The Lake House Secret, A Romantic Suspense Novel (A Jenessa Jones Mystery) (26 page)

“Let’s go,” Sara said.

“Give me a minute.” Jenessa wanted to stay as long as the Alexanders were there. Perhaps there would be something of significance she could pick up on her recorder.

Sara looked down at the device, then back up to Jenessa. “You can stay,” she whispered, “but I need to get back to work.”

Jenessa sat back down while Sara squeezed past her.

“Good luck,” Sara said, keeping her voice low, and she continued down the row.

Elizabeth turned at Sara’s voice. “Well, hello, Jenessa.”

The woman’s greeting drew Grey’s and Lauren’s attention as well.

Jenessa quickly pulled back the recorder, dropped it in her purse, and stood. “Hello, Mrs. Alexander,” she said, meeting Elizabeth’s eyes. “I wish we were running into each other under better circumstances.”

“What are
you
doing here?” Grey growled.

“My job.”

~*~

Jenessa drove back to her home office to write her story on the arraignment of Hidden Valley’s number one son. Her hands were still trembling a little from her run-in with Grey Alexander.

She thought of Logan and how frightened he looked at the arraignment. His confidence and swagger were gone. If his lawyers couldn’t get him out of this jam, he’d likely be spending the better part of the rest of his life in prison.

The conversation they’d had earlier in the day played in her mind. Not only had he emphatically denied any part in Lucy St. John’s death, but he had also declared his love for her once more. Had Logan really been in love with her all these years? Was he truly sorry for how his parents had treated her and the situation? Her father and mother had pushed her to give up the baby as much as his parents had, but had it only been because her dad caved to Grey Alexander’s pressure?

Her father was a coward. At least that’s how she saw it. He hadn’t stood up for her, or for his grandchild. If he had, perhaps it would have cost him his biggest client, but couldn’t he have gotten others? Maybe they wouldn’t have been as lucrative, but wasn’t his own flesh and blood more important to him than money?

And why hadn’t her mother spoken her mind that evening? Surely having had babies herself, she had to have known the emotional pain that giving up the baby would cause her daughter. Or had she truly thought it was for the best, as she had said? Jenessa chose to believe the latter.

She pulled the car into the driveway, glad to be home, giving her a mental break from the questions that could no longer be answered.

Heading straight to the office, she sat at the computer, ready to begin formulating her story. She pulled the micro-recorder out of her purse and set it on the desk. She pushed
play
to hear the proceedings once more and type up her outline as she listened.

When she got to the end of the arraignment, and she heard the judge call, “Next case!” She picked up the device and held it close, hoping to hear what Grey had said to his son.

“I’ll do whatever I have to, to get you out, Son,” is what she heard him say. But there had been something else, something after that, something he had whispered into Logan’s ear.

Jenessa strained to hear it. There was some sound, some faint words, but she couldn’t make them out. She played the recording over and over, but all she could make out were the words
sorry
and
dragged.
What was Grey saying to his son?

Chapter 37

Maybe the conversation that the recorder couldn’t pick up was nothing more than a few words of encouragement. On the other hand, perhaps Libby at the county lab could work some magic on the recording and she’d know for sure.

She had a story to write and get into the paper before too long, but if she didn’t phone Libby right now, she might be gone for the day. She reached for her phone, but stopped short.

What was she thinking? Libby didn’t take orders from a reporter. Jenessa would have to go through Michael or George Provenza to put in the request.

She called Michael and got his voicemail, so she phoned George next.

“Hello, Detective,” she greeted in her sweetest voice.

“What can I do for you now?” George sounded a little grumpy.

“Everything okay?”

“That rascal Grey Alexander has been down here since the arraignment, angry as a hornet—chewed my butt. I guess his cleaning lady phoned him after she went to the lake house and found the hole we’d carved in the wood floor.”

“Sorry to hear that, George. Wasn’t it taped off?”

“It was, but she must have ignored it and gone on in. Doesn’t anybody respect the law anymore? I mean, really.”

“Calm down,” Jenessa suggested.

