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

so long?”
    “I’m happy to see you too,” Jenessa responded.
    “Come inside, girls,” she could hear their aunt calling from somewhere inside the house. “You’re letting all the heat in.”
    Sara stepped aside to let Jenessa in and followed her down the wide hallway. Passing the grand staircase, they continued down the hall with its dark, polished hardwood floors, an array of family photos and artwork strategically hung on both sides. Aunt Renee sat on a barstool at the breakfast bar with a slab granite countertop that enclosed half of the expansive, newly renovated kitchen.
    As the girls approached, Aunt Renee slid off the stool and opened her arms to Jenessa, pulling her into a firm embrace. Jenessa noticed Aunt Renee’s lower mascara was smudged a little and her pale green eyes were rimmed with red.
    “I can’t believe he’s gone,” her aunt said in little more than a whisper. She released Jenessa and dabbed at the side of her eyes with a white handkerchief.
    “I didn’t know he had anything wrong with his heart. He seemed so healthy to me.” Although, Jenessa had to admit, she hadn’t seen the man for quite some time.
    “He had a pretty stressful job,” Sara said, “working for that Grey Alexander. Seems like Daddy was always having to clean up his messes.”
    Daddy? Jenessa hadn’t called him that since she was a kid, but then, he and Sara had a different relationship than she’d had with her father. A twinge of jealousy pricked her heart.
    “It was a long drive,” Jenessa said. “Mind if I freshen up?”
    “Sure, sweetie, you know your way to the powder room.” Aunt Renee delicately blew her nose.
    Jenessa closed the door to the half-bath and stood before the mirror. She had spilled her tears for her father on the drive down and no more threatened to come at the moment. She wondered if Ramey, Sara, and Aunt Renee might think she didn’t care—there was certainly no shortage of tears between the three of them. Yes, she mourned her father’s passing, but she also grieved for what could have been between them. At the moment, she simply felt numb.
    After drawing in a long breath, she exhaled slowly, feeling some of her stress leaving with the air as it passed through her lips. She ran her fingers through her hair, wiped clean the bit of mascara that had bled under her eyes, and applied a fresh coat of lip gloss. The fading redness in the whites of her eyes made the green more intense, particularly against her dark hair.
    As she stared at herself in the mirror, she thought about her unexpected run-in with Logan, but she quickly pushed him out of her thoughts. There was grieving to be done, funeral plans to be made, and decisions to be mulled over for what she would do with her future. Now was not the time to lament over lost love.
    By the time she emerged from the powder room, Ramey had arrived. She and Sara were seated on the floral sofas in the great room with Aunt Renee, talking quietly, surrounded by a wall of french doors and white-paned windows that overlooked the garden and pool area. The room had been added to the rear of the old house, off the new kitchen and breakfast area, in the latest remodeling project, Jenessa assumed.
    Ramey raised her head in Jenessa’s direction as she walked in. “If you’re hungry, I brought some muffins and bagels that didn’t sell today. They’re still fresh.”
    “Thanks.” Jenessa grabbed a plump cinnamon bagel out of the paper bakery bag and joined the others. She kicked off her flip-flops and tucked her feet under her as she dropped down onto a sage-green overstuffed chair nestled next to one of the sofas. “Did anyone see Dad’s body?”
    “I did,” Aunt Renee replied. “Since he was already gone when the paramedics arrived, they took his body to the morgue. The medical examiner recognized him and knew I was David’s sister—his wife is on a couple of charities with me—so he phoned me.”
    “What do we do now?” Sara asked, her eyes