The Lake House Secret, A Romantic Suspense Novel (A Jenessa Jones Mystery) Page 6

  “They have a guess, but I don’t think I should say until they release their findings,” Provenza said.

  Jenessa leaned in and kept her voice low. “I heard one of the CSIs refer to the remains as her. That leads me to believe they think it was a woman.”

  “Well, there you have it,” he said softly. “But you didn’t hear it from me.”

  She hadn’t actually heard anyone say the remains were a her, but the bluff worked.

  “Any idea how long she’s been buried?” she asked.

  “They won’t know ‘til they get her back to their lab.”

  “If you could let me know as soon as you do, then I can add that fact into my story. Maybe someone will remember something out of the ordinary around that time.”

  “I can’t be giving out that kind of information.”

  “The townspeople will want to know, Detective.”

  He glared at her. “I’ll think on it.”

  “Seems like it must have been a shallow grave. Am I right?”

  “A few feet down, I’m guessing. Ten or twenty years ago there weren’t as many homes here as there are now. That house would have been here,” he pointed to the Alexanders’ house, “but this house under construction and the next one over would have just been treed woodlands back then. Maybe even the next house after that.”

  “I know it’s early, but any gut feelings about who may have done this?” she asked.

  “Not yet. It’s way too early. Could have been some random partiers from town who got out of hand and someone ended up dead. Maybe they buried her quick because they were afraid of someone finding out.”

  Jenessa knew what he meant. Going to the lake often meant beer parties, and sometimes smoking pot, for some of the teens and twenties crowd from Hidden Valley back in the day. Not knowing when this woman died, it was hard to say what was going on. For all she knew it could have happened in the nineteen fifties, although, with the few shreds of clothing still attached, it likely wasn’t that long ago.

  “Is there anything else you can tell me, Detective?” Jenessa asked.

  “I think that’s about it for now.”

  ~*~

  Jenessa swung the Roadster around and headed for home. She peeked over her shoulder at the Alexanders’ lake house as she cruised past it. She instantly wished she had kept her eyes straight ahead. Her pulse quickened and her throat tightened.

  She couldn’t help but think of Logan—and that night. A light layer of perspiration formed on her skin at the thought, and tiny chill bumps covered her arms as the cold air from the air conditioner hit her.

  Chapter 9

  Once out on the main road, she laid her foot heavy on the pedal, trying to escape the painful memories of what began in that lake house that ill-fated night. She flew around the curves, leaning into the centrifugal force. At times, the tires squealed, trying to stay on the road. Rather than feeling free, now she felt bound, constricted, the sequence of events playing over in her rattled mind.

  Six weeks after the passionate night at the lake house, Jenessa had discovered she was pregnant. Opposite of everything she had heard as a teenager, it truly did only take one time—that one night when she’d given herself to Logan. He was leaving for college in a few weeks and she had planned to return to high school for her senior year. But not after that night—everything changed—at least for her.

  The first person she had told was her best friend Ramey. Sweet and tender-hearted, Ramey had cried with Jenessa and lamented over what would happen next, to her and to the baby.

  Then Jenessa had told Logan. He had picked her up at her house that evening, and they were on their way to the movies. He pulled his car into a parking space and turned the engine off.

  She put her hand on his arm as he reached for the door handle. “Wait, Logan.” He turned back and looked at her. “I have something I need to tell you.”

  “What is it?” A slight frown furrowed his brow as he settled back into his seat.

  She paused, searching for the right words to lessen the shock, but none would come, so she just said it. “I’m pregnant.”

  “Pregnant? But how? We only did it that one time.”

  “I know that, but yet I am.” She held her breath, searched his face, waiting for his response. Did he love her as much as she loved him?

  He stared at her in silence for a long time, then finally spoke. “We can’t keep it.”

  She shifted in her seat to face him straight on. “We’re not talking about a puppy, Logan.” Surely he didn’t mean abortion.

  “Of course, I know that, but I’m leaving for the university in a few weeks, I have football practice starting. And you still have another year left of high school before you go off to college. We can’t get stuck raising a baby. You can’t think that—”

  Tears filled her eyes as he spoke. Desperation shook her and she grasped his hand. “Maybe we could—”

  He pulled away from her. “Oh, my God, you do.”

  “Just listen to me, Logan. We could get married. I’ll get my GED and go to school with you. Colleges have housing for married students, we could stay there until the baby was old enough for daycare. Then I could start taking courses. It could work.”

  “No, it couldn’t.” His features twisted in anguish for a brief moment, then he laid his head back against the headrest and expelled a rush of air. His expression softened a little as he leaned toward her and spoke. “We can’t get married—that’s out of the question—we’re just kids ourselves.” His lips were strained as he spoke. “Our whole lives are ahead of us, Jenessa. I think abortion is the best answer.”

  There it was. That was exactly what he meant. “I’m not going to kill our baby because it’s the easiest thing to do,” she snapped.

  “Then have the thing and put it up for adoption,” he shot back. “Keeping it will only ruin our lives.”

  “The thing?” she questioned, her eyes growing wide with anger.