“Oh, I didn’t mean to go on like that. That man’s got me all riled up. You must have been calling for a reason.”

“Actually, I need some help—a favor really.”

Detective Provenza grunted.

“Just a tiny one,” she pleaded.

“What do you need?” His voice turned surprisingly obligatory.

“I was sitting behind Mr. Alexander at the arraignment this morning and overheard a little of what he said to his son. I actually had my micro-recorder going so I could record the proceedings for the story I have to write. It happened to still be on when Grey was talking to Logan and there was something on the tape that was a bit indiscernible. I wondered if you could ask Libby to see what she could do to clear it up.”

“You can’t be taping a person without their permission,” George chided.

“I’m not expecting you to use it in court. I was just hoping it would tell me something important about the case, for my story. And if it happened to expose something significant about the case, then all the better. I know you couldn’t use it, but it might point you in the right direction. It’s not like they had any expectation of privacy.”

“That’s not the point. Besides, we already are going in the right direction. We’ve arrested our prime suspect, if you hadn’t noticed,” George retorted.

“What if Logan didn’t do it?”

“You saying don’t think he did?” he said with a dubious air.

“No, I’m not saying that. What I’m saying is you should keep an open mind, Detective. What if he’s not the killer and you let the real killer get away because you were focusing on the wrong person? Maybe there’s some other explanation for his DNA being found with the body.” At least she hoped there was, for Logan’s sake.

Logan had made her promise not to let the police stop looking for any other likely suspects. “Do you really want to be responsible for sending an innocent man to prison because you couldn’t be bothered to pursue all other possibilities?”

“Are you trying to tell me how to do my job, princess?”

Princess?
“No, I’m only asking you to keep an open mind, keep following up on leads that might point to other suspects. Logan swears he’s innocent.”

“Don’t they all?” the detective asked.

“He could be telling the truth.”

“I’m sure the captain won’t go for that anyway. There’s not enough money in the budget to keep working cases where we’ve already arrested our prime suspect.”

“Then don’t let him know.”

“Are you trying to get me fired?” His voice rose a few decibels with the question.

“Oh, come on, Detective. It’s not like Hidden Valley is a hotbed of crime and you have a stack of cases to solve.”

“Maybe not murder cases, but there’s still plenty to investigate,” he said.

“You’re a man of integrity—am I right, George?”

“I am.”

“Then I have to trust that you won’t let go of this case just because someone is in jail for it, not if there’s a chance he’s innocent. Your case isn’t ironclad.”

“That’s true, but they aren’t always. You should know that.”

“Yeah, I know. But you don’t have to do the work yourself, Detective. You have Michael now to help you. Use him.”

“Well, I don’t know…”

“Listen, all I’m saying is don’t close the book on your investigation. There may be more to discover.”

“Do you know something you’re not telling me?” Provenza asked.

“No, George. Just a feeling.” That truly was all Jenessa had to go on. “So what about calling Libby about that recording?”

~*~

After hanging up with Detective Provenza, Jenessa went back to her computer to review the photos she had taken at the crime scene where the remains were uncovered. Something about one of those photos bothered her—the unidentified tiny object she saw next to the body, near the mid-section. In the photo it looked like a button or an earring, or maybe a cufflink, still partially buried in the dirt.

When Jenessa first saw the item as she snapped a photo of the gravesite, she assumed the CSI unit would collect it and identify it. But when she had spoken to her old boss’s cousin in the State crime lab earlier, she had no information about it.

Since that had been closer to the day of the discovery, perhaps by now she might have some information. Detective Provenza would likely know if they had found the item and identified it, but she had probably used up all of her grace with him for today.

She would have to phone her old boss in Sacramento and cajole him into asking his mysterious cousin to give her a call about it.

“No time like the present.” Jenessa dialed his number.

“Jack Linear,” he answered.

“Hey, Jack. This is Jenessa.”

“So how are things in Mayberry?”

“It’s Hidden Valley, Jack.”

“I know, I just meant…well, never mind. What’s up?”

“I need a favor.”

