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

by Debra Burroughs

  Elizabeth’s eyes lit up and she spent the next twenty minutes talking in animated fashion about when the grand fund-raising auction would be, offering great detail about what they planned to do to restore the auditorium.

  “I think I’ve got all I need for an article. Thank you so much for your time.” Jenessa stuck her pad and pen in her purse and rose from her seat. She started to turn to leave but spun back around. “By the way, I’d like to ask one more question.”

  “What is it?”

  Jenessa sank back down on the edge of the seat, angling herself toward Elizabeth. “I’m also writing a story on the female remains found up by Jonas Lake.”

  “I read something about that.”

  “I have reason to believe the woman was Lucy St. John.” Jenessa watched Elizabeth’s face for a reaction.

  Her eyes widened for a second then returned to normal. “What makes you think it’s her? Is that what the authorities have determined?”

  “I’m not at liberty to say, but I wondered if you might have known her at some point.”

  “Yes, I knew her. Not well, of course.” Elizabeth stroked her neck, appearing a bit uncomfortable at the question. “It’s no secret my ex-husband had many women on the side when we were married. Lucy was one of them.”

  “This question may be in bad taste, but I have to ask. Did you ever wonder if Grey was the father of Lucy’s baby?”

  Chapter 25

  Elizabeth jerked back, as if Jenessa had just slapped her, and her eyes grew wide at the question. A few fingers covered her gaping mouth and she drew a quick breath. As she twisted in the auditorium chair, her startled gaze flew to the far end of the auditorium where people were arranging items on the stage.

  Eventually, she dropped her hands into her lap and her features relaxed, appearing to gain control over her initial reaction. She returned her gaze to Jenessa. “Yes, I knew, eventually. But how did you find out about that?”

  “I can’t say.”

  “Does the girl know?”

  “Not yet,” Jenessa said, “but she will soon.”

  Elizabeth looked blankly toward the stage again. “Grey sent money to Lucy regularly. Did you know that? I told him it was a poor precedent to set, but he wouldn’t listen to me.”

  “Monthly payments for child support?”

  “More like hush money.”

  “You couldn’t have been too happy that a portion of your family’s income was going to his mistress.”

  Elizabeth’s attention turned back to Jenessa. “I wasn’t.” Her eyes narrowed and her lips thinned. “I could have wrung that woman’s scrawny neck for screwing around with my husband.”

  “What stopped you?”

  “Knowing she wasn’t the first and she likely wouldn’t be the last. In fact, that Barbie doll he’s married to now was once one of his affairs. That’s when I’d had enough. I filed for divorce. Did you know that?”

  “No, I didn’t.” Jenessa saw the sadness in Elizabeth’s eyes.

  “What’s done is done.”

  Jenessa couldn’t leave it at that. “The summer Lucy St. John was killed, were you in town?”

  “What summer would that have been?”

  “Eleven years ago.” The exact time hadn’t been determined yet, but eleven years ago was Jenessa’s best guess, for that was the last time Ramey had seen her mother.

  “Let’s see.” Elizabeth’s eyes rose to the ceiling and she tapped her chin. “That would have been…ah, yes, that was the summer I spent in Italy.” Her gaze set on Jenessa and a satisfied smile spread across her lips. “I had met a delicious Italian vintner and we spent a glorious three months together.” Her eyes grew round. “You don’t think I had anything to do with that woman’s death, do you?”

  Jenessa held her tongue and arched a brow.

  “You do!” Elizabeth gasped. “Oh, you can’t be serious.”

  “Sorry, Mrs. Alexander, I had to ask.”

  Elizabeth stood, an overt sign of her desire to end the conversation. “I’d better not find any of what I just said in your newspaper. I’ll deny ever having talked to you.”

  Jenessa ignored Elizabeth’s threat and kept the questions coming. “Does Logan know Ramey is his sister?”

  “That’s enough.”

  Jenessa continued. “Perhaps he wanted to keep Lucy from spilling the beans about her father’s identity, because then he’d have to share his inheritance with her.”

