncovered a group of suspected poachers in a mysterious island called the Crocodile Island.

"Well, I suppose you won't interfere with the police work…"

"Officer," Frank interrupted, "Is it possible that someone knocked me out and put me down on the chair, killed Sam Cantu, and then placed it in my hand so there would only be my fingerprints?"

The officer thought for a moment. "Well, that can be done, but how do you think the real murderer escaped? The room was completely locked when your friends heard the crash. How do you explain that?"

"I don't know yet," Frank said. "But even if I were the killer, I would never stay in the same room with the person I killed and hold the murder weapon so I would leave fingerprints on it. If I were he, then I would think of a way out. Please, officer, I need to investigate this case. You can have your men follow me twenty-four hours a day and make sure I don't run away. I need to clear my name."

Finally, the officer nodded. "We already have all the evidence we can find at the crime scene, and by seeing that your father is a prominent private investigator, I can trust you. But don't dare try to make an attempt to run away, Mr. Hardy. I'll have my men follow you."

"Don't worry, officer. I won't."

"So where do we start?" George asked.

The five teenagers were back at the inn. Joe looked at the watch. It was already eight o'clock. "I'm starving," he said. "Let's go have dinner first."

The teens went to the car rental agency and rented two cars for their investigations: one silver sedan for the Hardys and one burgundy convertible for Nancy, George, and Ned. After eating dinner at a local restaurant, they went back to the inn. Mrs. Morley was at the reception desk and was surprised to see Frank. "I'm so glad you came back," she said, somewhat ashamed. "I'm sorry I thought you were the killer. When I thought of it, you didn't even talk to him and you would never hurt a fly."

"The police still think I killed Sam Cantu. But I'm determined to find out who killed him." Frank then took out his small notebook he carried with him everyday. "So can you tell us of your alibi?"

Mrs. Morley told the teenage detectives that she and her husband were in their room after they went shopping for food. When they came back and put the food into the kitchen, they didn't see anyone in the dining room. The kitchen was connected to the dining room. At that remark, Ned remembered that there was a third door at the western wall leading to the kitchen. The detectives went to the kitchen because they thought the murderer could have escaped through the window in the kitchen, if there was any.

Unfortunately, their hypothesis was not true. The kitchen had a refrigerator, an oven, a microwave oven, a fan, a counter, and some shelves, but there wasn't a window in sight. The only way for a person to get in there was through the door leading from the dining room, and they knew the killer could not have escaped here.

Mrs. Morley came into the room. "You see? There is no way out."

Joe thought for a moment. "We came back from the trip to the Everglades at five o'clock. We got some rest and when we found the body, it was already six. When were you away, Mrs. Morley?"

The middle-aged woman thought for a moment. "From three to five-forty."

Nancy and George suddenly remembered something. "Yes! I remember!" George shouted. "Nancy and I were down here to read some magazine, and we saw you and Mr. Morley come in through the front door. I remember that was about five-forty."

Frank nodded. "So your alibi is solid so far," he said. "Now we should check the other guests' alibis."

Nancy put her hands into her pocket, and then took it out. "Oh, no. I forgot my notebook in my room," she groaned. "What kind of a detective would forget it? I'll need to go get it from my room."

With those words, she turned around and ran up the stairs. But suddenly, when she got up to the second floor, her foot slipped on some kind of liquid that was poured on the floor.

"Ah!"

As Nancy screamed, her entire body was pushed down the stairs by gravity. She was about to fall ten feet down to the ground!

Postscript: I can't believe I finished about one third of the story! Anyway, the mystery still continues for seven more chapters, before the solusion, the motive, and the epilogue in that order. I will post the next chapter as soon as I finish it. But keep reviewing, because when I see five additional reviews, i will update the story :-)