Page 15 of Texas Cold Case Murder

“Dallas seems far away,” Nina said with a frown. “Shouldn’t we stick closer to the location of my uncle’s murder?”

“Nope. There aren’t enough motels here to give us the anonymity we need.” Then he remembered what Green had said about not finding her uncle’s phone. “You need to ditch your phone, Nina. If these guys took the one your uncle was using, maybe they figured out a way to track your device.”

“Yes, that’s possible.” Nina frowned as she pulled her phone from her pocket. With a few keystrokes she wiped the phone, returning it to factory settings. “I should have considered that, sooner.”

“You’ve been under a lot of stress.” He managed a smile, as he powered down her phone and tossed it into the damaged motel room garbage can. “We’ll do better moving forward.”

“We will.” A glint of steely determination settled in her gaze.

“Who are you?” Sewell loudly demanded. Seeing that Creed had arrived, Jackson went back outside to join his fellow ranger.

“Texas Ranger Creed Ramsey. Who are you?”

“Deputy Sewell. And this is Green.” The bald cop stared at Creed for a moment, then turned away.

His fellow ranger flashed a quick smile as he sauntered over to meet Jackson. “You okay?”

Remembering the blood on his face, Jackson nodded. “More than ready to get out of here.”

“Let’s go, then.” Creed glanced over to where Nina stood. “Hey, Nina.”

“Hi, Creed.” Her smile didn’t reach her eyes. “Appreciate the ride.”

“Let’s go.” Jackson rested his hand in the small of Nina’s back as they crossed the parking lot, stepping carefully around the evidence markers. Five minutes later, Creed was back on the road, leaving the deputies at the Sunrise Motel behind.

“Maybe you should start at the beginning,” Creed suggested.

Jackson turned in his seat to look at Nina. She understood his unspoken request. She quickly filled Creed in on the details of her mother’s unsolved murder, ending with finding her uncle dead in what she believed was staged to look like a suicide.

“Why wouldn’t your uncle have listed your mother as missing?” Jackson asked.

“I don’t know.” Nina sighed. “That was one of many questions I had hoped to ask. Uncle Mark indicated he might be responsible for my mother’s death, but refused to say anything more over the phone. He insisted we meet in person.”

Jackson mulled that over, as Nina went on to explain about how she’d found the photograph of her mother tucked beneath her uncle’s thigh, shortly before the shooters showed up and chased her into the woods.

From there, Jackson took up the story about seeing the two men with semiautomatic rifles shoot up his SUV, then drive up to Nina’s uncle’s cabin, only to be scared away by the deputies’ arrival. Last, he described the shooting at the cabin.

“Three attempts in one night? Not good,” Creed drawled.

“No lie. I made Nina leave her phone behind, in case that’s how they were tracking her.” He grimaced. “Unless I’m wrong about the gunmen following the squad car that dropped us off. Maybe they were off on the side of the road somewhere, noticed the police cruiser driving past and watched as we got out at the motel. But if that was the case, why wait to start firing?”

“I don’t have an answer to that. Unless they wanted to make sure the cops were far away before striking the motel.” Creed glanced at him. “Two men with semiautomatic weapons almost sounds as if they’re members of a drug cartel.”

“Hold on, there’s no evidence to suspect Uncle Mark of doing drugs,” Nina protested. “I didn’t notice any drug paraphernalia in the cabin, and if that was the case, why not make his death look like an accidental overdose? That would be easier than staging a suicide.”

“Nina has a point,” Jackson admitted. “There’s no reason to suspect her uncle is involved with a drug cartel, but I agree with you, Creed. The two gunmen looked very much like they could be hit men for the cartel, or some other organized crime syndicate.”

Creed glanced at him, then turned his attention back to the road. “Maybe this isn’t related to Nina at all, but to the upcoming Diego Sanchez trial.”

“If not for Nina’s dead Uncle Mark, I’d agree with you. Especially since the trial starts in two days, first thing on Monday morning.” Jackson turned the facts as they knew it over in his mind. “I just don’t see how Nina’s uncle could be connected to Sanchez. Or to Nina’s mother’s twenty-eight-year-old cold case murder.”

“I don’t know either, but it’s something to consider.” Creed shrugged. “It just seems like a big coincidence that your SUV was targeted. Unless the gunmen assumed Nina was inside?”

“I don’t like it either. But for now, we should stay focused on Nina’s mother’s murder,” Jackson said.

“I’ll start digging into Anna Lange as soon as we get someplace with internet access,” Nina said.

Jackson nodded, settling back in his seat. It was good to have a plan, but Creed’s suggestion nagged at him. Was his buddy right? Could the gunmen have connections that enabled them to identify the SUV as belonging to Jackson, one of the key witnesses against Diego Sanchez?