  Elizabeth’s eyes narrowed and she shot daggers at Jenessa with them. “This interview is over. Please leave.”

  Jenessa turned to go, then she stopped and glanced back over her shoulder. “You know the police will ask you the same questions I have. The truth will eventually come out.”

  Finding her way out of the school and back to the parking lot, Jenessa climbed in the Roadster. An avalanche of questions about Logan poured into her mind. She hadn’t really considered him a suspect until now. It made sense though. He had the most to lose.

  He would have been home from college that summer. Could he have learned about Ramey then? Had his father or mother told him, or had he overheard something? Had he somehow discovered the monthly payments—maybe heard his father talking about them? Or had he seen something about them on Grey’s desk?

  If so, Logan would almost certainly have confronted his father. Perhaps Grey assured Logan that Lucy had never told Ramey, that it was part of their agreement, or the payments would stop. Grey had to know that if Lucy pursued him in court he was more than able to bury her, and he would have made sure she knew it too.

  Did Logan ensure the secret was kept quiet, not wanting to share his considerable inheritance with his half sister? Had he lured Lucy to the lake house and murdered her to keep her from telling Ramey?

  Jenessa hated to think Logan was capable of something like that, but then again, money can make people do things they might not otherwise do. She’d written enough news stories for the Sacramento paper to know that was true.

  Was it a real possibility? Or was her writer’s imagination running away with her?

  Starting the car, she glanced at the clock in the dashboard. It was almost five and Ramey would be expecting her. She would have to tell Ramey about her father before someone else beat her to it.

  ~*~

  “Oh, my gosh, Jenessa! I was about to give up on you,” Ramey cried as she opened the door, dressed in her bathrobe. “Look at me, I’m a mess.”

  “Calm down. I’m only five minutes late.” Jenessa stepped inside Ramey’s cluttered little house, decorated in shabby chic with flea market finds she had refurbished.

  “Sorry, I’ve been a basket of nerves all afternoon.”

  “Oh, that’s typical first-date jitters. You’ll be fine,” Jenessa said, hoping to assure her.

  Jenessa would be on the lookout for a good opportunity to break the news to her about Grey.

  “Well, let’s get started. You’ve got a lot to do, my friend.” Ramey led Jenessa down the short hall to her bedroom. “What if I say something stupid? What if I get so nervous I can’t say anything at all?”

  “Relax, Ramey. Charles comes into the bakery all the time and you two talk, don’t you?”

  “Well, yes, but it’s just casual, like I do with all my customers.”

  “Then just think of him as another customer. Make small talk like you do at the shop. Maybe that’ll help.”

  “Okay, but what if he finds out he doesn’t like me after all?”

  “Oh, sweetie, just be yourself and you’ll be fine.” Jenessa took her by the shoulders. “Listen, you’re funny and sweet and very intelligent. Your blue eyes sparkle and your smile lights up a room. If he can’t see all that, then he doesn’t deserve you.”

  When Jenessa released her hold, Ramey spun around to face a full-length mirror. She took in her image for a moment then pushed out her chest, held her head high, and smiled at her reflection. “You’re right. I am a great catch and any man would be lucky to have me.”

&nbs
p; “That’s more like it, Ramey,” Jenessa assured her. “Confidence is a beautiful thing.”

  The two busted out laughing and gave each other a quick hug. Telling Ramey about her father at this point would only spoil her wonderful date with Charles—Jenessa couldn’t bring herself to do it.

  “Now, let’s get busy,” Jenessa ordered with determination. “We’ve got a date to get ready for.”

  Jenessa took the curling iron and styled Ramey’s hair into softer, looser curls before applying her makeup, giving her smoky eyes, luscious lashes, and rosy lips. Then it was time to choose something to wear. After trying on six different outfits, she finally settled on a sleeveless summer dress with azure blue flowers on a crisp white background, which set off her eyes and her head of red waves.

  Ramey stood before the full-length mirror again and admired Jenessa’s handiwork. “I don’t think I’ve looked this good in a long time—not since I was a teenager.”