“Oh boy. What now?”

“I had asked your cousin about something last week, which she had no information on yet. I was hoping she had something for me by now, but I don’t have her name or phone number. Would you mind asking her to give me a call again? See if she’s come across the button-like object and identified it?”

“She’s pretty reluctant to talk to the press. She could lose her job if anyone found out.”

“Even for her favorite cousin? Please ask her.”

“Is this for that old murder in your neck of the woods?”

“It is. I’m doing a story on it and, well, one of my old friends has been arrested for the crime.”

“Sorry to hear that. Is this a story we should be covering?” he asked.

“How about I write it for you, freelance, and you can run it—that is, if my boss at the Herald doesn’t mind.”

“Tell you what? You run the story in your paper first and I’ll run it here the day after. The AP does that sort of thing all the time.”

“I’ll be in touch about it then. But first, I need to talk to your cousin. Deal?”

Jack agreed to have his cousin call her, so Jenessa went back to finishing up her story on the arraignment. There wasn’t much to tell, so the story didn’t take much time and she was able to email it off.

When she had spoken to Detective Provenza, in the end she had succeeded in getting him to relent and agree to ask Libby to listen to the recording, promising not to tell her what it was in regards to. He couldn’t sleep at night, he had said, if he didn’t pursue every possible lead in the St. John case. She had pushed his integrity button and he would come through for her.

Now to find out what that mysterious object was. Maybe Jack’s cousin would call her soon.

~*~

Jenessa stuck a frozen dinner in the microwave. Tonight she would dine on herbed chicken with roasted red potatoes in a creamy honey mustard sauce. If only it tasted as good as it sounded.

As she stood before the microwave, watching her food go around and around, her phone rang. She snatched it up from the counter as the timer dinged that her dinner was done.

“Hello.” She pulled the little plastic tray out of the oven with a potholder.

“Jenessa Jones?” a woman asked.

“Yes, this is she.” Jenessa pushed the microwave’s door closed with her elbow and moved to the table.

“I’m Jack’s cousin. He told me you wanted me to call you again.”

Chapter 38

“Oh, yes. Jack’s cousin,” Jenessa said to the woman on the phone, as she set the hot food down and settled on a chair. “When we spoke last week, I asked if the CSIs had found a small object, like a button, or an earring, or something.”

“That’s right, I recall that.” The volume of her voice grew low. “They hadn’t at the time, but let me go through the file here. Fortunately almost everyone is gone.”

The sound of shuffling papers came across the line.

“Here it is. It was a cufflink.”

“Was there any DNA on it?”

“Yes, some epithelia in the crevices, but the report says it was run through CODIS and no match was found.”

“Could you scan and email me the photo of it?”

“I don’t know…”

“It might be important.”

“I’ve already sent it to the Hidden Valley Police Department, to a Detective Provenza.”

“Well, I can’t really ask him for it, now can I?”

“I suppose not.”

“Would you mind? Please.” Jenessa crossed her fingers, waiting for the woman’s response.

“I guess it couldn’t hurt, but you have to promise you’ll keep my name out of it if someone finds out you have this.”

“Absolutely. Besides, I don’t even know your name. I couldn’t give it out if I wanted to.”

“All right, I guess I could do that, but only because you’re a friend of Jack’s.”

Jenessa ate her dinner while she waited for the email to come, keeping one eye on the computer screen. Halfway through her chicken and potatoes, the email showed up.

She clicked it open, double clicked on the attachment, and the photo filled the screen. Just as the woman had said, it was a cufflink. She’d seen it somewhere before—but where?

It was a polished gold square with rounded corners. There was a design in the middle with a black backdrop, an artistically abstract combination of an A and an E. But where had she seen it before?

She finished her meal as she stared at the screen, wracking her brain for some clue to whose cufflink it might be—but nothing came.

Frustrated, she cleared the table and threw her plastic dish in the trash. Why did it seem so familiar? With no answer coming to mind, she moved into her office and sat at the desk. Maybe there was another clue amongst the documents she had found in the manila envelope.