Secrets of Lakefront House
CHAPTER 12. GREEN LAKE

Jilena is not ready to be in that place, a deep wound from the past. It was years ago when he was there. Why did the memory of that day feel so fresh, like it was just a few days ago? In fact, it's been twelve years. When she was young and naive at seventeen, Noah brought her here, just the two of them. They spend the afternoon at the lake, and at the beach. It was a perfect day. As night falls, they make dinner together at the lake house, Noah roasts the meat on the deck overlooking the lake, as he prepares the condiments.

After dinner, they enjoyed dessert. The fridge had been filled with a lot of flavored ice cream and they tried a spoon each, while laughing and sitting on the floor in the living room, feeding each other and kissing passionately. Noah tells her how excited she is to go to college in a few months. She would miss Jilena she said, Noah would not see her beautiful face every day, longing to kiss her soft lips.

When they finished eating his ice cream, Noah lay on a luxurious tapestry, one hand behind his head. He patted the floor next to her, and Jilena— curled up beside her. They talked for a while, laughed, looked up at the ceiling, and hugged each other.

She had propped herself up with one elbow and bent over to kiss him. "I love you so much, Jilena," he said.

Jilena felt the same way, but she wanted Noah to be the first to say it. Now that he belonged to Noah, he happily returned those feelings. “I love you too,” Jilena whispered. Then, Noah kissed her again, deeper than ever, his hand slid on her waist and hugged the girl tightly, pulling her closer. The moment he ascended to the top, something had awakened within him, something he had always fought against.

Jilena wants to keep her virginity until marriage, but Noah's passionate kisses and sensual hugs are so intoxicating, so passionate, that she can't think clearly. There was nothing to do but reciprocate the passion he had increasingly churned deep within him. Jilena wants to push Noah away, but she also wants to keep him close. He had never felt this kind of desire before.

"I love you, Jilena," he repeated, his body stuck to his body, kissing the sensitive spot under his ears, chest and Jilena resigned. It was hard for him to believe that it happened twelve years ago — his heart is racing now, he dared to swear it was like it happened just yesterday. Twelve years ago, when her chastity was taken away. But the events of that night had ruined his life.

... ******...

"Hello. Can I help you?" the male voice. The voice broke his daydream, and he took his eyes off the—House of the Arsyanendra family lake and turned to face the man in police uniform standing beside him, remembering why he was there. “Halo, Officer. Yes, I'm Jilena Margaretha from The Lembayung Post. I'm looking for whoever's in charge here.”

"That's Detective Wira." The officer pointed to a man with gray flap hair, likely in his sixties, wearing a buttoned shirt and brown trousers, standing up and talking to several others. “Those in light blue, gray hair."

Jilena began to duck under the yellow ribbon as the officer grabbed her arm.

"Sorry, miss, but you can't go in there."

“I need to talk to the detective and take some photos for the newspaper. Do you mind telling him I'm here?”

"Alright, but you wait here." He pointed to the ground outside the sealed area. “I'm not sure he'll let you take any pictures, but he might—open to talk to you.” the man said again.

Staying where she was ordered, Jilena watched as the officer walked towards the spot where detectives were filming and saw him talking to detectives. The two men turned around, glanced at him, then— threw another face to continue their conversation. The officer returns and informs Jilena that the detective will give her a statement as soon as she finishes talking to the couple who made the grisly discovery.

Some people have approached the area of discovery. The officer, arms straight towards her side, warned them to retreat. The sound of a large vehicle approaching caught Jilena's attention and she—walked over. It was a fairly large black van with the TKP of the Investigation Unit written on it. Officers moved a small crowd to the side and a van was parked among the crowd and Jilena.

As the forensic team got down from the van and moved towards the scene, Jilena ducked under the band of barrier guns with them and used them to protect her from the detective's sight. As they moved in unison toward the excavated site, on the left side not far from the foundation mound, Jilena leaned back and managed to take a few photos before the detectives saw her.

"What do you think you're doing, miss?" Hero screaming.

Jilena froze and all eyes were suddenly on her. He took a breath and quickly calmed down. Turning towards him, he gave him an answer. “My work, Detective. Just like you." He stuck out his hand. “Jilena Margaretha, The Labayung Post. My editor sent me here to summarize this story. I heard you're the one in charge."

"I. I think my clerk told you to wait out there, ”guitu, move out the ribbon.

“Yes, sorry about that. But when the forensic van drove, I thought I would lose my chance if I just stood by and waited.”, Jilena said.

“A chance for what?”