  “I didn’t mean it like that.” He shook his head and dropped his chin with exasperation. Then his gaze met hers again and he took her by the arm. “Whether it’s a boy or a girl doesn’t matter, it’s just a little blob right now, so get rid of it.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous, Logan. It’s not a blob, it’s a baby—our baby.” She yanked away from his grip. She could no longer hold back the tears and they spilled down her cheeks.

  As much as either of them hated the thought of telling their folks, they agreed they had to. Their parents were friends, sort of. Actually, Logan’s father was her dad’s biggest client and they traveled in some of the same social circles.

  Fearful and nervous, Jenessa and Logan gathered their parents together in one room, at the Alexanders’ palatial home, and broke the news to all of them at once. Logan’s father and stepmother were furious, Jenessa’s parents were mortified.

  Not that any of the adults asked the teenagers’ opinions, but Jenessa made it clear she wanted to keep the baby and suggested they get married. Logan said he wanted her to have an abortion so they could both get on with their lives. In the end, the parents decided it would be best if Jenessa went to live outside of Hidden Valley, have the baby, and put it up for adoption.

  It was easier for them to call the baby it so there would be no emotional attachment, they claimed. But no matter what they called her baby, Jenessa knew she would forever have an emotional attachment to the child.

  That night, Grey Alexander had offered to pay all of Jenessa’s medical expenses. There was something powerful and dark in the man’s eyes that always made her uncomfortable in his presence, but this particular night it was exponentially worse. Something in her heart told her maybe it was a good thing she wasn’t going to be part of his family.

  Her father had stood up to Mr. Alexander and insisted on paying his half, fulfilling his paternal obligation. They were both at fault, he had reasoned, Jenessa and Logan, and the financial burden should be shared equally.

  So the final decision was made. F
or the sake of all concerned, the parents had said, Jenessa would be sent to her grandmother’s home in Santa Rosa until the baby was born and given up for adoption, and Logan would go off to college to play football, as planned.

  From that day on, Jenessa’s father never treated her the same.

  ~*~

  The drive home from the crime scene at Jonas Lake was a blur. Before she realized it, Jenessa found herself pulling into the driveway of her parents’ home. She went inside and changed into shorts and a tank top, excited to get started writing her story.

  She phoned her boss and told him what she had so far, that she hoped to hear from the detective as to how long the bones had been there, and confirmation that it was a woman’s skeleton.

  “I was able to snap a few photos, so I’ll look through them and see if there’s anything we can print,” she said.

  He asked her to give him all she had so far and he’d run it in the morning newspaper. “The television news will probably be reporting on it tonight, but the article should give a more in-depth story.”

  “I didn’t see any TV news crews there when I left,” she reported, “but it would take them at least a couple of hours to drive there from Sacramento or Fresno.”

  “True.”

  “They may not even think it’s a big enough story to run with, compared to the expense of sending a crew.”

  “I hope you’re right, Jenessa. I’d like the paper to get the scoop on a news story for a change.”

  “If the remains turn out to be those of a celebrity or linked to someone important, I’m sure they’ll be all over it. But that doesn’t seem likely.”

  “Send me what you have by six,” McAllister said.

  “Will do.”

  ~*~

  Jenessa wrote her story, what little she knew, wishing she’d hear back from the detective about the timeline. After reviewing and editing, she still hadn’t heard, so she decided to make a preemptive call.

  “Detective, this is Jenessa Jones, from the Hidden Valley Herald.”

  “Hello, Ms. Jones. I’m kind of busy right now. Can I call you back?”

  “Just one question—have you heard from the CSI team on how long the bones that were discovered this morning had been buried?”

  “They’ve barely had time to get back to their lab.”

  “I know. I was just hoping.”

  “I can tell you this much, at the scene the lead investigator said she suspected between ten and fifteen years. They’ll be running a carbon dating test to try to pinpoint it a little more accurately, but that may be as close as they can get. No promises.”

  “Do you think they’ll be able to give us any more details, like age, height, ethnicity? Anything like that?”

  “That’s a heck of a lot more than just one question,” he snapped.

  “I need it for my story, Detective. If someone could help identify who this woman was, then it’ll help you find out who killed her and buried her. She deserves that much, don’t you think?”

  “I’d like to tell you more, but I can’t release those details just yet.”

  “Then when?”

  “I can’t say. My captain wants to play it close to the vest until we know who she was.”

  “He must have some idea, then.” Who was he trying to protect?

  “I really can’t say. I need to go. Good luck.”

  Chapter 10

  Her conversation with the detective left her unsettled. She knew there were times the police withheld certain facts that only a killer would know. Was that it? Did they already find something that could point to the killer?

  Maybe her contacts at the Sacramento paper had an in at the state crime lab. She decided to call her old boss, Jack Linear.

  “I have a cousin at the lab,” he told her, after she’d explained the situation.

  “Would she be willing to talk to me?”

  “Depends. I’m sure she’s not going to break the law or risk losing her job.”

  “Hey, I’m only trying to find out who the woman was, and more precisely, when she was killed. If she could get me the approximate age, height, race—you know, that kind of thing.”

  “Maybe she’d do it if you could guarantee her anonymity.”

  “Absolutely. You know me, I would never divulge my source.”

