Secrets of Lakefront House
CHAPTER 38. NOAH AND RAMIRA

Jilena was shocked to hear the confession of her best friend Ramira. Yeah, God, why do people close to me have to be romantically involved with Noah?

Noah and Ramira?

Currently, Jilena did not want to drop a bomb on Ramira, but she managed to control herself. Ramira sat next to him on the bed. “I wanted to tell you back then, but—but you were so mad at him that you didn't even want his name to be called-sebit. That's what you said, remember?”

"I forgot." Jilena shook her head, trying to break away from it.

“I met him in a small shop that was at the top. I was shopping for your mother's birthday gift and she was shopping for something for her stepmother. We talked and he asked for my help. We chatted a bit long and we laughed about things — one thing leads to another and he asked me if I wanted to go out to dinner with him. We went to the movies and enjoyed dessert at Latiff's afterwards. He even kissed me good night."

"You don't have to tell me everything in detail."

“But I want you to know. The second date, she made a reservation for dinner at Duck Cafe. However, after he picked me up, he realized that he had forgotten his wallet and we stopped by his house. Noah introduced me to his father, who looked really agitated at the time. That's weird.”

Of course, she knew Noah was dating his own sister. Should he give it to me now? Instead, Jilena bit her tongue and listened.

“Mr Arsyanendra asked if he could talk to Noah and they went to another room. When he came back, Noah's attitude was not the same.”

"What do you mean?"

“He seems, I don't know, aloof. Before his little talk with his father, we got along well, the conversation was light and funny. We laughed a lot and had fun together. But throughout dinner he didn't seem to talk much. He took me home and didn't even try to kiss me good night.”

Jilena knows the reason, and now she knows exactly when Noah found out the truth about who Ramira really is. It is the right time to tell him that Noah is his brother, Mr. Arsyanendra is his father.

"Ramira, I have—"

The doorbell rang and the girls looked at each other.

“Oh, I can't date right now. I'm so nervous, ” said Ramira, grimacing.

“Don't be nervous, try to be calm. You look beautiful. Try taking a deep breath. Let me open the door so you can sit here and calm down." Jilena stood up and started to walk out of the room door, then stopped and turned towards her friend. Telling him about the possibility that Arsyanendra is his father, he has to wait another day. “Keenan is a lucky man.”

...*...

Keenan and Ramira go on a date, and Jilena comes home. The conversation with Ramira kept spinning in his mind. She hardly believed it when Ramira was nineteen years old—not long after her mother left—she was dating Noah.

Is that the year Mariana died? Noah learns of his father's affair and learns that Ramira is his sister.

Could it be, he was trying to take Mariana back to Lembayung City? And take her to the lake house? He knew that Ramira did not know if Noah was his brother, if he knew it would definitely never—had agreed to go with him.

This new puzzle piece further reinforces Jilena's suspicion that Noah may have killed Mariana to keep her from telling Ramira who her father is. Maybe he didn't mean to hurt Mariana, just scare her into staying quiet, but—then things went terribly wrong, as they often do in situations like this. As soon as she gets home, Jilena calls Detective Wira.

"Hey, Mr. Wira, it's Jilena again."

"Please, call me Detective," he grumbled. “What else now do you want to talk about?”

“I know you don't have a confirmation of the identity of the corpse yet, but I'm very sure it's Mariana's mother Ramira.”

“Yes, I heard that the last time you called. Just so you know, I did a bit of checking, trying to track down Mariana's whereabouts, but I found nothing at the moment about her. The trail seemed to just disappear about ten or eleven years ago.”

“Possibly it was Mariana's body, but I'm still waiting for the lab results. I hope to hear from them tomorrow. I told you that,” said the detective. "So, why call tonight?"

“I got confirmation that Noah Arsyanendra found out that his father was having an affair with Mariana, and I think it was the same time that Mariana died."

"Mr Arsyanendra had an affair with Mariana before she died?"

"No. He cheated on me thirty years ago. But I have reason to believe that Noah knew it in the time before he died.”

"How did you know that?"

"Ramira told me."

"How did he know?" ask the detective.

"I can't tell you, but it turns out she's Mr. Arsyanendra's daughter."

"He is?"

“Ya, and Noah find out that Ramira is his half-brother, which means—now he must share his inheritance with her. Only Ramira doesn't know yet, so please don't spread it.”

“You think he'll kill Mariana for money? To keep him quiet?” ask detective Wira.

"Many people out there have killed just for money."

"Yes, I've seen it."

“Maybe he didn't mean to kill her, you know? Maybe it was an accident.” Jilena inevitably gave Noah the benefit of the doubt. "I think you should take the forensics team to the lake house belonging to the arsyanendra family and look for clues there.”

"After many years ... are you looking for something special?"

"Mariana's blood, maybe?"

“This is Mr. Arsyanendra's place you're talking about. I really need a good reason to ask the judge to make a search warrant.”

“We have proof that Mr. Arsyanendra has paid Mariana twenty-five million a month since she gave birth.”

“It doesn't prove anything.”

“Oh, come on, Mr. Wira. There weren't many houses near the lake around the time Mariana disappeared. With his body found in the woods not far from Arsyanendra's house, don't you think it's worth investigating?”

“Someone could have killed him somewhere else and buried his corpse there in the forest because it was secluded, like his beloved character Mariana was. Maybe no one will find it if someone does not decide to build a cabin in that place.”

“I think that's one of the possibilities,” said Jilena. He hopes the killer is Hendra Baskoro, not Noah.

“Nona Jilena, I need more than just conjecture before I go to judge and—request search warrant—especially for the most powerful person in this city. You brought me something concrete, and I'll see what I can do.”

...*...