  “Oh, it hasn’t been that long.” With Jenessa gone from Hidden Valley for so many years, it didn’t seem so long ago that Ramey had blossomed into a beautiful slim eighteen-year-old. But something had changed in her life and she stopped paying much attention to her looks. Was it when her mother left her? Or was it all the hours and hard work she put into the bakery?

  “Oh, I’m afraid it has been.” Ramey turned away from the mirror and faced Jenessa. The expression on her face grew serious. “There’s something I should tell you, something that happened a long time ago.”

  Jenessa steadied herself for what sounded like bad news. Did she already know about her father?

  “When I was nineteen, I went out with Logan…a couple of times. It was the summer after my mother left.”

  “With Logan?” Jenessa’s cheeks burned and her breath caught in her throat. It felt like Ramey had slapped her across the face. First she finds out her little sister used to date her ex—and is still in love with him—and now she finds out her best friend dated him too.

  Jenessa dropped down onto the side of the bed. She raised her eyes to Ramey, her bottom lip quivering slightly. “I don’t know what to say.”

  Chapter 26

  Logan and Ramey?

  Here, Jenessa had not wanted to drop a bombshell on Ramey, yet she got blasted herself.

  Ramey settled beside her on the bed. “I wanted to tell you at the time, but you were so angry at him that you didn’t even want his name spoken in your presence. That’s what you said, remember?”

  “I’m shocked.” Jenessa gave her head a shake, trying to rid herself of that feeling.

  “I ran into him one day at that cute little shop The Mercantile. I was shopping for a gift for your mother’s birthday and he was shopping for something for his stepmother. We got talking and he asked for my help. We chatted and we laughed about stuff—one thing led to another and he asked me out. We went to a movie and had dessert at Latiff’s after that. He even kissed me good night.”

  “You don’t need to give me the details.”

  “But I want you to know. The second date, he made reservations for dinner at Antonio’s. After he picked me up, though, he realized he had forgotten his wallet and we stopped by his house. Logan introduced me to his father, who seemed really uneasy. It was weird.”

  Of course he did, he knew Logan was dating his own sister. Should she tell her now? Instead, Jenessa bit her tongue and listened.

  “Grey asked if he could have a word alone with Logan and they went off into another room. When he came back, Logan wasn’t the same.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “He seemed, I don’t know, aloof. Before his little talk with his father, we’d been getting along so well, conversation was easy. We laughed a lot and had fun together. But all through dinner he didn’t seem to have much to say. He took me home and didn’t even try to kiss me good night.”

  Jenessa knew why, and now she knew exactly when Logan had discovered the truth. This was the perfect time to tell her that Logan was her brother, that Grey Alexander was her father.

  “Ramey, I have—”

  The doorbell rang and the girls looked at each other.

  “Oh, I can’t go on a date now. I’m a nervous wreck,” Ramey said, grimacing.

  “You’re not a wreck. You look beautiful. Just take a few deep breaths. I’ll go answer the door while you collect yourself.” Jenessa stood and started out of the bedroom door, then stopped and turned back to her friend. Telling her about the possibility Grey was her father would have to wait for another day. “Charles is a lucky man.”

  ~*~

  Charles and Ramey left on their date, and Jenessa drove home. Her conversation with Ramey played over in her mind. She could hardly believe that when Ramey was nineteen—the summer after her mother left—she’d dated Logan.

  Was that the summer Lucy died?

  Logan had just learned of his father’s affair and that Ramey was his sister. Could he have somehow lured Lucy back to Hidden Valley? To the lake house? He would have known Ramey had no idea she was his sister, or she never would have agreed to go out with him.

  This new piece of the puzzle only strengthened Jenessa’s suspicion that Logan might have killed Lucy to keep her from telling Ramey who her father was. Maybe he didn’t mean to hurt Lucy, only scare her into keeping quiet, but then things went terribly wrong, as they often do in situations like these.

  Once she arrived home and settled in, Jenessa phoned Detective Provenza.