  “If she’s willing, I’ll have her call you. Same number?” Jack asked.

  “Yes. Thanks for the help.”

  Jenessa downloaded the photos from her camera into her computer and pulled them up on her laptop screen. She scanned through them, looking for the best front-page shot. She had been able to take six, from different angles, before the detective stopped her.

  From the photos, she could see that a bit of old fabric still remained on the body, and several brass buttons lay in the pelvic cavity, near the waist, looking like they might have come from blue jeans or cut-offs. There was a narrow silver chain around the neck area with something oval hanging from it, probably a necklace of some kind.

  In one photo, she picked up something beside the body—a button maybe? Or was it an earring? She opened the picture in her Photoshop software and enlarged it. Still, she couldn’t tell what it was, it was too blurry. She sharpened the image, added contrast and took the size down a notch. It was square-ish with a design of some sort on it—but what was it?

  Jack Linear’s cousin hadn’t called her yet. More details would definitely add to the story, but she had no way of contacting the woman herself. All she could do was wait and hope she called.

  As the afternoon wore on into evening, time was beginning to run out and she had to get her story in. The Herald wasn’t a big-city paper. The printing staff didn’t work through the night in Hidden Valley like they did in Sacramento.

  Jenessa needed to choose a photo and be done with it for the night. Most of the pictures had an investigator’s hand or shoulder, or some other body part, intruding into the shot, so she chose the cleanest, most eye-catching photo and sent it to her editor, along with her story.

  She dialed Charles McAllister’s number and he answered on the first ring.

  “Charles, this is Jenessa. My story is on its way to you.”

  “Great. I’ll be able to get it into the morning paper. I saved a spot on the front page.”

  “I sent a photo along. I hope you can use it.”

  “Even better.”

  “I’m certain there’s more to this story, though. I just need more time to uncover it. I’ll stay on it.”

  “I knew having a big-city reporter working for us would be good for this town.”

  “Sacramento is not exactly the big city.”

  “Compared to Hidden Valley it is. Not much happens here, so when something like this pops up, our readers will be riveted. When’s the next installment?”

  “I can’t say, but I’ll keep you in the loop. This is a homicide investigation and the police are pretty tight-lipped about the details, but I’ll keep digging and follow it wherever it leads.” Jenessa was vibrating with excitement—it felt good to be back in the saddle again.

  “Sounds fantastic, Jenessa. But don’t forget—”

  “Forget what?”

  “I still need you to do the weddings and social events.”

  ~*~

  Jenessa went into her father’s office to tackle the last drawer of his file cabinet.

  After an hour of searching, she shut the cabinet. Nothing.

  The desk’s lap drawer drew her attention once more. She searched her father’s key ring, but only the keys to the car and the house were on it.

  Should she break into it? Then she remembered her aunt’s pointed admonishment not to damage the valuable antique.

  Could she pick the lock? How hard could it be?

  She tried a metal nail file, an ice pick, a bobby pin, other keys—but nothing worked. It looked so easy in the movies. She wondered if her friend Michael, as a policeman, might know of any small-time criminals she could hire to pick it.

&n
bsp; She could call a locksmith, but what if there was something sensitive in the drawer? With the way gossip flew around that town with lightning speed, she couldn’t risk it.

  Tomorrow she would call Michael, she decided, but for right now it was time to go to Aunt Renee’s for dinner with the family. She liked the sound of that—dinner with the family.

  She grabbed her purse and hopped into the Roadster. As she drove to her aunt’s home, she wondered if anyone would have any objections to her driving this car regularly, as opposed to her old Toyota. It would certainly be a huge improvement, and she wouldn’t have to worry every time she tried to start it up if it actually would.

  ~*~

  When she arrived at Aunt Renee’s home, Ramey was already there, having left an employee to close up the shop. Jenessa noticed her out on the patio, manning the grill, with the sparkling blue pool in the distance.

  After greeting Sara and her aunt, she stepped out through the french doors to say hello to her friend. “What’s cooking?” Jenessa pulled the door shut behind her.

  “Hey, Jen.” Ramey threw an arm around her shoulder and gave her a quick squeeze. “Salmon.”

  “Looks good.”

  “I heard you snagged that job today at the newspaper,” Ramey said, lifting a Salmon steak with the metal spatula, checking for doneness. “Congratulations. I’m so happy you’re sticking around.”

  “For a while, anyway.” Jenessa wondered if she should mention her first assignment, but thought she’d hold off for a bit.

  “A long while, I hope.” Ramey flashed her a big smile.

  “We’ll see.” Jenessa walked farther out on the patio and looked at the tempting pool. “Want to swim later?”

  “Me, in a suit?”

  “You’re among friends, Ramey.”

  “Maybe.” She flipped the fish on the grill.

  Jenessa returned to Ramey’s side. “Hey, I was wondering…what’s with Michael Baxter?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “What’s his story? What happened to him after high school?”

  Ramey grinned. “Interested?”

  “No, not really,” Jenessa replied, working to keep her voice even and casual. “I mean, well, we were friends in high school and then we lost touch after I left. I’ve run into him a few times since I got back and I just wondered.”