Secrets of Lakefront House
CHAPTER 58. FINDING MARIANA'S GIRLFRIEND

"No one can blame you for being upset." He slipped a few fingers under his chin and raised his face. “You good news?”

“It would be nice.” He gave her a weak smile.

“We found Hendra Baskoro.”

Jilena pulled herself from Jonathan's embrace and wiped away the tears under her eyes. "Where?"

“He is in jail in Jakarta on drug charges. We asked them to bring him here tomorrow morning for questioning. If it wasn't for the comb and cufflink, I think he did."

“Yes, I will also think the same, at first, but now.” Thinking about the possibility of a guilty father, he shook his head sadly. “Let's get out of here and get downstairs" said Jilena, who couldn't stand being in her parents' room any longer.

Jonathan followed her out of the bedroom and down the stairs. "After interrogating him tomorrow and see if he can give us a date when he last saw Mariana. That will give us a better estimate of the time about when the murder has occurred.”

“Did you and Wira not be able to see from his notes when he—stop using his phone and his gyro account?”

“We talked more than ten years ago, Jil. The bank has that record archived and they haven't sent it to us yet, and we don't even know the phone company Mariana used at the time. They may not even be in business right now. ”

“And of course his home phone will continue to be used by Ramira for a while, so it won't tell us anything. ” He stopped under the stairs and turned towards Jonathan. “Mari hopes Hendra Baskoro's character can know more than just the last time she saw Mariana.”

"What-like?"

“As to why Mariana ran away from Ramira, supposedly to Sumatra, but—then she died in Green Lake. He came back for a reason, but why did he come back?"

“I think we should wait until tomorrow to find out.” Jonathan slid his arms around Jilena's waist and pulled her closer. “I have to go home and—

helping mom. Oh, and my cousin Luke is coming tonight.”

"Luke's cousin?" Jilena placed her hand on Jonathan's muscular arm.

“He drives from the capital. He wants to pay a visit to this small town and may apply as a patrol officer in the police department.”

"I want to meet your cousin Luke" he said with a mischievous grin.

"I'm sure it can be arranged." Jonathan smiled at her. “He will be here until the weekend. Are we still having dinner Friday night?”

He gave her a seductive smile. “Yes, but what about your cousin? Won't he expect you to accompany him during his time in this city?”

“He can have dinner at my parents' house. There is Vino.”

"I hope your son doesn't mind me stealing time with his father."

"You know, Vino was still talking about when we were together at the fair."

“He did it?” That makes him happy. He is a sweet little boy.

“Really?” He tucked his arms around Jonathan's waist and could not help but smile.

“True. Especially me.” Jonathan grinned mischievously. He lowered his face closer to Jilena's face and kissed her gently. "We both like you." He kissed her again. “But mostly I.” She kissed him again, longer and deeper than before, and Jilena did not want him to stop.

When Jonathan let go of his embrace, Jilena's head was dizzy. “Do you want to stay?”

"Of course I want to, but I can't. Remember, my mom's looking after Vino. I told him that I wouldn't be gone for long, and it's late.” He took Jilena's hand and kissed her back. "I have to go."

He walked to the front door, leaving her standing at the porch, at the foot of the stairs.

"We'll talk tomorrow, I'm sure." Jilena was very curious as to what Hendra Baskoro would tell the detectives. "And don't forget our date Friday night" Jonathan said, reminding Jilena.  Actually he really wanted to be there longer but he had to pick up Vino and bring him home.

Jonathan opened the front door, but he returned to Jilena with long strides and— pulled him into his arms again. He kissed her slow and long.

"I can't be away from you, we'll see if I can get back here with Vino." she whispered in her ear. Jonathan's warm breath hit his skin and his delicious sensual kiss made Jilena's head dizzy, and he held the handle of the stairs, dropping down onto the sofa as Jonathan walked out the door waving.

...*...

The girl lay on the soft sofa in the living room, her chest still pounding, recalling the warm kiss Jonathan gave her.  The clock has shown at eleven o'clock in the evening. Maybe Jonathan had gone home and could not have come back, he thought.  His eyes began to sleepy and slowly closed.  It felt so lazy to ride on the second floor and sleep in his room. ‘Let me rest for a while here.’

Half an hour later, the doorbell sounded. Jilena still refused to open her eyes. But he wanted to know who came in the middle of the night like this.  He opened his eyes slowly and glanced at the wall clock, it was almost twelve o'clock at night.  ‘What people come to visit the house of a midnight person like this’ thought.  She lazily got off the sofa after the doorbell rang again.  With his eyes half closed he opened the door and saw a person standing with an expanding smile on his lips.

“Hai, sorry if I woke you.” said Jonathan who was holding a sleeping Vino in his arms.

“Oh...I haven't slept, just been lying on the couch since you left.  Come on in.” said Jilena let Jonathan in and then closed and locked the door.

“You waiting for me?” ask Jonathan.

“I thought you'd be back, because you said--.”

Not done talking Jonathan landed a kiss on the girl's lips.  “Vino asked here.” he said give a reason.  Jilena smiled as if she knew it was just an excuse because she saw that Vino had fallen asleep.

“I inter-room upstairs, you can lay Vino there.”

They climb the stairs to the second floor, turning towards the room that used to be occupied by Sarah.  It was fortunate that the room had been cleaned yesterday so Vino could sleep there.  Jonathan walked in and spread his gaze around the room. He slowly laid Vino on the queen-size bed.  “This is the room Sarah used to be,” Jilena explained.

“Oh...so Sarah lives where now?”

“He has his own house, but more often stay at home Aunt Dewi.” replied Jilena.

The two looked at each other and locked eyes on each other.  Jilena felt the room instantly turn to heat.  His chest was pounding again.  Jonathan's gentle gaze made him flinch.

Jonathan glanced at his sleeping son and turned back to look at Jilena. As if to understand, Jilena also said “You can sleep here tonight,” while looking at Jonathan. The man approached and grabbed Jilena's arm, pulling her into his arms.  He landed a kiss on the top of the girl's head. Slowly his right hand grabbed the girl's chin, landing a kiss on her favorite girl's pink lips.  Jilena wrapped her hands around Jonathan's neck.