“Well, if this is a big problem so you need to ask for help from the head office in the city, this place will be filled with reporters and news crews out of town. I thought I'd give you a chance to give me that opportunity first, so the real story becomes clear, not the story exploding out of proportion, making the town of Lembayung sound like a den of evil. You don't want that, do you, Detective?”jilena said firmly.

“No, of course not, but—”responsibly detective Wira but directly cut by Jilena

“And I will make sure everyone knows that you are the one in charge—aku will even—make sure your name is spelled correctly. Detective Wira—W I R A,”

Okay?"answer's short.

“I can't let people roam around Kindergarten, no matter how good your reporter, Miss ... "

“Jilena, Jilena Margaretha. I can work with you or I can work without you, but make no mistake, Detective, I'll get my story. Your choice." Jilena shrugged her shoulders. "But this is the scene of the murder, Miss Jil, and you are a civilian," said the man, sticking a finger in his face.

He stood up straight and refused to back down. “I press. I'm fully aware that this is the place of murder, and I will not stand in your way.I pursue the story, the truth, Detective.”Jilena doesn't want to lose, she has to get a story.

"Hm." The hero stopped and looked at him. “I did not expect that Keenan Hadinata had hired a ferocious bull.”

“Violent bull—you know, firecracker, gun, feisty woman—someone who will keep digging, grasping and will not let go.”he said with a snort.

"I'll take that as a compliment" Jilena said with a satisfied smile.

“That's what I mean. I can see that I won't be able to get rid of you, so as soon as I'm done interviewing the people who found those bones, I'll give you a statement.

You can look around, but not interfere with the forensic unit. Agreed?"said.

"Agreed." A smile of victory was implied on his lips but he was trying to control it, wanting—detective to think it was his idea. He turned around and went back to the couple who owned the property and continued his question. He did not say he could not take a photo.

Shortly thereafter the detective meets with Jilena and gives her statement. A couple claiming to be the owners of the property under construction. They came to be examined that morning, walking with his two dogs. As they walked around the foundation of the house, the dogs started digging in the back corner and appeared with some bones in their mouths.

From the size and shape of the bones, people realized that it might be human bones. Once they were able to snatch the bones from their dog, they called the Lembayung city police to report what they found. When the detective saw what he was dealing with, he called the forensics from the headquarters to inspect and retrieve the remains. Forensic units extract all the bones and other materials in and around them. "Do they know if it's a woman or a man?" ask Jilena.

“They have a guess, but I don't think I can say until they issue a statement on the finding,” Wira said.

Jilena bowed and kept her voice low. “I heard one forensics refer to the remains of a bone, like a woman's bone. It made me believe that they thought it was a woman. ”

"Well, that's it," said the gentle Hero. "But you didn't hear it from me."

He had not actually heard anyone say that the remains were women.

"Do you know how long he was buried?" Jilena asked.

"They won't know until they bring him back to their lab." replied Wira.

“If you can tell me as soon as you know the lab results, then I can add that fact to my story. Maybe someone will remember something unusual around that time."

"I can't give you that kind of information, miss."

"The townspeople must want to know, Detective." said Jilena urgently.

Wira glared at him. "I'll think about it."

“It looks like it must be a shallow grave. Am I right?"Jilena looked towards the place that was being dug.

“Some feet down, I guess. Ten or twenty years ago there were not as many houses here as there are now. The house must have been here a long time ago, ”he points to the house of Arsyanendra, “but this house is only being built and around it is only a forest overgrown with trees. Maybe even other houses haven't been around for long.”

"I know it's too early, but there's a hunch about who might be doing this?" Jilena asked for more info.

"Yet. It's too early. It could be that some people came from a city that got out of control and someone ended up dying. Maybe they buried it fast because they were afraid someone would find out.”

Jilena knows what she means. Many people go to the Green Lake for a beer party, and sometimes a place to smoke marijuana for teenagers and young people in their twenties from the town of Lembayung in the past. Not knowing when this woman died, it was hard to tell what was going on. According to what he knows, the corpse was probably killed a few years ago, it's been a long time, seeing from some strands of clothes that are still attached, the shirt might be—not a model of clothes now.

"Is there anything else you can tell me, Detective?" ask Jilena.

"I think that's all for now."

...******...

Jilena drove the Roadster home. He glanced at Arsyanendra's lake house, as he drove past it. He wished that he would keep looking straight ahead, but his eyes could not afford not to look towards the house. His pulse was getting faster and his throat was choked. Inevitably he thought about Noah—and the events of that night. His eyes were misty, sweat soaked his skin as he recalled Noah and the bitter events of the past, and grabbed a side-seat jacket covering his arm as the cold air from the AC hit.