  “Hey, George, this is Jenessa again.”

  “Please, call me Detective,” he grumbled. “What is it now?”

  “I know you don’t have confirmation of the identity of the body yet, but I’m absolutely certain it’s Lucy St. John.”

  “Yeah, I got that last time you called. Just so you know, I did a bit of checking, trying to track down Lucy St. John, but I’m not finding anything current on her. The trail goes cold about ten or eleven years ago.”

  “And I swear to you the locket found on her body has Ramey’s childhood picture in it.”

  “It likely may be the St. John woman’s body, but I’m still waiting for the lab results. I expect to have them tomorrow. I already told you that,” the detective said. “So, why the call tonight?”

  “I got confirmation that Logan Alexander discovered that his father had an affair with Lucy, and I think it was the summer she died.”

  “Grey Alexander had an affair with Lucy the summer she died?”

  “No. He had the affair thirty years ago. But I have reason to believe that Logan found out about it the summer she died.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “Ramey St. John told me.”

  “How does she know?” the detective asked.

  “I can’t tell you, but it turns out she’s Grey Alexander’s daughter.”

  “She is?”

  “Yes, and Logan found out Ramey was his half sister, which means that now he’ll have to split his inheritance with her. Only Ramey doesn’t know yet, so please don’t spread that around.”

  “You think he’d kill Lucy over money? To keep her quiet?” George asked.

  “People have killed for a lot less.”

  “Yeah, I have seen that.”

  “Maybe he didn’t mean to kill her, you know? Maybe it was an accident.” Jenessa couldn’t help but give Logan the benefit of the doubt. “I think you should take a forensic team up to the Alexanders’ lake house and scour it for clues.”

  “After all these years…are you looking for something in particular?”

  “Lucy’s blood, maybe?”

  “This is Grey Alexander’s place you’re talking about. I’d need a really good reason to ask a judge for a search warrant.”

  “We have evidence that Grey had been paying Lucy five thousand a month since she had the baby.”

  “That doesn’t prove anything.”

  “Oh, come on, George. There weren’t that many houses near the lake around the time Lucy disappeared. With her body being found in
the woods not that far from the Alexander house, don’t you think it’s worth a search?”

  “Someone could have killed her somewhere else and buried the body there in the woods because it was remote, like that Tony Hamilton character. Likely no one would have ever found it if someone hadn’t decided to build a cabin on that spot.”

  “I guess that’s one possibility,” Jenessa said. She hoped the killer was Tony Hamilton, rather than Logan.

  “Miss Jones, I need a lot more than conjecture before I go to a judge and ask for a search warrant—especially for the most powerful man in this town. You bring me something concrete, and I’ll see what I can do.”

  ~*~

  It was after eleven o’clock and Jenessa was crawling into bed when her phone rang. It was Ramey, home from her date with Charles.

  “It was the most wonderful evening I’ve ever had,” she gushed.

  “Tell me about it.”

  He had taken her to dinner at a nice steakhouse and their conversation had been effortless. He told stories about his childhood, which had made her laugh. He talked about losing his wife, which brought tears to her eyes.

  “I always wondered what people meant when they said they found their soul mate. Now I think I understand,” Ramey said. “He’s interesting and funny, and he wanted to know what I thought about things. He listened when I talked—can you believe that?”

  “That’s how it should be.”

  “And I felt a spark when he held my hand.”

  “Did he kiss you good night?” Jenessa asked.

  “He did.” Ramey giggled. “I don’t have a lot of experience with that, as you well know, but I can’t imagine anyone doing it better. I just wanted to melt into a puddle right there at his feet.”

  Jenessa could tell her about Grey now, but why ruin things? She let Ramey enjoy the night and dream about Charles’s kiss.

  ~*~

  Early Monday morning, Jenessa’s phone rang, as it often seemed to do. It was Charles McAllister, asking her to meet him at the paper at ten o’clock.

  “Got a good story for me to cover?” she asked.

  “Not exactly. I’ll tell you when you get here.”